pohks

Congratulations!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semla In Finland we call it "laskiaispulla".

Oh, you have those around easter? In Finland, we eat those already in February. I love the ones with cream and jam, but the marzipan ones are gross. I'm binging on peanut butter, which I only recently discovered. I eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, preferably straight from the jar, and have no idea how I survived without it for so long. I'll probably have to enroll in peanut butter rehab once the application anxiety is over.

It's probably a good idea to respond something to let them know that you have received the email. I have responded by thanking them and telling them that I was very excited about the acceptance, without necessarily saying whether I plan to enroll or not.

Congratulations!!

I'd probably wait until the first week of March, especially since nobody has posted an MA acceptance on GC, although I don't think that asking at this point would hurt your chances, either. Maybe you could be a bit more general, though, i.e. inquire when they are planning to send out decisions without necessarily asking directly whether she thinks you have a shot or not. It's so quiet.

Oh wow, that certainly helps a lot! I've been in a LDR with my SO since July. He started his PhD in the US last fall and I stayed in his home country. Why didn't I apply last year, too? I have a fixed-term contract that I didn't want to terminate, which is why I decided to stay here for another year and apply during this cycle instead. I have been in a LDR before, and it didn't work out too well, as neither of us was committed enough. Now, however, everything has gone surprisingly smoothly. We text constantly (WhatsApp is good especially if you are in different countries), and try to talk on Skype at least a couple of times a week. Sometimes on weekends we talk on Skype for hours, maybe grab a beer or two, and it almost feels like we were hanging out for real (although the physical part is obviously lacking). He's really thoughtful - it certainly was a nice surprise to have flowers delivered to the office last Friday - and we have a strong mutual trust, which is essential in any relationship but especially so in a long distance one. As several people here have mentioned, it's important to see each other as frequently as possible. I try to visit my SO every two months or so, and he spent the Christmas here. It also helps if you know that the situation is temporary and will only last for X time. I'm excited to know that from August on, I'll be within a 300 mile radius from my SO. Seems like in your case, you are both very committed to making things work whether or not you end up in a long distance relationship. All the best!

There's one acceptance on the results search page.

U of Illinois UC and U Arizona are late, too (although a UA rejection was posted yesterday on the results page). My POI from one of the universities told me yesterday that they are still "awaiting funding decisions"; she might have referred to NSF grants. To maintain what is left of my sanity, I only allow myself to check my email every 30 mins. This is great progress compared to the earlier frequency of every five minutes. Needless to say I haven't been too productive at work lately..

Congrats! That's great news!

Did anyone else apply for Illinois UC or Arizona?

I don't know, but it definitely was a good sign that you received an encouraging email from your POI. I'll keep my fingers (and toes) crossed for you!

Congrats, obviousbicycle!! And paolaplease, I'm sorry to hear that . I hope you receive good news soon! Have you heard back from Minnesota yet?

Funny that they sent out acceptances yesterday when the university was closed (it still remains closed today). Maybe the DGS/some professors were working nevertheless. Congrats!

I somehow sense that you would like to go to UWO, right? You said that you found UofT "intimidating" whereas you really liked the lab at the UWO; however, I noticed that you wrote elsewhere that you did your undergrad at the department of political science of UofT. Have you had/will you have a chance to visit the department of geography before you make the decision? Maybe you could try to email grad students who are currently enrolled in the program and ask them what they think about the department, etc. Although I am normally not a big fan of rankings, in this case I would probably take them into account at least to some extent. UofT is nationally ranked as #1, compared to #14 of UWO. According to ARWU, UofT is number 25 in the world wherease UWO is unranked (#2XX according to some other rankings). The geography program of UofT is very well ranked, too, and I would think that, in general, the differences between the two universities are drastic enough to affect your employment prospects after you graduate. Moreover, at UofT there are 4 faculty members you could see yourself working with. Although 2 at UWO is definitely better than 1, there could always be some personal chemistry/retirement/other issues that leave you not-so-well-off in terms of supervision. Are the 2 faculty at UWO tenured? That said, I would probably go with UofT. I'd visit the department, though, if possible. Would you choose one of these schools over the US and European universities you applied to? P.S. Congrats on all your acceptances - you are really rocking it! I was nominated for a fellowship, and I'm anxiously waiting for the results. Next Monday (02/17, which is a national holiday, btw), the departments will receive a confidential list of awardees, after which they have the option to reallocate funding. The Graduate School will send letters to successful applicants on March 3. Hopefully you'll receive good news shortly after that!

Have you tried to click the button that says "show more information on status"? My status says "pending" as well, but on the other page there is more information (I applied for the PhD program). Just my two cents, but MA/MS admissions might be granted after they know how many of their fellowship nominees receive financial support from the graduate school and thus have a better overall view of their financial situation. Congrats to Kansas State admits! P.S. I absolutely dislike the admission portal of U Illinois saying: "Congratulations! Your application has been successfully submitted."

Between 2010 and 2014, there have been 40 Berkeley rejections vs. 2 acceptances posted on Gradcafe. I wonder where all those grad students listed on the program's webpage came from.

Just as ihatechoosingusernames suggested, it's a good idea to call them or send them an email to ask if they really haven't received the transcript or if it just hasn't been entered in the system yet. I had the same problem with my GRE and TOEFL scores - one of the schools had marked them as not received although I had sent them two months earlier. I emailed the graduate coordinator, and she confirmed that they had received the scores and changed the status accordingly.

