reixis

For what it's worth, my GRE was slightly higher than yours (152Q/154V/4.0) and I did apply to six schools in the US (Harvard, MIT, Cornell, UPenn, UConn, U. of Miami) out of undergrad from an obscure non-English speaking university. I was initially wait-listed at UPenn, UConn, and Miami and rejected at Harvard, MIT, and Cornell. I got an offer out of the waitlist from UPenn (I withdrew myself from UConn and Miami lists), but for particular reasons decided to go to a place outside the US. I think that the most important factors are having a good sample and being a good fit to the program that you are applying to. If you can get letters from American professors, that might help you as well. I would also strongly advise to look not only for good fit in terms of your research interests, but also for programs with a good graduate and staff community. This might make a big difference in the long run. Hope this helps!

One more to the list. Though I suspect anyone is going to NZ, it would be great to keep connected!

I just received an e-mail from the DGS at Penn telling me that I was next on the list for an offer. I told him that I accepted an offer elsewhere. Hopefully this will turn out to be an offer for someone else!

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester! I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot. I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message.

I am still waiting on UPenn, UConn and Miami. I have no idea about my prospects at both UPenn and UConn unless sheer speculation. As for Miami, I was told I am ranked 17th on the list, so I'm not really expecting any good news from them. I'm also considering accepting my offer at Otago. It's not a PGR-ranked department, but I had a very good experience interacting with them in the past months. Also, the money is pretty good and I think I would be able to live more comfortably. Downside is that it is far from home and, with the exception of Australia, it is geographically isolated from the rest of the profession.

As I believe many of us will have our futures defined this week, I would like to wish the best of luck for all of us still waiting! It's been a very stressful couple of months, but it certainly helped to have this place to talk about the process.

Yes, but that was before people declined their offers. I have heard of no news ever since.

Is it common for departments to take a while to send new offers after people reject previous ones? It's been a silent period in the past two weeks.

No news from Penn since two people from here declined offers. This waiting is killing me, really.

Anyone knows when visitations will take place at UConn? I know that Penn is holding visitations this weekend, so for those of us who are waitlisted there, some good (or bad) news might be released next week.

Congrats!!! I'm hoping to hear good news soon. Fingers crossed.

That's good news! Thanks for sharing. Do you happen to know his or her AOI? I heard from a student there that the list is usually short. Receiving an offer this week would solve all of my problems with international deadlines!

Anyone here planning on declining an offer from UPenn or knows of someone who plans to do so? It's great fit for me and it would help me a great deal for future planning if you could decline your offer as soon as possible (if you are so inclined, of course).

Hang in there! From what you said earlier, your prospects are really good at UConn. I don't know for sure, but my sense is that if you are well-ranked on the waitlist at a less-known program, your chances of getting in are good since some of their acceptances might end up accepting offers from better ranked places. Also, I suspect that many schools will be holding visitations in the next two weeks. You might expect people to start declining offers (if they are so inclined) by that time.

Rejected from Harvard. Letter was posted on the website.

Thanks! I'll post new information as soon as he responds me.

Just got an e-mail from Mitchell Green telling me that I am on the waitlist at UConn. I wrote back asking for the size of the list and where I stand on it. EDIT: The e-mail was solicited.

Thanks for the heads-up. I guess I'll just wait then.

Thanks! And congrats on the waitlist! I heard it's a great program.

Hey, do you mind sharing when you sent the e-mail? I sent one to Mitchell Green Wednesday and did not get any answer.

I think it depends on how the list is organized. For example, Penn's list is unranked and divided by AOI, so you might expect your chances to increase if someone with similar AOIs declines an offer. As for CUNY, I don't really know what's the situation there. Anyway, do you mind sharing your AOI? I'm also in Penn's waitlist and my impression is that the list is short, but can't really be sure.

Although it's not about Purdue in particular, you might want to take a look at this link. There is some clarification as to why porgrams might take longer to get back to some students.

Does anyone know anything about Harvard holding on to internal waitlists? I have an international deadline approaching this week and I asked the DGS for an update (I explained my situation), but it's been a few days and I got no answer I think this is unlikely since waitlists were posted already, but I'm getting a little anxious since my decision will depend on my status there...

I also heard that something of the sort was the case. In fact, when deciding whether to apply, many people told me that some schools might feel urged to admit students from unusual backgrounds like me (given, of course, that I meet the minimum standards for that institution). This might be true for undergraduate admissions, but I always thought that this was a misleading advice since graduate admissions are primarily handled by departments and not the Graduate School itself. But seeing those posts made me wonder about the subject again...

I know this varies from institution to institution, but what role does the graduate school usually play in admissions? Reading some posts on the results page, some people seem to be suggesting that they were rejected even before their files were properly reviewed by the department, which I find very odd.