saphixation

B and C haven't even accepted you yet, let alone started pushing you to make a decision. From what I can see of your situation, there's no point in rushing A except due to your own impatience. I get that waiting to hear back from your top choice is tough, but at this stage you need to just wait and see.
 
Given that A has told you roughly when to hear from then, you should at least wait until then. Asking any earlier makes you look impatient and like you can't follow directions. If you haven't heard by mid-March or so, then you can consider asking if they've finished sending out invites yet.

I would try to steer clear of a memorable or "zippy" conclusion to emails.  I think, in a way, its important to close your email in the least obtrusive way possible because anything which smacks of being contrived is going to obliterate whatever memory they have of the more important body of your email.  To me, adding something catchy at the end is like saying "I'm not sure that the rest of my message is that important, why don't you just have this jingle to remember me by."  I know sometimes even a post script is distracting enough that I have to reread the email to remember what the meat of it was about because now my mind has just been erased by whatever random quote or send-off they added which threw me for a loop.  I'm a fan of a good ole "regards" or "best wishes" myself.  I tend to be a traditionalist in these things though, I'll go so far as to avoid contractions in a formal email.  

Last year, Geoscience programs took forever (except UW). Several people I know didn't get their answers, positive or negative, until well into June. One POI told me they had >400 applications and were accustomed to ~50. It seems better this year, but just a heads up that strange things have been afoot at the Geoscience Circle K, lol.

NLP

There reason does sound really unfair, but I think there must be a reason for it. Universities generally don't just make stuff like that up. They would just reject you if they were trying to dodge an acceptance. If I were you I would do some research into the issue and perhaps try to understand where it came from.
 
That is something you could have asked the university. Your response seems a bit hasty, in my opinion. The academic world is a small one, and nothing good can come from burning bridges. Your response isnt going to make the university regret its decision (in fact, it will probably make them relieved that they made it. Sorry, I dont mean to be unkind, but its probably true). If it made you feel better thats what really matters here, but still.

Okay, that's a ridiculous rejection, but I fear you may regret that snarky reply.

Are you talking about receiving an NSF Award acceptance, or are you talking about the new overseas study abroad portion in Japan?
 
I think you're talking about the latter, but since you didn't specify, everyone thinks you're talking about the base award, and panicking that they haven't heard. 

Ok, you're not trolling, you're blind. You're posting in the GRFP thread, not the EAPSI thread. Totally different programs with totally different notification times and acceptance rates.

I.E., magpies is trolling guys, calm down.

Hi Everyone! 
 
After receiving my first rejection last Friday, from a program that I considered a "safety" school. I felt extremely discouraged and not worthwhile of any of the programs I applied to. However, I received my first acceptance today — to a program I had really considered a "reach" from the very beginning. I am absolutely elated! I want to cry, to scream, and all those roller coaster emotions. 
 
If you're still waiting, don't give up hope. This forum has helped me through sleepless nights and surges of anxiety. Thank you for providing me hope and I only wish all that same hope to all of you! 

1 - You have a 170 on the GRE. A few people did as well as you, but noone did better.
2 - You're going to graduate school. Even if Seton Hall is not your top choice, you are still going to graduate school.
 
You've got this.

I think you misinterpreted what RubyBright said. I believe their point was that it is unlikely that Lewin (or basically anyone here) is looking at doing a job during a PhD because they aren't invested enough in their research. Rather, the vast majority of people take up jobs because, despite receiving a stipend, money can be tight during grad school. In other words, the two of you are in agreement.

Delaware requires a 4.0 minimum AW score on the GRE. I'm guessing the reason you were rejected so quickly is because you didn't meet that minimum, and I suspect even if you reapplied without funding, you'd just get cut again for the same reason.

Delaware requires a 4.0 minimum AW score on the GRE. I'm guessing the reason you were rejected so quickly is because you didn't meet that minimum, and I suspect even if you reapplied without funding, you'd just get cut again for the same reason.

I know the stress that a low GPA causes when applying to Ph.D. programs. It feels like a millstone around your neck, forever putting paid to your dreams of graduate study, and ultimately a research career. My undergraduate GPA is just above 3,0, and even worse, is below 3.0 across my junior and senior years. However, I have received an offer of admission from my first choice program and am in the midst of interviewing at several other prominent institutions. I just wanted to share my experiences in striving for a biomedical sciences Ph.D. seat to encourage my fellow applicants with low GPAs not to give up hope.
 
