WhatAmIDoingNow

All I ever need is a good and powerful laptop, second screen, a USB, notebook, pens, backpack, and an external drive.

Better yet what does it mean when you email to check in and get a personalized response from a real human (not just cut and paste bs) saying "you'll definitely get something by next week, email me directly if you don't."  Why not JUST TELL ME?!?!

Greetings!
Adding my 2 cents:
 
If you are not concerned about credit-bearing and your only goal is only "refreshing" or "getting a solid introduction" of the courses, I would suggest any Open Course platforms (MIT, Harvard, Princeton and many others have their own platforms), also Coursera and similar are popular options.

In defense of this, as I am the one who said it, I feel that classes are the absolute least productive use of time during a PhD (at least in my field). I learn so much more about my discipline by actually spending time in the lab or reading the published literature as opposed to listening to a professor go over a survey of the material.
 
If nothing else, I think it's telling that in a degree that is expected to take 5-6 years, only 2 of them are focused on coursework. Clearly, it's not the courses which make the PhD so rigorous.

When you are married and get accepted the first question is one of the following: "How does [husband] feel?" "What does [Husband] have to say?" "What will [Husband] do?" "What does [Husband] think about this?" "What does [Husband] want you to do?"

How little I knew about the process when applying for a masters, and still got in.

I am still waiting on Evans and Harris.
 
Interestingly, someone from UW looked at my LinkedIn profile a couple of weeks ago. I don´t know who because I don´t have an account that allows me to see that but I am hopeful that it means something good. Has anyone else noticed that on LlinkedIn?

I'm surprised at how distracting the waiting game has been, in terms of getting my current coursework done. Way more distracting than putting together my materials and applying. I'm pretty disappointed in how I've been doing this semester, but also senioritis tells me not to care anymore.

Congratulations on your engagement! May you and your spouse-to-be find happiness and fulfillment together
 
I recommend that you do your best to get a good sense of the departmental politics and a long glance at the skeletons in the closet before you disclose to anyone in your department that you're planning your wedding/honeymoon and that you might miss class time down the line. Your department is investing time and money into your professional training. Equally qualified applicants were likely told "no" so you could be told "yes." One or more professor may have a marriage on the rocks and/or have been "burned" by a graduate student's life choices. These and other factors could inform how faculty members interpret your disclosure regardless of what they say to you in person. (Things being what they are, professors in their right mind are not going to say anything but "Congratulations!")
 
And, as some of the responses in this thread show, members of one's peer group can be petty. You want to protect yourself from a classmate sand bagging you with faculty members (Merollam is always talking about the wedding).

Mine finally switched too and I received an acceptance a few weeks ago. In speaking with Humphrey, they only referenced another applicant being accepted and I assumed they were referring to policyphdhopeful. I am sure they have more than two spots, being they admitted 6 or 7 last year. But they are planning a visit day soon. Right now I assume it is probably just a delayed Graduate office protocol.

I just accepted my offer to attend DU in the fall! Let me know if I'll be seeing you there

Shouldn't be more difficult now to conduct research though?
 
I mean as you mentioned, a lot of PhD candidates couldn't even get to the finish line when their studies involved intense research activities.
 
I know schools don't expect students to publish, but they look very good on an application, and without any context. At my school, there was some research going on, but it was nothing worthwhile. I know many of my friends who just drew some shapes and graphs for a paper in LaTeX, got their name in a submitted paper, and wrote it as "research experience" on their applications.
 
For me, a true research experience, is one that you'd struggle to describe to someone out of your research group. The research must make you the most knowledgeable person in the whole school in that particular task of yours.
 
I really don't think this many undergrad students have been able to do that. Yet you see someone in a 4-year program with 2 years of research experience. That is pretty surprising to me.

That is pretty close to what I did too.  The two schools I have been admitted to, the faculty I spoke to are matched as my advisers now.  Still waiting on a school that doesn't send notifications out until mid March.

How nice Ph.D students are.  I mean, in my experience, most MBA students are the devil, so I was afraid that Ph.D students would be even worse.  However, the ones I've met seem a lot nicer... not as likely to stab you in the back and then charge for stitching you up.  From what I can tell, there is a lot more camaraderie among Ph.D students than there was among master students.  Foxhole friends I guess.

