I have spent a vast number of hours lately chasing down members of the Janie Jones, Graduate School or Bust, Fan Club. This highly stressful begging for letters of recommendation so that Grad School will deem me worthy of another 4-6 years of torture culminating in the honorable degree of PhD, yielded as many as eight people willing to perform this august task.
I figured once I had eight confirmed yes-es, I didn’t have to approach the remaining 3 or 4 people on my list of potential fan club members. I felt quite satisfied that I would be well represented. I collected their permission to submit their contact info. I collated all their contact information. I prepared instructions for them on how to access the online submission site. I sent them the downloadable pdf file for their convenience. I sent the troubleshooting list in the event that technology was not on our side. I prepared a brief statement of my intent for them so they would know what I was planning to do my graduate studies on/about.
And then I accessed my online application account and started inputting all the relevant info so my fans could comply with my request. Lo and behold. Even though the graduate school application directions say that three recommendations are required, it specifically says there is no maximum. So imagine my surprise when upon merrily clicking to add my fifth fan club member, the system would not allow any additional people to be added. WTF?
The recommendation provider queue was apparently full. Why would the instructions tell people there is no maximum when there is clearly an upload limit??? Had I known I’d only be allowed four fans in my club, I’d have planned that quite differently, as, it just so happens, the four fans who I hadn’t added first are people who I have actually done research work with at Stickittoyou U or hold massive sway on campus. Dr. Smythe in the Lyme lab. The Dr who is head of the seed lab where I work. My prof who I was an undergraduate TA for last year in the cell biology lab. And, my prof this year in the genetics lab who is the assistant director of the graduate study program. MY BEST, MOST TOTALLY RELEVANT PEEPS CANNOT BE ADDED because I apparently only get four even though the directions say there is no maximum!!!
Hysteria ensues.
*@&! #^%$
The remainder of this post is edited for foul language to the point there’s no point in going further.
Janie's Place 