Hi nickinthebox, welcome to the GC! I'll pm you regarding OSU - thanks! It seems that PSU has usually sent out rejections before acceptances (they are early this year). I'm keeping my fingers crossed for both of you.

I agree with DarlingNikki - it wouldn't hurt to call them or send them an email. The worst they can say is that the decision time cannot be extended. Did the offer letter explicitly state a date by which you have to make the decision? In my case, one of the programs that admitted me asked me to inform them "as soon as possible" about my decision. However, I wrote to my POI and asked him if they could give me a few weeks to make up my mind, as, although they were one of my top choices, I would like to wait until I heard back from other schools to be able to make a fully-informed decision. He said yes.

FWIW, here is some information regarding the notification dates of a few universities in the past years (2011-2013) according to the data posted on the results search page (I’m not obsessed with that page or anything...) I’ve drawn some extremely unscientific conclusions and shortcuts, so please take the list with not a grain but a bucket of salt. I left out the universities that have already sent out some notifications (Minnesota, OSU, Berkeley, Syracuse, Maryland), as well as schools with little entries (n<6). ASU: First notifications after February 20, generally in March. Some in April. Clark: All notifications reported on GC in February, normally around Feb 14 – 16 Johns Hopkins: One acceptance in February, most notifications in March/April MSU: First notifications around Feb 22 – 25 Penn State: First notifications around February 11 (2013), February 22 (2012), March 3 (2011) SDSU: Notifications normally in March SUNY Buffalo: First notifications around Feb 15 – 17; a bunch of acceptances still in March Texas A&M: First notifications in the first two weeks of February U Arizona: First notifications in the first (2012) or second week of March (2011), Feb 14 in 2013. UBC: First notifications around Feb 18 – 20 (little data from 2012 – 2013) UC Boulder: First notifications on Feb 19 (2011), Feb 28 (2012) and Feb 22 (2013); thereafter a steady flow of notifications (also acceptances) until around March 20 UC Davis: First notifications around Feb 8 – 23 UCLA: First notifications in the middle of February, most notifications in the two first weeks of March UCSB: First notifications generally after Feb 15 U Denver: First notifications in the end of February U Florida: First notifications in the end of February (little data from 2012/2013) UIUC: First notifications around Feb 13 U Kentucky: First notifications generally late January/early February; thereafter notifications until the end of February (March for those been waitlisted). This year one acceptance on January 29; however, included in the list as they seem to send out acceptances on a rolling basis. UNC – Chapel Hill: In the past 2 years first notifications in the last week of February/first week of March (in 2011 in early February) U Nebraska – Lincoln: First notifications in the end of February U Oregon: First notifications around Feb 15 U Toronto: First acceptances around Feb 4 – 25 UWashington: Notifications between Feb 12 and 14 (2013), Feb 15 and 17 (2012), and Feb 8 and 15 (2011) West Virginia: First notifications around Jan 31 to February 11 Wisconsin-Madison: Notifications constantly around February 15 – 23 As you can see, it is not alarming if you haven’t heard anything from the programs you applied to yet. We might have some busy weeks ahead of us, though.

Congratulations! That is awesome news! Your new signature looks great!

Geographyrocks, feeling what you are feeling is perfectly normal; applying (and especially waiting) is such a stressful process. There were days when I felt like withdrawing my applications, as I imagined admission committees reviewing my file like “what was this person thinking and why did she even bother to apply – there is no chance that she’ll get admitted anywhere, ever”. I was lucky to receive two admission offers at an early stage, as most geography programs haven’t started sending out their acceptance/rejection letters yet (one of the programs that admitted me is not a geography program, and they were hiring a person for a specific RA position). So hang in there – in a couple of weeks we’ll know more. I’d believe that it greatly benefits your applications that you have already visited most of the programs and they know who you are.

Thanks for the insight, jmu and paolaplease. jmu - the program you are attending sounds extremely interesting, especially because of its interdisciplinarity. And paolaplease, my regional area of interest is Latin America, too. Yes, I'd believe that ultimately it all comes down to fit; it is more likely that one ends up doing amazing research in a lower-ranked program that is compatible with their research interests and has productive and enthusiastic faculty with good contacts, than in a high-ranked program with little expertise or networks related to topics that one wishes to research. That said, it is of course possible that research interests change. The results search page looks a bit ugly today because of the Berkeley and Syracuse rejections. Hopefully it will turn greener towards the end of this week.

Out of curiosity, how did you select the programs you applied for? Was your decision affected more by the programs' strengths in general, or did you apply to work with a specific faculty member(s)? Did rankings play any role in the process? What about location? In my case, I applied to programs that have faculty conducting research on topics that are compatible with my research interests (socioeconomic impacts of global environmental change at community level, the role of natural resources in shaping resilience to climate change, and political ecology of carbon offset mechanisms), and that are generally strong in environment-human interactions. Thus, I ended up applying for a wide range of programs when it comes to rankings, and fit will be the most important factor in deciding which program to attend (although the rank and rigorousness of the program undoubtedly affect the employment prospects in the future). As for location, I thought it didn't matter that much until I visited an up-and-coming program that had faculty doing research on intriguing topics, motivated grad students, good facilities, etc., but the campus area and the city where the university is located made me feel really uncomfortable. I did not apply there, as although there obviously are factors that are way more important than location, I don't want to spend the next five years in a place that makes me miserable, either.