I'm finding myself in a bit of a Pickler

I am learning patience. I am -- I swear, despite what I am about to type.

Here it is, broken down into two parts:

Part 1: You are applying to graduate school. You may want to pick up a book on American idioms and sayings. It is 'intents and purposes' not 'intensive purposes.' It never was. It never will be. Oh, and it doesn't even make sense.

Part 2: You are IN graduate school. When you are in graduate school and you are discussing fine academic topics at a leading national research university, you should try to sound like you are discussing fine academic topics at a leading national research university. Therefore, I will argue that at no point should you ever use the word 'guesstimate.' In fact, guesstimate is not a word. Guess is a word. Estimate is a word. When you combine the two you are making it up, and you sound silly, and I tune out and can't hear anything else that you say.

PS. What's a ballsy?