sciencegal

I made a similar mistake on my Berkeley application, I got the degree letters wrong (one of those ScM versus MS, PhD versus ScD things). I was sure I blew it. Nope, I got in! I wouldn't mention the mistake. However, I think an email to the program is usually a good idea for any waitlisted student, especially if you haven't had much contact with the department. If you will definitely attend if admitted, tell them that. If you are really excited at the possibility of being accepted, tell them that. If you've visited since you wrote your SoP mention how much you enjoyed it and what you learned. Questions you could ask include an email address for a current student to ask them about student life. Showing specific interest in the department and making an effort to email (without being annoying or rude) could help you get off the waitlist (especially if it unranked).

I got one of my degrees at GW and I can say the amount of networking there is INSANE. I don't doubt that Georgetown excels as well, but I've gotten several degrees at different universities and GW was hands down the most impressive as far as being connected, finding jobs, etc. Just if that helps you feel better about "having" to choose GW for the full ride.

If you can't find the right staff person, I'd email the chair of the department (a faculty member). If they aren't the one that "grants" these requests they will forward it to the right person.

Is it possible for you to find a TA position in another department or otherwise work out a way to get your way paid at UCLA? For example, there are some departments at my school that are always short on TAs and thus take them from other departments (ex, STAT department takes from other depts) as long as they are qualified. Likewise, if you have marketable skills (ex, data analysis) you could "cold-email" groups/centers you'd be interested in working for as an RA asking if they need anyone with skill set XYZ. I know a lot of people have had luck doing this, and then end up with tuition remission and a stipend. No guarantees it will work, of course, it's probably worth a shot! I visited USC for a different program in math/science and was equally turned off by a lot of things the students told me. Including that I shouldn't attend, especially if I got into better schools (I mentioned those I had been admitted to). I did not end up applying to USC!

Top Biostatistics programs (in no particular order, they are all consider top and rankings vary from list to list): Johns Hopkins Harvard UC Berkeley UNC-Chapel Hill University of Washington Other great schools for biostat: UCLA & University of Michigan.

In our department, the person to talk to is either our program officer (might otherwise be called division manager, program manager, etc, it's a staff position) or the chair of the department. A tactful email like fade said is the way to go, such as, Dear Person Name, I was excited to receive my offer of admissions from UNIVERSITY X, and would very much like to attend. I was wondering when decisions regarding funding would be made. While UNIVERSITY X is one of my top choices, I've received offers from 5 other programs, and it would be difficult for me to accept my offer from UNIVERSITY X without complete information on my funding status. Thank you again, worrywort This type of email is of course assuming you WOULD attend if they made you a great offer. (It sounds like at least 5 of the programs you would love to attend if the funding is right.)

You don't always need to give a specific reason when asking for an extension. You could politely request an extension so you have 2 additional weeks to weigh your options, work out plans, etc. That said, it is very common for us to hear from prospective students that they have a significant other / "two-body problem" and that factors into their decision. Or "family considerations" if you consider your boyfriend family. So you wouldn't stick out if you gave this as a reason. I personally don't want faculty to know me foremost as someone who "has a significant other" so I don't usually mention it in academic settings and am more vague unless I know them. This is probably over cautious, though, as by the time you attend many will have forgotten you even asked for an extension let alone the reason.

I recommend asking for more time. It would be a very bad thing, in my opinion, to accept the offer and then withdraw it. Someone did that in my department once and the faculty was furious, especially for a reason such as this. They for sure will remember her name for a long time to come. Faculty members in your field may be your colleagues one day (if you go into academia) and you don't want the reason they recognize your name to be this reason. Depending on how many times you've emailed School A, it may not be a bad idea to email them on April 15th and ask if there is any update on funding. They may be waiting for applicants to turn down offers and release that funding for another student.

Harvard is a top school in my field as well, but has many limitations you describe. While the name is famous to everyone, people in my actual field often like to hire from other schools because they have strengths Harvard does not. Chicago is well known too, especially within the field of statistics and I've seen it ranked higher than Harvard on some lists. I'm somewhat familiar with both of these programs and I personally would choose Chicago over Harvard myself. I assume, as an international, you are unable to visit? I know that really helped me when I chose my program.

Granted we don't have all the variables, but with limited information I too would probably also go with option 1. Rankings aren't everything when comparing two top programs, but I would worry the school in scenario 2 wouldn't be well respected enough if it's ranked so lowly to get you both interviews/job talks once you're on the market. Long distance is hard (even "short" long distance) but by my personal metrics option 1 seems feasible and something I would have been willing to do. If you're still seeing each other weekly that sounds great, and also, I find myself incredibly productive when I am alone, so you might benefit from that as well if you are similar. Good luck in your decision making...

Some schools and programs also don't have waitlists - my program does not. So for programs like mine, withdrawing your apps also has the added benefit of potentially giving someone a yes letter versus a no letter. When I applied to grad school I didn't realize I could have withdrawn my applications. If I had known, I probably would have done so. I heard from my first choice before any of the other schools and I was so ecstatic I ultimately didn't care about the rest. I formally accepted my offer from Berkeley before I even got notification from some schools. In some ways I wish I had withdrawn them because I got rejected at "lesser" schools and it almost (almost) took some of the excitement away from my Berkeley admit! Of course do what feels right to you.