I am an intelligent person, but I became incorrigibly lazy in high school. There, I had quickly discovered that I could cruise along at the top of my class with minimal effort, and unfortunately for me, I carried the same work ethic into college, with rather disastrous consequences. As you would have observed, my undergraduate GPA is rather poor, and most unfortunately for me, exhibited a downward trend. Although I had a strong general GRE score, my low GPA, in conjunction with my lack of research experience, caused me to apply mostly to master's programs, as I thought that getting into a quality Ph.D. program would be too much of a long shot. I saw the master's program as an opportunity for a fresh start, and to prove to admissions committees that I was indeed capable of handling graduate-level coursework and research. The few Ph.D. programs I did apply to rejected me. but to my relief, I was able to get admission into an elite master's program (it must have helped that my transcripts had not been updated with my senior year grades).
 
Within a few weeks of matriculating, I meticulously planned out my course schedule for the two years that I would be in the program and joined a lab where I would end up pursuing my thesis research. Perhaps you can guess the remainder of my narrative – I excelled as a master's student, getting a 4.0 GPA and a couple of first author Nature papers, and forced my way into a Ph.D. program. Wrong. The same malaise that afflicted me as an undergraduate was almost my undoing as a master's student. Again I was apathetic towards my coursework, and my first year was littered with C's, culminating in a 2.76 GPA, atrocious by any standards. It wasn't until my DGS threatened to expel me that I started to take things a little more seriously. Over the course of my last year, I performed very strongly in the courses that I took, ultimately raising my cumulative GPA to above 3.0. As you can imagine, a 3.26 GPA is still far from stellar, and I feared that all the C's that I received in my first year would be unpardonable in the eyes of the Ph.D. admissions committees, even though I had done well in most of my biological sciences courses. However, throughout all the up and downs of my coursework, I had worked assiduously on my thesis research – often I would skip classes or postpone exam preparation to work in the lab (though certainly not at the insistence of my PI, who had advised me not to sacrifice my grades at the altar of research). Despite a year of frustration due to negative results, during my second year I made a very interesting observation regarding the regulation of the gene which I had been studying. Finally I had an intriguing story to share and a thesis I could be satisfied with. In the summer of 2012, I successfully defended my thesis and graduated with my master of science.
 
At this point, the application deadlines for Fall 2012 entry into Ph.D. programs had passed months ago. At the time of the deadlines, I had not yet rescued my GPA back to above 3.0, and was unsure if my thesis research would end up being anything of interest, or if I would even finish my degree (the specter of dismissal still loomed over me). As a result, I decided to apply for Fall 2013 entry. Following my graduation, rather than sitting idly, I joined a lab at another university as a research technician and am continuing to build my research credentials. I also took the subject GRE test in Biology and did well (96th percentile). I received strong letters of recommendation from both of my PIs and a former professor, and decided to apply again.
 
It seems that the strength of my recommendations and my research experience was sufficient to overcome my low GPA in the eyes of the admission committees. Well, not all of them. I did get rejected from half of the fourteen schools to which I applied, but seven interview invitations is seven more than I would have anticipated just one year ago. As I said at the beginning of this post, I have gotten admission into my first-choice program, so regardless of how my remaining interviews go, I am secure in the knowledge that I will have somewhere to go this fall, somewhere where I will be glad to be at.
 
My intent in relating my experience is to encourage those who wish to get into a Ph.D. program, but are despondent over a low GPA, not to despair. Yes, a low GPA hurts your chances of admission, and you might have to apply to more programs than most to compensate (as I did), but it is not the end of the world. There are steps that you can take, such as doing a master's degree (don't screw up like I did), or working as a research assistant or research technician following your undergraduate degree, to show your fitness for graduate-level coursework and research. Make sure to have strong letters of recommendation, because those will make all the difference in the world. I hope that reading my account helps; I tried to provide concrete numbers wherever I could, as far as GPA and GRE scores, to give you a standard to compare to. Good luck with your applications.

My first interview weekend starts tonight! Totally new kind of freaking out!!!!

I am no longer losing my mind! I got accepted to my TOP choice program today!!!!!!    I am sooo thrilled!

I have an acceptance!  Aaaaaa!  It's official - I am going to grad school... somewhere!  

Hello.  My handle is wemayet, and I am a GradCafe "search results" junkie.
 
