Waiting for Admission to Graduate School, Applying to Graduate School

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Waiting for Admission

The experience is, in general, universal: That boy or girl who sat next to you in sixth-grade homeroom, the one with the great hair and the ultra-cool Trapper Keeper, might have liked you. As in, Liked you-Liked you, with a capital L. At least, that was the rumor floating around the school cafeteria. So you slipped a note to your crush at lunch that said something along the lines of, "I think you're cute. Call me tonite," followed by your phone number.

You got home from school around three-fifteen and proceeded to wait for the phone to ring. Four o'clock arrived. Then five. Then nine. And still you waited.

This is what it's like once you've sent off all your grad school applications. You wait for what seems like an eternity, unsure if it's all been an effort in futility.

But you don't have to be paralyzed; there are ways you can make the time go faster. And unlike when you were in middle school, waiting for the phone to ring, your options are not limited to pining away or simply going to bed early.

That Movie With Cameron Diaz
The first thing you need to do is keep it all in perspective. You most likely spent hours working on your application and scholarly essay, not to mention the weeks you agonized over the pithy little nuggets of wit and wisdom that comprise your personal statement. But, to completely misuse the words of Nathan Hale, though you have but one packet to complete for your grad school application, the admissions committee must wade through hundreds-if not thousands-of them.

Put yourself in their shoes. Waiting to hear about the future of your educational goals is certainly difficult-no one could ever claim otherwise-but at least it's passive. The poor folks on the admissions committee have only just begun their work, and the road down which they travel every admissions season is arduous, to say the least.

So though your wait will at times seem interminable, you are not alone in your suffering. It just seems that way because you cannot see your fellow sufferers, holed up in their conference wading through application after application.

Keep On Truckin'
That having been said, though, waiting is pretty painful. But that does not mean it has to be paralyzing. So just because you've taken your GRE's and sent your application into the great academic unknown, you don't have to rest on your intellectual laurels. Remember, one of the reasons most people want to go to grad school is because they are simply fascinated by a specific area of study and would like, at some point, to make a career out of it.

Want a Ph.D. in French literature? Re-read Proust. Hoping to study Arabic language and culture? Page through al-Quds al-Arabi every morning. Conceptual Physics more your game? Work on a new set of equations proving the veracity of String Theory.

The point is this: Just because you're waiting to hear about the fate of your application, you don't have to sit there doing nothing. And you just never know: Maybe the work you do in the meantime will help you once you've gotten into the program of your dreams.

The Oscar Awards
It's the moment every movie star longs for and dreads in equal measure: "And the winner is..." the presenter begins, slowly, carefully, painfully opening the envelope. At that moment, the one every actor and fan of the cinema awaits all year, clichŽ trumps everything else and time does, indeed, seem to stand still.

This is what it's like when you finally, after such a painfully long wait, see that envelope lying there at the bottom of your mailbox. First impressions, of course, are everything: Is it a flat, rejection-sized envelope or a paperwork-stuffed and acceptance-smelling manila monstrosity? In that one moment, hearts are broken or filled.

If you've been accepted, the road ahead is rather clear: Do whatever the school asks of you in the way of paperwork and documentation and prepare yourself as well as you can for your first semester. If, however, you have not been accepted, you need to keep in mind that it's not the end of the world. There are hundreds of programs out there that you have not yet applied to, and probably dozens of them that would be perfect for you.

The most important thing to remember is that a rejection is not a judgment of you as a person, or even of your intellect or potential as a scholar. Remember, most programs receive hundreds of applications for only a few precious spots, and there is no way to know the full set of criteria used in determining the new class of graduate students. Maybe you came from the wrong part of the country. Perhaps your expertise is in the area of Aboriginal anthropology but the admissions committee wanted a penguin sociologist. It could be anything, and the frustrating part is that you'll probably never know why you weren't accepted.

But if you really want to go to grad school, simply regroup, reassess, and reapply to different programs. There is no shame in that; some of the most successful graduate students, in fact, do not gain admission on their first try.

If you really want to go to grad school, you will find a way.

She Loves Me, She loves Me Not
Back in sixth grade, that wait for the phone to ring with the hopefully good news from your crush seemed to stretch on forever. The wait for news from the schools to which you've applied will move at about the same speed. If you expect this, however, your suffering may be reduced. Either way, all anyone can do is wait. And remain productive. And hope for the best.

Applying to graduate school is a process and we at GradSchools.com can help you along the way. E-mail us with any questions you have and we'll provide articles in future issues of the Express. If you have friends who are also applying, forward them this newsletter. Let us know what we can do to help you!

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