Tiglath-Pileser III

$2500!!!! I only get $1800! I hope that's a joke. If it is, that's not funny.

hot potato

black spot

Pink diamond

Was it a peer-reviewed journal? Did you get their feedback? If so, make some changes and send it to another journal. Don't give up after just one rejection.

I'm not sure that this week will be any better than the last. I expected to get a lot of news this week, but I've heard nothing so far. The waiting is agonizing.

For the departments I'm applying to, the process seems to be somewhat different. What is important on an application seems to depend upon where in the pipeline my application is and who is looking at it. This is the process and criteria as I best understand it. Stage 1: Admissions Committee The composition of adcomms vary; they can be an informal small group of faculty in a department or they can be a formal part of the administration of a graduate school. The purpose of the adcomm seems to be to reduce the size of the applicant pool. They seem to exclude on the basis of those who don't really have a chance to begin with, e.g., they may reject applications that don't meet the minimum standards of the department or university. They are looking primarily for reasons to exclude you from the pool. If you pass the adcomm committee, your application is then forwarded to the department. The adcomm committee will probably give the following criteria greater weight: GPA scores for your highest degree. Even though grades may be inflated with a graduate degree, these are sometimes given greater weight over a bachelor's degree as they are a reliable barometer for how successful you will be in a graduate program. Nevertheless, because they are looking for a basis to exclude, if you have a 2.1 GGPA and a 3.4 UGPA, it is likely you will be excluded in this round. At the same time, a 3.9 GGPA is not likely to have much preference over a 3.7 because of minute variances in GPA across graduate programs.GRE red flags. An inordinately low score is a red flag even in programs that say they do not consider those scores. I had a friend who was excluded by the adcomm committee from 5 out of 6 programs because he had a quant score in the 300s. No one wants a person who cannot read a graph or figure out the area of a rectangle.Incomplete applications. Missing transcripts? Thou shalt do thy paperwork.Financial considerations. If you are a foreign student and can't pay your own way, you might also be excluded in this round. Stage 2: Adviser Election If you passed the first round, congrats! At least now a prof gets to see your file. But the rules also change. You are no longer rejected based upon an administrative criteria, but you must now be selected into a program. If there is a seat available for you, an application now gets shunted to the professor that you named on your application, and he will decide if it is a fit or not. If it is love at first sight, you will get an interview or an acceptance depending on department policy. If not, then your application gets placed on the slush pile where other advisers can look at it until all the seats are filled. The following criteria seem to matter more: LORs. These seem to rate really high. Does the prospective adviser recognize the name of you recommender? And even more, does your prospective adviser respect your recommender's opinion?SOP. Yes, it does seem to matter. They want to know that you will be successful in the program you are admitted to? They also use these to glean insights into your personality.Fit. Will you be able to work with people and your adviser? Does your research area match your advisers? Will admitting you add prestige to the university?Languages. Very, very important. You ability to read academic literature in French, German, and research languages is too often overlooked by the American student.A writing sample is usually not as important as the other criterion above, unless something in your writing sample raises a red flag, e.g., your writing sample is written in crayon. Stage 3: Mopping Up If you receive a rejection after the Advisor Election, it is usually for one of the following reasons: (1) they ran out of seats, (2) there were better candidates that accepted their offers, (3) no adviser felt that you were a good fit, and/or (4) the department had to do a further parring down of the application pool and had to use any reason conceivable to reject applications. Sometimes applications are sent to a graduate school administrator for quality control checking prior to an offer being made. What is the most important to a committee will depend mostly upon the department and the adcomm. With one of my applications, the school I sent it to does not have an adcomm; the application went straight to the department. So like almost everything in life, it depends. University departments are all over the map on their procedures and what they deem as important. So, some or none of the information that I've given may apply to your particular situation. I don't vouch for the accuracy of anything I've said. And since I have yet to be accepted anywhere, I cannot tell you with any sense of reliability what actually works. #include <std.disclaimer>

Actually, I think small religious universities have been hit the hardest. Many depend upon private donations for their operating budgets. Large schools often have large endowments that can cushion them through an economic crisis. Smaller schools have very small endowments and fair a lot less well in hard economic times. Plus, they do not receive any government funding. A double-whammy that has led to some of these schools putting programs on hiatus.

