ACM88

These are both good ideas, but my circumstances prevent me from trying them. Since I'm in my last semester of my program (I've already applied to graduate at the end of this term), I'm actually on fellowship from the University and this prevents me from taking out any additional funds in loans/scholarships. My understanding of it is that I'm already being provided funding that covers my cost of attendance, so unless I can prove that I have educational costs that are higher than the cost of attendance, I can't receive any more money. (Believe me, I've tried.)

Hi everyone, I've got a pretty important question and I'm sure plenty of people are going through something similar, but I haven't seen it asked recently on TGC. My question is: How do you plan to (or how did you manage when you went through this before) make ends meet during the summer right before starting your graduate program? Here's my situation. I've been enrolled in a fully funded master's program for the last two years and will finish up (fingers crossed) at the end of April. This basically means that my primary source of income will end once May finally comes around. My lease isn't up until July/August (it's currently negotiable), but between May and August, I'm going to need some pretty substantial $$$ to make ends meet. The other complication, particularly for my program, is that I'm relocating and new students are required to be moved in by mid-August to participate in orientation events, but most summer jobs require a 12 week commitment that typically runs through the end of August. How have others handled this? Or how do you plan on handling it? I'm really curious to learn how everyone else plans to navigate this. I'm pretty anxious about making it through the summer, so getting some advice from TGC community will be really useful. Thank you in advance for your input!

I've noticed a lot of communication in the Results Search for how things have turned out for those of us who were ar the 2/28-3/2 interview sessions, so I thought I would post a thread on here instead. How did you all fare? Does anyone know for sure that you're going to go to Stanford in the fall (or you will if you get in)? Include your home program in your reply so that we all know vaguely who we're talking to! I'm Eco/Evo.

Hi everyone, So, since I started this thread way back when and I noticed it getting some new, recent action, I thought that I would chime in and try to bring it full circle. It's my understanding that Yale FES expects/expected to have all of their results out by mid-March, which is just around the corner at this point. I imagine that most people have been given some sort of notification, even from other schools, so I wanted to check in. How have things turned out for all the aspiring Yale FES'ers on TGC? Any ideas yet about where you'll be in the fall? Thanks for sharing! And as always, if you haven't heard back yet and your still on pins and needles, I will continue to wish you the best of luck.

Hi everyone, Thank you so much for your responses! I just got back from my interview marathon yesterday and it wasn't nearly as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be. Many of the faculty members I met with were primarily interested in hearing about why I was interested in the department, what some of my current and previous research experiences were, and whether or not I had any questions (I always did). Reading these comments were really helpful though. I have another interview session this week, but it should be far less intensive relative to the one I just experienced (16 interviews is just way too much!). Anyway, I just wanted to thank you all for the support. Knowing these kinds of things can really do wonders for confidence and I think that comes across in interviews. Good luck to the rest of you who may be going through the same!

Definitely depends on the program. I was unofficially notified via email on Feb. 4th and only just today (2/19) received the official letter in the mail. The wait drove me crazy!

How do you prepare for something like this? I've had a few interviews so far, but at most I've only had to meet with 4-5 people. I understand that many of these individuals are not interviewing me because of similar interests, but to assess my qualifications as an applicant and because many of them are on the admissions committee. Even so, 16 faculty meetings feels like quite a bit (not including the meetings I have with 5 current students)... I don't know that I can read abstracts and papers in enough detail for each of them to have a solid grasp on their background. Any advice out there? I hope I'm not the only one going through marathon interviews!

I don't know a whole lot about the Master's program, but from the Results Search you can tell that they typically don't release results until early/mid-March. As far as the application goes, yes, that's normal. They would likely inform you if there were missing materials and the "unofficial" status is administrative only. They only require official transcripts after you've been admitted and accept their offer. I hope that helps! Good luck!

Good! This is a commiseration forum; rant on! But seriously, I really hope that things pan out for you and everyone else on here. This is probably the most difficult waiting period I've ever experienced; it's like being told to learn how to swim without any instructions, lifeguard, or a life vest. Flailing and staying afloat, it's all we can do.

That's exactly my understanding of this as well. Rejections are far more likely to come from the specific department than from the Graduate School unless something completely erroneous prevents them from honoring the department's decision.

I think it can be school or program specific, but your chances of admittance have increased tremendously if you get an interview. For example, I know that for the Stanford Biosciences, only roughly 10-15% of all applicants are admitted but between 60-70% of interviewed applicants are admitted. The odds heavily tilt in your favor if you can manage an interview and prove that: 1. You know what you're talking about, and 2. You're not crazy.

