Raja Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Grad school is expensive I made the rookie mistake of applying to too many schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 The application fees, or the actual cost? Because applying to more schools would seem to raise the chances of getting some funding somewhere... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyelesbarrow Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 It seems like I got accepted by my potential supervisor at FU Berlin after a 40 min chat with him today. If all things go well -pending the submission of a longer proposal that he will submit to the department and the registration formalities - I start in the winter semester. I still have to sort out the funding and the supervisor said he will give me a letter of recommendation for my applications to the foundations. There might be a possibility of funding from the department in the future, but the safe thing to do is find one on my own. Fees-wise, Germany is very affordable (around 250 euros/ sem, which includes a heavily subsidized city-wide transport ticket). After the UK application, which felt high stakes for me, this is kinda anticlimactic. But all good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckwheat Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Congratulations, Eyelessbarrow. Good luck in the winter semester then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted January 31, 2017 Author Share Posted January 31, 2017 A bus discount! So the very best reason to do a phd. And you know I literally mean that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted March 5, 2017 Author Share Posted March 5, 2017 Kill. Me. Now. The one thing I wanted was for the waiting to end. Instead I'm waitlisted at the three top programs in the world for planning, and rejected in the other two places I applied. Yay, now I get a few more nailbiting months of telling myself that its no big deal really and I should apply next year when my thesis supervisor actually knows me and can write a decent letter and my transcripts don't have to come with a note explanining why they're such an incomplete mess, but...just...maybe... Why did you people not talk me out of this? The last place fedexed me an entire folder thing with the waitlisting. From the US. You're a planning department, have you not heard of carbon footprints? Or email? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkess Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Yikes! 3 waitlists, that has to be very nerve-wracking indeed. Good luck! I just got back from an open house and I am feeling all sorts of feelings. Impostor syndrome for sure. Plus the whole being a million years older than everyone. On the one hand, I can totally see myself there and I think it would be amazing to do. But I've been around the block long enough to know everything has tradeoffs. Will my boyfriend and I really be able to do long distance for 5+ years? Will I really be able to handle losing 50%+ of my income? Will I really be able to integrate back into this bubble which is so very different than anything I've done? Am I just having some sort of sad third-life crisis? Ahhhh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 Thanks! It's better than I expected, really, so quite encouraging on the one hand, but the almost of it is frustrating. Like, if this is what I'm going to end up doing after all, can I get on with it already? How far is your school from your bf? And do you see yourself in staying in academics afterwards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkess Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Both of the options I am still considering are over 900 miles from where we live now. Of course, my bf is in the Navy so he won't be here for more than a year or so after I start school. And he could get stationed somewhere even further! Luckily both places have robust airports (Chicago and Boston), but seeing each other will definitely be difficult given his schedule and going out to sea and such. As far as my career after school--ha, I have no idea! Academics might be nice, but maybe it turns out I don't like that environment much for a career. Plus it can be a difficult career path, and I don't fancy teaching Physics 101 in Podunk, Idaho forever. I'm trying not to set too many expectations for myself right now, I suppose. Post doc is a long ways away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Stop reminding me I should be working on my dissertation, thread! Anyway, I've only skimmed this, but my advice would be reiterating others': I would not start a program without solid funding or at least opportunities for funding throughout, and I would not invest five+ years of my life unless it was necessary for career goals (e.g. I plan on staying in academia). Obviously this advice may vary by field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted March 7, 2017 Author Share Posted March 7, 2017 Stark - do you (or him) have to be based in San Diego (IIRC) then? Could Boston/Chicago not be home base for both of you, and the place he goes in between deployments? Or do I totally not get the American military here? 8 hours ago, dmc515 said: Stop reminding me I should be working on my dissertation, thread! My thesis supervisor caught me in the hall yesterday - very much like one of the semi-stray cats that live in the university that she likes to catch and try to feed - and told me she was very concerned and I need to spend less time on (compulsary) classes, working (for, you know, money) and on having anxiety attacks and get on with my thesis instead. I straight up just didn't tell her I had started a new part time job. This was absolutely because of cowardice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkess Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 14 hours ago, Datepalm said: Stark - do you (or him) have to be based in San Diego (IIRC) then? Could Boston/Chicago not be home base for both of you, and the place he goes in between deployments? Or do I totally not get the American military here? It was San Diego until just a couple months ago, good memory. Now we're down in South Carolina. And no, he has to be at his duty station. Even when they aren't deployed or out to sea, he has duty and regular workweek responsibilities. Even visiting for long weekends can be tough because he could get called back in. Basically it is sucks and why I told myself I would never get involved with a servicemember but then, you know, I fell in love and all...sigh. We've been together for 5+ years, at least, so it's not like I feel insecure in our relationship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted April 12, 2017 Author Share Posted April 12, 2017 Well, this has all been weird. I can just about summarize the whole experience now, (barring some unlikely last minute waitlist luck) and its by far the oddest and most disconcerting thing I've ever tried to do. Results being - I was accepted to Portland, who only let me know today what funding, projects, etc they have. (and Oxford, who still haven't) It sounded technically promising but way off what I actually want to be doing (and long term career goals.) So I tentatively brought up the possibility of deferring by a year with Potential-Supervisor-Person, who, to my surprise, immediately said it was a great idea, lets keep in