It all started in the fall, when I was looking for application advice.  I figured a little wouldn't hurt, you know?  It didn't take long before I was spending most, then all, of my spare time reading forums.  It didn't seem like a bad trade off for all the good feelings I was getting from what I was taking in.  I grew to rely upon it.  I needed it to get through applications.  But even when applications were over, I still needed.  I tried to quit cold turkey, but found myself going back for more.  I think on purpose at some level, I had even lost my login for a while, hoping I'd forget.  Then one day, I saw it.  The first indication that someone from one of my schools had gotten an interview.  That taste brought me back.  Worse than before.  A great hunger inside of me, I needed the information.  On my tower, on my ipad, on my laptop... all browsers had a GradCafe tab.  I'd hit that refresh button... dozens of times... sometime dozens of times in one hour.  When I wake up, I reach for the nearest computerized device and hit refresh again and again.  I'm hoping to make it an hour without, for this first attempt to stop.
 
My handle is wemayet, and I am a GradCafe "search results" junkie. 

This really helps, but one major issue is that as a non-American, we may not be eligible for a lot of funding that domestic students can apply for. In addition, some schools, especially public ones, charge higher tuition to international students (because American people pay taxes which subsidize the tuition for domestic students). Since programs generally pay tuition for their PhD students, this translates to a higher cost to the prof/department to take in an international grad student. Thus, they want to really make sure they have a great student if they are taking an international student -- the risk is higher! I think this is the main reason why the bar is higher for international students. 

No trig on GRE.  Definitely don't take a trig class to prepare for the GRE!

i got this one from some family fd who is a middle aged man with a lesbian stepdaughter about my age (27)
 
"Why should a girl get so much education? In the end she is destined to be a mother anyway. Just marry rich."
 
if i was not supposed to act mature and polite in front of the "elderly", i swear i would have blown
 
I said firmly, "i never thought marrying rich should be the goal of a woman of my intelligence."
 
my mom who said next to me just said nothing. im glad she always lets me do what i want.
 
 
The culture where I came from is probably the most westernized in asia, but still, some people think women failing to marry off by age 30 must be flawed somehow.
Im glad i did my BA in the States, so i know being an single woman with education is not a sin

Uhhh YES.  My department will ask if we had particularly strong feelings (good or bad) about the applicants.  Faculty have never accepted someone that one of us has said was unfriendly/rude/arrogant/competitive/non-appreciative of the opportunity to interview in our department. 
 
The grad students end up seeing the applicants a lot more than the faculty, and you wouldn't believe how many applicants BLOW IT by saying something in front of a grad student that they just should NOT have.  Go in with the attitude you have and you will not be admitted into my department--we really do not want to work with someone who thinks they know more and have more life experiences than us--you don't even know anything about these grad students and this is how you view them!?  And even if you DO know more and have more (notice, not better) life experience, does this mean you cannot be friendly, polite, and interact with them in a professional way??  That kind of attitude would surely be communicated back to the faculty, the faculty whose loyalty is to the current students, who put their trust in the current students assessment of your character. 
 
How about you just act like a nice, happy, normal person who is appreciative of the opportunity to meet with current students at the place you might live the next 5-8 years?  Also these are the people who you will see more than anyone else for those years, so how about you try just being nice to them and maybe make a friend?

That moment when you're like, "Is it Monday yet?"

...

This is who I have become.

Meguca, I didn't mean to infuriate you by any means. In fact, that little "winky" face was meant as a slight poke back - not as accusatory. To be fair, we've all taken our fair share of BS social science, humanity, education and hard science courses. We've also all taken courses not so BS in all areas for the purpose of education and pursuit of knowledge. 
 
As far as the whole soul searching bit, VBD interpreted my remarks correctly. I'm not saying that you necessarily need to take a step back and look at your life...blah blah blah. After all, I even conceded that you seem to know exactly what path you want to take. I've stated this several times, so you're confronting contrived arguments with the fury of a woman scorned. Nobody is accusing you of lacking maturity, in fact, VBD and I both contend that you're just as mature and capable of making decisions. You're going to ultimately do what you want - I did - and that's fine. GO FOR IT and stop getting so defensive. Take the advice that's pertinent and ignore the rest. No need to attack me or any one else on this thread. I don't think anybody was intending to offend you, just offering their perspectives. 
 
[Word to anybody else who may have an inkling of a doubt in their chosen field (purposefully excluding meguca here), however, and I'm sure VBD can relate, what I wanted at 18 or 19 is different from what I want now (at 25). If I had gained perspective then, perhaps I wouldn't have rushed head first into an MPP, which while educational and enjoyable, wasn't exactly what I wanted to do with the rest of my life...or perhaps it's because of teaching, completing an MPP, doing a post-bac pre-med program, and then working in policy that I re-discovered my love for psychology.]