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I received an early offer admission to a school on January 16th. I have a visit scheduled out to the school for February 6th. This is super early for my discipline and I'm not sure when I will hear from other schools. The acceptance letter did not specify a date to notify by, I'm just wondering how long is too long to wait?

I'm glad to hear others are sharing similar experiences. I feel as though the anxiety of having my life hanging in the balance is taking over. I keep telling myself that I won't obsess over it, and all the usual mantras of: whatever happens, happens; it's out of your control; if it's meant to be, it'll be; and so on and so forth. However, none of this helping. I do have days where I feel confident, and others where I'm positive that I will be accepted by no one. I think only those that have been in this situation before can understand.

I wasn't able to find anything on Wisconsin-Milwaukee..but Uconn I found someone was accepted as early as January 29th..West Virginia I was able to find February 13th.

Yeah, I think it definitely is still really early. Some of my other schools said they would be having their first meeting mid-January so it's possible that it hasn't even started yet. I've been taking it to an obsession and actually went through the archives on this site and tried to find dates of when people received acceptance or rejection from each program in previous years!!

Have you received anything from any of yours yet?

But I suppose it's a good sign, they wouldn't interview someone who is an auto rejection!

I'm not sure that I'll have a choice. I've spoken with him both in person at a conference and on the phone during the application process. He just said he will be reaching out after their Jan 15th deadline for an interview. I'll know more details when he does I suppose about who it will be with. He wasn't my POIs that I listed in the personal statements so it might be with one of them, I'm not sure. I really wasn't prepared for interviews.

It hasn't been scheduled yet, but the graduate director is Alan Goodboy.

@GreenEyedTrombonist I hear you! I don't know how to turn off the anxiety of waiting. Everyone keep saying saying "just don't think about it"....thanks for all the SUPER helpful advice. I wish we were all given a definitive decision date so it wasn't the anxiety of also not knowing how long the wait will be.

@DBear since I posted my reply to this thread I did receive an email from West Virginia about a phone interview to be set up after their deadline has passed (Jan 15th). I was so thorough in my SOP and in conversation with him about my background, research interests, faculty I'm interested in working with, etc. that I can't imagine what they would ask that I should prepare for! If anyone in COMM has had an interview, HELP!!!!

I am an applicant for PhD Communication programs, and interviews aren't all that common. I had specifically asked some of my colleagues who have PhDs and they said that I probably shouldn't expect interviews. However, one school has emailed to schedule a phone interview, and I have no idea what kinds of questions they are going to ask and that I should prepare for. My statement of purpose was very detailed in the research I want to work on, faculty whom I'd like to work with and why, my background, reasons for pursuing, etc. I was very thorough in covering all the bases in my SOP. I also had thorough conversations with graduate directors and faculty members at each school I applied. Just wondering, what kinds of questions will be asked so that I can mentally prepare?!

@2017Hopeful I'm not expecting any decisions to be made AT LEAST till the end of February, probably later. I had concern about one of my letters not getting in one time and I was told by several schools that they won't even be having their first meeting to discuss until at least mid-January. I wish it would be sooner, I'm hopeful that it will be, though not expecting it.

I think as long as you clearly explained your journey and how you got there in your SOP you are probably okay!

@DBear what made you decide to switch from English to Comm?

I thought it would be helpful to have in one place the dates people received decisions from which programs just for comm. So, if you've been lucky enough to receive a decision let us know the school and date!

I'm going to be starting a new research project soon. Partially, because I need to fill some time. But, also with it in mind that should I not get accepted this year , applying again without any additional improvements to my application will not serve me all that well.

@DBear I've never heard of a phone interview for comm, I had also asked a professor who recently finished her phd and she said she had never heard of one either. So, hopefully not. I had phone Or in person conversations with the graduate directors at each school when I was picking programs to apply so hoping that was sufficient!

