WillComeTrue

@Gvh Thank you! I will be heading to NY! It is exciting and nerve-wrecking at the same time... Best of luck to you, too!

Hello, everyone. I don't know who is still hanging out on this forum, but, because you all were incredible supporters and my source of energy during my difficult times, I thought I'd stopped by to happily announce that I have been officially accepted off the waitlist from my top choice school. It really feels surreal and I really cannot believe that this has actually happened. I think it will take some time to sink in. This month has been quite wonderful for me actually, so I am very thankful for everything that I am given. It is indeed one of the best, most incredible thing that has happened to me. I really wish the best of luck to everyone who is starting this fall, or who is trying again next application cycle. I wish you all the best!!! Thank you so much for being there for me.

Hi @catsandcrochet, I understand the frustration and anxiety the wait brings. For your case, I think it depends on whether you are waiting to hear back post-interview or without an interview. In the former, you might have been waitlisted (it seems like programs sometimes don't let their applicants know about this...) and they are just working their way through the waitlist still. In the latter, I think at this point hearing nothing from schools means rejection, because most psych programs, especially clinical psych programs interview their applicants to consider them for admission. In either case, I think you can email your PI for more information on the progress on admission or contact the graduate secretary. At this point you've been waiting pretty patiently that they will understand if you email with questions. I hope things work out for your well.

@wootar I am so sorry to hear your news. I really wished that you would get in. Although, I am glad to hear that you have a Plan B and that you are staying positive! Getting invited to 6 places in and of itself is very impressive so you should definitely give yourself credit for that. Especially that you have applied to clinical programs, which are extra competitive. It didn't work out this year for you, but it is only your first cycle. I definitely think your second cycle will look even more successful. Don't give up, maybe it is a sign from the universe that you will end up somewhere with even better fit and advisor. It will come one day and I really wish you the best for your future endeavors. Good luck!

From my email early this morning, I got a very nice and polite response email stating that I am still waitlisted, and that there are about three people ahead of me of that waitlist. This means I have another few weeks to hold my breath! Not quite something I was expecting, but it is much, much better than a rejection. Those people were so nice I really want to work with them!!! I am hoping that many people ahead of me already have accepted offers elsewhere by now and decline those offers...Thank you @wootar and @clinpsy for encouraging me to send this query email. I can now sleep at night a little better.

Thank you so much @Gvh!!! As a fellow international applicant with U.S. Masters, I congratulate you and hope the best for you for your future endeavors!

Hi @wootar!!! wow, your email is really polite and well-written. I think I will send an email this morning. Given that I live in the west coast and the school in in the east coast, I think I should send it now!!! LOL Yeah I just want to deal with this as soon as possible!!! You are completely right. It is what it is... I really, really wish we both get in. Best luck to you, too. @clinpsy, Thank you for your encouragement! I think I will take your advise and send it now! Thank you!!!

Today is the day, folks. I was also thinking about sending them an email and still debating, because here is a thing. In a lab meeting, a student asked why I don't query about my status, if I am this anxious and still haven't heard back with anything. She said to reiterate my interests and say that the school is my top choice, and to ask about the waitlist status at this point. My advisor said it was a okay idea, but she said to wait until after the 15th. I mean... what is really the point if I send them "what is my status" email after all decisions have been made? This email, if it would be helpful in any way, it would be only meaningful if it were sent while the school is still making the last-minute decisions. They may think that I am really still interested in this school and likely to come if I were to be offered a position. So this may move my waitlist position a little if they were really coming down to the wire and need to make offers to people who are likely to accept. At the same time it might be taken as impatient, or if they don't really know about how many spots will become available at the end of the day today and if they are genuinely worried about my future (and think I sent this email wanting to know because of other offers waiting for my decision) they may say to go with my other "choice" because I said it was my "top choice". What do I say to that, then? I really would like to know, and I really feel a strong urge to just send them an email right now. Having your top choice to be your only choice, and to wait this long, SUCKS!

