The Official "Make Everyone Else Jealous" Thread

[Minnesotan]

It looks like the early acceptances are starting to trickle in. For those of us who are excited about getting our first acceptance or two, feel free to post in all caps, with a gajillion extra exclamation marks here (and only here, heh).

After you get it out of your system, share with the rest of us what your stats are, your field of study, and what other programs you're hoping to get. Also, tell us what you thought your chances were. It's great to see the underdog have his day.

(I haven't heard anything yet, but I thought by creating this thread I might turn my overwhelming jealousy into something more constructive. lol)

[picklejar]

WHAT!? Early acceptances ALREADY!? I thought I had at least three weeks left before the gut-wrenching jealousy kicked in.

[Minnesotan]

I was a little bit jealous of the science people, but understood, since they have a different system than I do. However, we've had a journalism, an education, and now an English admit post on the wall, and the latter really rubbed my ass raw! I want an early admit in the middle of January! heh

Oh well. I guess I'd settle for knowing what kind of superstar gets an English PhD acceptance this damned early. Maybe it's a funky program, or something - who knows.

[canadiana]

I must say that I'm jealous of the science applicants as well! It must be a relief to know the result, either way, so that you can set your Plan B in motion if need be. I'm just finishing up some MA applications for a couple of Canadian schools, so thankfully I have that to keep me busy this month.

[crustaceangirl]

I'm one of those damned science applicants. I've now gotten two interview invitations, which is soooo awesome. Let me just repeat: awesome! I'd been freaking out over one school that announced when it was going to make interview decisions, because I didn't get one. Then I got two other invites, completely unexpectedly! And one came after I'd heard that they'd already sent stuff out (which had me assuming I'd been rejected).

Out of nine schools, I'm pretty sure that three aren't going to interview me (already sent out invites to other people, plus they're very competitive programs). Two have invited me to interview. Four are as yet unknown!

Now I'm wondering how selective they are about interviewing people. I've heard at some schools, almost everyone who interviews gets accepted, while others accept only about half, etc. Even if I only have a 50/50 shot of acceptance at either one that's invited me so far, though, statistically speaking I should get accepted somewhere. I hope that paying for me to fly out for a few days means that these places really, really liked my application. *crosses fingers*

I'm applying to neuroscience PhD programs, some of which are under the umbrella of general biological/biomedical sciences programs. I think my stats are decent -- I did a BS/MS, wrote an honors thesis, had 3 years part-time and 1.5 years full-time research experience under my belt upon applying, 1400 combined GRE, 3.4 cumulative GPA (I was worried about this a lot), and 4 letters of recommendation from undergrad faculty and my current supervisor.

There seem to be a lot of social science and humanities people posting here, so I'm sorry if this makes your heads explode. Your time will come soon! If there are any life science people with interview tips, I'd be glad to hear them... my first one is on February 4!

[crustaceangirl]

Thanks, totallyfreakingout. If the grad school karma gods ask me, I'll say you did your part. :-)

[farty14]

totallyfreakingout:

In what field are you applying?

[Minnesotan]

I suppose the whole interview issue requires science adcoms to act early. If only they would interview humanities applicants - I would feel so much better about the process.

[amanda1655]

The early notification would be fantastic. The actual process of interviewing would SUCK. I can't even fathom trying to schedule flights to different cities. My employer would be very unlikely to give me more than 1 or 2 days off, and I would still have to finish the work I missed. Add to that the language classes I am taking to help me fulfill the language requirements for a history Ph.D., and I'd likely suffer a mental breakdown.

[pleasegodletmein]

yes, i'm going to have to go on a lot of fake "vacations" this spring if i get in anywhere (knock on wood) to check out the towns where i might be living. where shall i tell my employer i'm off to? peru, perhaps? does anyone actually tell their boss that they've applied to grad school, or are my girlfriend and i the only compulsive liars "planning to stay with the company for at least two years or so"?

[Intaglio5]

yes, i'm going to have to go on a lot of fake "vacations" this spring if i get in anywhere (knock on wood) to check out the towns where i might be living. where shall i tell my employer i'm off to? peru, perhaps? does anyone actually tell their boss that they've applied to grad school, or are my girlfriend and i the only compulsive liars "planning to stay with the company for at least two years or so"?

I told my boss, but I also needed a rec from him.

[pleasegodletmein]

i see... i take it you didn't start your job this past september.

[flyingwalrus]

i see... i take it you didn't start your job this past september.

I started mine in August.

[flyingwalrus]

Wow! How amazingly honest of you- you must work at a very understanding organization/company/lab. I started in May and did not disclose. Now, I am wondering how much notice I should give if I am accepted since I really need to keep the job until I move but want to give them enough time to find someone and to help them train the person.