Up until three days ago, I definitely didn't have a Plan B. That's when I found out that I got into my first choice school (hooray!) and it almost makes a Plan B a moot point for me... I wish. Now the problem is that my partner didn't apply to any schools in that area (I had doubts that I would get in, so we didn't really have a plan for that scenario) and I still have 6 other schools to hear back from with more overlap with my partner's schools, so I'm still in "wait and see" mode.

I'm not sure, I only know about the FES PhD program. I think it's likely though; I would expect them to have all if their PhD results decided around the same time.

Hey everyone, I think decisions are out now, but not updated on the online applcations yet, so keep an eye out for emails and phone calls! Good luck!

Well, from what I can tell from the Yale FES posts in the Results Search from previous years, decisions should be announced either this week or next. I'm so nervous!!!

I can't relate to that kind of pressure, and I don't know many people who could, but I'm wishing you the best of luck.

Congrats to them! But this definitely makes me way more anxious now. I wish I didn't know!

Honestly, that's genius. What motivated me to put my best foot forward for these applications was the fact that I nearly didn't make it into college out of high school because I was overconfident about my potential. Everday since I made it into my bachelor program, I have been giving everthing 100% because I know how close I was to being just a high school graduate. I hope you were able to put together the best applications possible! I know I did. Let's just hope they're good enough!

Applying to one place is gusty! I understand only applying to places you truly see yourself attending and being happy and, to some extent, I think I did that. I have one safety school because after I applied everywhere, I panicked that maybe I set the bar too high and decided to apply to a "safe" school. I think I can count on having that school in my back pocket if I need it, but I really do doubt I'll go there (which makes me feel terrible for leading on my POI). The last couple days I've been trying to prepare myself for rejections but instead I end up feeling a lot of fear about being rejected! It's a terribly cyclical situation. I'll be keeping you all in my thoughts as I panic about hearing back from schools.

Ditto. The GradCafe is definitely the only thing keeping me sane right now. I imagine that will change pretty quickly once I see my programs listed on the Results Page (which, btw, is an obsessive compulsive personality's wet-dream). Until I get any admissions decisions, all I can do is keep telling myself that my application is competetive and I will get in somewhere, but I might have to feel some disappointment along the way.

I can understand that fear. I think that my situation is less daunting, but similar. With a master's degree in biology (ecology), there are theoretically a number of things that I could do, but with the job-market as tight as it is, getting a PhD is really what makes you competetive, especially if everyone else has one. Plus, I feel like I just don't know enough yet to be successful in any position, part-time or full-time, that I could get. I need a PhD for not only job-market leverage, but also for confidence in what I'm doing. No one ever really teaches you how to survive in limbo and I definitely feel like TGC is full of people just learning how to stay afloat, myself included.

I know there are a few forums floating around with people asking about their Plan B's; the scenarios that include not getting into graduate school or those that include not getting into a school you would actually go to. But, does anyone here not have a Plan B? I know that I don't. For me, Plan A is the plan. I'm getting ready to finish up a master's and I've applied to 7 schools with interveiws from 6 of them, but no acceptances (yet?). I still have the bulk of my interviews to get through and I know that there's still a lot between now and any admissions decisions, but I don't have any idea what I'll be doing if everything falls apart. I know that it's definitely a terrible insurance plan, but I don't want to accept the thought that I might get rejected from everywhere. Anyone else out there put all their eggs in one basket (that basket being school or bust)? I'd love to commiserate.

I applied for the FES PhD program, so I wonder how the admissions processes differ? I haven't had a formal interview, but I was informed by my POI that FES doesn't invite students as part of the admissions process, so I actually visited him and his lab on my own time back in December. I've just been feeling pretty anxious about the admissions and when they'll finally be released because so far this is the only school that I've applied to that has reached this point in the process. For all of my other schools, I have invites and interviews yet to do, so I don't really have anything else to bite my fingernails over. What about you? How do you feel about your chances/this process? And do you have any better ideas than I do about when results will be released? Well, at least I can breathe a little bit easier knowing that support from a faculty member is actually helpful. It's interesting that you mention how Master's students should eat into the PhD slots if they apply (which makes sense), because when I visited I met 3 PhD students who had Master's from other institutions. I'll be finishing up my Master's in April and I hope that it's something that the adcom is looking on favorably. I have some apprehensions to sharing too much information about my visit online, so I can't say who my POI is, but I'm happy to say that the visit was very informal and comfortable. I met with him one-on-one and also had the chance to hang out with his lab and the other students in FES and briefly tour the campus. I lacked foresight and didn't meet with any other professors while I was there, so I'm hoping that doesn't shoot me in the foot, but overall it was a good visit. (*knock on wood*) But overall, I would say that it was a very useful and insightful visit.

I guess I'll take that as a no!

Nothing so far, but I still have 4 interviews/visits to do in February, so I'm really only waiting to hear back from Yale at this point. The wait is definitely killing me though. And good luck to you too!