Kamisha

If the person from ASU who was wait listed today is on this board, can you give us any info about what’s going on?

Congratulations! When did you get your acceptance?

Double ditto.

Yeah. I was hoping that something good would come of UC-Davis today because there were people from there checking out my profiles yesterday. However, I see that a wait list notification is up and I haven’t heard anything. This is discouraging.

What school besides Nebraska? Sorry

Bye bye, Nebraska. I didn’t really want to live in Lincoln anyway

The logic has to do with ethics. Admissions committees assume your recommendation writers will be more “honest” in their evaluation of you if they know you aren’t going to see the letter. If you don’t waive your rights to view the letter, adcomms speculate that the recommender will be persuaded to “fluff up” their opinions of you, or that your concerned about the ability to get a good letter, which illustrates to them that you aren’t a strong candidate. Basically, if you don’t waive your rights, the recommendation is deemed less credible and you are deemed a weaker applicant. Again, though, this is changing. Also, this is the United States.

Yeah, I’ve been told that this is a big red flag here in the United States.

I think all of the discussion of “Good LoR’s” comes from the increasingly ambiguity over the issue of whether or not students should look at their recommendations ahead of time. It used to be that you would never, ever, EVER look at a recommendation that a professor wrote for you. However, the expectation to wave your rights to a letter is almost purely a United States expectation and, even then, it’s changing. More and more universities want everything, including LoR’s, uploaded to your application. I waived all of my rights, but faculty members still sent me the letter to view after they’d submitted it to my applications. While the norm is changing, a think a “good LoR” is still waiving your rights to view your later. I think it also means that the recommendation is recent and representative.

I don’t talk about my research because I don’t want people to capitalize on my ideas. It’s not that I don’t trust all of you...you just can never be too careful In all seriousness, I was told by several faculty members not to reveal too much about your research interest areas on the internet.

This is good info. Do they do this for all candidates?

Please don’t be giving me false hope! Haha

Haha it would be nice if that were true

Yeah, I was talking about the link. I saw that it was taken down, so I changed my post. Haha. But seriously, it drives me crazy.

Any other UC-Riverside applicants out there? I hear they should make decision by mid-Feb.

The knot in my stomach is so tight. I would LOVE to go to Davis and this is giving me false hope. Haha.

Weird, though...it looks like it’s a grad student. Why would a grad student at UC-Davis be checking me out?

Okay, now I KNOW that someone from UC-Davis is scoping me out--they just looked at my LinkedIn profile! Here’s to hoping this means good news, since it looks like most of their acceptances already went out.

Is it arrogant of me to WANT them to spy on me? Haha. Why do I feel like that will help my chances?

Does it make you want your money back and inspire you to write a scathing letter to the person who you deem responsible? Kidding. For the record, I like your boat story, but am out of “Likes” for the day.

Do Adcomms google you while making decisions? I ask because I just got a notification on my Academia.edu account that said, "Someone just searched for you on Google and found your page on Academia.edu.” According to analytics, it looks like they are based out of the bay area in California, where I applied to a couple of programs. I don’t even use that account, but I’ve had it for a while and that’s the first time I’ve gotten a notification like that. Is it wishful thinking to wonder if an Adcomm or POI is academically checking me out? Haha

Don’t be impressed or feel under-qualified: I have 1 official injection and 5 other implied rejections. I’m working with zero acceptances here. So, yeah. Just remember that your qualifications are equally impressive and you are likely a far better “fit” for most programs. To put this in perspective, one of my colleagues was just accepted to a PhD program. She has a 3.6 MA GPA, zero publications, and one conference presentations. Do you see what I’m saying? It’s not even about the numbers; it’s about whether the program thinks you work for them.

You know what’s weird about “fit?” The one school that I thought for sure would reject me because my interest areas are no where near the faculty research areas is the only school from which I’ve received any type of positive news. Even weirder: they are paying for me to fly out and interview. For the record: I am a Film and Cultural studies person and their program is religious and medieval literature. Hmmm....This is messing with my brain.

There’s a scholarly article about this meltdown somewhere in this thread. I’m telling you. Also, and anti-Vodka commercial. FYI: where did the original poster get the idea that people who apply to PhD programs are rich? No one is picking on your or charging you more money because you are a foreigner. Actually, truth be told, you likely have a better chance of getting in than the rest of us on here. Stop playing the martyr card--it’s unbecoming.

Hmm...I understand your concerns and I recognize that you don’t want comments about the application process, but honestly, that’s what it is. A couple of notes: 1) All but a few schools in the United States charge application fees. Indeed, I paid over $3500 dollars to apply to 14 universities. It absolutely sucks, but $100 is actually a pretty standard rate and I’m a DOMESTIC student. I paid over $200 per application for some schools. 2) Most universities won’t contact you if there is a problem with your application. I agree that it’s a frustrating thing, but usually just checking in once after you’ve submitted your information will help alleviate some of that pain. They have a lot of students to try to work with and so it’s really up to you to make sure your materials are there and accurate--a fact that ALL universities post on their application pages. 3) When schools like Berkeley get over 600 applicants per department, it is somewhat unrealistic to expect personalized responses to each application. I think your use of the term “degrading” is a bit harsh and your calling out of a single person is blatantly out of line. I understand your anger. I, too, was rejected from Berkeley and they were my absolute dream school. Honestly, though, your tone is harsh and your arguments are fairly invalid. Moreover, if admissions committees were to see this type of behavior from a student, you’d likely be blacklisted from every university in the nation. Just FYI.