frankdux

some people suggest emailing a professer you're interested in working with and seeing if you can strike up a dialogue in the hopes that the professor will 'nudge' your application through. otherwise, you're forced to play the waiting game. Unfortunately, this year it seems like the waiting game is a lot less likely to come up as an acceptance given the greater number of applicants and the less number of spots most programs are dealing with. so, i'd go ahead and start emailing some professors. i'd say that you gotta fight for it.

i called one of my schools, the very last school i applied to - months after my other schools, and it turns out they never received my 3rd LOR. luckily they dont make decisions for another few weeks, so i should be ok if my LOR writer actually responds to my email.

different schools have different procedures. some send out rejections along with acceptances and have a leftover pile of 'maybes' that make up their waitlist. some just start with the most awesome applicants and work there way down til all their slots are filled up and then reject everybody thats left.

i'm predicting to hear absolutely nothing, good or bad.

Arizona's invitation weekend has come and gone. also, based on experience from applying there last year, they appear to be one of those schools that doesnt send out rejections until the very end. in other words, you could technically call it a waitlist at this point in time, but in reality its an inevitable rejection.

honestly, yes. at least they replied. i emailed arizona and got no response.

this is my second year applying to the applied math dept at U of arizona. last year i got an interview, but i think i bombed it cause i was eventually rejected. this year, no interview. also, the invitation weekend was this past weekend and i wasnt invited. so that pretty much means a rejection. sorry. (i didnt apply to Michigan's AIM program cause i figured i didnt stand a chance. that is a top notch program with an incredibly low acceptance rate. best of luck to you, but if you didnt even get any form of contact from Arizona at this point, i'd guess its a 'no' from Michigan as well. i could be wrong though.)

funded acceptance it was nothing but a dream re-apply next year

Dear frankdux, You are an incredibly strong candidate and we thank you for applying. Unfortunately, you are too awesome for our department. It would clearly be both a waste of our time and of yours for you to pursue graduate studies with us. Instead, we encourage you to apply for our Department Chair position so that you may bring our entire department up to your standards. Thank you for considering our program and we hope you we will be our boss in the fall! Sincerely, Mr. Unworthy

calm the hell down. write a one or two sentence email to whomever the website suggests you inquire to about your status. most of my inquiries went to graduate secretaries. its not that hard and you wont "botch" anything.

if it makes you feel any better MDLee, i'll probably be 0 for 11 within a few weeks. i'm 0 for 3 so far. i also have a couple of waitlists that will most likely not go in my favor. and then a couple of schools still havent gotten back to me with my inevitable rejection. sigh.

if an interview is a particular part of that program's procedure, then possibly. just send them an email and find out. if an interview isn't a part of their procedure, then no, it isnt too late. but i'd guess you've been waitlisted. again, just send them an email and ask for the status of your application. it isnt too hard. worst case scenario, they dont respond.

format: 0. name 1. number of years you've applied 2. number of schools applied to 3. number of rejections so far 4. what do you think went wrong? 5. will you apply next year? 6. if yes, how will you improve your app? if no, why not? 7. what will you do in your off year/the rest of your life? ******** 0. frankdux 1. 2 years 2. 11 this year. 2 last year. 3. 3 this year but more expected. 2 last year. 4. little research experience, a mediocre gre subject score (although i only sent it to 4 schools) 5. yes 6. try to get some research experience. retake the gre subject test. 7. not sure. maybe teach.

i just got my 3rd rejection a few minutes ago. OP, look on the bright side. if you get straight across the board rejections, at least you'll only have been rejected by 4 schools. if i get straight across the board rejections, as i'm predicting, it will be a painful ELEVEN!

i'm pretty upset and anxious and i can't really do ANYTHING until i have a response from every single school. i'm practically frozen at the moment. 2 rejections, at least another 5 expected rejections, so that leaves 4 potentially positive responses. but until i get at least 1 positive response, i'm going to continue being a mess.

that could just as easily be a copy and paste job that is sent to all of those currently not yet rejected who email to inquire about their status. however, you should still follow through with what the grad chair is recommending you do.

yeah, i'd say so.

thank you for this confirmation. however, it only makes me feel even more likely to be rejected from everywhere.

but who do you send this to? the DGS? a specific prof?

do yourself a favor and don't try to waste time deciphering those kinds of emails. you'll drive yourself nuts. you just gotta tough it out til you get your official answer in writing.

i appreciate you guys and this forum as well.

$20,000 per year is plenty to live off of in bloomington. my senior year i had a one bedroom apartment to myself for $385 a month, and that was "pricey". bills were another $100, and i spent maybe $300 a month on food and gas. add in another $200 for entertainment and miscellaneous expenses and you're still not up to $1000 a month. my sophomore and junior years i lived in rented houses with friends. IU is full of houses for rent that are literally a few blocks off of campus. and the prices are comparable to apartments as well. actually i think i had more fun living in a house than an apartment, but my senior year i wanted to live alone. may i ask why you would want to live in the dorms? compared to an apartment or a house, with a dorm you're gonna have less space, less privacy, less amenities, possible shared bathrooms, miscellanous oddball rules and noise restrictions, kinda childish and not really attractive to the opposite sex, etc. ******* i dont know about the reputation of the department, but the reputation of the school is fairly high. from wiki:

advice: email the department and ask! the worst thing that will happen is that you wont get a response. the best thing that will happen is that you are given a straight answer, or at the very least that a decision hasn't yet been made. i emailed 9 programs on thursday. on friday i was told of 1 rejection, and 4 other responses were a mix of "1st round admits went out, but you are still in the running for the 2nd round" or "decisions havent yet been made but you should hear in the next few weeks". 4 schools didnt respond. its not that big of a deal to email your schools ONCE at this point in time.

if i get straight across the board rejections and want to beef up my application for next year, how can i get research experience (the one thing my app is clearly missing) without actually being a student at the moment? i'm in math/applied math.

best of luck to you, bigcheese. out of 11, i've got 2 rejections, and am waiting on the other 9. 1 of those 9 has gotta be a rejection since the invitation weekend is in a few days and i've heard nothing. at least another 3 are reach schoools, so thats 4 more total rejections right there. the other 5 i'd like to think i'd have a reasonably good shot any other year than this one where the funding is less and the number of applicants is more. realistically i'm just praying for ONE funded acceptance anywhere. but i'm already predicting 11 straight rejections.