Hi, I am new to this topic, the insurmountable anxiety led me here. Still waiting at my top/only choice. They specifically stated that they would let their waitlisted applicants know about their status before or by 4/15, which is TODAY. I still haven't heard anything, and while I am trying to be patient, I am thinking about sending them an email reiterating my interests in the school, and that it is my top choice and I would like to find out about my waitlisted status at this point. This school does not have PI admitting each student, but mass interview invitation leads to ~10 offers and ~10 waitlists. They did not specify the selection process but I assume factors such as research interests overlap matter to avoid competition for resources. Would this hurt me, letting them to think that I can't wait for just one more day? or would this at least make them think that I am really interested in getting in that it would make a bit of difference in re-evaluating the last-minute offers going out possibly today? I have not sent a single email after they let me know that I was on the waitlist, so I guess one email wouldn't hurt and seriously nothing would actually matter at this point so it may at least bring the news faster, but at the same time I think to myself why not wait one more day, they value student's patience.

@wootar I think I would wait until 4/15. I agree with @emhopefulme that it is just two more days, including today! For me, I think I will wait until the 15th, and if I don't hear back for some reason, although they clearly stated that they would let me know about my status by that deadline, I am going to email them to query. I gather people started to decline offers this week, and the schools are just waiting until they get an idea of how many spots in total will open up and then they will get back to the waitlisters. Frustrating, but it will happen today or tomorrow. Stay positive!!!

No... haven't heard back just yet. I wonder why they said that they would let me know before or by 4/15, as the more I think about it it only makes sense that they let people on the waitlist know after getting all of the results from their initial offers. I guess we would find out within a few days... Good luck to you, too and I am really hoping for the best!!!

Oh my gosh, @wootar I can completely relate to your worries. Thanks for sharing your experience. I don't think it would help me much at this point, if not hurting, to send a follow-up email to the waitlist email that was sent like a month and a half ago! I guess I should just let it go now since I can't really do anything about it! I guess at this point what we can do is to wait it out patiently... although on some other post I read today it said that the offers would come after 4/15, because that's the deadline for the people who already got offers to decline so it would only make sense that the offers to the waitlisters would come after that. I think it makes sense but my email said that they would let me know before or by 4/15. This is the most confusing and stressful times in my life!

Hi, I am new to this thread, and had a few questions for those who are more informed! As a bio BA and psych MA, I ended up applying to a few neuro programs this cycle and was lucky to be waitlisted at one. This ended up my only hope and also one of my top schools. In the waitlist email it was mentioned that they will let me know before or by 4/15. But I wondered, since it is the deadline for people to defer their decision, how will the waitlist people hear back before this time? Also, my school is a rotation program so my POI will have no power in giving me admission...so it is just a bunch of the prospectives that were offered positions and a bunch being waitlisted and the rest rejected after an interview. Also, does this timeframe differ if you are an international student? Really hoping to find out... Good luck to everyone who is on the waitlist! We will all make it!

Just out of curiosity, has anyone replied back to the email notifying you of your waitlist status, thanking them/saying that it is an honor that you are waitlist at that school? I didn't reply back, and I'm wondering if it is usually conventional to do so. My advisors told me to not do anything to avoid bothering them or appearing desperate, but now I think back, I think I should have at least thanked them or tell them that I am very interested in getting in to the school and that it is my top choice. Not that it would matter much now, but I am just going through a list of things that could have gone better, as we wind down to the last five days of waiting...

Yes, this is a very good point, @Freudian_Slip! Thank you for sharing this. I think schools may have very different waitlist policies that sometimes almost everyone on the waitlist ends up with an offer (in one instance the person was #17 on the waitlist!), but unfortunately many times this is not the case. Many factors may play roles in the admission process and waitlists may also be a part of that (including what you've mentioned, the waitlist may not be simple and "linear"). Luckily in many cases I've heard or experienced, there are a certain number of positions available in that particular year, and they try to fill up all positions, thus they may have a long waitlist. Nonetheless, this waitlist fiasco is stressful and nonsensical and the more I get to hear other people's stories the more perplexed I become about this process. Good luck with the school that you are waitlisted at! Stay positive:)