rooster34

Got a phone call from the same lady in the graduate school yesterday. They finally made a decision and approved the petition. So, I am in, but I've not heard a thing from the department since my original email back in mid March. WTF is going on in the dept. of statistics at OSU????

I think it is time to start emailing and/or calling. While I certainly preached and practiced patience, that time has now passed. I am still waiting on one school. I've slowly ratcheted up the pressure over the last two or three weeks. I've contacted the department three times via email; only the first netted a response. I then called both the grad. studies chair and the grad. studies coordinator. The former did not have her voicemail set up and the latter did not return my message. As a result I turned my attention to the graduate school. That has worked pretty well. I spoke with a very nice lady is going to call the department tomorrow and see what the hell is going on. I must admit that all of this jerking around has made me feel that perhaps I should go elsewhere. We'll see how tomorrow's visit to UIUC goes!

I actually contacted the grad. school. Long story short, the department recommended me for admission months ago and the grad. school has yet to act on the GPA petition. But, the grad. school claims that they are waiting for the stat. department to send documents. The lady in the grad. office I spoke to said that she'd check with the stat. department personally on Monday. Hopefully that will take care of it. Regardless, I am going to try and not worry about and enjoy my visit to UIUC. I agree with you regarding their biostat offerings; that is definitely not the strong point.

I've now tried to call OSU as a follow-up to my unanswered emails. The grad. studies chair doesn't have her voicemail set up, so that has proven unsuccessful. I did leave a voicemail with the grad. studies coordinator. We shall see if she follows up.

Any (good) news, joro?

Thanks for the sentiments and advice, babaloo. I emailed the grad. studies coordinator twice, once over spring break and once last week. She told me that she'd pass the message to the grad. studies chair. When I didn't hear back from her, I emailed the grad. studies chair directly. That was on Monday, but I've yet to hear back. I am going to call her tomorrow or the day after if she doesn't respond to my email. I must admit that I find it odd that I am not getting any response. I had lunch with both the grad. studies chair and the grad. studies coordinator back in January and I thought that I'd made a connection with them. Perhaps that is not the case. By the way, are you heading to OSU next year?

Best of luck to you, joro!

Spot on. Could not agree more.

How do you live on a grad. assistantship, you ask. That's easy: poorly In all seriousness, I will use a combo platter of assistantship, loans, and savings. I know that the loans are something that most want to avoid, but I plan on taking them out and using them iff it becomes necessary. If I don't use the money, I may have some interest to pay off or have some interest earned (depending on whether they are subsidized or unsubsidized.) But, I think better to have the $ available than not. I also think that the key to leaving on a budget is to project costs over a year. For example, I thought about changing cell providers and phones. The extra cost is "only" $15 per month plus the $99.99 for the phone. Of course, over the two year life of the contract, that works out to $400, or $200/yr, which is > 1% of the yearly stipend. Eating in is almost always cheaper if you cook. Of course, heating things up is not cooking and is pretty expensive. The best way to live off of a stipend, by the way, is to not live off of a stipend. Find a significant other and live off of his/her salary/stipend plus yours

This wouldn't be OSU, would it? They seem to be a bit of a mess. My girlfriend's grad. app. still shows incomplete even though the items have been there. As for the "Referred" status, I called them today and asked them what it meant. The lady in the grad. school told me that "Referred" means one of two things: you are in or the grad. school needs to do something. Hopefully, you are in the former case. If you want more on my situation, go here:

Caution: Rant Below Well, I finally got sick and tired of the waiting. I called the grad. school at OSU today to ask them about the "Referred" status my application has been in for the last two months. The nice lady to whom I spoke indicated that "Referred" can mean two things. It can mean you are in or it can mean the grad. school needs to make a final decision. I, unfortunately, find myself in the latter case. It seems that the shitty work I did over 13 years ago is coming back to haunt me. Using three bad years (sub 2.00 GPA's) and my good years at my alma mater (3.98 GPA, earned 95 of the 128 hours required for graduation there), OSU calculated my undergrad GPA as 2.89, which falls short of the 3.00 required by the grad school. The lady said that the department could ask for a waiver, but she could neither confirm nor deny that they've done so. I've sent my third email to the department and I will follow up with a phone call tomorrow. On a bit of a separate note, I absolutely hate these damn "GPA>=3.0" type rules. They are far too rigid, in my opinion. It is amazing to see the variation from school to school. For example, UIUC's dept. of stat's only looks at the last 60 undergrad hours (4.0, for me) and all grad. work (3.78 over 53 semester hours of math and stat, for me) when they make a decision. UVA only looks at coursework that took place within 10 years of application. My alma mater, an original public ivy, requires an undergrad GPA>=2.75 or >=3.0 over the last 60 hours. I know that this sounds like sour grapes, but I just don't understand why in the hell it matters what I did 13+ years ago. If I were on an adcomm, I'd want students who had two things: solid preparation and motivation. My background () clearly indicates the former and I hope that my SOP, along with the LOR's, indicate the second.