The second thing that suprised me is my reaction to getting into a program.  First, I thought I'd be nervous waiting for results, but I pretty much forgot about it until I got my first letter.  Then, I thought I would feel so relieved and excited to finally know where I would be for the next 5 years, but instead I freaked out and got a little scared, haha.  It didn't last long though.  I cried to a friend in a Ph.D program about it, and he reminded me that it was a completely rational reaction.  And I found Grad Cafe.  Now I'm getting excited.  Six months feels like forever!

ASU gave me a stipend guaranteed for the first academic year, where renewal is contingent upon resources and satisfactory progress.  No guaranteed summer funding, but there are opportunities to assist faculty and TA. Full tuition remission and health insurance as long as I am registered for 6 credits per term (fees not included). 
 
I plan to contact current PhD students to see how that has worked for them.

Reaching out to schools of interest regarding veteran student benefits too.  There may be additional funding, discounts, and internship opportunities available.  If they don't know, find someone at the school who would.  Also, do not take an answer of "we don't" unless it comes from a university staff manager.  I got screwed over on my first semester tuition because student workers told me there wasn't a benefit that was available. 

You can't easily buy in Boulder, but if you live 20-30 min out of Boulder it might be possible.  The housing market exploded since pot was legalized.  I went to school there and have family living there. I can't afford to move back now... unless I live with family. 

ASU gave me a stipend guaranteed for the first academic year, where renewal is contingent upon resources and satisfactory progress.  No guaranteed summer funding, but there are opportunities to assist faculty and TA. Full tuition remission and health insurance as long as I am registered for 6 credits per term (fees not included). 
 
I plan to contact current PhD students to see how that has worked for them.

That is pretty close to what I did too.  The two schools I have been admitted to, the faculty I spoke to are matched as my advisers now.  Still waiting on a school that doesn't send notifications out until mid March.

Ironically your answer was the condescension the OP didn't want, if you read his/her request. 

Ok just from my experience, because I was in a similar position to ajayghale, my undergrad GPA was actually lower than yours! So I did an MA and was awarded Salutatorian. I did this specifically to atone for the weakness of my undergrad degree. 
 
So in terms of the arguments for and against reaching out, I think it depends on the department and what individual professors prefer. For me, I wanted to make sure that I would find a faculty member or members in a department that were willing to communicate with students. And decided I wouldn't apply to programs that I received no response from faculty in. 
 
I researched extensively which departments in the US were the best for my research interests. In this process, I disregarded rank, and focused only on the kinds of research the department was engaged in. And then I put together an informal statement of purposes more like a cover letter type email that was rather detailed, and I emailed professors that I believe that I could work with, where my interests intersected. I also attached a copy of my MA thesis, a research paper I had prepared and asked them to review and advise if I would be a fit for the program.
 
I hit the jackpot, because one of the actual POIs I emailed and advised me that I was a great fit in their department actually was on the admissions committee and as soon as the committee made the decision, he emailed me and told me I was admitted with funding.
 
I guess, I don't wish to articulate an argument either way, I just wanted to share my experience.
 
Despite having such a poor undergrad GPA and weak quant GRE, I have received 3 offers so far. I think reaching out in my case was really important in helping to overcome the shortcomings in other parts of my application.

Have you heard this song on radio, what is the name, it was like "dum dum dum di dum..."?

Read  If you look within The Bank thread, this question has been answered many times. 
Your question sounds condescending but ironically you are too lazy to do the search yourself.

I would say, retake the GRE, study properly and then you may apply to schools other than UDel and UNL...

I would really, really, really caution you not to do a PhD without funding (unless you have LOTS of spare cash laying around). It's a lot of debt to take on and, unlike with a masters, there's really no guarantee that you'll make that money back in terms of career experience. I would work and save for a year and then try again. During this time, maybe you can do a project or something to make next year's application even better, so that you can have a better shot at funding next time around. For myself, I waited on purpose to get some experience that would make me more competitive because I knew that without funding, a PhD wasn't an option. I really hope things work out for you.