Tritonetelephone

Yeah, and it's not always because the department is slacking. I work at a university, and every letter my department sends out has to go through some kind of security processing, then it moves on to financial processing because they have to take the costs of our mailings out a departmental account. So we're lucky if people receive our letters a week and a half after they leave our office. I imagine some schools' procedures are even slower.

After I emailed one of my schools to ask about my admission status, I received a response with a .doc attachment that was formatted like a formal letter to notify me that I was on the waitlist. I kept expecting the same letter to show up in my mailbox, but it never did. Maybe they don't waste the stamps on people who already know their position, especially if it's only a temporary position.

My experience was very similar. I emailed them to ask about my admission status in March, they emailed back with a wait list letter. I emailed them to say I was still interested, they sent a friendly email back but couldn't/wouldn't tell me my place on the list. Then on April 16th I emailed them again to ask if "the new cohort had been established yet", and I got a very gentle rejection letter saying that this was a very unusual year in which they couldn't let a single person off the wait list. Now I'm emailing them again to say thank you for providing the information so quickly, I'm disappointed but I'm glad to see that so many share my high regard for their program, and I would like to contact them again this summer to arrange a visit and discuss improving my application for next year. Sounds like you've done everything right. If it's been a week and they haven't gotten back to you, I would try again. They're probably really busy with figuring out who they're admitting, so I would try calling the secretary or someone not involved with that process to ask if anyone on the wait list still has a chance.

I was waitlisted at my dream school then rejected They said that they didn't even have a chance to pull *anyone* off the waitlist because every single person they offered acceptances to said yes. It's a small program ("less than 8") and technically they got more yes's than they have room for, they said. Sounds like a very unusual year for them. So that sucks. I'm having to try again next year

Well said, I couldn't agree more. If everybody only worked for the maximum possible income, we'd all be lawyers or EEs. I'm sure there's more people out there that would support your attitude, too, but these threads have died down a little as everyone has made their decisions. Congrats to both of you

It's possible that instead of having ranks, students on the waitlist are grouped by research interest. So if someone who was going to specialize in what you want to specialize in drops out, you'd take their place. I can't think of any other way that schools pull from an unranked waitlist. I'm also waitlisted at my top choice (now only choice), and they can't/won't tell me anything about my chances of getting in. April 15th is only next week!!! Now is the time that we start to behave superstitiously.

Good article. Thanks!

Thank you - that was exactly the kind of answer I was hoping for! Yeah, he didn't do any internships when he was in school. He was working full time in retail, going to school full time, and paying for everything himself. But he regrets not having one now. If he doesn't find anything in the next few months, he might re-enroll in school, just to be eligible for a co-op or something.

I wrote to one dept that rejected me and said, "I am still extraordinarily interested in the program, and I would like to know what aspect of my application influenced the committee's decision. What specifically can I do to improve my application for the next round of admissions?" I never received a response, but my UG adviser told me that even if I did, they would've just said "we had stronger candidates this year." It was a really big school and they weren't going to pull my application out and compare it to the applications of the ones that got accepted. I was able to get through to a prof there and the grad secretary, and they both offered to help me improve my application. But they don't know what specifically turned the committee off to me the first time. I have heard of other people having better luck, though. It's probably worth a shot.

I haven't been able to find many resources online for good schools specific to research interest within Sociology. Since it's such a broad field, I thought it would be a good idea for people to say what they want to study and where their top choices are. Maybe some of us will have research interests in common. For me, I want to study Gender/Sexuality with an emphasis on masculinity and homosexuality. My top choices were UTexas (maybe that was more about its location) and Stony Brook.

It depends on the school. I think it would be very appropriate to call and ask if people from the wait list still have a chance of getting financial aid. I was very lucky that my waitlist letter specifically said that I would still get full support if offered admission. I've noticed around here that many schools with waitlists don't really tell you anything and expect you to just wait it out without knowing what will happen even if you are offered admission, but my letter was full of information. If it wasn't for that, I probably wouldn't have emailed them to say I was definitely still interested

From the way you describe the situation, it does sound like a good idea to wait. But it's very awesome of you to even consider the situation from the POV of someone who could be waitlisted

I'm having the same problem. I think that I really want to go to the school that waitlisted me, but it's on the other side of the country and I've never visited. I thought about visiting now, but it would feel like a waste of time/money if I don't get in. My plan is to wait until after I'm accepted, then go visit and meet with them before declaring an official enrollment. That way I can also pick out housing while I'm there. If you want to visit now, though, I'm sure it would not be considered inappropriate.

