Marisari

Got my letter in the mail today. In the end, I didn't get in.

Cornell has already had it's recruitment weekend. Can't say I know about Georgetown.

Nope, that wasn't me! That's ok, I just got back from my recruitment weekend at Santa Cruz and thought it was fantastic. I'm not without good options.

That's such a bummer! I guess I still had a little hope. Oh, well.

I haven't heard, but I don't really expect to. I applied to the developmental program specifically, and my POI mentioned that it seemed very unlikely that developmental would get the opportunity to accept new students this year because their admissions system gives priority to smaller programs first, and developmental is the biggest.

Congrats! That's very exciting!

Thanks, that's of course something to keep in mind as well! However, because the process of wait-listing is so murky and depends on both POI and admissions committees input, it's hard to really know for sure who had the final say in putting you on the waitlist. For example, I know a professor I used to work with has, in the past, had a top choice of hers on the waitlist because the committee felt more strongly about another person she liked slightly less (not that she wouldn't have been happy with either as a student). So theoretically I would be fine with choosing a department for who I was a backup choice as long as at the end the POI had been pleased to have me work with them. But there's no real way to know that. I'm also not sure I've ranked these programs as clearly in my head as that. I don't really have #1-8 choices, because I haven't had the chance to learn about the inner workings of the department or meet and speak with some POIs. I'm very resistant to the idea of deciding which ones I like better just based on papers, department websites and rumors. Anyhow, at the end of the day I am still very grateful to even be wait-listed at these places. Hopefully I'll get accepted and feel like I have more options to choose from, but if that doesn't happen, I'm lucky that I could see myself happy and productive at the places I've been accepted at.

That's too bad, though I'd figured as much. I'll definitely be keeping in regular contact with them, so hopefully I'll hear from them soon enough to get informed and be able to make a good decision. Thanks for getting back to me!

Hello all, I currently have two wait-list situations, and based on my conversations with the department admissions coordinators it seems I have a reasonably decent chance of getting off one (which is great!). Unfortunately, I didn't get an interview with a POI in either case, so I never had the opportunity to ask them questions and get a sense of what they and the department are like directly. I'm working on communicating with graduate students via email, but it's really not the same level of detail and information as I've gotten with the places where I had a phone, skype or in-person POI interview (and waaay less informative then recruitment weekends). Has anyone gotten experience (firsthand or otherwise) with getting off a waitlist? Do they normally try catch you up and fill you in to the same degree that they did regular-accepted students, or are you left to make a decision relatively in the dark about their program? I am worried that if I am lucky enough to get off a waitlist, that I won't be able to make the most of it because I will have to make a last-minute decision with little or no information to go on (obviously not an ideal position to be in). Thanks in advance!

Thank you, that is very sweet and encouraging. I don't feel overly stressed about it, because I know at least I have two solid implied acceptances, so I'm not without options. I think the only thing I'm still struggling with is the thought that I'll get off a waitlist, but because I never got the chance to interview and learn about the program from people in it, I'll be in a bad position to make a decision about what's best for me. I've contacted both programs to try and set something like that up, but so far I haven't gotten to phone or Skype with a POI. Has anyone gotten experience (firsthand or otherwise) with getting off a waitlist? Do they normally try catch you up and fill you in, or are you left to make a decision relatively in the dark?

I've been waitlisted at UVA. "Yours was one of a number of terrific applications we received for an unfortunately very small number of openings." Hopefully things turn around for me!

Thank you!

Just got an email from a POI at Harvard inviting me for a phone interview this weekend!

Thanks for the advice!! I will definitely be keeping all of this in mind.

Maybe you're on some sort of wait list?? This is probably not bad news!