FoggyAnhinga

No I tutor full time (not online). I don't tutor outdoors lol.

Thanks! I just realized that many schools actually started their spring session this past Monday, so maybe this is the starting week of interview offers getting back to the applicants.

If it's a personal email from your POI, it completely depends on what time he/she responds or writes emails. Many professors have VERY busy schedules and often spend time emailing or responding to emails throughout the day, from morning to as late as midnight (the advent of smartphones made email responses very easy these days after all!). So if it's an email from your POI, it can be any time, maybe except between 12am-6am. Now if it's an unofficial or official email from the school's gradcom, then it's likely during 9am-5pm (their local time) on weekdays, since these emails are sent out by staff members of the graduate admission committee, and they usually respond to emails or work on their emails only at work from 8am-5pm on weekdays.

I generally try to call up friends to have lunch or a drink and explore the nearby surroundings on my own - perhaps some practice for photographic memory haha. I would go running too except it's just too cold, so I often end up staying indoors all day doing minor weight lifting, tutoring, and binge-watching random shows on Netflix if time is available.

Hey you're an ecology applicant too! Nice Six of the schools I applied have issued student ID numbers as though I'm already an official student to all these schools haha... yeah it is odd, I personally would prefer keeping my original username/email and password for the application to check my application status. I remember when I applied for master's program several years ago, one of the schools also issued me a student ID, but after I was rejected from that school, they kept my "student ID" for the next six months and kept badgering me via email that my password will soon expire. It took several phone calls to persuade those people at that university's admission office that I'm not attending that university lol.

stamp collection

Yep - at least they are taking all of our applications seriously that's what I think to myself to stay positive throughout this waiting process. If a program accepted my application very quickly with very little review of my academic background or research background, I might be happy but also feel suspicious, especially wondering if this program has accepted me due to dearth of students or popularity.

I am still over-analyzing the email I received from my POI for one of the schools I applied to back in December haha (after I submitted my application I notified him of my submission as a courtesy, and he thanked me for keeping him posted, and confirmed that the gradcom received all of my supplemental materials: yep, that short email is the one I'm still over-analyzing) - although I had a great interview with him prior to applying and he said I would be a great asset to the program (which makes me feel confident about my prospects, though I have to wait until the graduate committee's final decision to be sure), I am still VERY nervous... after all, the POI and the gradcom have all the power to make last minute changes on their admission decisions, regardless of how much they loved your first impression...

I just got an email from one of the school's POI yesterday to verify whether I'm still interested in the program, and for a phone conversation - so I'd say mid-January is around the beginning of responses period. This is mostly the case for program with December deadlines. Some schools, however, won't even get back to you until late February or March, even for interviews. I know, it is a real pain I often wish that schools send out rejections sooner to put us out of misery instead of making us wait until sending out rejection in late March or early April (very cruel). One of these days I hope grad schools will stop this cruel practice... As for the programs with early or mid-January deadlines, you might not start hearing back until late February or early March.

From my experiences on applying for master's program in the past, as far as sciences go (and mainly for other fields as well), if the POI finds your application appealing and if you are being considered for admission out of a smaller pool of applicants, you will definitely be interviewed before the final decision (quite unusual to be accepted to a program without being interviewed at all). A few programs do have "recruitment weekend" or interview weekend, depending on their budget, but most programs have now resorted to phone or Skype interviews. Kind of nice for us applicants too, because we don't have to set aside budget for all travel expenses. On an unrelated note, I understand that for medical school applicants however, they have to travel for their interviews (all travel expenses out of their pocket... bummer...).

Congrats!! Yes you are definitely in. After you receive your formal letter they'll probably ask you to have your previous universities mail official transcript copies, which should be a piece of cake. Nicely done!

forbidden bracelet

Had a dream two nights ago that I was admitted and I was preparing to take comps soon, for which I remember grinning with extreme smugness since I knew everything. Only after I opened my eyes that it was all a dream... I was so frustrated that I began punching my pillow lol.

"Dear FoggyAnhinga, Thank you for your application! As an application to University of Waiting Too Long, you have been issued both a Student ID number and a WTL (waiting too long) ID." Providing us with student ID for the schools we applied to (as though we are fully enrolled students there) seem like a deceptive practice, especially when we haven't even been admitted yet!!

You should be okay. As long as you don't have any words in your SOP that pertains to something specific in a different school (i.e. if you have a name of different school somewhere in your SOP instead of the school you are applying too, that's a bit problematic... that almost happened to me several times, mainly because I copied and pasted a large portion of my SOP between two school applications... luckily I decided to double check with only 15 minutes to spare haha). Good luck!

Speaking of no news since applying in December, I actually had an interview before I applied for one of the PhD programs (deadline was December 15). It was after I contacted one of the professors whose research interested me, and he wanted to call me for a phone interview to provide an overview of the graduate program, research focus in his lab, when to take comps & quals, etc (he also asked me quite a few questions about my past research experiences and career goals, and seemed happy with my academic background, and said I will be a "great asset" to the program). After applying on December 15th, I notified the professor of my submission, which he then thanked me for keeping him updated. I have not heard anything from him since. I do remember from the interview that this program invites top applicants for a campus visit in February. Perhaps it is still too early to hear back, even though mid-January is approaching...? Hope everyone is handling this waiting game well! Only if this "game" was fun as playing Mario Kart wii

Hi all, I hope everyone's graduate application processes are going well! I just want some feedback on my current situation. Before applying to University Zerg (I'll just call it that to sound creative haha), I contacted the professor there to express my interest in joining his lab. A few weeks later he emailed me that I was among the short list of students being considered for the admission to his lab, and he and his colleague are hoping to bring several applicants to their lab for interview in December or January. After I applied to that program in early December, I notified him of my recently submitted application, and he was happy to know that I was keeping him posted (I also exchanged several emails with him before I applied to ask some specific questions about funding and research), and said that he will get in touch with me soon about my potential for interview. Sadly, it is almost mid-January and I still haven't heard a word from him (I am assuming if interviews were to be conducted this month, I might have heard something...). I may be over-analyzing this, but if he said he will get in touch with me about my potential for interview, does that mean it's likely he will email me regardless of whether I have been selected for the interview or not? Or should I wait a little longer and send him a polite email about my application status if I don't hear any word by the end of this month? Thank you all for your feedback!

double trouble

Me: "I got into School A's PhD program!" Someone I know (not really a friend): "School A?? I thought you wanted to go to school B? Where is school A anyway?" Is it REALLY THAT HARD to say a simple "congrats" first, before bombarding me with those questions????

weak fort

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Anybody else enrolling in USF this fall?

Thanks, I guess I should update my signature sometime, haha... I actually heard from all of the 8 schools early this week, and few days ago I finally made a decision to accept one of the admission offers But I agree, it's cruel for many grad schools to make us suffer this much.

tight security

Big congratulations to you!!! Waiting until the very end does pay off after all Congrats again!