I'm focusing on interpersonal communication, mostly in the integrations of technology and romantic relationships. I look at how couples use technology to communicate about sex and to better their sexual relationship, as well as question the resiliency of traditional communication theories in initial interactions of flirting, given changes in technology and a more openly sexual culture.

HA! If anyone has some good strategies that would be delightful to hear. I teach a full course load during the semesters so that will distract me slightly. But right now since I'm off for another month, it is agony. Here is what I do normally just to relieve some anxiety: -Read or do puzzles. I feel like an old lady sitting doing my puzzles, but it is so relaxing to just turn your mind off and focus on them for awhile. -Take a weekly bath with epsom salts, candles, the whole nine. -5 to 10 minutes of deep breathing meditation -Exercise, my gym membership saves me a lot and consumes my time -Find some good shows to watch on Netflix. I recommend choosing shows that have all seasons and episodes and are longer shows. If you pick ones like Lost, Dexter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Criminal Minds...a lot of seasons equals a lot of episodes. That can take up a great deal of time and focus your attention elsewhere. It certainly is not a productive way to spend your time, but curling up in a blanket with a good show for the day can be just enough of a break from the freak out. I've still got a long way to go, as most of my programs indicated anywhere from late February to mid-April. I love having my 6 week winter vacation, but it will also be nice to have some distraction when I start teaching again.

Yes, I am American so I'm fortunate. Honestly, who knows-certainly none of us know what they are really going to be looking for until we get our acceptances or rejections. I've also been told by my professors that it sometimes isn't just about your qualifications, but they decide how many within in each research area they are going to take. For example, if they already have a great deal of interpersonal students in their current cohorts they may not take any, or only one interpersonal applicant. So, it sometimes is that you may be qualified and would have normally been admitted, but it just doesn't fit with their current needs. There are so many elements and layers that it is seemingly impossible to know until they have made their decisions. This just makes the anxiety and frustration even greater for us!

Yes, none of us know what is going to happen. We have entered the freak out/waiting/obsessing phase!

Yes, I think she would be a really good match for me, I really liked her when I met her as well.

I'm focusing on interpersonal communication, mostly in the integrations of technology and romantic relationships. I look at how couples use technology to communicate about sex and to better their sexual relationship, as well as question the resiliency of social penetration theory and expectancy violations theory in initial interactions of flirting, given changes in technology and a more openly sexual culture.

Truthfully, it was my professors who determined this for me. Because communication is such a small discipline they know several people and are familiar with the strength and direction of programs. They compiled a list for me of schools that were probably attainable, and then those that were a stretch, but could potentially be. I had more interests in some other schools but they provided me with their honest opinion on the quality of the program at this point in time based upon who was there, who would be leaving soon, etc. I was sort of just shooting in the dark being on my own doing the search, so I can see how not coming from a comm background would be difficult. It was best to listen to their recommendations, and adapt accordingly. In terms of knowing where I had a shot, I think there was clear choices that were completely out of reach for me. As with any discipline there are top programs (your Michigan State's, Wisconsin-Madison, USC), and then some programs that are still good, but not completely out of reach to the slightly above average applicant. My research background isn't as strong as I would like because my Master's institution was not a heavy research school, so that put a lot of the schools who want a great deal of research output out of reach. I based a lot of it on fit. I of course wanted to make sure there were people I would want to work with there, but I also didn't apply to schools where I know my area of interest didn't fit in well with their focus. For example, I study interpersonal comm, but I work primarily in romantic relationships. Therefore, I didn't focus on schools whose interpersonal programs were very health comm driven. It came from just really narrowing down not only what I wanted, but what I didn't want as well.

I'm only applying to 3..I have been worried about not applying to more (only PhDs though). I had a longer list, but I'm only applying to places that I know I have a shot getting into and would actually go to based upon faculty research, etc. That just happened to be 3 places. My advisor and master's professors worked together to come up with a list of about 6 schools they thought would be a good fit, and then I narrowed down from there.