I was rejected by seven schools this spring. There were several kindly written responses, like, “We regret that we are unable…” kinds of phrases. I also liked the ones that came late (or after the April 15th deadline), stating that they’d hoped, up until the very last minute, that they would have been able to find a spot for me.
The hands down worst rejection came from Syracuse, which misspelled my name in two different ways and effed up my address. Yeah, can you believe it?
On a more positive note, I was accepted at six schools. My final decision is to go back to Washington, although it still doesn’t feel very final yet. It was a difficult decision. In fact, I never did reach a point where I felt great about it, there only came a point where I had to make a decision. I think part of my hesitation comes from the fact that going back to school is going to be hard. I’m looking forward to it, but I also know how stressful it can be. I also worry that I’ll end up in a program with lots of underlying hostility, one that pits students against each other. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know this about a school, without first having actual insider insights. This time around, I feel like I might be better able to recognize the bs and stay away from it. Hopefully.
I thrive with encouragement and positive reinforcement. Faculty will get much better work out of me using this tactic. The other tactic, which was used with reckless abandon at WWU, did not work for me.