Alternates 2012

[chips822]

Congrats to everyone who has been upgraded!

[helloo]

I'm starting to feel really bad about this year, too. Maybe those that have been upgraded aren't forum-happy, but I feel like not as many people are being upgraded as I thought would. And I'm sure I'm not high up on that alternate list.

I will definitely be applying for next year! I will also be securing some backups, but going this year would have been awesome.

Of course, I'm passing through a valley on this alternate emotional rollercoaster, but I can't help but think my dreams are slowly slipping away. I am trying my best to stay positive, and I definitely will not be giving up, but today has been rough.

I feel exactly the same way. It seems like not a lot of people have been upgraded, and I only know of one from my consulate.

A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling fairly hopeful that I would get upgraded; but with each passing day, my hopes dwindle. I'm officially out of school now, so I don't have much to preoccupy my time with other than waiting for the phone call. I need to find something to distract me...

Yeah, I share yalls feels. I guess Houston just had really good applicants this year... are we the only 3 alternates from Houston on here? I know of us and ErinMarie, but that's all.... And I too, only know of one upgrade so far out of Houston, so who knows. Let's not give up.

And congrats to all the recent alternates turned shortlisters!

[husky]

Hello, I only found this forum recently, and I've spent a lot of time looking through some interesting threads. I'm currently an alternate from NY, and although I've heard some encouraging things (I think a former JET at the consulate mentioned NY has a high upgrade rate, among other things), it doesn't stop me from getting unexpectedly jumpy whenever my phone rings or my e-mail inbox receives a message.

Congratulations to everybody who's been accepted!

As for me, I'm set to start a temporary position at a company nearby (they are completely understanding of the JET situation), but if I don't hear from the consulate within two weeks or so, I think I might have to change my plans? I know that the upgrades continue technically into December, but I feel that I wouldn't be able to live my life that long without being able to make proper plans since I'm waiting for a phone call. I guess it's something I'll be thinking about, and that I'm sure many other alternates are also thinking about. In any case, good luck to the rest of us!

[koko]

I'm starting to feel really bad about this year, too. Maybe those that have been upgraded aren't forum-happy, but I feel like not as many people are being upgraded as I thought would. And I'm sure I'm not high up on that alternate list.

I will definitely be applying for next year! I will also be securing some backups, but going this year would have been awesome.

Of course, I'm passing through a valley on this alternate emotional rollercoaster, but I can't help but think my dreams are slowly slipping away. I am trying my best to stay positive, and I definitely will not be giving up, but today has been rough.

I feel exactly the same way. It seems like not a lot of people have been upgraded, and I only know of one from my consulate.

A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling fairly hopeful that I would get upgraded; but with each passing day, my hopes dwindle. I'm officially out of school now, so I don't have much to preoccupy my time with other than waiting for the phone call. I need to find something to distract me...

Yeah, I share yalls feels. I guess Houston just had really good applicants this year... are we the only 3 alternates from Houston on here? I know of us and ErinMarie, but that's all.... And I too, only know of one upgrade so far out of Houston, so who knows. Let's not give up.

And congrats to all the recent alternates turned shortlisters!

I arrived at my interview pretty early, and there were quite a few other applicants in the waiting room. A lot of them were talking about their experiences and interests and whatnot, and the whole time I thought, "Omg, there's no way I'm getting in. All of these people are amazing, and I am not."

It could be that Houston had a lot of strong, dedicated applicants this year. But for sanity's sake, let us hope Ryan has met a few speed bumps in the upgrade process. Good luck guys!

[Emidono]

Toronto seems seriously MIA right now. I haven't heard aaanything about Toronto and my shortlisted friend can't get a reply from them either. Ugh.

[jou_chan]

I got a call from Susan Gill, too, and I've been upgraded!!! Now we just need to hear from Queequeg, the remaining Boston alternate on this thread.

Hang in there everybody - I totally thought it wasn't coming, but it did!

Oh that is so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We REALLY need to get together now and celebrate!!!!!!

[Smasha]

Congrats to all recently upgraded!!!It's the most amazing feeling ever!

All those still waiting, hang in there! It's tough, it sucks, you start to hate people, your life is in limbo 24/7, but if it happens for you, it's worth the wait. Try not to hang around the forum too much, it gets depressing seeing everyone upgraded and you are not, but at the same time, the forums are a great support system. Distractions such as friends, work, hobbies, etc. are key to keeping sane!

if it comes down to it, you can always try my UPGRADE rain dance! It works!

[Gekishinken]

Congrats to all recently upgraded!!!It's the most amazing feeling ever!

All those still waiting, hang in there! It's tough, it sucks, you start to hate people, your life is in limbo 24/7, but if it happens for you, it's worth the wait. Try not to hang around the forum too much, it gets depressing seeing everyone upgraded and you are not, but at the same time, the forums are a great support system. Distractions such as friends, work, hobbies, etc. are key to keeping sane!

if it comes down to it, you can always try my UPGRADE rain dance! It works!

I feel like for me it was easiest when I simply got off the forums and forgot about them for a couple weeks. It made my upgrade all the more exciting and unexpected when it did happen.

[helloo]

Congrats to all recently upgraded!!!It's the most amazing feeling ever!

All those still waiting, hang in there! It's tough, it sucks, you start to hate people, your life is in limbo 24/7, but if it happens for you, it's worth the wait. Try not to hang around the forum too much, it gets depressing seeing everyone upgraded and you are not, but at the same time, the forums are a great support system. Distractions such as friends, work, hobbies, etc. are key to keeping sane!

if it comes down to it, you can always try my UPGRADE rain dance! It works!

And the link to your UPGRADE rain dance is ...? I may very well try it

[Smasha]

Congrats to all recently upgraded!!!It's the most amazing feeling ever!

