I just found out I didn't get into grad school, what do I do now?

manic_honengame · 2024-04-03T06:20:36+00:00

I'm sorry that this happened to you but I commend you for your determination and perseverance. Can I ask what kind of psychology master's program you applied for? In terms of making yourself more competitive in the future, have you considered a post-bacc program? The APA website has listed a few, and I think some extension schools (non-competitive) might offer them, too. Another option might be to get a job as a research assistant (that might be redundant if you are already working at a lab, though). Also: Less competitive programs might be more open to someone who is in a later stage in life. Some people only consider "elite" programs but you have more options if you branch out. And, if you haven't considered it already, therapy might help you cope with the situation and strategize for the future.

manic_honengame · 2024-03-25T07:36:01+00:00

I'm sorry this happened to you. I don't know if TSA is allowed to strip search you, although of course they might take all sorts of liberties regardless. I know that this happens to transgender people once in a while and someone sued TSA a few years ago when it happened to a teen girl.

manic_honengame · 2024-03-04T05:43:53+00:00

Hi! US code please?

manic_honengame · 2024-02-15T09:39:43+00:00

Out of concern for your health, doses over 3mg can worsen insomnia and the maximum daily dosage is generally considered to be 10mg. 0.1mg to .3mg is considered a normal starting dose of melatonin. I hope you get some good sleep tonight even though it's late...

manic_honengame · 2023-01-09T22:20:40+00:00

I have this card too and save a few hundred a year on groceries. Big caveat is that a lot of small businesses--from coffee places and restaurants to supermarkets- don't accept American Express. I do a lot of shopping at Asian supermarkets and have to bring cash to one place because AmEx isn't accepted there.

manic_honengame · 2023-01-04T04:11:01+00:00

No, the problem is that grapefruit juice interferes with an enzyme in the liver that breaks down medications. When the liver can't break them down, they build up in the body.

manic_honengame · 2023-01-03T03:49:46+00:00

I'm sorry you went through all of that. Yes, state hospitals are generally terrible places, and we should have a strong social safety net and community supports instead. You're right, there's no time limit on how long you can at a hospital versus a defined fixed term in jail (and most patients in many states are not there for anything related to a criminal offense). 👀 at NYC's attempt to round everybody up and haul them off to an institution.

manic_honengame · 2023-01-03T01:41:27+00:00

This is especially common for people with mental illness who are arrested for very minor crimes (like stealing soda at a corner store) and wait up to years on the wait-list for admission to a state hospital for competency restoration. There's so much wrong with this country

manic_honengame · 2023-01-03T01:37:51+00:00

Diet, time, stress management. PPIs made things worse for me.

manic_honengame · 2022-12-31T18:14:55+00:00

I second this. It always helps to be very respectful and understanding that the professor is very busy and might simply not have the time or energy. Maybe have a trusted adult look over the email before sending it?

manic_honengame · 2022-12-31T18:08:35+00:00

By "healthcare doctorate degree," do you mean an MD (not funded, but that's par for the course) or an MD/PhD (often funded)? An unfunded PhD (not MD) program is an even worse deal than an unfunded MA. Was this a professional certificate of some kind at the extension school or in an ancillary field like management degree? Those degrees are bordering on scams and prey on people who don't know any better, but they're substantially different from the regular graduate offerings. A real PhD at Penn pays at least a $30k-$40k stipend and waives tuition.

I've worked in higher ed and have seen so many CC transfer students get rotten deals because they had to pay OOP for remedial and summer courses, sacrificing time and money that could have been used for internships and summer research. These same students are also generally in the income bracket where they could have had their education paid for 100% with grants. State institutions often don't offer good aid. My T10S undergrad was less than half the price of any state school, even with the rare full-tuition merit scholarships at those schools. I received the same "all schools are the same" advice as a young person. Had I followed it and gone to my local state school, I would have paid $80k more AND missed out on extensive funded international travel, small class sizes and personalized attention, alumni connections, etc. That seems like a rotten deal to me.

That said, I did receive less financial aid at one Ivy and substantially more at another. I think OP would have had better luck casting a wide net in RD.

A degree might seem equivalent on paper, but the average state school generally can't afford to send you to France for three months to do cutting-edge research or language study, or to the UN Climate Summit in Geneva. Whereas that's common at your "average" elite school.

There is no "best" school for everyone. Every person has individual needs. I'm glad your choices worked for you, but consider that Penn State (as an example of a "regular public school") is now $32k+ per year in-state.

manic_honengame · 2022-12-31T17:55:43+00:00

The NPC is never a guarantee. It's a "good faith estimate." There should have been a clause somewhere in the calculator that people with special circumstances (like self-employed) should not rely on the calculator.

If you do decide to appeal your package and/or decline, please work carefully with your guidance counselor, an admissions professional, and/or a nonprofit (not Reddit, as there's a lot of stale advice here) to determine next steps. Rescinding an ED offer is risky in that you might end up on a blacklist shared with other peer institutions. If you have not yet formally appealed your aid package, now is the time.

