As many of you know I applied to multiple graduate schools this past winter and I have received letters from all of the schools but one. I wanted to wait till I got all my letters before I announced anything. But I have a pretty good idea of what the last letter will say so I am writing the post without it.
So here is goes... I received 5 letters of rejection and I am assuming the last letter will be a rejection too. Not one of the schools I applied to wanted me. It is incredibly painful to think about. I got all of the letters within a week of each other, right before my birthday. Naturally I pouted that whole week and had myself a little pity party. However, I have now put my big girl pants back on and I am working on plan B. I am assuming that the main reason I didn't get into the programs because of my lack of experience. I don't think my G.P.A. or GRE score were very strong so in combination with that and zero experience I just wasn't a good applicant I believe. This is extremely frustrating because for my entire college career I was relearning how to live. I was attending doctors appointments, lawyer meetings, therapy of all kinds and none of this counts. To them it just looks like I was going to school and thats it but really I was doing so much more. Personally I feel that what I have lived through is more valuable than any "on the job" experience I will ever receive. But schools don't take that into consideration, they want you to play their game.
Which leads me to Plan B get a job and apply to schools for my masters. I have begun the job search which won't be easy because most jobs want you full time and with my physical therapy schedule it just isn't possible to work full time. So I might just have to volunteer somewhere till after the wedding and then get a job. As for masters programs the deadline to apply for next fall has already passed, meaning I will be off school for yet another year! Once again not ideal but there isn't much I can do about it at this point. There is still an off chance that Western Michigan will accept me into their program and all this worry will be for nothing but I am preparing for the worst and I will be okay with it.
I guess it is true that nothing comes easy in life. Especially things we want most in life, we have to fight for it. I am prepared to fight for it all.
What a huge bummer! But something tells me the backup plan will be much better than you expect.
ReplyDeleteGrad School is such a crap shoot when it comes to acceptance. You can be accepted by 13 ranked school and rejected by 43rd. I have never completely figured out the logic. So that being said I wouldn't be deterred by the unfortunate news. I think building up your resume experience definitely couldn't hurt. I say try again and don't forget to put an emphasis on the statement of intent. You have overcome a lot of adversity and your story has been an inspiration to many. I have no doubt that if you keep trying for grad school you will be successful. When I went through the process my GPA and GRE were mediocre, but I since i was perusing an architectural degree my I was lucky enough to have a portfolio to let my work speak for itself. Having gone through the application process not so long ago I sympathize with you I remember how stressful this all was. Great blog and take care!
ReplyDelete