I think you are worrying far too much. While I do think that there are plenty of people who stress out and inundate departments with unnecessary emails regarding their situation, I don't think you should worry. Just be nice. I am still waiting on my top choice and I've now emailed them twice. The first one went a little something like: Hi <contact person>, I know that you are quite busy this time of year, but I was wondering if... Thanks, rooster34 I got a reply stating that they'd check and get back to me. Since that didn't happen, I emailed again. Hi <same contact person>, I hate to bother you again, but the April 15th deadline is fast approaching and... Thanks, rooster34 That was late Thursday and I've not heard anything yet. In summary, be short, nice, and don't worry. So, in your case, perhaps: Hi <prof.>, I know that you are busy, but I haven't heard anything about funding since our last conversation. Etc... Hope it helps and I hope the prof. fires you back an email with mad $$$$$$$$!

I did the same and I was under the same impression. But, after two months of waiting, I am beginning to think that may not be the case. We'll see what happens next week. If I don't get a response from the email I sent, I am going to call. It is a lot easier to ignore an email than it is to ignore a phone call! For both of our sakes, I hope that you are correct! I'll let you know what I find out.

Hate to burst any bubbles, but my status at OSU changed from AcadReview to Referred on or around the 7th of February and I still haven't heard from them. So far, I've sent two emails (the second was today) to the grad. studies coordinator in the stat's department and one to the grad. school (to try and get them to explain just what the referred status means.) Perhaps you know something that I do not?

Dead Post Walking! You may want to check the date of the original post...

I agree with Katie. Or you could randomly select 5 or 6 grad students and send them an email. That way, there is no bias on the part of the DGS. Just my $0.02.

Thanks, ssong2!

Thanks, ootg!

In at UIUC! Just waiting on OSU.

Just got an email from UIUC. Finally got an acceptance. I had an idea this was coming. (My friend is an alum of the program and he was back visiting yesterday. He sent me a message letting me know that I'd be hearing from them soon.) Now, if OSU would get back to me...

Thought I'd provide an update (and a bump.) I've now been rejected by both Purdue and Michigan, choices 4 and 3, respectively. I should be hearing from both UIUC and OSU, choices 2 and 1, respectively, this week.

That is the same status that my girlfriend has; mine went from AcadReview to Referred on or about 7 Feb. I've not heard anything since and there's been no change online. From what I gathered on here, it usually goes AcadReview to Referred to Accepted, but...

Waiting on OSU, joro? If so, that would mean you are waiting on dept. of comp. science, I am waiting on dept. of stat's, my girlfriend is waiting on dept. of electrical engineering, and origin (op) is waiting on the dept. of math. Perhaps it is OSU's grad. school that is the choke point?

I went with my girlfriend when she went on a visit. For the most part, it was to help with the drive. The school was going to pay for the room and gas regardless of whether or not I tagged along and she wanted some help with the 8 hour drive. The day of her visit, she spent all day on campus while I did other things (sat in the hotel room and graded papers, walked around the campus, and explored the surrounding town.) Both she and I would have found it odd for me to accompany her on campus. So, I say take your boyfriend but keep him out of the school related activities unless the school says otherwise.

Still waiting on OSU and UIUC, both of whom were on spring break last week. I've been in contact with both programs and they've both told me to expect a decision/update this coming week. Unfortunately, UIUC is celebrating their 25th anniversary all day on Monday and Tuesday so I don't expect any news until Wednesday, at best. On a positive note, a good friend of mine is an alum of the program and is one of the invited speakers at their celebration. Hopefully he can put in a good word for me!