oxeimon

I said that Penn state is one of my top three choices, though one of them I'm unlikely to get into, and the other is Rutgers, from whom (at that time) I had yet to hear from. Also if I get into Rutgers, I'm probably going there (all else equal). I estimated that there'd be a 50-50 chance of me going to Penn State, and based on all this he ended the conversation saying that he will probably nominate me for the fellowship. Basically, just be straightforward. Even if you're not perfectly honest, your personal rankings and thoughts are constantly subject to change, and they know that, so as long as you're not evasive (which they'll no doubt interpret as being bad for them, and hence for you), I don't think you can go wrong. If they're relatively low on your personal rankings, but you feel that your chances at getting into your preferred places are not great, you should definitely mention that too.

Just got off the phone. The main reason they wanted to call me was to determine my level of interest and based on that decide whether or not to nominate me for a graduate fellowship. The fellowship basically reduces the teaching load, but are offered by the graduate school, so the math dept. is actually competing with the other departments for these fellowships, and if it happens that I get the fellowship but decide not to attend, then the math dept. would essentially "lose" that fellowship, so they don't want to nominate people for whom penn state is low on their list of priorities.

god damnit, they said they'd call me today at 4pm. Still haven't gotten the call...

So I emailed DGS at rutgers last week asking about the status on my application. He replied, saying: "I'll be meeting with the admissions committee later this weekto finalize our first round domestic student offers. I'll have more information for you on Friday; please write back then." Should I actually write back on Friday (tomorrow)? Assuming I don't make the first round, I don't want to be seem too impatient and annoy them.

So I just got an email from Penn State saying: "As the Director of Graduate Admissions for the Department of Mathematics at Penn State, I am contacting you about your application to our PhD program. We have read your file, and are impressed by your credentials - I would like to see if you are still interested in coming here to study mathematics. Before making you an offer, I would like to speak to you directly, is there a time this week when we could talk? Please send me a list of possible times, along with the best phone numbers at which you can be reached." Anyone have an idea what this means? I emailed him back saying I'd be open tomorrow afternoon, though I don't want to be unprepared for this.

I just got a rejection from university of washington. still waiting to hear on Penn State, Georgia Tech, Rutgers, Ohio State, Boston University, Rice