OhMySocks

I saw one for CS: "I believe the reason is "overqualified". Professor there expressed his fear that I would end up disproving several of his published theories..." Yep, I'm sure a top ranked computer science school rejected you because you were just too good. I'm sure thats exactly what happened. This sort of stuff makes me cringe

Yeah, I'm assuming rejection from most of my programs. Frankly, for me, its healthier that way. I have anxiety problems and uncertainty tends to completely shut me down so willing myself to believe I was rejected at least gives me some peace of mind. Then if I get in, it will be a pleasant surprise

Yep. Sea of red from University of Washington. Not one of mine, but its sad to see. Anybody else notice the person who put "I will make sure you do regret." under the extra info? Creepy much?

Yep. Lost it a while back. There's $100 dollar reward if anyone can find and return it to me.

My friends and I have long had the odd hobby of taking popular songs and changing their lyrics so they are applicable to whatever we are doing right now. I thought you all might appreciate my current attempt, and if you have 20 minutes, you should contribute your own. To the tune of "So This Is Christmas" by John Lennon: And so this is waiting? And what have I done? Another day over And a new one just begun And so this is waiting Its not any fun My inbox still empty My phone hasn't rung I feel like I'm in limbo I just want it to end Just send my rejections So I don't have to pretend And so I'll be waiting My heard filled with dread Stalking result search And the grad cafe threads Its very scary waiting I'm wringing my hands Can't wait till its over And I can make plans Please accept me I do want it Please accept me Nooooooow

There's a discussion about Brown CS admissions here: I haven't heard, I commented my own situation with them on that thread.

You never know, you might be sitting on some internal waitlist. In my experience though hat uncertainty (the sliver of hope in the sea of dispair) is so much more frustrating than just being rejected.

Nope. Bummer. It was my top choice. I wish they'd just rip off the bandaid and send out rejections. I had a snafu with some application materials that didn't get cleared up until early last week, so my application wasn't even looked at until then which kind of sucks since I suspect they already went through interviews and such and had a clear-ish idea of who they were admitting so I doubt I'm even being considered.

I had a recent conversation with someone about how apparently useless a computer science PhD was. Their argument was Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg didn't even finish undergrad and were able to be successful...I facepalmed and walked away,

My boyfriend and I (of 4 years) are both applying to Ph.D programs this year. It kind of annoys me that more often than not the first question out of people's mouths when they find out I'm applying is along the lines of "So, are you and (boyfriend) trying to go to the same school?". I understand the question, but the fact that I get it before "What are you going to grad school for?" or "Where are you applying?" bothers me. It bothers me more that he told me he never gets asked that.

day light

vacation pay

Things I never ever thought i would be thinking during this process: "Oh my god, why don't you just reject me already?!?!?!" I've only heard from 2 schools so far (an acceptance and an interview) but a lot of my other schools have sent out some acceptances already, so I really wish they would just rip off the bandaid and send me a rejection instead of making me wait and suffer.

Yep, this current week. That's what I was told.

I had a phone interview with a professor, and at the end of it he mentioned the visit weekend. This was 3 weeks before the weekend. I got my official invite a week later.

Most of the programs I applied to listed prereqs along the lines of as at least one of each of the following: Algorithms Theory of Computation Computer Architecture Programming Languages Operating Systems Mine were Ph.D. programs but I imagine that most MS programs are looking for similar things. If you can take actual courses to fill these, it would probably help you the most, but if you can teach yourself these it will still give you a leg up. Since CS wasn't your undergrad, you'll probably want to look into taking the subject GRE to show your competence in the subject.

I got an email with the title "Ph.D. Applicant Interview & Reception". I currently work as a research assistant at a university (that I didn't apply to). Yeah, it was an invitation to attend the reception for their visiting applicants. I wanted to punch something.

Mine doesn't say "Under Review", it just says "Complete". But I also had some issues with my app until very recently, so I can't speak for what it should be really.

One of my schools has sent out a few decisions recently. For a while today, I was getting a 404 error when I try to log into my application status. I thought they thought my application was so bad that they didn't bother with sending me a decision and just deleted my app instead, lol.

Yep. Same here for UCSD and Brown. I talked with the Brown admissions secretary recently and they said final decisions are being made this week, so we'll know soon enough.

Nothing really different. I plan on keeping working through the end of July, then moving to where ever I end up going. I'm trying to save up a little bit of money for a much needed vacation with my SO, probably in early August, though that money might have to go towards moving costs.

Ouch. But at least now you know instead of stressing about it for the next few days because they wouldn't have called you back anyway if it was a wrong number.

But if they didn't want to talk to you, they wouldn't have called you in the first place. I would just call them and be like "Hello, I noticed I received a missed call from this number. May I please ask who this is?"

I never quite thought through how torturous this whole process was going to be. I had very short sighted blinders on the whole time. I suppose that was for the best. I started studying for the GRE last summer, and it was a pain in the butt, but I figured I could just take it and then relax for a while and it would be great. But then about 2 days before I was taking my general GRE, I found out that two of my schools require the subject GRE. So I spent 2 months cramming for that, and was SO glad to be finally done and get to relax...but then I realized that I really needed to start working on grad apps. So I spent a painful 2 months working on grad apps and finally submitted all of them and figured I could relax...and nope. Completely underestimated just how painful the waiting would be. And it doesn't help that I had trained myself for almost 6 months that obsessing about it was ok, because that helped me stay focussed on studying for the GRE's and crafting my applications that I am so used to constantly obsessing now, but there is nothing I can do anymore but twiddle my thumbs and hit refresh.

Have you tried asking them if they might be able to provide more funding and present your situation? At least in my the two I've been invited to so far, the emails said something along the lines of "We will reimburse up to $X for travel expenses, but if your travel expenses exceed $X, let us know and we will consider your case." Even if the don't say that, unless they say in no uncertain terms "We will only provide a maximums of $X, no exceptions", it might be worth asking. Just say that you're really interested in coming to visit but you're international and present some information on what the flights actually cost you and see if they might be able to provide a little extra. It can't hurt to ask.