TorrentOfArdentPathos

Yes it is. I have imagined myself at each program I have applied to, and I wouldn't have applied if I didn't truly want to go there. It's been harder for me to decline the program I have (or to consider declining programs I am leaning against, but have not entirely ruled out) than I would have ever thought. When you prepare an application, you identify the unique strengths of a program, you identify who you would work with there, and (at least in my case) you think about what courses you'd take in the first years and what life in that city would be like. It is hard to give up on any of those "potential futures."

In your avatar. How can you not see it?

Yep.

IRTheoryNerd, I love all your gifs and avatars. Especially the current one of a turtle.

Don't worry wwmiv, I will wear the same thing to help conceal your identity! Let's hope we aren't visiting any of the same schools...

Because I don't want this thread to be consumed in a debate that prevents it from being the source I information I intended, I won't be engaging in any more discussion about why I started this thread or how we feel about it or if it serves the collective good of GC or whatever we are talking about.

Of course everyone who is lucky enough to receive multiple offers should take any amount of time they need to adequately inform themselves before making a decision about what program to attend. The intention of my post was not to pressure anyone into rushing the difficult choices they face, and I fail to understand how this post is any more an example of "showing off" than celebrating acceptances in the cycle thread or listing acceptances in a signature. That being said, I feel like the right thing to do is to tell a program as soon as you definitely know you are not going to accept their offer. This allows them to adjust their expectations of yield and inform waitlisters sooner rather than later (which can affect their ability to attend visiting weekend, and more importantly, their ability to have the time to fully consider all their options).

Hi. This thread is for people to post offers that they decline. This should be useful (and a source of many clicks) for those of us on waitlists. I have declined an offer from Illinois (IR subfield). Good luck to anyone else waiting to hear back on a waitlist! Edit: If you are willing, please include your subfield.

I have declined an admissions offer from Illinois (IR subfield). Thought the waitlisted should know. Should I make a thread for people to post this (so those waiting to hear back on a WL have somewhere they can obsessively check)?

I see nothing there. Unofficial wait-list?

Congrats! Was it a form email, or a personalized one?

IR Security / Methods. I thought Rochester might have been a tough get for me. I have a solid econometrics background, but my FT background is limited to an undergrad microecon sequence and my math background is fairly weak.

I also have no updated status.

I am of the "casual, first-name basis" perspective once a professor has signed an email with their first name, but I strongly value a casual, open relationship with an advisor. I may be doing it more to signal the kind of a relationship I want than because I think its the social convention. When the "professor shoes" on are the other foot, they won't be: I'll be so casual with my students that I won't even be wearing shoes!

Ahh, ok. Thanks.

So... I logged into my Rochester account and it looks the same as the day I submitted my application. Is there somewhere I should be checking my status? (I don't even see a "Status Pending" or anything so I am not sure if I am looking at the right thing...). Also, congrats to all the acceptances the last couple of days!

Did anyone notice that on his vita (http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~bgrofman/WUFFLECV.html) Wuffle claims to have been born in '60 and to have received his PhD in '72? Dude's a genius!

How do you think that most programs would respond to a request for a list of all placements, students who defended, and students who entered for the last X years? (Or if I asked directly for the placement and attrition ratios I'm clearly after?) I feel like that is a reasonable request, but you seem to be implying that you had trouble getting more than anecdotes...

AHHHHHHHH! Too much anxiety. 13 users are currently reading this topic. That's a lot. TMCB, are you reading Bear's post in results as implying that the OSU results aren't legit (because they don't interview)?

I oscillate between those two extremes in fractions of a second.

For me, option (a) seems like a distant third. If I am lucky enough to be admitted to multiple programs, I'd want the opportunity to attend each program's official visit before making a decision. Meeting potential cohorts is a possible decision-changer. Additionally, I feel like attending the official opening may give a better sense of the departmental culture than an individual visit designed only around my interests and the people I wanted to meet. Maybe I am "out of touch" with the priorities of other potential students, but I wouldn't bat an eye at having to miss a few days of school or work to gain more information before making one of the most important decisions of my professional life. Similarly, unpleasant weather is unlikely to dissuade me from attending a program I thought was my best choice otherwise. Also, Gnome's polling idea seems great, assuming you can wait that long before setting the date.

This is something that I struggled with. I felt compelled to mention additional POIs, but could never figure out how much to talk about them. I didn't want to spend as much space on them as I did my primary POIs, but I didn't want to merely list names with no additional details either.

Double. I assumed that's the norm (and therefore what the page limits refer to).

Specific-to-my-situation-follow-up: is 3.5 pages below the OSU committee's tl;dr length?

I have a question that my mentors have given me mixed feedback on: How important is it to stick to the recommended length for personal statements? I have been told by one mentor that I should cut my PS to make sure that I am within the recommended length. Another told me that I should not cut anything meaningful out of my statement, even if that means ignoring the recommended length.