Habermas

I think Marx got intrusive thoughts every 30 seconds trying to write Grundrisse. ?

I keep expecting to see someone on Polisci Rumors gloating about making prospective students go insane on gradcafe... 

Chiming in to elaborate on what @timeseries was saying...Especially in a year like this, its impossible to know why some of our bright colleagues get rejected while others do not. However, it might be helpful to remain cautiously optimistic depending on your profile. Schools in 20-30 are actively looking to make sure they keep good yield rates--they don't want to be safety schools for half of their admits. Every year they probably reject a dozen or so applicants because they think those applicants will definitely be accepted at higher ranked schools. I don't know your profile specifically, but I can say having read a few people's profiles earlier and seeing them declare rejects from their "safeties", this is probably happening to some of us.
tl;dr: you can get rejected from all your safeties and it may not mean much at all.

Exactly! I've seen people in past threads get accepted at Harvard, Princeton, Michigan yet be rejected or waitlisted for Vanderbilt, Rice, Notre Dame, etc.

I don't understand why EVERYONE is trying to figure out if the decisions will come out today, tomorrow or Friday.
We all have access to the past years' decision dates. There is no reason to speculate. It helps no one.

Trying to pass time should not be spitting out speculations that have no bases. 

I think you're all aware that there's a messaging function in this forum. People do not have to know what games you're playing or what series you're watching. We're all here for our PhD applications, not reading how boring your lives are.

I am sitting here, hoping for some Berkeley and Princeton decisions to come out this week.

The beginning of March?  Most years Northwestern sends out admits by the last week of January.  Did they say that they are sending them in March this year because of COVID?

Yes, also a little suspicious that they all seem to have been posted before noon today (around when I checked). I understand that some people diligently post/follow grad cafe but I would assume some people would be logging on later in the afternoon to post their results.

I think the Princeton results might be fake. For one thing, decisions from them have never been released this early. According to my friend, last time it was on a Wednesday. 
Second, and more importantly, nobody on this forum claimed an acceptance. In past years, plenty of folks on this forum claim their acceptance on the thread. Plenty of people this year have been claiming acceptances from schools on the thread -- no reason to believe that that would stop with Princeton.
Tldr: it's probably a troll, we wait more.

Could someone actually really do this? 

As another week of decisions starts in just a few hours (and February, when a lot of decisions are released, is soon coming as well), I want to wish you all best of luck! It’s really comforting to know that I’m not alone in this process and journey and that there are so many people I can reach out to. I also want to remind you to make sure to put yourself first and do whatever you can to minimize your anxieties and stress. I know that whatever happens all of you amazing and brilliant people have great things ahead, and I really hope that we can continue to share great news on this platform!

Yes, that’s true. But they also mentioned that it is grouped by department within the entire graduate school. So hopefully that means our hunches are correct and our department will send the decision earlier than later, like usual. 

Their website says they admit about 50 people (in normal circumstances). If they're doing individualized emails and sending acceptances AND waitlists today, it definitely would take more than just the morning to complete. My guess is they'll come in throughout today and then rejections in the next day or two, based on previous trends. 

Hello all, I like many am anxiously awaiting the Princeton results. While the last three years of data seems to confirm what many are saying regarding next week, I do want to point out that in the submission confirmation email I received they specifically said results would arrive "between February 1 and March 15." This could well be a case of "underpromising" though, as departments are likely free to contact admitted students at their leisure.
My hunch is that we will still get results next week but I personally am trying to mentally prepare to wait an additional week because of this. Hope this two cents helps and good luck to everyone!

Congratulations to those who received acceptances from UT Austin and Rice! To those wo are still waiting, I am with you... Based on previous cycles, Berkeley and Princeton decisions should be rolling out after the weekend ? 

Congratulations to everyone that got admitted to UTexas! I'm still waiting for my email, so I guess that means that I did not get in (or maybe I did, who knows!).

Any insights on whether more admits might roll in later in the day? Felt really confident about this one and my status on the site still lists pending...

Any insights on whether more admits might roll in later in the day? Felt really confident about this one and my status on the site still lists pending...

Guys, the waiting is killing me.

When do you all think/guess we will start to hear back from Princeton, Berkeley, and Northwestern? Also, I did some half-ass search and it seems Rice likes to release decisions on Fridays, the third week of February, which is tomorrow. So hoping to at least hear from Rice tomorrow.

Finished up with my interview with UW-Madison, and thought I'd let y'all know the questions they asked me:
Why would you be a good fit for UW-Madison?
What made you want to pursue a PhD?
What are some challenges you expect in graduate studies, and how do you think you would over come them?
They then asked how I would differentiate my research from other people. (They said they would expect quite a few thesis papers on my research interest in the future. AP if that helps.)
I mean I certainly feel like I did well on the interview!
They also mentioned to expect decisions in about 3 weeks.

I just perused their website and they don't state anywhere that they interview applicants regularly, so I would concur.

That's what I'm focusing on. I applied to 8 and I think 6 of them are reach schools, one safety, and one realistic. I just need one school to give me an offer + funding. I'm worried about some schools I applied to having double the number of applicants but I have made peace with my choice of schools and number of applications.

As I mentioned in my previous post, admission decisions are likely to begin coming out soon. I encourage all you amazingly smart and driven people to do your very best not to go insane in the meantime. I recommend to try to stay busy with other things and resist the temptation to check your email every 5 minutes. Know also that you may feel disheartened when you dont hear from a school on the day where acceptances come out. Unfortunately that is just a part of the process and usually it does not speed things along to inquire professors and staff about your application.
Finally I'll say that even if your applications are not successful this round then do like many of us have done and reapply next year or the year after. A phd is not something anyone can accomplish over night and it really makes no difference if you postpone by a year or two. But best of luck! I'm sure many of you will receive great - and life transforming - news the coming months!