I've been curious about this lately because my bf just graduated with his BSEE, and I've been helping him job search. He wants an entry level technical position, but it seems that 90% of the jobs available want a BS AND 5+ years experience. Experience seems much more important in the field than educational history (as long as you have a bachelor's). I was just wondering what sort of career goals you guys are pursuing that have led to your decision to attend grad school. What is different about the job market that you're interested in related to EE (or other engineering fields) that requires a MS or PhD? Thanks!

I'm glad you brought it up. Two of the four schools I applied to didn't have applications due until February 1st. One of those schools had a deadline of April 15th for people not interested in funding. So, I have no clue when to expect to hear from either of them. Luckily for me, I found out since applying that I don't want to go to either of them. So the suspence isn't exactly killing me

It sounds like you're not waitlisted (yet). They know that they're behind other universities and have probably been receiving many calls, so they just wanted to let everybody know that no news is not bad news for now. I think the most you can do is reply and say thank you for the update and that you are still very interested in the university. Don't count on it being able to improve your chances of admission, but it certainly won't hurt.

Saying that you'll accept without funding has been discussed here, too... viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13533

Please don't take this personally, Santana - I'm not just reacting to your comment, it just reminded me of some stuff I've run into lately. But the abandonment of ethics for self-interest is a big problem that I'm having with academia right now. An attitude that is selfish, inconsiderate, step-on-anyone-possible-to-succeed has never suited me. I know that graduate school is competitive, but survival is going to require some cooperation with others. I think that accepting-then-withdrawing is unethical for a reason. The university needs to let in a certain number of grad students to stay financially operational, and replacing a student who they thought had already granted acceptance would be a huge hassle when they've already rejected those on the wait-list. Obviously, it's a huge struggle for us, too- I'm just trying to provide a little perspective. I would absolutely hate to be in the same situation as euges and tomsmith, but personally, rather than withdrawing immediately, I would rather accept, stay until completing the Master's, then re-apply for the PhD. Of course, I'm open to what everyone else has to say. But is anyone else still trying to resist the kind of attitude that I mentioned? I can't be the only one who is not OK with totally losing my altruism and restricting my ethics only to what is legally obligated... am I?

I agree that you should call tomorrow. I work in a grad office and emails sent to the default address sometimes get passed around without anyone feeling obligated enough to hurry to answer them. You're even lucky enough to know that other people have received the information that they were seeking when they called. Call and assume that the person speaking to you has not seen your email.

Thank you! I was having the same senitments exactly- I'm so glad someone else brought it up. My GRE was 1240; I worked very hard for that score and I thought it was really good. I was getting really worried about competing with these people complaining about their 1300+ scores too, until I remembered that alot of people around these forums are trying to get into Ivies or schools with ridiculously high standards. I have different goals so it's not fair to compare myself to them. My GPA is 3.6, but I've been told by most programs that they only look at your GPA over the last 2 years (60 hours) of your UG degree. That raises mine to almost a 3.9. Even if it was a 3.6, I would consider that very good.

I don't think he/she would have mentioned that some of the committee members recommended your admittance if he/she didn't strongly believe that you're in. *Maybe* you could be waitlisted, but it sounds to me like you have the acceptance and just need to wait for the official announcement. At the very least, he/she will look like a total jerk for leading you on if you end up rejected.

I think the key thing here is that you will "seriously consider the offer." I would leave out the "hope to work with you in the future," it seems a little misleading. But yeah, something along those lines would be a good response.

I was in a similar situation where my top choice rejected me. So I said in the email to the professor that "since we last spoke, I have learned more about what I am looking for" and his university is currently my top choice. I also deliberately said that I "intend" to enroll if offered admission, which hopefully gives me a little room to take some time and tour the campus before accepting. But I can't imagine turning this school down, so I wasn't as careful about leading them on as you guys might be.

The school that waitlisted me either doesn't have a ranking or won't tell me anything, but their letter said to let them know ASAP if I was planning on going somewhere else. I went ahead and emailed them to say that I definitely intend to enroll if offered admission, and they wrote back appreciatively ("Indeed, this is valuable information for us."). I also let the prof there that I like know that I was on the waitlist (made it sound like I was really excited about it), so he can make a bid for me if he wants. I probably wouldn't have responded at all if my letter hadn't specifically said that they would still offer funding if I was taken off the waitlist. If you tell them that you would accept even without funding, I can see it going two ways; either the department will want you more because they'll see that you're very excited about the school, or they'll take advantage of that and give funding to someone else once you are admitted. Sounds a little risky.

Thanks!! I'm so glad you appreciate how fortunate you are to be done with everything! Congrats again. My letter said that, too - "less than 8." I thought that was strange. ("We're only taking 7.5 people this year. Your legs can't come.")