Megeen

Well, yeah, but the add comm is probably not gonna know that it's not common in Germany, so they'd consider it to be bad etiquette...

That means I'm screwed! I thought if you don't waive your right you can take a look at them if you get accepted. That'd mean that the LOR was good anyway, right? What's the logic behind that?

Wait a sec, it reflects negatively on you if you don't waive your right to see them?

I'd actually be interested how this actually works in the US. We don't really use LOR here in Germany and when I asked professors for my study abroad in the US 3 years ago, some of them said, write it yourself and I'll sign it. Do professors also do that in the US? It might sound like that gives me an edge, but to be honest, I didn't know what to write in there. It just felt weird.

Well, last year they rejected most people on Feb 1, send out acceptances on the 3-4th, and waitlists on the 6th. The few ones that seem to have come later probably forgot to fill in the notification dates. Still, they seem to have a different MO this year, so you're probably right.

The next one I'm waiting for is Vanderbilt, but they seem to be using a different acceptance/rejection strategy this year...

Well, there we go... Subject line starts "with regrets"...

Hugs! I'm probably in the same boat soon.

So, Northwestern has finally started sending out rejections. Right now, I'm wondering how masochistic I am for constantly refreshing my email just for that...

Well, I'm from Germany, and ERASMUS programs are the main form of international exchange for students throughout Europe. I'm not familiar with your particular program but usually erasmus is pretty good and Utrecht is a good university. I would assume that the competition is less stiff than in the US, or rather, being from the US makes you exotic

Oops, that's the vital flaw in that plan.

I haven't heard back either. Been trying to prepare myself for the impeding rejection from Northwestern, but I just wanna know for sure...

Gap year might help you develop your interests further, read more, try to publish, try to travel abroad if that's within your means. If you read the Fall 2014 thread yesterday, you probably saw that rejections don't necessarily means that your application is bad, ergo needs improvement. Maybe you just got unlucky this time because the school didn't see the "fit" that you saw. I'm trying to prepare myself for a gap year as well. Still, try not to resign yourself to it before all answers are in. During the application process, I realized a couple of things I would improve if I had to do it all over again (mostly in terms of time management and being happy with my application portfolio), and if I have to, I'll try to do that, but if you think your application is already strong, you should probably rely on that. Also, it helps to go through your documents with some distance. But again, don't convince yourself you'll have to take a gap year before all replies are in. Good luck!

I kinda makes you more anxious because a notification can basically come at any time... Weekends, 1am...

That's awesome! If you're waitlisted, they must have liked your application but they might not have enough funding or something along those lines. I'd definitely write back to thank them. And you could ask them when you might expect a decision and imply that you're wondering what your chances are. Or ask them about the general procedure. Do they accept waitlisted people immediately when other people decline or do they offer the spots all at the same time? Maybe ask if they were able to accept people off the waitlist last year and before that. Good luck!!!

I still had to write a paper for one of my classes anyway and so I wrote that with the goal in mind to use it as my writing sample. My topic is "The Failure of Surveillance in Charles Brockden Brown's Ormond; or the Secret Witness," and I employed Foucault's Panopticism as a theoretical background. I got stuck a couple of times throughout the writing process, but I was happy with the final version I submitted on December 30. By comparison, the versions I submitted before don't feel so good, but I hope they appreciate some critical theory.

I don't know what your scores are, but I honestly doubt it. If your actual application is good, they're probably not gonna care. I checked a lot of the scores some people fill in on the results page. Some are rejected with a verbal 170 and others are accepted with 154. Good scores can't hurt I guess but mediocre ones are hopefully not gonna kill your application. But I guess, as with all things, it depends on the departments, yada, yada.

Well, looks like the second batch of Northwestern acceptances are out. Anyone here get so lucky?

Based on previous years, it looks like they accept people over the course of two days, so all hope is not lost. They also seem to notify on Sundays, but I'm gonna keep hoping until monday.

I get the sense that Northwestern pretty much notifies acceptees at the same time, and it might already be over because I doubt it's everyone's first thought to post an anonymous result... I'd probably need 30 minutes just to stop jumping around. That one's gonna sting when the rejection actually comes...

I applied to Chicago. That's the one I'm most invested in, along with Northwestern.

Yep, looks like it. Is anyone starting to miss November and December? At least then, I was only stressed out about getting everything together and submitted on time. It felt like I was doing something.

I thought so too but I just scanned the old results and it looks like it was kinda simultaneous, but even if they do send out rejections first, then not getting anything would be a good thing, right? Or maybe, they use a completely different system this year...

Yep, I'm waiting too. But it looks like they stretch out their acceptances and rejections over the same couple of days, so when you get an email it could go either way. No need to give up yet

There's one lonely Berley acceptance on the results page? Did anyone else get good news? I didn't apply but I love their program.