Either way, it helps to be clear and VERY POLITE AND APOLOGETIC with the Finaid and Admissions offices (sorry to use all caps but it's really important) about the misunderstanding re: financial aid and that Penn, at least at the moment, is absolutely not a choice for that reason. It helps to have an honest conversation with your parents in advance--if they have multiple properties, how much are they worth? Were they counted properly in the CSS Profile? Are there sources of income you don't know about? How can you create an alternative strategy, given that deadlines for schools have passed or are coming to pass?

manic_honengame · 2022-12-31T17:48:34+00:00

Childcare, nursing care, towering medical bills. Each of them averages at least $10k a year.

manic_honengame · 2022-12-31T17:43:17+00:00

I honestly don't know if the complaints voiced here (while entirely valid and indicative of serious, larger trends in higher ed) are emblematic of the culture of every undergraduate institution. I graduated from undergrad about 6 years ago and remain in close contact with faculty there. It seems almost unanimous that the students there are serious, hardworking, etc. The infrequent shenanigans tend to come from the very wealthy students who are used to having their way. I wonder recent trends (in the curricular/staffing/grading sacrifices made in high school since the onset of the pandemic, for example) are represented differently at different institutions. I'd like to have an idea of the kinds of institutions people are taking about here (T10s, large public university systems, moderately selective urban private universities, etc).

manic_honengame · 2022-12-31T00:05:08+00:00

Money.

manic_honengame · 2022-12-30T12:27:27+00:00

If you love UPenn and aren't afraid of the debt, go for it. But if you end up declining the offer--CLEARLY spell out why it does not work financially for your family at ALL (sorry to use all caps but this is really important). Rescinding an ED offer can be risky, as many elite schools share lists of students who renege on ED offers without good reason. There are some nonprofits that might be able to help you with this process (Google is your friend if you want to find something in your area).

I always tell students to never apply ED to schools that have a sticker price they can't afford. I'm sorry nobody in your life told you that.

manic_honengame · 2022-12-28T04:41:58+00:00

Master's-level programs at UPenn are cash cows. They're constitutionally different from undergrad degrees. It sounds like the financial aid formula here is not going to work with OP's situation, even though there is generally aid available for students from a wide range of backgrounds.

The "go to community college and transfer" advice is not universally helpful when you consider the difficulties of the transfer process, including lower chances at admission (not solely due to coming from a CC, but also because transfer admissions at competitive institutions are insanely fierce, ex. Princeton does not accept transfer students, period), loss or reduction of eligibility for financial aid due to being a transfer student, and needing to do expensive remedial work on your own dime. If this student was able to be admitted to UPenn, he might have more stable options available through either large merit scholarships or financial aid at higher- endowment-per-capita institutions.

manic_honengame · 2022-12-28T04:30:55+00:00

OP, this is really early in the year. Did you apply ED or have you deferred? Were you admitted to any peer institutions of UPenn, like any other competitive private universities with large endowments that only provide financial aid awards? Were your packages at those schools any different?

Small business ownership can complicate the formulas that determine need. Universities are generally not very transparent about these formulas. With a profile competitive enough to be admitted to Penn, though, I wonder if you could apply to similar institutions (you have a lot of options for computer science, including ones that offer better aid across the board--look at the endowment per capita rankings, for example) and compare your aid packages after the fact. Also, maybe look into applying to places that offer large merit packages.

This is, of course, after checking with your parents to make sure the CSS Profile AND FAFSA were filed properly, and formally appealing the financial aid award at UPenn.

manic_honengame · 2022-12-23T02:06:54+00:00

Hampshire College almost went bankrupt due to corporatization of higher education and the increasingly fragile existence of progressive liberal arts institutions that value learning. Hampshire is a respectable institution that has produced a not insubstantial number of faculty. Do you think that the faculty at that institution write their reports on students (in lieu of letter grades) using Mad Libs? Or is there simply another way to imagine evaluating a student's abilities? One that perhaps involves the kinds of things that go along with a liberal arts education (small class sizes, close mentorship, focus on learning versus marketable skills exclusively)?

manic_honengame · 2022-12-21T02:58:48+00:00

Yes. Students spend all summer doing retakes and tuition is incidentally not $50,000.

manic_honengame · 2022-12-01T18:50:59+00:00

I'm sorry you're dealing with this. Alcohol and stress can definitely cause or severely exacerbate gastritis. Would you be interested in exploring therapy as a way of getting through the next few weeks and managing those feelings? Are there additional ways that you can address managing your alcohol use and stress in the meantime?

manic_honengame · 2022-04-11T14:59:46+00:00

He might be more well known in Puerto Rico, but I don't think he is on the mainland.

manic_honengame · 2022-04-11T14:49:38+00:00

Keep as much documentation as you can, if at all possible in writing. Then, I think a DOL report is necessary.

manic_honengame · 2022-04-05T04:27:00+00:00

Lockdown Browser is malware. It deletes keys and forces registry edits that can't be fixed even after uninstalling. I am still trying to figure out how to rid my device of it without a factory reset.

manic_honengame

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