RubyBright

Another week begins... May all the accepted people at my waitlist school receive other offers.

I chose to stay the full four years and double major instead of finishing early.

midnight chime

Yes, because it's not like I wasn't ALREADY waiting to see.

Yeah, I've definitely heard variations on this one. Or there's, "Whoa! You're smart enough to skip your master's???" No, no... that isn't quite how it works...

ApplyYourself decisions appear at the bottom of the page after you log in to your application. There will be a link saying, "Decision Status." If it's not there, and you think a decision should have been made by now, try emailing your POI.

I'm on the younger-ish side, but I look a few years younger than I even am. I'm going to have to dress well if I want to TA without looking like a member of the class...

Waitlist School, O Waistlist School, where art my decision??

Congratulations!

You could tell them that you're wondering about the status of your application, since you've begun hearing from other programs. It's not rude, and it's up to them what they infer from that.

I can't answer your question, but I just wanted to wish you luck! People are often admitted off of waitlists, and hopefully the same will hold true in your situation.

Yeah... any school that feels the need to spam my inbox sends out warning signals.

Edit: Pears is right. However, if you still really want to do it, don't be the one to make first contact - put it out there on the forum that you're interested in talking to them, and if they contact you, then that's one thing. But don't hunt them down. Some people won't mind talking, others definitely would.

Just discovered Bones by Ms Mr, after watching the trailer for Game of Thrones.

Anyone off their waitlist yet?

I agree with Linelei - since current grad students are often asked for their impression of the applicants, it's quite likely that the story was passed to your POI. Especially if your outfit did make a bad impression, and they said something to the grad students ("I can't believe so-and-so wore that dress..."), then the grad students probably told them why. They might even be glad that you didn't try to fawn over them with excuses. Good luck!

Politely tell them you're waiting to hear from other schools and ask if you can have an extension.

Personally, I would avoid any school where the students are miserable. This is, of course, a personal choice. Someone from a high stress background, or with a very high tolerance for stress might feel differently. However, it also depends on why they're miserable. You mention the POI is extremely supportive... what exactly is making everyone miserable? If School A is really gaining a good reputation, and you can reasonably expect it to continue to do so, I would go that route. After all, you're going to be there for five or more years, so by the time you get out, their reputation will have continued to improve.

Thanks for the advice, all! I applied to four schools. I've been rejected at one, have heard nothing from another (but they're down my list), was waitlisted at my top choice, and this school is my second choice. I tried to make it clear that I really need to know if I'm going to be funded or not, and I was told that I may hear a little more in a couple of weeks. Hopefully they're more forthcoming then. In the meantime, I'm still hoping that I'll make it off the waitlist at my top choice, which would make this a moot point.

Perhaps they chose all the applicants they want on the waitlist, and now they're interviewing them to decide their ranking on the list.

As long as the professor is competent, in your situation, I would choose the school with the better overall program. After all, you will be taking classes from and interacting with many more people than just your PI. I only applied to four schools, because my program isn't very common, but I chose them based on overall strength of program, and then found a professor in the program whose research interests fit mine. Edit: To clarify, "better overall program" isn't necessarily based on ranking - will the program help you meet your goals?

The link you provided isn't a ranking system for professors. I'm pretty sure the "Top Authors" refers to authors with the most articles in their database.

I just had a terrible thought. It's not really an omen, sign, or hallucination... more like stress-induced, sleep-deprived rogue cognition... So I was accepted at one school (call it University A), and I was waitlisted at my top choice (call it University Z). What if one of the people who was accepted to University Z's program (my waitlist school) was waitlisted at university A (my accepted school), and they would give up their spot at University Z if only someone refused University A (i.e., me), taking them off the waitlist? The schools are in the same geographic region, and the idea that other students would have applied to both programs is actually pretty reasonable. If you didn't quite follow that, it's the idea that I could be holding up my own acceptance! I really don't think I should think about these things after 2 a.m... Edit: I thought I should add that now I'm laughing at myself for even coming up with this.

hungry students

I keep refreshing my waitlisted application, even though I know that I'll hear by email long before the application itself is updated. But I can't email the program repeatedly going, "Have you heard from the accepted people yet? Am I off the waitlist yet?", and I CAN repeatedly refresh my application status...