By Melis Ciner on December 4, 2008 5:08 PM
There seems to be a lot of speculation surrounding what matters most in a graduate application. I usually try not to be swayed by other people's opinions when it comes to competitive situations. I know it sounds like some misplaced loftiness, but it's actually a way of keeping focused and getting on with the work. I try to keep in mind that other applicants' opinions are a reflection of their experience and their experience only. Things may turn out to be drastically different for me or any other applicant. Who knows how I compare to the rest of the pile? And then of course there are always those characters who try to generate rumors just to make other people nervous. They overgeneralize like it is their job, use far too many superlatives, and usually apply their negative experience to everyone else in their circle. I have had to nod and smile at a lot of those people during my academic career!
I come from Turkey, a country in which teenagers go through an excessively competitive college entrance process hinging mainly on a standardized test. I remember my math tutor in my senior year of high school telling me that he would start false rumors in his school about the content of the exam, only to laugh at them when they circulated the entire senior class and came back to him. One can only hope that he has matured a little bit since. While this is a comical example, my strategy has always been to do my best (which I would recommend to anyone) and ignore anyone who tries to bring me down. Unfortunately the less overgeneralizers know, the more they are prone to talk. So do not let them discourage you from applying--you'll get the satisfaction of laughing in their face when you get that acceptance letter!
Leave a comment