I think the best word to describe yesterday’s grad school fair is overwhelming.
I don’t particularly love cramped quarters with large crowds (high maintenance, I know). Nor am I a fan of the “Chatty Cathy” (for gender’s sake, we’ll call him Chatty Charlie) or the “We’re Better Than You, And We Know It” guy.
Let me ‘splain.
I had expected the crowds. Fine. And I suppose the tight space was inevitable once you factor in the representation from over 20 schools. But then there was Chatty Charlie.
I was waiting patiently in line to talk about a program, when he turned around and, out of nowhere, proceeded to pepper me with questions.
“Did you already take your GREs?” “How did you do?” “When can I take them?” “Do you think it’s too late?” “Do I need to take a class?” “Are they hard?“
And then, even when he started talking about his own plans (“I think I might wait a couple years; I only just graduated.“), he turned the conversation back on me.
“When did you graduate?” “Where did you go to school?” “What have you been doing? No, like where?” “How long did it take you to find a job?” “It’s really competitive here!“
Yes, it’s competitive. All the GRE information is on the ETS website. And I wouldn’t normally mind answering your questions, but why don’t you ask some of the student representatives who are here? They clearly have a better idea of what works than I do – considering they’re already enrolled.
I managed to shake him briefly, but he tried to catch my eye at every subsequent table. And he finally caught up with me at the last one, where I met “We’re Better Than You, And We Know It” guy.
Now, I’m just looking for part-time programs right now, so I didn’t want to waste a representative’s time, or mine, discussing non-possibilities. So I asked WBTYAWKI right off the bat if part-time was offered. When he said no, I thanked him, and started to move on.
“But,” he said, “I have a friend who started the program and he was offered a job this past January. He took it, and still manages to take classes.” I hesitated. “Then, of course, there’s another friend of mine who did the program, worked 30 hours a week, and she had kids at home, so you know it’s definitely possible.“
Thanks. Way to make me feel like an underachiever.
Could I go that route (minus the kids)? Sure! Why not? I didn’t need my sanity anyway. In fact, sometimes I feel like it’s already on its way out the door.
But before I could really contemplate the whole “having no life” thing, CC came up to the table, and I took that as my cue to leave.
My sanity’s already on its way out. Another question-fest might just do me in.
Now what you have to figure out is was CC chatting with you in a nervous way to flirt/get to know you, or was he just “that guy” who can not resist talking to someone. I’m willing to bet he is the latter and could talk the ears off of a concrete statue. The over-achiever/a-hole just says things to get under your skin and making himself look/feel better. People like that seem to have the need to have their ego stroked, or they have to put others down to “confirm” their superiority. Either way, it is annoying.
Oh yeah, CC was definitely “that guy.” It’s like I have a sign that says “go ahead and talk to me because I won’t shut you up, even though I’ll want to.”
God but I hate the uppity ones. My younger sister is one of those – “I’m assistant stage manager for the upcoming theatre production, I’m playing the lead role in another, I’m painting set for a third play, I work 20 hours a week, and I take 16 credit hours a semester with a straight 4.0! Weee!”
But then her head explodes and she goes on a murderous rampage in her mind, and I’m pretty sure I got the better end of the deal. I like to live my life just a little bit, you know.
Hmm…murderous rampage vs. living life. Yeah, tough call.
I had an ex who went to a certain school in Baltimore who, it seemed, knew everything about everything. She never hesitated to prove this to be true.
To avoid annoying people in a crowded room, I’ve always thought the best advice was “If you don’t move, they can’t see you.”
Ha – I’ll have to try that move (or, lack thereof) next time.
Ugh. These kids were all over law school. Like fleas. It’s like they need a sounding board, and they don’t care that you don’t (at all) want to be that board. Just yapyapyapyapyap.