johndiligent

I've been waiting for a pay check (and for confirmation that all of the letters have been received) before I send anything, but I'm planning on picking up some nice thank you cards and sending them this weekend. Once I have all of the results in and have made my decision, I'll likely send a short letter on nice stationery to let them know which school I'll be attending and to thank them again. I think that'll be the extent of it. I was considering purchasing gifts but I still haven't found a middle ground between impersonal/perfunctory and gaudy.

I second all of this. Get some placement stats from Rutgers and make your decision from there.

Jail Bird

Are you aiming for a Philosophy PhD? If so, I STRONGLY urge you to consult with the Philosophy board, since they'll have much better disciplinary insight. Bearing in mind that I'm not in Philosophy, here's my view: - My understanding is that Philosophy is by far one of the most - if not the most - competitive discipline in which to gain admission to a PhD programme. Many excellent students with excellent records have been shut out by all schools, even multiple times. - I've heard it said multiple times that, in philosophy, your writing sample will be by far the single most important aspect of your application. Since your writing sample cannot be analyzed by this forum, your poll is not going to give you a reliable indication of your competitiveness. I would urge you to ask your professors to evaluate you and give you an idea of where you should be aiming. - THAT said, judging by the deficits in your profile, I believe many in Philosophy would urge you to seek admission in a Master's programme before going for the PhD. - Finally, while I certainly understand the need for some gauge of your competitiveness, if you want to apply for graduate study, the results of this poll should not be a factor in your decision to apply or what schools you should aim for. Like all applicants, you'll likely be met with the most success if you apply to a broad mix of schools, some top tier, some mid-tier, and some lower. And the decision to apply really needs to be made by you, and not by the anonymous denizens of the interwebs.

Small quibble but I haven't been accepted to my top choice. I've been accepted to a good school in an expensive city with little to no funding for the first year, when I already have $68,000 worth of debt from undergrad. I assure you I am as anxious for other results as anyone else.

In the immortal words of the great poet Frankie Goes to Hollywood: "Relax." It's still so early. Don't panic yet, and just enjoy the fact that - while you were waitlisted - you weren't rejected. That's a good sign!

Crazy Heart

Yeah, I was surprised too since I didn't expect to get any news on a Saturday. But it looks like they made the decision that week and then the graduate coordinator just e-mailed them out on a Saturday morning. When I replied to acknowledge receipt of the offer, I got an Out of Office auto-reply! Anything you can dish about UBC and CNERS?

Were there any posts from previous years on the Results page? In case you don't know how to get there: 1. Scroll to the top of the page. Do you see the menu where it says Forums, Members, Calendar, Blogs, Chat, Results Search... 2. STOP. That's the one. Results Search. Click on that. 3. In the search box, type "Chicago religion". Hit search. You'll find a number of results from past years that will give you an indication of when to expect an answer. Much more effective than posing the question here, which is a board mainly populated with current applicants and one must use the word "populated" loosely.

I heard from one this month and I've yet to decide if that's made the waiting better or worse. Usually, while I want time to pass pretty slowly, I spend all day itching to cross another one off of the calendar. Just hoping that I'll make it until the end of March without going totally insane. Apart from that, I've been exercising like mad. Everytime I feel stressed out about the potential rejections coming my way, I hop on the elliptical or go running or hiking. I might be over-doing that since I've lost 19 pounds in the last month. Probably isn't healthy but better than many alternative ways of coping with stress, I suppose.

Under Pressure

10:00 AM their time on a Saturday.

I don't think being ignored necessarily means anything. The only school I've heard from was my top choice BEFORE the application season started, but I was really put out by their slow and impersonal communication. I felt like they were very uninterested and I pretty much assumed that nothing would come of the app. In fact, the hour before I got my acceptance, I would have bet money on the fact that if I'd be for sure rejected anywhere, it'd be by them. Sometimes that's just how the admissions people roll. If they don't have a helpful response, they don't answer the e-mail at all. Doesn't necessarily mean anything.

This post is the last thing I should be reading right now. After all these months of constant paranoia, I'm going to need therapy before I can even start graduate school.

Best Dressed

4th option: go to the one with the most well-known and respected advisor (in your chosen sub-field). More than rank, those are the kind of connections you can really sell.

Thanks, Joro and congratulations to you as well! My LOR problem is mostly fixed (he's sent the majority now, though I was still nagging him about McGill's as late as yesterday). Luckily, he isn't a total flake, just flakey.

Haha, I doubt anyone's going to come forward, but y'know. My cousin (my roommate and also a grad school applicant) showed me a post on a Livejournal community last week that showed that a woman had posted a false acceptance on Grad Cafe in order to get back at her husband for spending more time looking at the Results Page than he did talking to her. So it's possible that some of the posters aren't even applicants, just people screwing with someone else.

While I'm sure that some of you will want to cut my head off for posting this, I'm looking for commiseration. Before I heard anything, I lived in this calm peaceful world where I'd convinced myself that results were weeks away, if not entire months. Also having convinced myself that they were all rejections, I was just as happy not knowing. I had some occassional moments of panic but nothing unbearable. But now that I've heard from one school, I've become a PARANOID NUDNIK. I think about results all the time. I check my e-mail every 10 seconds. Why can't the other schools get back to me? Why don't I know yet? Why am I just leaving an offer hanging? What if I wait too long and they give it to someone else because it looks like I'm uninterested? WHEN WILL I KNOW? When can I just decide? Truly, complete ignorance was bliss. You folks who haven't heard anything so far? Enjoy it while it lasts.

I'm so happy I can chime in with the disagreeing. I had a 3.3 GPA, 17 W's (that's not a typo, seriously, SEVENTEEN), and a smattering of bad grades IN MY MAJOR (including an F). So far I have one acceptance with funding!

With honesty. Here's the thing, that question is asked for all sorts of reasons, some of which benefit you and some of which might not. For instance, sometimes the "Where else did you apply?" question is used for statistical purposes (to see who else the school is considered competitive with) or to gauge a timeline for when the student could reasonably know of all acceptances. Still further, I know profs who consider it one of the most pivotal responses on the application or in an interview, since it gives an indication of how well the applicant knows the field to which he/she is applying, how they self-assess their competitiveness, and most importantly, whether the "fit" as you presented it to them is an honest one or one based on convenience. Once you have offers, disclosing these to the prospective school might ensure you an even better offer than they would have given in the first place, if the school really wants you. The negative way that the question might impact you are that the school might hear of a far better offer, know they can't match it, and thus not even offer you admission. Or a school might be so certain of you getting in to a higher tier school on your list that they don't offer, but then it turns out that you don't get accepted there, and you're screwed. That said, I feel like a glib or vague response like "I applied all over the place" or "I applied to mainly north-eastern schools" hurts you more than the possible negative ramifications of having answered the question honestly. It makes what I'm sure was a very strategic plan of applying to schools that were all great fits sound haphazard and uncertain. Be honest and show them your seriousness as a scholar.

Yup, that's fine. Even better if you write notes on their responses.

Crazy Bread

Who knows what their objections are, but I think that C is really worth putting in the Cons column when you're making your final decision. The fact that a grad student sent an unsolicited e-mail responding to the drama does not augur well for the department.

Honestly, I would have clicked on the first link first but that's only because I've conditioned myself to read and re-read every communication sent to me by a graduate school 800 times before I have any emotional reaction to it whatsoever. I'm still pretty sure the acceptance sent to me Saturday was sent in error and I'm *still* re-reading it for the "Just Kidding!" in fine print.