Well, having just completed the mad dash through one search committee, it looks like I'm now going to be chairing another (for a fixed-term position). And that will have drama. Indeed, the drama has already begun. And it's the first of my Big Event Weeks of the spring, with a guest writer driving in tomorrow, hopefully not in heaps of snow, so of course Tiny Boy started vomiting about 4 a.m.
This was after I'd gotten to bed late, because my thesis advisee just learned she'd been rejected from all the grad programs to which she replied and, honestly, it hurt me too. She's one of the few I can truly look at and see myself half my life ago, and she's usually so excited and full of sparkly optimism--and, frankly, she should have gotten into grad school*--it just sucked to see her crushed. There was evening consoling to do.
So, my sleep deficit is climbing; it's 9:30 and LG still isn't sleeping. Tiny Boy drank chocolate rice milk before bed, which I fully expect him to throw up in the next few hours, but I'm really hoping he doesn't, because I'd really like him to go to school tomorrow so I can get back to work...
* But, yeah, something like 10 spots and 300+ applicants at that sorts of places she applied. It's not personal, it's math....but also really personal.
This was after I'd gotten to bed late, because my thesis advisee just learned she'd been rejected from all the grad programs to which she replied and, honestly, it hurt me too. She's one of the few I can truly look at and see myself half my life ago, and she's usually so excited and full of sparkly optimism--and, frankly, she should have gotten into grad school*--it just sucked to see her crushed. There was evening consoling to do.
So, my sleep deficit is climbing; it's 9:30 and LG still isn't sleeping. Tiny Boy drank chocolate rice milk before bed, which I fully expect him to throw up in the next few hours, but I'm really hoping he doesn't, because I'd really like him to go to school tomorrow so I can get back to work...
* But, yeah, something like 10 spots and 300+ applicants at that sorts of places she applied. It's not personal, it's math....but also really personal.
Lordy. Hope that the chocolate milk stays put.
ReplyDeleteAnd very sorry to hear about your advisee ... :( I am watching rejection splattered across campus these days now, too. Depressing.
Hang in there ... wishing you the sleep that I never seem to catch up on, either...
You know, amazingly, it did!
ReplyDeleteYour poor advisee. I would like to add that there may be a silver lining. The first year I applied to grad school, I set my sights very high and was devastated when I didn't get in anywhere. Like, several-month-long-depression devastation. The next year, I was not only more conservative in my applications, but I'd also had a year to think more carefully about making a strong application; unlike most people, I actually did end up writing my diss on many of the questions that propelled my application essay. The difference was amazing. I was accepted everywhere I applied, excellent schools though not THE BEST and all of them public institutions. I was also offered multi-year fellowship and/or teaching deals from everyone, meaning that I accrued no debt whatsoever while in grad school. It's harder to wring money out of THE BEST; plus, many are located in areas with very high cost of living. I shudder to think of the debt load I would have acquired if I had been accepted anywhere the first year I applied and the way it would have limited all of my choices later on.
ReplyDeleteHeidi, yes. Your story is a good one to keep in mind!! And I totally agree. Taking a year off is generally a good thing anyway.
ReplyDeleteI got into exactly one program (wait-listed at a second), with no funding for first year. (I was in the last of the "big" classes admitted--20?--and did up with an assistantship for my other 6 years in school.) I consider myself very luck that it worked out. And that one program was the RIGHT program for me, clearly, based on my career.
I think if this student does apply again, she'll have no trouble, for the same sorts of reasons you outline. While her statement of purpose was *impeccable* I know the writing sample will be stronger as well as letters of rec (with a completed thesis behind her). No small things. I think she's also learned the lesson of needing a 'safety school'...always possible to move between MA and PhD. But ugh, what a week!!