it's official

[solarbird]

A form-letter email rejection from the graduate school just arrived. I expected it at this point, but still: crap.

Comments

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

Sorry about that. I've been there.

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

Aw, shit.

[grian-ruadh.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear that. Hang in there though. Just means you have an opportunity for something better to happen. *hugs*

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

Well, that sucks.

[xizhimen.livejournal.com]

I came across your posting while skimming through the friends page of someone. I've gone to two different grad programs, in political science in 1989 at Michigan, which was considered either #1 or #2 in the country then, and now in sociology at Wisconsin, which is considered the #1 department. When I was applying in 1989 and then in 1998, some much lower ranked departments rejected me, so these kinds of things can be strange.

[gerimaple.livejournal.com]

aw, FRELL :( my empathies

[rmd.livejournal.com]

well, crap. i'm sorry.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

aww, drag. did you only apply the one place?

[starfallz.livejournal.com]

Ah, that sucks. :(

[darkphoenixrisn.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear that.

[waysofseeing.livejournal.com]

I'm so very sorry.

[solarbird]

I've asked them if there was something in particular that kept me out - I can think of a couple of possible answers - and if there is, I can try to rectify it before next year and apply again. I'm an easy bike from Cascadia Community College and an easy bus from UW main campus (summer classes only). If they want me to implement a bio background, I can do that.

[solarbird]

Yeah. You know how bad I am at moving. It's a problem. ;_;

[solarbird]

I'm genuinely upset about it. Really, I have been for several days as the outcome became, you know, kind of obvious.

[solarbird]

It was kind of a longshot. But I'm still pretty upset. The last time I moved cities, I cried uncontrollably a couple of days a week for six months. I'm not good at moving. I've sent mail asking if there are specific issues I could address before reapplying next year, or whether it's more of a general "um, no." Hopefully they'll answer.

[solarbird]

I'd really hoped to make it to at least the interviews. ;_;

[cow.livejournal.com]

:( I'm sorry to hear that.

I decided what grad program I actually wanted to apply for...and then found out I'd missed the deadline by a month.

[solarbird]

I'm very sad. I was really hoping for at least a shot at interviews. ;_;

[waysofseeing.livejournal.com]

Persistence *does* pay off.

Holly applied to UW law school in 2003 and was rejected. She applied to Seattle U in 2003 and was rejected again. Then she applied to Seattle U in 2004, was accepted for the 2005 class, and has been top 10% of her class since.

Have you ever met the department chair? It might be worth seeing if you can arrange an appointment to explain your interest. (I'd wait a month or two to get some emotional distance first.)

[solarbird]

Also, what department, and are you going to apply next year?

[cow.livejournal.com]

Ph.D., information science, and yeah, probably.

(Probably is dependent on whether or not I apply for the M.Sc. in information management instead, which isn't due until 15 May. If I don't, and then do go for the Ph.D., I'll probably spend the next school year relaxing a bit and taking a couple of Courses Helpful To Have On One's Application.)

[solarbird]

No, I haven't; I did a bunch of that in the CS department, but that was to try to see whether I wanted to go there. (A couple of people I tried to contact through referrals there are in neurobio but didn't respond to repeated requests to talk. But I've heard from other sources that this is typical of these particular people.)

Regardless, I got a standard letter back listing boilerplate and saying that if I really want to talk about my case in particularly, write back in 1-2 months. I've set a date in my calendar to write in at the beginning of April.

[mistwolf.livejournal.com]

Many, many hugs. :(

[solarbird]

Heh. That's part of my plan too. I just need to figure out what courses those are. I'm also considering other options; I do have these ideas about language processing that I could work on entirely on my own; I could also try to get a job in a research environment for a bit. Other suggestions are welcome.

[rosepurr.livejournal.com]

Eee. Sorry to hear that. :(

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry!

If I can help in any future attempts, do let me know.

Cathy

[solarbird]

Thanks - I'll probably be back in a year, asking for a new copy of that letter...!