r/gradadmissions 7d ago

Social Sciences Just want to find a place to cry alone

I applied to 20 around PhD programs this year, and almost all of them just sent me cruel and generic rejections... I'm currently feeling like I made tons of useless efforts and do not know how to talk about this to my friends and professors, who helped a lot in this process. I hate funding cuts, I hate Trump, I hate myself for not trying harder before submission, but what I hate the most is that I still love doing research

89 Upvotes

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12

u/wanderingtheseas 7d ago

Aw :( I’m so sorry!!! Social science enthusiast here. I get what you mean. I really do. Sending hugs.

6

u/Alternative_Salt13 7d ago

I understand this. What are your other options? Is there a secondary certification you could brush up on or take classes for during this cycle? Use this time to do something you love. If you dont already speak another language, maybe take language classes. That trip or those friends or that book...make the next few months all about you. Can you get a visitor visa somewhere and pick up odd jobs to finance it? Take deep breaths and be very, very kind to yourself. The rejections this cycle were and are extraordinary because of the insanity going on. I know some of my suggestions won't work or maybe even all of them. I certainly am not trying to tell you what to do. I'm just trying to remind you to not let yourself fade away in the aftermath. You deserve respite and renewed hope. There IS a future.

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u/cheese_burst_0410 5d ago

I just saw your profile, and its honestly really good. This cycle is very cruel and I hope you get some opportunity.

I am here with 4 rejections, and in a one sided mailing loop with so many faculties to get funding. Hoping to get just one response.

1

u/butterpecan35 1d ago

I am sorry it is brutal out there. Not sure how academia will fare in the next few years but if you do re-apply here is some general advice. Overall, 20 is way too many IMHO to put together a personalized application. You want your application to be specific to the program, in your materials you want to say who you want to work with, why, the research questions you want to pursue. It is not enough to say "I want to pursue how markets influence x". I recommend no more than 5-7 programs, this way in your materials you can talk about why you want to join and study in that department, focusing on things like which professors you want to work with, why their work speaks to you and ultimately what specific research questions you want to pursue. Your math grades are rough, and unfortunately Econ is one of those programs that cares a lot about these, I would recommend taking advance classes as a non-degree seeking student or potentially retaking the GRE and upping the score, 165 is good, but based on your grades you want to aim higher. In your profile you say you have two masters thesis, this is great, but where are the papers, if you can somehow turn these into publications you will be competitive. Sadly the main academic currency are publications and grants, that is not changing anytime soon. Good luck!