IndEnth

Oh no, that's terrible! I really hope it won't be the only shot you get. I'm sure you can also talk to unis about the time difference - I'm on CET, and I told them that I can't do past midnight on my end, because, let's face it, that's just not fair anymore. A US candidate gets to do her talk at 10am and I'll do it at 2am after a 10-hour work day? Which uni was it, if you don't mind me asking? How many you still have this cycle?

I don't have any first-hand experience with it myself, but the way I understand it, they actually notify you if you're waitlisted. As in, they either send you an offer, a notification that you're waitlisted, or a rejection. I've personally never heard of a case where someone first got a rejection and then later was notified that a spot has opened up and that they sort of were on a waitlist without knowing and can now step in. After all, unis want you to make your decision keeping them in mind as an option. I know that's probably not what you want to hear right now though. But hey, lots of decisions coming out this week - something will work out!

Of course you should only apply to departments that would actually be a good fit, and I'm sure we all want funding. But considering my niche interest (both subject- as well as area-wise), I still found 10 to 12 good fits, and about 6 that would be decent enough. If you look at how many people in this forum alone applied to let's say Berkeley, it's already more than they have spots. Some of these schools get 400 or 500 applications for between 7 to 12 openings. And while I believe that I have a strong application, there are always ways that other candidates could beat me on one metric or the other (including some people here). So if for you it's only worth it to do your PhD if you go to a top-10 school, then of course only send out a couple of very targeted applications (and keep your fingers crossed!). I personally am dead-set on doing a PhD in an area that really interests me and where I can see myself working in for the next decades to come, and I know that if I do well, I can make it even if I'm not at a TT university. Fit and funding aren't just possible at the CHYMPS schools, at least not for me. So I just felt like diversifying, and hedging against the risk. Especially considering the cost of doing so, I can fully understand if someone wants to rather focus on 5 or 6 applications though. Everyone has their personal cost-benefit calculation and risk-taking/-aversion strategies.

I agree, cost is a drag - I spent thousands of dollars on GREs, TOEFL and 18 applications. While I admit that 18 might be playing it enormously safe, I have to say though that 4 seems like rather a big gamble. No matter how amazingly qualified you are, there are always a few elements at play that you can't quite control for, including luck. You never know how many people will apply in your subfield, possibly with a similar topic (and they won't admit two people researching new democracies in central Africa in one year, for example). Any given university will probably still end up with 20 really strong candidates to fill 7 to 12 spots - and then it's sometimes a bit like playing the lottery, you might win or you might lose. So sending out more applications simply lowers your risk by giving you more tickets in the lottery. I was actually told by my mentor to send out 20 applications, just to be on the safe side. But I think 10 is a good number to aim for if you're really dead-set on starting a PhD this year.

And some schools moving it back from the last day of Jan to early Feb apparently...

Thank you!

It's partly a funding question. I talked about it with several UC professors. The UCs in general had a policy in place that made it ridiculously expensive for departments to take in internationals. That's only changed recently, and most UCs have had a significant rise in internationals over the past two years. But my UC SB contact said that Berkeley is the one that's been slow to change that. Don't know why exactly. And of course there's probably a certain... "snobbism" about non-US degrees as well. European and especially Asian degrees are usually discounted in comparison to American ones.

It's impossible to tell from that list who is an American citizen (with foreign roots), who is an international with US degree, and who is - like I am - an international without a US degree. So... judging by the results page, they at most admit those with US degrees, but internationals without seem to have almost zero chances.

Seems odd that they didn't look at the file, and say that so openly. Maybe the application was incomplete? Even though I was contacted by another school that didn't receive all of my materials, so... What are our chances that Berkeley will come out tonight? I've been browsing through the results page, and it really looks like they don't admit internationals, so I shouldn't even bother to check my email I guess.

