newms

It could only help you. I think you should notify them, especially the ones that have wait-listed you. I would be a good way to let them now that you are still very interested in their program. Good luck!

Dare I say it...Red Bull, you gave me wings!

You're welcome! I follow a couple email lists in machine learning, plus I did some research on UMass when I was applying. There are a couple websites that you can use to look up research activity, such as Microsoft Academic Search.

Don't worry! Feeling stupid in grad school (in my best Martha Stewart impersonation) is a good thing! I for one, am taking the silver lining approach and looking forward to it

I guess my case was the reverse of yours. I have a pretty good transcript and GRE stats, but I had been out of school for a few years and had limited research experience. To compensate, what I did was to read as much literature as I could so that I was able to develop specific foci (?) in my area. That helped me to find schools and POIs that would be pretty good fits with what I wanted to do. I contacted a few prior to application to make sure that they had space(s) available and I made sure to emphasis my interests and how I would fit at each school in my SoPs. I also tailored my SoPs to each school and focused as much as possible on my research interests - what they are, and what I would like to work on in grad school; how my background prepared me for pursuing my interest in grad school; and how my interests fit in with each of the schools I applied to.

That's awesome! I kept my rejection letters from last year to use as motivation for this year's applications, but having that kid rip them up is a pretty cool thing to do with them

Thanks a lot! So are you too skeedy

cold front

Is this a funded offer? If so and if the school is a signatory on the Council of Graduate Schools' resolution, then they are supposed to give you until April 15 to accept. If not, I guess they can set whatever deadline they want unfortunately. What I would do in your position is to ask for more time in order to make this very important decision.

It might be a little odd to email a grad student out of the blue, but I'm sure that they probably get similar inquiries from other prospective students. Perhaps you can ask the graduate coordinator or your POI for contact information of some graduate students who would be willing to speak with you. Most schools/departments want admitted students to meet or talk with current students in the hope of getting the admitted student to accept their offer, so I'm guessing that they would be more than happy to facilitate your request. Good luck!

They say they have page numbers for books link As I don't have a Kindle, at least not yet, I don't know how much easier it is to read a pdf of the new versions. Maybe someone else can chime in.

Yeah it's a good idea. Perhaps you can let them know where you'll end up (or if you'll be re-applying next year if you don't get in), instead of reporting each result. I think that profs do enjoy knowing that their students are doing well, so I believe they'd definitely appreciate you telling them.

It's not absolutely necessary to respond to the email, but it's definitely good form to acknowledge it and say thanks. What you've suggested would be a perfectly good reply.

Ugly Betty

I do this too! I've been having a staring match with them I'm still waiting for a few programs too, but I can't believe how unbelievably fortunate I am.

Congratulations! As long as the email doesn't say 'Please do not respond to this email' it's fine to respond to this email. Address it to the person it's signed by - chances are it'll be staff that see it rather than the Dean, but they will respond appropriately.

I think I need to step away from the GradCafe before this happens to me

iPad2 would be great but it's significantly more than a Kindle - I think the only advantage the Kindle might have over the iPad2 is the anti-glare screen for reading in the sunlight, but as I don't currently own either, that's just off what I've read. The new versions of Kindle do have adjustable font size and do have real page numbers corresponding to printed text, so your concerns have been addressed

I got it the first time you posted it just now. Alex Murphy/RoboCop

love hurts

Yeah, it's most likely that you will receive an email or snail mail before you see the decision online, but some people do see their decision (even acceptances) by checking the status website before they get an email or snail mail. So it does happen.

phase one

Congratulations! It does sound like you would receive funding for next year as long as you're making satisfactory progress. You could email the department grad coordinator to confirm though.

It would be nice if the notification also told you which city the person viewing your profile is from - then you'd really freak out huh? All you can do is just hang in there and hope for the best. Good luck!

Penn or Brown would have been good options if you had received money, but otherwise Johns Hopkins would be your best option IMO as long as you got funding.