bye bye phd

[chocker]

after getting no response and wasting last one and half month by doing nothing except suffering from OCD

checking email - mail box - website logs - forums -

I have decided to make the final cut. It's painful. So why not discarding the idea of doing phd ?

bye bye phd

[anxiousapplicant]

Why do you have to be so depressive and negative all the time? it's not going to win you friends nor acceptances to schools.

[socnerd]

Why do you have to be so depressive and negative all the time? it's not going to win you friends nor acceptances to schools.

Oh leave him alone, we all feel that way. I find that a surprising comment from someone whose name is "anxiousapplicant." Do you already have acceptances or something? Or maybe you're just trying to cut other people down when they already feel terrible by telling them they won't get in anywhere or can't have any friends. Its just unnecessary, everyone feels negative at this point if they don't have any acceptances.

[anxiousapplicant]

Oh leave him alone, we all feel that way. I find that a surprising comment from someone whose name is "anxiousapplicant." Do you already have acceptances or something? Or maybe you're just trying to cut other people down when they already feel terrible by telling them they won't get in anywhere or can't have any friends. Its just unnecessary, everyone feels negative at this point if they don't have any acceptances.

No, in fact I have no acceptances right now. The problem is that I have noticed a disturbing pattern with this poster who, incidentally, once said everyone on this board should be killed. So I get a little nervous when i see posts like that from him.

[jaxzwolf]

Part of me would like to do this as well- completely disregard the idea of getting a PhD and then move on to other things. To be perfectly honest, I've spent a lot of my time lately looking into other options. But when it comes down to it, if you really want a PhD, you're going to stick with it, even if you do suffer the dreaded "Failed Application Year." I know that, even if I do get rejected from all the schools to which I applied, I'll be at it again next year. It doesn't please me at all to think of another spring spent cramming for tests and trying to thwart the GREs, another summer spent contacting potential advisers, another fall meticulously combing through SoP, requesting transcripts and test scores and LoR. But I know I will do, because I really do want a PhD.

Depressing to think about facing another year before grad school, but if it's something you actually want, you'll carry on and try again. If not... well, then, maybe it would be better to make the cut, say goodbye to the idea, and move on with your life.

[snorri]

The only thing that really discourages me from trying again is all of the depressing articles in The Chronicle and NY Times talking about how worthless a humanities degree is and how we're all going to be living on the streets after decades of shelling out money to various institutions. I guess I would just like to hang on to the hope that if I do have to go through all of this again next year, I will have some shred of a possibility of getting a job on the other side. The trouble is, I want this career path so badly that I can't give it up.

[iceman]

If you want to give up a research career just because of a 6-month stressful application period -- Maybe you really aren't cut out for it? (Just a thought).

Hell, i'm already planning alternatives for improving and applying in Fall 2012 if things dont work out this year (i.e., I end up with only unfunded admits).

[urbanchic]

Maybe you should wait until you get all of your results first.

[Smaudge]

Now I have the song "Bye bye love" in my head. Only the "bye bye happiness" part is replaced with PhD.

[mediahistory]

I'm not giving up. I'm in the last semester of the MA program I undertook to increase my eligibility for PhD programs. I have a specific research area that I'm passionate about. If I don't get into any of the schools I applied to, I'll keep doing my research while doing what it takes to submit stronger applications next year.

Don't get discouraged. There are always ways to improve and try again.

[Branwen daughter of Llyr]

Hey, there's always next year.

At least that's what I'm thinking. It took me over 8 years to decide that this is what I want to do, and that nothing compares to it. One year of rejections isn't going to deter me, especially since I wasn't particularly well prepared for this year's round of apps....

Keep your chin up.

Things could be worse - we all could be buried under a rubble in Haiti (or worse... alive and left with nothing).

[hamster]

Hey, there's always next year.

At least that's what I'm thinking. It took me over 8 years to decide that this is what I want to do, and that nothing compares to it. One year of rejections isn't going to deter me, especially since I wasn't particularly well prepared for this year's round of apps....

Keep your chin up.

Things could be worse - we all could be buried under a rubble in Haiti (or worse... alive and left with nothing).

Ah, me too. I have been waiting so long, it won't hurt to wait one more year. I'm already old so there is nothing to lose

The jury is out til April but I have been brainstorming ways to improve my application and I'm actually pretty excited by some of them.

