kohaku

I am debating myself, whether to call again or email again the one decision I am still waiting for (already called and emailed last week and got no response). I don't want to be pushy, but it is my first choice and I feel I need to know before I decide on anything else. I think I will likely email in the next few minutes and then call in the PM if no response. This is ridiculous....

Hey, I'm waiting for an answer on an ecology program too---emailed them last week, called them today and NOTHING. The email went unanswered and the phone call straight to voice mail. I am extremely worried I will not get in anywhere and need to know. I don't want to be pessimistic, but also don't think there's much hope at this point.

I made the same mistakes as you, applied to only 3 schools and still waiting for the last decision (the first 2 rejected me in Jan and Feb). I also barely prepared for the GRE, and while I did great on the verbal portion, i did not do well on the math (so I'm hoping they average the two for a decent score--LOL). This one school I am waiting for is my dream school and I am beginning to have nightmares about perhaps never getting a decision????? Unfortunately for me, this particular program is notorious for ignoring e-mails and phone calls, from personal experience and what I have read on this forum. It took me 2 calls and 2 e-mails just to find out if they had all my application materials, since months after I submitted everything their website still had my application as "incomplete". To make matters worse, they do not typically notify the decision via e-mail and almost always send a letter---WTF! I sent an email on Tuesday inquiring about my status, and as expected, I still have not heard. Not only do i need to know whether I have to start this process again and ask my LOR writters to re-write letters for me before I graduate in 2 weeks (they keep asking me almost weekly if I've heard anything). I have a great summer internship opportunity that requires me to be accepted into grad school and I need to submit proof of that by April 14th!!! Today's mail already arrived and NOTHING from the program. I am assuming I will be rejected, and I am mentally preparing myself for this---there goes that once in a lifetime internship opportunity and my dreams of staying in school. I guess I will log this as a "learning experience," retake the GRE, and begin writing an improved SOP. If this sounded like a rant, that's because it is. I am FED UP with the mind games they are playing on us, it is April 10th and we remain at their mercy....

I applied to 3 grad programs (foolishly) because of geographical limitations. One that I thought would be a definite long shot, one a safe school and one a "middle of the road" school that happens to be my first choice. To my surprise, my "safe" school was the first one to reject me. That made my self-esteem hit rock bottom and after that I spent 2 weeks feeling sorry for myself, unable to focus on ANYTHING (including my current classes) and thinking about a Plan B if I were to not get in anywhere (very likely scenario at this point) My thinking of course was based on that my "safe" school flat out rejected me only a few weeks after my last LOR was submitted. Then in Feb. came the rejection for the long shot school I was certain would reject me, so that came as no surprise to me and did not do any more "damage" to my fragile state of mind. My last remaining app. is to my DREAM school, which I know will still be tough but which I know is the best fit for me. On average only 12-15 out of 70-90 applications students are accepted each year. On March 1 (deadline for application submissions), I asked via email about the status of my application materials to the program's admission coordinator to make certain all docs arrived on time. She politely answered me a few days later affirmitavely and wished me luck with my application. She also stated that the adcom was just beginning to review the applications and a decision would come soon. So how long is soon????????????????? How long can it possibly take to review less than 100 applications? It has been 13 days.....and I am checking e-mail at least 20 times a day and calling to inquiring about my mail every day 1 minute after I know it was delivered, checking this forum's results page, and all other sorts of obsessive behaviors that I know won't get the decision here any sooner.

I was too intimidated by the "positives thread", but this one I can really relate to. The one thing that's been making me feel like i'll be rejected is my math score on my GRE---it sucked! And even though I scored in the 97 percentile on the verbal portion, I don't know it will even begin to make up for my low math score (I think it was in the 40 percentile). I also have no paid work experience, but some volunteer work that is somewhat related. I keep trying to convince myself that my excellent LORs and high GPA will convince at least ONE adcomm to overlook that score, but i am seriously doubting myself.

Ok, so the website at one of the schools I applied to still says my official transcript is missing, even though I had it sent TWICE months ago and spoke to someone in the grad school who told me it was received. Using this as a sort of excuse I called the program point person directly (rather than the grad school) to politely ask about the transcript issue and any updates regarding decisions. She did not answer and I left a message. Days later, NO RESPONSE. So I decided to send an email with the same questions, and again it's been 2 days and no response. I do not think that decisions have been made since yet, since the program is still receiving applications (deadline is March 1). I don't know, but that is my top choice school and I am beginning to panic! The first decision I received was a rejection, so my confidence level has been VERY LOW lately, and I am almost preparing myself for all out rejection to every program I applied to. Seriously though, does being ignored mean anything?

Like you, I am still waiting to hear from 2 schools one way or the other, I already received one rejection. If I don't get notification in any form, probably best via e-mail for the sake of expediency, I will be very ticked. After all, how else would I know that my application wasn't lost of misplaced? I need to receive some kind of proof that someone bothered to at least read my application long enough to know the name of the person submitting it. After spending the $ and more importantly, months of my life gathering documents and later obsessing about what my future holds, they owe me at least that much.

OMG this is too funny! I have three dogs AND a large bird that like to shred paper, and you have just added another source of paranoia in me about this LONG (seemingly never-ending) waiting period.

I can relate to how you all feel, my confidence level cannot get any lower at this time. Once I got the one and only response I have received so far, which was a rejection, it spiralled down from there. I started this process believing I had a realistic change of being accepted somewhere, at least my LOR writers made me feel that way. If I have to wait much longer, I think I will fall of an abyss of worthlessness and depression and will need psychiatric help. At this point I cannot even fathom putting myself through this process again next year, even though I so badly want it. I am trying to stay positive, but that is becoming more difficult by the day....my plan B is going to work for a while to gain experience and make my application stronger. I had an on campus interview this week that sounds promising. But I honestly don't think I am prepared to accept the stigma of failure. I had never felt this anxious in my life!!!!!!

Has anyone applied to Environment & Ecology program at UNC. I applied very early (way before deadline) and I have heard NOTHING. On pins and needles.