touch, best, see ya in six months. So that was a decision I expected to spend weeks agonizing over suddenly made in passing in a last minute skype call. The next 6-8 months until the next round of applications are due is already looking fairly busy (with relevant academic-y stuff...plus my actual thesis is a ways from being done) so it doesn't feel like a loss so much as just a natural dragging out of the proccess, but I still can't figure out if I'm relieved or disappointed. On the other hand, yay, I can sleep now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theda Baratheon Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 55 minutes ago, Datepalm said: Well, this has all been weird. I can just about summarize the whole experience now, (barring some unlikely last minute waitlist luck) and its by far the oddest and most disconcerting thing I've ever tried to do. Results being - I was accepted to Portland, who only let me know today what funding, projects, etc they have. (and Oxford, who still haven't) It sounded technically promising but way off what I actually want to be doing (and long term career goals.) So I tentatively brought up the possibility of deferring by a year with Potential-Supervisor-Person, who, to my surprise, immediately said it was a great idea, lets keep in touch, best, see ya in six months. So that was a decision I expected to spend weeks agonizing over suddenly made in passing in a last minute skype call. The next 6-8 months until the next round of applications are due is already looking fairly busy (with relevant academic-y stuff...plus my actual thesis is a ways from being done) so it doesn't feel like a loss so much as just a natural dragging out of the proccess, but I still can't figure out if I'm relieved or disappointed. On the other hand, yay, I can sleep now! yay for sleep! and also, god i'm never doing a phd im doing a 4 year long distance learning part time MA and i'm even struggling with being motivated to do THAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrist Simon Steele Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 Is it okay if I post in this thread that I just got accepted into a PhD program? I hope it is not distracting from anyone else. But I just found out, and I'm kind of scared. Now that I've been accepted, I have a clinical faculty position waiting for me which pays better than what I made before, and everyone is so excited to have me. Like...no one has ever been excited to have me around before. To think, just a couple of years ago I was thinking I had jumped in over my head in grad school and would never be able to graduate. Hell, to think just a few years ago I was a middle school teacher in a rural, conservative community and figured I'd die in that building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted April 14, 2017 Author Share Posted April 14, 2017 Dude congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theda Baratheon Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 8 hours ago, Simon Steele said: Is it okay if I post in this thread that I just got accepted into a PhD program? I hope it is not distracting from anyone else. But I just found out, and I'm kind of scared. Now that I've been accepted, I have a clinical faculty position waiting for me which pays better than what I made before, and everyone is so excited to have me. Like...no one has ever been excited to have me around before. To think, just a couple of years ago I was thinking I had jumped in over my head in grad school and would never be able to graduate. Hell, to think just a few years ago I was a middle school teacher in a rural, conservative community and figured I'd die in that building. Congrats!!! That's awesome!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrist Simon Steele Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 Thanks--I'm really so excited that I'm kind of in shock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckwheat Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkess Posted April 15, 2017 Share Posted April 15, 2017 Well, for my part I can agree that this process is inscrutable and crazy and exhausting, but today is Decision Day and I have finally made mine! I ended up getting offers from three programs (Chicago, MIT, Hawaii) and after some insane back and forthing (I seriously changed my mind a dozen times in the past couple days, flipping between Chicago and MIT), I pulled the trigger on Chicago. I cannot believe that something I have daydreamed about for years as a passing fancy that would never work with my life is actually going to happen! I've given my notice at my current job and I will be spending the summer traveling and studying and moving. I honestly had no idea if my applications were competitive. I shot pretty high with my applications and it worked out, so that was a relief. Also surprised at which programs I got into and which ones I didn't. People say that admissions can be a crapshoot and that is certainly true to my experience. I didn't speak with any faculty at any of the schools, didn't have much research experience, and didn't blow the PGRE out of the water, but here I am anyway! (Impostor syndrome definitely kicked in!) Also one of my potential advisers is I think 2 years older than me. On 4/12/2017 at 5:13 AM, Datepalm said: Well, this has all been weird. I can just about summarize the whole experience now, (barring some unlikely last minute waitlist luck) and its by far the oddest and most disconcerting thing I've ever tried to do. Results being - I was accepted to Portland, who only let me know today what funding, projects, etc they have. (and Oxford, who still haven't) It sounded technically promising but way off what I actually want to be doing (and long term career goals.) So I tentatively brought up the possibility of deferring by a year with Potential-Supervisor-Person, who, to my surprise, immediately said it was a great idea, lets keep in touch, best, see ya in six months. So that was a decision I expected to spend weeks agonizing over suddenly made in passing in a last minute skype call. The next 6-8 months until the next round of applications are due is already looking fairly busy (with relevant academic-y stuff...plus my actual thesis is a ways from being done) so it doesn't feel like a loss so much as just a natural dragging out of the proccess, but I still can't figure out if I'm relieved or disappointed. On the other hand, yay, I can sleep now! Congrats! That's awesome! I think it is pretty common for people to defer, glad that it worked out so smoothly for you. On 4/13/2017 at 8:50 PM, Simon Steele said: Is it okay if I post in this thread that I just got accepted into a PhD program? I hope it is not distracting from anyone else. But I just found out, and I'm kind of scared. Now that I've been accepted, I have a clinical faculty position waiting for me which pays better than what I made before, and everyone is so excited to have me. Like...no one has ever been excited to have me around before. To think, just a couple of years ago I was thinking I had jumped in over my head in grad school and would never be able to graduate. Hell, to think just a few years ago I was a middle school teacher in a rural, conservative community and figured I'd die in that building. Woohoo!!!!!! Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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