ruilinch

I resonated profoundly with @OccasionallyCaffeinated and found @cabraloca having made a really good case. I, too, have started to question the importance of being in the academia. I started to look for jobs after I received four rejections in one day's time. The first step was hard, devastating actually since I have prepared so long for an academic career and I was so sure that this is what I want and all that I have been and will be talking about. But the moment I started to look for jobs, I found amazingly different responses from the industry. I got more positive feedbacks than I have ever got from publication. The prospects are also much clearer. I will definitely not be spending five years in a Top 50 program and still having to worry about landing a job somewhere. Five years in the industry will give me expertise and experience and will almost certainly be financially rewarding. Should I find research interesting, it is also more likely for me to land on a top PhD program then. With these in mind, I just don't see why not. People say it's nicer to be in schools. You're treated more gently and your talents are truly valued. If so, why do I have such different experience? Why do I feel so relieved, more valued than ever and with such hopes and prospects towards my future now than ever? Have I got it all wrong in the past? Maybe I'm not suitable for academia after all. When I watch La La Land, I feel so sad. I don't know if I should dream differently. If your dream failed and you found something else, should you just change? If so, what is dream anyway...

I might not be able to. It sounds fun and well planned though.

In this case, wish for the best then!

I guess Yale is most likely to be a no now although rejection hasn't come yet. They have sent more offers than they plan to admit and they provide very generous packages so I doubt it they would be accepting anybody new. The reason why their rejections should come so late might be because most people who did get an offer are still waiting for more news to come. I have waited longer than I had expected for the admission results this year during which my anxiety compels me to search for any news I could get about PhD. I have come to understand it better and I do feel sad to say that maybe it's not the best of the options should you have more than one. Have you thought about finding a job like me? Waiting doesn't solve anything really. You can find something else to do in between like an internship. Even if you did end up doing a PhD, some working experience would still benefit you. I feel like working and studying are completely different experiences. During work you interact with people all the time and you get feedbacks very quickly. Being a student on the other hand means a lot of waiting and I really hate it now with this experience. But again serious thinking is more likely to happen in a slow process so I guess eventually I would return to academia, but right now I really need some fresh air...

It seems I received the same email as @c11m07. They did mention that the wait list is short. I don't know if it's possible for them to extend offers beyond the waitlist, but I guess even so the chances would be very slim. I haven't heard any positive news from any of 8 programs to which I have applied except for this wait list email. So we are both in very hard places but hopefully you should be slightly better than me still. I have already started to look for jobs now and got an amazing offer in the industry which is the only reason why being waitlisted by BC is not the end of the world for me. I couldn't imagine otherwise.

waitlisted by Boston College. They are nice enough to let me know so I guess it's better than none, though the disappointment is deeply felt no matter what.

Got an email from my POI at Boston College. I sent her an inquiry like weeks ago, and she just replied saying she was very interested and "let's wait and see how the admission results work out". I am guessing she has just finished reading my portfolio? And decided to reply to emails from prospective students? Which might mean that decisions are not far on the way. Looking at past results, I would also say BC releases their offers around this week. So to those waiting on Boston College, sit tight and refresh your inbox!

Same here. Haven't heard anything this week. Haven't heard anything from anywhere yet. Starting to wonder if this might be a year of rejection... It's really hard not to care with good news coming all over the place from other people though.

Haven't heard anything from Columbia yet. Am I to interpret this as being rejected already? I have, while filling out application details, checked the box for a MA instead. Couldn't even get a MA??? So sad

Just heard from a professor at Yale that they only plann to accept 4 or 5 students this year. Tough odds!

Looks like our backgrounds are somewhat similar. I learnt from one of my professors that it is very important to explain the reason why you changed fields/majors and decided to apply to Sociology. But I totally got it. After taking some courses in economics, you just couldn't help finding other fields such as economic sociology more interesting and more inspiring. Is that why you changed major? What you are looking for is an interdisciplinary approach?

@GeorgeC07 None of the universities that I am applying will send early decisions I think... Actually, I just don't think that I would be the ones getting these early decisions unless it's direct rejection. I pictured myself as being somewhat average and thus most likely to be waitlisted until second or third rounds. So, yeah, it is going to be a hell of a waiting ahead of me. I signed up for a Winter School which will officially begin tomorrow. I just read the course material and already started to question why on earth would I get myself into such a trouble in the first place... That's how far I would go to keep myself busy. Not to sound negative, but I do feel quite bad about my application which I guess in many ways explains my anxiety. I am sure you are in a better position than me.

@GeorgeC07 I kept an eye out for application-required information but I didn't find ways to know when I might be getting updates. In my recollection, only one university mentioned in their website the approximate dates that they will be sending out decisions. Did you get to know it via other informal channels, like this forum? What I had in mind is very much like your estimation, from late January to early April, but I just got to know, also in this forum, that one university has already sent out interview invitations. BTW, it is UPenn. I didn't apply to their program, but it is still no joy knowing that some of the interviews should start so early. I hope I wouldn't be getting anything during Spring Festival! It is always a pleasure to know people with similar backgrounds! There aren't so many Chinese? It is actually very hard for me to tell since i am pretty new here. Just got registered one week or so ago. Where did you apply? I am applying to Sociology programs, and I have to say there are so few Chinese students applying to PhD in Sociology! I haven't got anyone to talk to about my application throughout the process, which is pretty frustrating.

I have watched so many movies in the last month that I have lost count. Sitting in the dark and watching other people having a busy life for two hours, really sets your mind free. I already think of hitting cinemas as a hobby now.

Actually, this picture was taken in Copenhagen, Denmark. But yes, I am Chinese. And, yes, there are bicycles everywhere you look in the campus. I am still not very clear about my standing in the application pool because of my interdisciplinary background, but again, it is not like I have looked hard enough to assess my position anyway. I think of it as even more of a waste of time to gather information about potential competitors and where everyone else is applying than, for example, to post in this forum and seek random chats. So I am not sure what I am going to get, which is not so bad. At least it is possible for me to wish for the best, right? Taking vacations, getting your hands dirty by doing some projects. It helps to calm your nerves and hold you back from all those futile attempts checking your application status over and over again. (Sadly, this is exactly what I am doing now...