Plan A: Earn my PhDDo researchWrite lots of booksTeach at a seminaryBe an itinerant preacherBe happy Plan B: Attempt to get into a PhD a second timeTeach computer science at a seminary for a yearLearn Luvian, Hittite, and polish up my AkkadianGet a part-time computer job to pay off some student loansResume with Plan A Plan C: Give up on the PhDGet a permanent computer systems administration jobPay off my student loansBe bitter and miserable (but well paid) for the rest of my natural life.

Thanks for the response. I checked embark yesterday (even though I did not see an email) and did not see anything different from the normal application page. Your response has put my mind at ease; however, I'm deeply sorry it had to happen to you.

I get a lot of emails from head-hunters, and they often look like decision letters. They are really obnoxious at the best of times. My heart skips a beat every time I get one of those. The last email I got from a school said, apply for fellowships now, because a decision will not be forthcoming until March 1.

Light Brite

Two things were really annoying. 1. Navigating/following up upon the idiosyncrasies of the application websites. Where there was a difference between department and general school requirements, I would have to call the particular departments to get them fixed. 2. The WAIT! The wait is killing me! I hate the wait.

I had a dream last night that I received an email from UNC Chapel Hill saying that a decision had been made on my application and to go check the website. I clicked on the website and it took me to another page that said that a decision had been made and to click on another URL. I clicked on that URL which took me to another website saying that a decision had been made, and so on. Then I woke up and remembered that I don't even have an application at UNC Chapel Hill!

I received five new plants for my terrarium yesterday in the mail. Scrambling to plant them all took my mind off of my applications. At least for a moment.

All of us who are on multiple waiting lists and have not received any acceptances feel like this. Feeling like this at this time of year is normal. Take a deep breath, relax, and do whatever you to cope. -H.

I'd be happy with just one acceptance. I'm starting to doubt that one is forthcoming. Please oh please, just one acceptance.

Still waiting to hear from 4 out of 5 of my schools. I'm deeply concerned.

Wow, on a Sat? I did my undergrad at UBC and that campus is dead on a Saturday.

I have to admit that I seem to be in a similar boat. I too have yet to hear about most of my applications. The only rejection I received so far was a summary rejection in the first round. I have applied to departments that seem to send out results on the late side; I found this out from looking at the Results Search from previous years. Not all departments are equal in keeping us informed. I got an email today from UCLA saying that I should start applying for fellowships even though the decisions will not be sent out until March 1st. There is still room for hope...

I wrote and defended my thesis in December at the same time as I was finishing my PhD apps. And it nearly killed me...

We are all familiar with the UCLA angel of death coming at around midnight, but I was curious as to whether other schools did similar practices. So, I'm throwing out the question. At what time was your response emails send out? The only response I go so far was sent from Cambridge at 11AM. Thanks, -H.

February is running out. Still silence. I'm getting real nervous.

Yup, after undergrad worked 10 years in the tech field. I went back to school and earned two master's degrees. Nope, Cambridge did not invite me to an interview and I got cut early (Feb 8). My guess is that the fact that I could not pay for it on my own might have had something to do with my early cut. -H.

Okay, my turn to moan.... I suck because: My undergrad GPA really bites (2.5/4.0). Fortunately, my school was still on the British System so it came out as a "second class." But, if they try to figure out my GPA, that wouldn't be good for me.I'm old (39).My GRE verbal is a little low for where I'm applying (620).I had some bad typos at the end of my writing sample, which was a chapter from my thesis. I didn't discover these until after I submitted my applications.My advisor suggested applying to top schools. Of course, there are not a lot of second tier schools in the field I want to pursue. As such, the competition for PhD seats is fierce. It's starting to look like $500 down the drain. I hate life... -H.