You know it's admission season when...

[GunningForGrad]

I know we're smack dab in the middle of admissions offers going out, interviews being scheduled, and anxiety running amuck. Thought this could be a fun way to commiserate. Start a rolling list of those crazy things we do and schedules we keep while in the height of admissions season. I'm knee deep in interviews and traveling right now so here are a few of mine:

You know it's admissions season when...

- You keep an elaborate chart of what you can say to get time off from your muggle job to make the interviews happen.

- Hotwire knows you by name and keeps suggesting trips to your grad school cities.

- Hearing your email notification go off is literally causing you to have miniature heart attacks.

- You debate back and forth between needing a hotel for one more night when your flight takes off first thing in the morning and it'll take you at least an hour to get there....and then regret not getting one as you sleep on the very cold tile of the airport and hang out in the bathroom for an uncomfortably long time because it': the only working outlet you could find. Perhaps you fall asleep in there- but you don't admit it because that's a little too weird.

- You know all the coolest airport bars to hang out in because you're always in an airport (hello delays) and you're forever in need of a drink (why haven't they contacted me yet?!)

- You find yourself wondering if your POI will issue a restraining order if you email just one more time...

[ThousandsHardships]

You know it's admissions season when:

- You can't read or even prepare for your future program because you're waiting in front of the computer all day.

- You go on an impromptu road trip alone just because you want to stop stressing about admissions decisions.

- Your heart stops beating when you get a notification that someone in the vicinity of a prospective school had Googled you and reached your Academia.edu page, only to panic even further wondering you should have actually posted something...and which other pages they might have seen.

- You tell yourself that your first acceptance will ease your stress but keep stressing afterwards anyway.

- All your friends in your field seem to have been accepted to almost all schools they applied to, and you feel bad for only getting one acceptance out of many.

- You panic-email a professor at your alma mater after a devastating rejection, only to realize that this may not have been the best move, seeing as you've actually applied to your alma mater and haven't yet heard back.

- Every rejection makes you wish you could erase something you've done in the past.

Edited February 14, 2017 by ThousandsHardships

[Charlsa]

-You make ever-growing guilt-ridden lists of all the texts in your field you haven't read yet.

-You know precisely when the postal mail arrives going by your stomach aches.

-You've grown to hate Sundays because "there's no post on Sundays." (I have never related to Harry Potter more.)

-You suspect your recommenders of secretly hating you.

-You're already brainstorming thesis ideas at your muggle job, just as an escape.

[tnt92]

You know its admission season when...

- You call home at lunch to ask your father who has a cold if he can go check the mail... again

- When your partner is equally as stressed because of you and their stress stresses you out even more

[meep95]

- you break down crying in your boyfriends car because you friend got into your number 1 choice but you were rejected

- checking email gives you anxiety

- you plan your life around worst case scenarios like working fast food the rest of your life (despite the fact that you've never worked fast food and have a "adult job" now)

- procrastinate using grad cafe, which just causes more anxiety

 

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

-you start making a list of all the schools you found out about AFTER their deadlines that have programs that could be a good fit for you because you're convinced you won't get in anywhere

-you start planning everything you need to do to "improve" your app for the next season just because

-you're in school, but you're so busy stressing about admissions that you keep procrastinating on your homework, making you even more stressed

-you start your day, every day, by checking the admission status sites for all the schools you have yet to hear back from

 

Seriously, though, I have gone for a short drive in the middle of the night for the last 3 nights in a row to escape the stress, and am considering changing out a recommender for "next season" because I'm sure they secretly hate me.  Also, absolutely love all the HP references happening in here.

[GunningForGrad]

-You start looking into alternatives because you're not sure if you can survive at your current job for another year.

-You make excuses to not commit to a cruise that your parents are offering to pay for in December because "that might be finals week".

-You have practice interviews in your head that are way better than the actual interviews you gave. 

-You go hunting for Pokémon not necessarily because you're a nerd (even though you are) but because you can't go checkingbyoir email when you're catching a Chansey. 

-You secretly make a voodoo doll for that friend of yours that got into the grad school of their dreams on their first try and tell you that they don't understand why you haven't gotten in yet.