I wasn't the one who responded to you earlier. My boss doesn't know and won't know until I accept and offer.

[pleasegodletmein]

very wise, flyingwalrus, very wise indeed.

[nomad]

Good question, I have worked at a very well known large computer company, for the past 3 years. Now that I have applied for grad school I am not sure what to tell them, I would really like to come back to this company in there research division when I am done so I want to minimize my bride burring. I am going to have to take an overly long vacation at an inconvenient time for them (I have decided to go to school in the UK so I can't really visit there just for a day or so, going to have to be there for about a week), I have my tickets to go to Scotland for early march but have not put in for vacation time yet. What have you all used as excuses

[flyingwalrus]

When I start going out to accepted students weekends (political science programs by and large don't have interviews), I figure I'll just tell the truth. They told me when I took the job that they didn't really expect me to stay for all that long. I do think, however, that they believed I would be transferring to another position within the university. Oh, well.

[Minnesotan]

That's the nice thing about being a TA. As long as the accepteds' tours are not on Tuesdays, I'm fine. =)

[beegee529]

I've already started hearing from a couple of social psych PhD programs. I got a call a couple of weeks ago from the director of grad admissions for social psych at UCLA saying that I was going to be accepted. Now I'm just waiting for the official notification, because I'm terrified it's going to turn out not to be real or they are going to change their minds. I also found out on Sunday that I got an interview at Stanford. Apparently they got 100+ applicants and are only interviewing 6 of us. I should be jumping for joy but unfortunately the Stanford interview is the same weekend as the UCLA recruitment weekend. I talked to the guy at Stanford about splitting my time between the two schools for the weekend and he said that would be fine and to let him know when I had heard from the people at UCLA about their schedule so we could coordinate. But I'm afraid to contact anyone at UCLA until I get official word. Would it be presumptuous to email the guy from UCLA? His words on the phone were "we haven't finished reviewing everyone but in a couple of weeks we will notify the people who have been admitted and you will be on that list. We haven't notified other students yet, but since I'm the director of graduate admissions I can do what I want so I decided to call you. So mark your calendar for the weekend of February 22-23 because that will be the recruitment weekend."

[grifter]

Congratulations, BeeGee. That is an enviable dilemma.

[crossedfingers]

Does 'science' entail engineering? I'm curious and nervous at the same time. I have a couple of friends who are pure science majors and they have heard back from schools. This really made me nervous. I had a couple of Nov deadlines and I STILL havent heard from any school as yet. Same boat as described above, I check my email almost every 10 minutes.

Does anyone here know of engineering majors who have heard back? I wonder if it matters if you applied for a masters or PhD. I mean would they first want to get in all the doctrate kids and then think about the masters?

[Minnesotan]

I haven't seen much in the way of Engineering on the wall, yet. Biomedical Engineering, but that doesn't really count.

[crossedfingers]

I haven't seen much in the way of Engineering on the wall, yet. Biomedical Engineering, but that doesn't really count.

ouch that hurt! i'm biomedical engineering.. and uptil now had considered belonging to the engineering cult LOL..

[adizzygirl]

I've applied to 7 schools (neuroscience PhD also) and as of this week, I'm interviewing with 5 of them(!!!11!1!!one). One of the others I'm reasonably certain I'm already rejected from, the last school's deadline for applications just passed so if I hear from them, it won't be for a few weeks.

I am SO relieved, I spent the entire fall semester panicking because even though I've got the numbers (1430 GRE, 3.76 GPA, closer to 3.8 for major but I haven't calculated it after last semester) I'm just finishing my undergrad degree this spring, my research experience isn't in my area of interest, and I don't have anything published yet. I was expecting to see a bunch of early rejections, get a real job after I graduate, and apply again next year or the year after, but it's looking like I might actually have a shot at getting in somewhere now.

[LaraAnn85]

I applied to 11 Behavioral Neuroscience (Psychology department) PhD programs and to be honest, I had no idea what to expect. I am only 22, in my 4 1/2th year of undergad, graduating in March. My GPA is only a 3.0, BUT I was pre-med until my 3rd year (hence taking >4 years to graduate), recovered from an eating disorder in my second year, and did a serious upward climb with my last year about a 3.9. GRE about a 1300, much higher in math (730) than verbal. What I do have going for me is great research experience, 2 publications, and glowing letters of recommendation from very well known people in the field, which I've heard can trump all other things. So far I have only heard back from 2 schools- I am wait listed at Oregon Health and Science University and invited to come for the interview weekend at Purdue. I have two safety schools where I have met my potential faculty adviser and totally hit it off, so I wouldn't be shocked if I got into those. My dream school's application was only due Jan 1, so I don't think they have offered interviews yet (at least I hope not because I haven't heard a thing!). So still waiting on the other 9, this is certainly a test of my patience... :!: