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My AOI is ethics and increasingly, philosophy of science. Are you also on the waitlist in Virginia? What do you think of what DHume said?

Perhaps, slightly more likely to get an offer, but it's been a generally disappointing application season, and I am reluctant to get my hopes up again.

Incidentally, and not to the point you are making, I would imagine then that for me, that since I haven't received a similar email from Humphreys about my chances being very good, that my chances are likewise less than good.

I am on the waitlist for Virginia's department, but have not had a similar issue. I do know though that I've read some peoples' comments here in the past who were waitlisted, and who later turned down the waitlist offer, but did not subsequently have a problem notifying the department, or with the department receiving notice of their decision.

Hi, thanks for your post. I actually think I might take up this option, since I seem to be hitting a dead-end at CUNY. At the very least, I will see if I can take a course at either NYU or Columbia next semester, and hopefully I will get to work with someone from there. I already have one person who really went to bat for me with the recommendation this year, and all I need is two other people.

No, I'm not continuing to send emails to them. I just sent the one email, and I will only send the one email. It's just discouraging. But perhaps a bright spot is that one of these professors is teaching a course I would like to enroll in next semester, so hopefully if I do well in the course, I will be able to get a recy iommendation letter from them.

All I am saying, aduh, is that it is a shame some faculty members think they can completely ignore graduate and undergraduate students. I mean, most of the reason they are there and get paid is to work with students. Research is something they should be doing outside of their teaching load. But you tell me, aduh, you tell me, how am I supposed to get great recommendation letters, if not to approach faculty, and how am I supposed to work with faculty, if they will not even get back to my emails? Coming off an especially frustrating application season, I am just trying to improve my chances for next year, and yet I am meeting with more frustration. I am trying, but my efforts don't seem to be paying off. I certainly hope my identity has not been disclosed. If you think you know who I am, please send me an email. Either way, I am already rejected from CUNY, so am, at least at that particular school, out of options, at least for the time being. What school are you headed to next year?

Yes, I am still at CUNY. I will be taking classes next year as either a non-matriculant, or a visiting scholar. I want to develop good relationships with some potential recommenders, but so far they haven't gotten back to me...they have ignored my emails in which I either asked for a meeting, or told them of my interest in working with them as, say, a possible research assistant. That makes me upset, because the professors at CUNY Graduate Center generally have a pretty light teaching load, and perhaps a majority of them don't even teach at all. I mean, most of the professors there I have never even seen, let alone talked to. But naturally, since recommendations are the first or second most important part of the application, I want to develop those relationships and have them get to know my work inside and out. But none of them seem to be willing to lift a finger or even MEET with me or even RESPOND to my email, which, frankly, I this is down right rude. I'm really getting disgusted at this point.

When will University of Virginia likely get back to waitlist candidates about any updates?

I would like to start working with a couple of professors/maybe being a research assistant, and I have a couple of papers I would like to start working on for publication, and I could use their guidance. I'm wondering what the best way to go about this is, especially if they don't know me because they haven't had me in a class yet and most likely won't? P.S. my department is kind of big, so we have way more faculty than classes taught each semester. Usually if a professor at my school doesn't have a class, then you won't ever really see him/her around.

You know I see a lot of people on here fretting about UCLA, and in another thread there was talk of sending an anonymous letter voicing complaints. I didn't apply to UCLA this time around, and will never apply to UCLA in the future, so I could call/write/email UCLA voicing my contempt for their ineptitude and inefficiency up front, i.e. non-anonymously. I have no problem with that. They should be ashamed at how they are treating applicants, and if there's one thing I don't like, it's people mistreating other people. So just let me know.

I am waiting to hear from University of Virginia, as I am on their waitlist. Paul Humphreys sent out an email this past Thursday updating us on the situation. He in part said the following: "What we do know is that a couple of our candidates to whom offers have been made will not be in a position to make their decisions before April 13th. Because of the large financial commitment attached to each offer, our Graduate School is very reluctant to allow any department to enroll more students than their allotted number." I take it this means: a couple, i.e. two, candidates cannot get back to him (Paul) about their offers before April 13th, presumably because they are waitlisted in other programs and want to hear from them first before they make a decision. Second, I take the second sentence to mean: look, we have a waitlist, but our enrollment is strictly capped by the Graduate School, so we won't be making many offers from the waitlist if we even do, so don't get your hopes up. Does that seem like a reasonable assessment?

No web-based communication is ever truly anonymous, not even on the dark web. If they *really* wanted to, they could trace it. But consider again how likely that is. I imagine they would respect a very carefully-worded, nicely crafted letter outlining your concerns that is *not* anonymous. This way, they can say, ok, at least this guy (or girl) is putting his name to his complaints. But again, it has to be a nicely-worded letter, written within bounds.

And yes, folks, you can safely interpret "a couple" to mean "two." The reason you can safely interpret it that way, is that unlike all of us, myself included, Paul Humphreys does not analyze each and every word of his email to death to determine its exact and precise meaning. He writes it, rereads it, and sends it.

Look, we can sit here wasting time trying to parse the semantics of Paul Humphrey's letter, or we can face facts. *The bottom line* is, that more offers are *possible*, though the odds are *long* that any one candidate will see an offer.....remember what I wrote a few posts ago, about how Paul said enrollment is very strictly limited by the Graduate School? He said that for a *reason*- so we wouldn't think that they are going to make several more offers, like one poster suggested here on I think page 18, the one who had visited UVA with the other 2 people who were admitted. Another guy said there are 26 people in total being admitted and on the waitlist. That means, minus the 5-6 they admitted, that there are *at best* 2 spots for 20 people- *assuming* that *both* of the people who said they can't get back about their offer before April 15th, don't take UVA's offer. And what would make anybody think that the offer on the results page was fake? Because it suits your belief that there is still a very good chance of getting into UVA? At some point, ladies and gentlemen, we all have to start getting realistic about our prospects at UVA this year. Paul Humphrey went out of his way in that email to be very cautious, and not offer *one word* of encouragement. And by the way, he said that he would be in touch if they make any *further* offers from the waitlist, implying that one, and perhaps more, offers had been made from the waitlist already, thus offering a response to the poster above who thought the admission on the results page was "fake." It is a very difficult thing to try to adjust to a disappointing reality, but believe me, the sooner you go through that process, the sooner you will find peace.