Fine, I give you the text questions. But filling in words in a text that are deliberately so difficult that even natives have to study them in lists and calculating the content of a cylinder to me are just very weird measures of a standardized test. All I'm saying is that you can study for it and do well, even if that stuff doesn't come naturally to you; you shouldn't take it too hard if it doesn't work the first time - it doesn't say anything about your intelligence or your fitness for grad school; and it's worth retaking the test, because you can learn how to do well on it and it's a first-threshold kinda thing that might make people open your file - or not

It's nerve-wrecking that I'm between 6 and 9 hours ahead of all the unis and everyone here - I keep checking my emails and the forum, even though I know that nothing could have possibly happened since the last time I did because it's still 6am on the West Coast

Getting good GRE scores in my opinion has nothing to do with intelligence, critical thinking or your preparedness for graduate school. It's a pure function of how well you're able to study for standardized tests (which in fact is pretty much the opposite of critical thinking, a quality essential for grad school). I used the free prep materials and bought one more book, and then just buckled down and studied. That often times means simply knowing answers by heart, or at least knowing formulas etc that you haven't used since high school and will never need again by heart. I'm a non-native and got 166+167+5.5 in my GRE (granted, not the first attempt - the first time I underestimated how much studying you actually have to do simply to meet the time requirements).

From what I've heard from my sources, GREs are really used as a screening mechanism: If you don't score below a certain (probably arbitrarily defined) level that varies by school, they simply won't even bother to open your file. So if you have really low GRE scores, they might have you booted out before you ever even got a chance. But once they open your file, it really doesn't matter anymore - if you made it through the initial screening, what makes or breaks it are your SoP and letters of recommendation, not how competitive your GRE scores are.

Applied to 18 programs, 1 admit and 1 reject so far - I can tell you that even though I have an option now I'm still super nervous. Especially considering that it's not one of my top-5 choices.

The percentile tells you how you compare to your cohort. If you have 94% that means 94% of people scored worse than you and only 6% were as good or better. And 1 point in the scaled score can make a big difference: only 17% of testtakers scored 162 or higher in their quantitative test in my cohort, but 20% scored 161 or higher. Because it's calculated in full points (and not like the analytical in .5 steps), more than 1% of testtakers is likely to score that number of points. (I took the GRE a third time and scored 167 in the quantitative test - giving me 94% and proving that it's always worth retaking the GRE.)

Uhm... now you make my heart fall because I didn't even get that email from UPenn...

If Berkeley is really out I'm going for the wine as well. Still says "submitted" on the page, can't be good. At least the Emory interview went ok-ish. They'll make decisions by the end of next week latest.

I applied too, as it so happens that they have a comparativist working exactly in my field of interest. International student, so no GPA (though graduated second from my MA program). Four years out of uni, work experience as a journalist. 166/167/5.5 GRE No idea about funding etc. though. My first time applying there too.

I have had two interviews so far and was accepted both times, so it does seem to be a strong indicator. Yet, every time profs go out of their way to tell you that this is not a sign at all, just another stage etc. So I wonder whether they interview shortlisted people and then waitlist some and accept others? One way or the other, I think it's unlikely to lead to a total reject, especially because rejections have already been sent out. Since none of the professors I indicated in my SoP will be on the interview, and I'm really not very familiar with Emory, I was just hoping for some specific insights.

Sorry to hear that. I guess they only interview shortlisted candidates then.

Hi guys, as you can imagine from the title, I was advanced to the next round with Emory. I'm a bit surprised that so many unis seem to have interview rounds this time, as I heard from people who advised me on the process that it's rather rare. I already did an interview with UC SB (and got in) but was wondering whether anyone has any tips on Emory. It's not in my top 5, but still a good uni, and won't be as easy to impress as UC SB I assume. Has anyone been there, done that and likes to share? Thanks a lot!

Got a rejection from GW. It's sad, was one of my top choices, and I thought a really good fit. Luckily I at least have one offer already, so can take it with a bit more grace

I got an invite for an interview next week. So shortlist is made, but final decision will take a while as interviews are scheduled through Feb 2.

Awesome! There WAS A secret results page Thanks so much. I guess now that I have an offer I'm a lot more chilled, but until today I was developing an ulcer, with all the stress of waiting...

Also, one question: I got an email from one university saying I was recommended for admission, but that they needed to review my foreign uni docs etc before the dean takes the final decision, so I had to send a bunch of stuff over there. Now, is there any way that the Dean would NOT approve of me being recommended for admission as long as my documents are in order? What reason could there possibly be for not following the recommendation?