All those still waiting, hang in there! It's tough, it sucks, you start to hate people, your life is in limbo 24/7, but if it happens for you, it's worth the wait. Try not to hang around the forum too much, it gets depressing seeing everyone upgraded and you are not, but at the same time, the forums are a great support system. Distractions such as friends, work, hobbies, etc. are key to keeping sane!

if it comes down to it, you can always try my UPGRADE rain dance! It works!

And the link to your UPGRADE rain dance is ...? I may very well try it

There is no link. You just do a rain dance but chant UPGRADE UPGRADE UPGRADE SOON, UPGRADE UPGRADE UPGRADE NOW!

[Yoake]

Congratulations to all the upgraded alternates!

As much as I'm happy for all of you, I'm beginning to feel depressed too because I'm getting less hopeful after a week and 2 days have already gone.

Toronto seems seriously MIA right now. I haven't heard aaanything about Toronto and my shortlisted friend can't get a reply from them either. Ugh.

Emidono, if it's of any comfort to you, I haven't heard anything either. I hate to think this way but I'm beginning to fear that there might not be many upgrades in the Toronto consulate. There was one person who posted about his/her promotion as early as April 30th. So far, that's the only upgrade from Toronto I've heard of, on this forum.

[Gekishinken]

A week and two days is nothing though. Remember, you can get called up UNTIL December. It's only May 9th now. During this period there are so many factors that can lead to helping you get upgraded. It just takes time. Even though I was already upgraded I am actively reading this thread and wish each and everyone of you the opportunity to be upgraded. I will pray for you guys every dad. As my mom says...things typically work out in the end

[mobiuschic42]

Don't lose hope, guys!
Hopefully this will help: Boston had one of the earliest paperwork deadlines (April 27), and it looks like most of the upgrades just happened yesterday. I'm thinking that the coordinators give a bit of leeway (a week or so) beyond their respective paperwork deadlines to allow scraggling shortlisters to get the paperwork in, and then they do the upgrades. So, it's definitely not time to give up hope for the first wave yet!

Also, remember that this is just the first wave. More people will be upgraded next month and throughout the summer (and then a few in the fall). If you don't have any pressing reason to do otherwise, give yourself until the end of the summer at least before giving up. Shortlisters and current JETs *will* drop out between now and departure dates.

Another thing to keep in mind is that we alternates who have already been upgraded are good news for you. If our consulates run out of alternates, Tokyo will need to ask other consulates to tap into their alternate lists.

These are all the things I've been telling myself for the last few weeks. In closing, good luck, and:

[erinmarie]

I'm starting to feel really bad about this year, too. Maybe those that have been upgraded aren't forum-happy, but I feel like not as many people are being upgraded as I thought would. And I'm sure I'm not high up on that alternate list.

I will definitely be applying for next year! I will also be securing some backups, but going this year would have been awesome.

Of course, I'm passing through a valley on this alternate emotional rollercoaster, but I can't help but think my dreams are slowly slipping away. I am trying my best to stay positive, and I definitely will not be giving up, but today has been rough.

I feel exactly the same way. It seems like not a lot of people have been upgraded, and I only know of one from my consulate.

A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling fairly hopeful that I would get upgraded; but with each passing day, my hopes dwindle. I'm officially out of school now, so I don't have much to preoccupy my time with other than waiting for the phone call. I need to find something to distract me...

Yeah, I share yalls feels. I guess Houston just had really good applicants this year... are we the only 3 alternates from Houston on here? I know of us and ErinMarie, but that's all.... And I too, only know of one upgrade so far out of Houston, so who knows. Let's not give up.

And congrats to all the recent alternates turned shortlisters!

There is also Andy and Kirby. They, like me, don't post too often. I'm pretty sure Andy has a wife who was shortlisted, so they are playing the extreme waiting game. They are waiting to see not only if he gets upgraded, but also anywhere near her placement.

Looks like a second Houston alternate was upgraded today via information from the Facebook group. I'm not feeling too hopeful about getting upgraded this year either. I'm surprised that I'm even an alternate, since I completely bombed my interview. It doesn't worry me though, because I just accepted a full time teaching position for next year somewhere else and being upgraded would actually be a huge dilemma at this point. Tough choices are never ever fun.
I will be reapplying next year as well. Originally this was a backup plan, and the job I accepted was my goal. Funny how things flip upside down in a few short months.

I'm trying to think of all the positives that go along with staying in Texas another year. Things like, gaining more experience living on my own and teaching, more time to save up money (since I have none), time with family and friends, and getting to attend friends' weddings I would have missed this coming December and summer.

That being said, I still haven't given up all hope yet.



Congrats to those upgraded. I truly am happy that so many of you are able to go to Japan this year.

[canadiansensei]

Just to clarify, now that I've gone and brought all the Albertans down:
Probably won't be many promotions -within- the Calgary consulate (i.e. to replace people from the same consulate). Those make up most of the early promotions.
The later promotions become increasingly -between- consulates, so there are still lots of opportunities to be promoted to a position vacated by someone from Vancouver/Austin/Sydney/etc. Those just tend to come later.
No need to give up hope.

Your words of encouragement are most appreciated !!!!

One question, if we originally indicated on our application that we either do not feel comfortable diving in Japan or do not have a drivers license, will it significantly affect our ranking on the alternate list? I found Japan’s public transit to be most accommodating in the past. Since I already have my license, I am willing to drive in Japan if it will heavily impact my chances of being upgraded. Please fill me in

Despite being in this “gloomy-alternate-limbo mode” There are chances for us to be upgraded. We ought to try to be optimistic about our chances of going to Japan or just being content with our present situations and planning other adventures if JET doesn’t fall through. Keeping extremely busy whether it be working, studying, volunteering, exercising etc… it’s really given me a rational outlook with this whole situation.