ak48

That's a seriously tilted "good news bad news" situation. Easy A to inflate the GPA

( and maybe gals too.)

maybe because you guys are all underground!

Thanks Sansao. I'm sorry to hear about your lack of results on gradcafe but I think it makes sense to me. Geological sciences is not really a popular field of study compared to the others on this website (particularly Comp Sci, Electrical Engineering, Psychology, Math, English). So there are less Geo candidates applying to schools, and remember that most students probably don't know about gradcafe. (The tech-saavy ones probably do, which is why I think a lot of Comp-Sci people find their way here).

For me, the Open House visit is more valuable because I get to meet fellow applicants and see what they are like, what they are thinking, and how they are approaching the decision. You also get treated more nicely (one place is taking us to dinner and then a play). That said, you'll probably get a more "honest" view on a personal visit, as Rae mentioned

From what I've read on this website, many admission departments do "tiers." Because the school wants to grab the best people before they commit to other places, they will send out acceptances to the best candidates as early as possible. They will also reject hopelessly underqualified candidates as well, as a courtesy to help them plan for other things. The rest (the non-best, and the non-worst) are split into tiers again. The school looks at their Tier 1 students, see how many of them accept/reject, and then send out acceptances to Tier 2, see the accept/reject, and then repeat until slots are full. Long story short: you are neither such a great candidate that you should be accepted immediatel, nor so bad that you should get dropped immediately.

I did not realize there was a joke until you pointed it out!

Ironically, the very first "beep" email I got after I decided to quit my impulsive checking habit was an acceptance! One of the lower scholls on the list, but at this point I'm not going to slap a gift horse in the face.

Gotta second Amal's gratitude. Thanks for finding out, and then posting the info with the rest of us! Judgement day for us tomorrow

Chocolate pi

I don't understand why other people's reactions to your PhD matter that much. Would it be any different if they reacted the same way to you getting a job overseas instead of a PhD? If your close friends/family are happy for you, that's great. If others are indifferent or envious, well screw them. People who aren't happy with your success shouldn't be the ones you surround yourself with. Having said that, I hope you've been tactful about mentioning your PhD plans. It might come across as bragging or arrogant if you bring it up without context. Like, what if somebody you knew kept mentioning how he got a new job at the start of every conversation? He'd look arrogant.

One marginally related rant: It's just a tablet. It won't change your life. I'm tired of talking to people shopping for a new smartphone or tablet as if the marginal differences between the Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 5 actually makes a big difference. Comedian Louis CK had a great bit about how obssesive he got shopping for DVD players and spending hours reading online reviews of different players because he wanted to "get the best one." Then he realized, "why the fuck do I need the best one?" My point is, I've met lots of people who want to buy the iPad or iPhone or smartphone or whatever, thinking that buying it will somehow dramatically improve your life. It won't, or at least shouldn't. It may make a few things easier/better, and if so, great. But it's just a damn tablet. As for your original question, my iPad ended up collecting dust because I don't watch movies or netflix or TV shows. Taking notes with it is a joke. You can't write with your palm resting on the screen because the sensor gets confused between your hand and the stylus. and the stylus accuracy is never as sharp as pencil-paper.

I bought an iPad 2 after graduation 1 year ago, and gave it away to my sister a few months later. To me, it was worthless. It was one of the most beautiful and well built devices I've seen, but I never really found a good use for it. It depends on what you want from it. It's great for watching movies and other "visual" stuff; it's TERRIBLE for typing/work related things. I must admit that I was never much of a touchscreen guy, and I'm a very "tactile" person in general and I need real buttons! (I also memorize phone numbers by touch, not by number). I don't really watch movies or TV / play games enough for it to be worth it. I used it to read some ebooks, which was nice, but I have a non-touch Kindle which is a LOT easier to hold. (iPad interface is MUCH better for navigating the books, but I like the look of Kindle e-ink better)

Biotechie, from my initial guess it seems to me that your problem student is a premedical student, who plans to go into medical school? Premeds in my experience, and common stereotypes, are notoriously competitive and gaming of the system. My armchair pyschology tells me that she's trying to be domineering in order to stand out so that you'll give her the most attention, or she wants to make sure she gets the best grades and making sure she knows the answers. This would also suggest to me that she may be sabotaging the numbers given to other students so that she gets the better results? Again, i'm making big assumptions off limited evidence, but that's my impression. I'm glad you got it under control.

According to people (on the results page, somewhere in the forums too), Berkeley's EECS sent out effectively all of its offers already, so the rest of us be getting the bad news. Congrats Nick, you're clearly done something right

I got pretty discouraged at the swath of Stanford EE PHD admits on the results page. As orly said, on the gradcafe results page, there were no Stanford admits in March 2012, only in Feb 2012. Time's ticking out haha

And yet here I am, still waiting.

Did not know people ate them by color. I indiscriminately shovel them (or more accurately, pour them) into my maw.

Congrats sophiak! But thoughts of suicide over the possibility of a PhD rejection suggest that you take care of yourself mentally, and TELL SOMEBODY about it if such thoughts arise again in the future. Good luck with the PHD!

I know waiting sucks, but if a school says they'll announce decisions in March, I feel that they have until March to make a decision.

A Noid. (is this cheating?)

You've only been officially accepted into one place. Do not withdraw it now and regret it heavily should things change. Wait until (or if) you have gotten in elsewhere and seen the fit there and decided it was better for you. While your consideration is noble, I think it's better to play this safe.

The double exclamation marks lead me to believe that there's more to it than "we are currently reviewing your application." Probably good news.

I hope you are right. But this statement gives me pause: For EE only events on Friday March 1st: These are EE preferred because we want to give the admits EE attending these events (there are no CS admits) the chance to talk to students from their own field. To me, it sounds like they say EE, not EECS, because the none of the visiting students are the CS department. Anyway, they are expecting 125 students to visit. Anybody know how many PhD students EECS admits each year? That would clarify whether this posting is for EE or EECS

Not grad school related, but here it is: When I was in college (Ivy League school), one of my friends applied to a finance internship in South Korea and got rejected. He sent them a very polite email stating that while he was disappointed by the decision, he thanked them for their professional response. He also asked them if they could give him insight as to where he could improve his application because he wanted to apply there again in the future for a full-time position. All very respectful. Instead of telling him where his application went wrong, they decided to accept him for the internship! Maybe this particular company had a kind-hearted Human Resources person that day, but the moral of the story is that keeping windows open and bridges standing can only do you good. Now, he did not "beg for admission", as you are planning to do. He merely wanted to ask where his application was weak. in my opinion, begging for admission would be a terrible idea. What do you have to lose, you ask? For one thing, you will never be able to re-apply there. There's also the risk of the letter getting forwarded around, possibly black-listing you from other programs/schools. (This has happened before with angry job rejection responses). And there's also your dignity. It has to be worth something. Send them an email. Be polite. Don't beg for admission; rather, ask them where they think your application can improve so that if you decide to reapply next year, you have a better shot.