If I weren't so tired of my day job..........

[Branwen daughter of Llyr]

Ah, me too. I have been waiting so long, it won't hurt to wait one more year. I'm already old so there is nothing to lose

The jury is out til April but I have been brainstorming ways to improve my application and I'm actually pretty excited by some of them.

If I weren't so tired of my day job..........

yup (especially on the old thing... heheh)

I've already started re-writing my SOP (and I haven't even gotten any official rejections yet), already redid General GRE, and am now in process of cramming for the subject GRE. Also seriously researching schools so I have a good amount and range of programs to go to. So I start grad school when I'm 39 instead of 38. At least I'll have an extra year to prepare for Latin - I've already decided to sign up for a Latin course in Tel Aviv University starting next October - solidify what I want my research to center on, re-write and revamp my writing samples, and just generally be better prepared. There's plenty to do and improve to be a better applicant.

(also, I'm hoping the economy will improve and less people will apply next year hahahahahah)

[socnerd]

I think I can understand the contrast of anxiety between those who are already in the workforce and have nothing to lose by taking another year to apply to grad school and those of us applying right out of undergrad who have no other options (or for some reason have no options for employment in the coming year without school). I would probably be close to unemployable, at least for a position where I could halfway support myself, so the prospect of not being in school this coming fall is terrifying. Those who have a job or established career who can just stay there for another year and apply again have a much more relaxed outlook.

[JerryLandis]

Fear of having to reapply is a very reasonable reason to dread not being accepted this year! 6 months of application related stress is very different from stressful academic work, because it's extremely demoralizing, costs a lot of money, and is very mysterious and annoying to finagle. I can handle the stress of studying something I'm interested in. But the stress of taking pointless tests, obsessing over stupid meaningless sentences in bullshitty SOPs that might not even be read, editing old pieces of work to fit an arbitrary writing sample word/page limit, and all the while fearing that the person reading it will toss it out in 20 seconds with a sneer, is much different from the normal stresses of student life. I remember taking the GRE and thinking "that better be the last aptitude standardized test I ever take in my life" and looking forward to giving away my prep books. Well, I guess I will still have to get rid of the prep books as the test is supposed to change and I'll have to re-learn a bunch of stupid strategies from new books. But I can't believe I'll have to take it (and pay for it) again!

I've accepted the likelihood of doing an MA next year. I shouldn't complain, it's a great opportunity. But I really just wanted to be finished, and settled, not in limbo for another year or two, with the stigma of having been rejected across the board from PhD programs. It's not nice to think that I ruined the first semester of my final year in college by having to go through all this crap, and I won't even get anything from it. Ah well, at least there are people to commiserate with!

[chocker]

No, in fact I have no acceptances right now. The problem is that I have noticed a disturbing pattern with this poster who, incidentally, once said everyone on this board should be killed. So I get a little nervous when i see posts like that from him.

I will let you live buddy

[SublimeDelusions]

One bad year isn't a bad thing. It's only after 3-4 no acceptance years that you really start wondering why no programs will take you and if you should just cut out the idea all together. In addition, it's also probably a bad sign when your LoR writers are getting frustrated that nowhere has accepted you yet. I'm facing that decision now myself.

If you've gone through only one year of no acceptances, especially if that year is one where schools are suffering financially which is hindering their ability to take on students, it's not the end of the world. Weigh everything out and then make your decisions as to if it's time to quit. Not everywhere has sent out their acceptances/rejections, and there are probably still wait-lists sitting around.

I wouldn't say to give up just yet. Wait to see how the full application year turns out for the time being and then take it from there.

For one story I have, which goes to show how "out-there" these things can be:

I had received a formal rejection from a school. I then went to see the one professor speak at the museum I was working at. After the talk, he went out to lunch with me and informed me that a spot had opened up at the school, and they would be allowing him to conduct interviews for that spot. It wound up coming down to me and one other student, where the committee decided on the other student. However, I still got an interview after a rejection. The point of this one is that you can't really give up on a chance for good news regarding grad studies until there's no chance for good news left.

[coyabean]

Now I have the song "Bye bye love" in my head. Only the "bye bye happiness" part is replaced with PhD.

Better than NSync's "Bye Bye Bye" that is now playing in mine!