Wouldn't matter to our faculty, especially if they had students from that school before and they performed well!

It won't be as awkward to them as it feels to you! Better to let them know so they can spend their resources (time and money) on a candidate more likely to attend. They will appreciate you letting them know. They know many of the students they admit will attend another school. Congrats on your admit to your top choice school!

This is true in my department -- in my 4.5 years here we've had two students reapply after being rejected their first time around. The admissions committee was impressed at their dedication to the program (not just "a" program). So if your application is competitive or very close to competitive, reapplicants in my dept get an extra careful look and consideration. For example, as a science program we require high GRE in quantitative, (near) perfect, and maybe that's why someone with a 760/800 didn't get in the first time. But, they reapply, and their refocused application as well as clear commitment to the program outweighs the 760. I do hope you don't have to go through reapplication though!

Every school and every department within the school is different. My department has already sent emails to the admits, we have no waitlist, and the rejected applicants have not been notified? Why? There are many many more rejected applicants and they receive emails through an automated system from the graduate division, not our department. So bottom line, in our department, admits get personalized emails from the department and rejected applicants have to wait for the batch automatic rejection email which can take many many weeks. Do I wish the non-admitted applicants in our department were notified sooner? YES. It's not fair. If an applicant calls or emails, our division staff does let them know their status (not admitted) though, but how painful must that be. I imagine it may be like this other places as well.

My first choice really changed when I visited schools. I thought I knew where I wanted to go and then the list really flipped. If you can visit Berkeley it might help you a lot. Maybe you'll feel at home and have great discussions with potential advisors. Or, maybe it will all strike you the wrong way and you'll feel better about turning Berkeley down. It does seem like you really want School B.

Additional note: I would decline directly to the department, not just the "official" way. I know the official way of notifying UC Berkeley you are coming or not coming takes forever (possibly weeks) to get to our graduate department.

I do not recommend accepting and then later declining. We had a student do that once recently and every faculty member in our department was pissed. I guarantee you they will remember that person's name. It's better to just indicate that you cannot yet make a fully informed decision although you are very excited about their offer. You don't want to damage your future by formally accepting and then "taking it back."

The amount, of course, could be depressed by the budget, but packages in the high teens are not uncommon in my experience at Berkeley. Beginning GSI (teaching) positions all pay in the high teens and GSR (research) positions often start slightly lower but vary widely by department. If it's fellowship, if they end up with extra funding certain years they might throw it your way in flush years (it's happened to me) but I wouldn't make any assumptions to be safe. For the past 4-5 years, the packages my department has offered have been up to 33% less than what many privates offer our students. It doesn't hurt to make inquiries especially since you have a competing offer. They might be able to pad your offer with money from someone who declines their admission (we do this in our department). It can't hurt to ask. Sometimes ask more than once - if the division manager says there are no additional funds, mention it to the division chair in an email or if/when you visit campus. Could pay off. Good luck in your decision making process!

I know I'm a little early, since decisions won't be until at least April (and I've heard the De Karman can run late into early May), but was curious if anyone else had applied to one or both of these dissertation year fellowships?

Super common. The grad students that can't do it for whatever reason (like myself) simply don't volunteer. Those that agree to host typically like it. =)

Visit days at UC's often include some time where you can haggle a bit. If they don't plan one-on-one time for you to sit with the chair or your proposed advisor, ask for it and you will get it. Explain how interested you are in the program, but that it would be difficult to accept without a more firm offer for funding after your first year. If they know this, when someone else declines an offer who had multi-year funding they will immediately throw it to you. Or if some fellowship money comes free it's then yours. Perhaps even by April. This is based on what happens in my department at Berkeley but it's worth a shot since funding decisions may be similar elsewhere.

Even the faculty that are doing ok to well are pissed. They got temporary (perhaps permanent?) pay cuts! You *should* get honest answers. They also usually have the most current information because the administration has to get faculty buy-in before they make changes. Shared governance. Ask staff too...we have few staff members in our small department but staff are the ones that will also be incredibly honest because they are the first to get laid off, etc.

It's hard for me to speak to other departments besides my own, but what I said in my post was the truth as I know it. Believe me I'd be complaining if they hadn't paid me like it seems has happened in other departments. I agree everyone considering Berkeley and other UC's should ask lots of people (with actually information/experiences) what they think about the budget issues. I told one prospective student for our department my thoughts, but encouraged them to ask the faculty and others when they visited to get their input. Our faculty won't lie because the last thing we want is an unhappy resentful grad student in a small department. RE: the food comment. It's just that that part of our budget got cut. We used to buy food for events and get it reimbursed and now the pot of money those reimbursements came from has been routed to more important things. For what it's worth, the classes for our grad students have not been cut and won't be for the foreseeable future. We're actually adding 3 new courses to our core curriculum next year (2010-2011) and will be doing faculty searches very soon. We've lost no faculty, adjunct or otherwise. It seems very departmentally dependent so ask ask ask if you are a prospective. I feel fortunate that our department has been weathering the storm well, still funding all our students, and growing, but that is clearly not the case for all. It probably helps that a lot of our funding comes from our faculty's NIH grants.

For what it's worth, our program looks for potential. No one comes in with the skills to do the kind of research we do in our department. We look for open minds, desire, and potential as well as a baseline of developed skills.