FoggyAnhinga

spawn season

rush dash

I saw that too! Makes me nervous I still haven't heard anything from them... I wonder if I have any potential to be accepted to this program at this stage...

Black gold

How low are your GPA and GREs? Even if they are low but if they are within minimal requirement (if your program has stated a minimal requirement of GPAs and GREs), you might still have a chance.

I could craft a pseudo-admission letter to email you and make it look all legit with school logo, etc. but that'll be too cruel lol

Yeah, the results search doesn't show up too much data on the applicants who applied to EEB programs for some programs, the most recent results go all the way back to 2010 or 2011!

Thanks EelPoweredHovercraft - I hope your interview went well, and best of luck with your applications!

Spifflobster, I'm going through the same situation with one of the schools I applied to. I sent an email to my POI, and I had a phone interview with him two months ago, and the conversation went very well for me also (he was very happy about my research & academic background, and said I will be a great fit for the lab and the program). I exchanged a few emails with him afterwards since I did have a few questions regarding the program and his research before I submitted my application in December. When I applied, I notified him of my submission, and he thanked me for keeping him updated. That was the last time I heard from him, and I too am eagerly waiting hear any news regarding my application. If you are really curious maybe you could shoot an email, but I would advise you not to (after all, if there are any updates within gradcom I'm sure your POI would keep you updated).

Sounds like an interview to me... I know some professors do accept students after a promising phone call (some will consider this as a preliminary interview mainly get to know you before conducting an official interview sometime later). Nevertheless, prepare for this as best as you can, have questions prepared, and who knows, your POI might just accept you right on the spot! Good luck!

I'd say it's still a little too early to be concerned at this point. Be prepared for February however. It's also nice to stay positive and prepare for interviews for the time being, because you'll never know when you will get an interview offer! It could be tomorrow or sometime this week or next week. Getting an unexpected interview offer can be exciting but sometimes worrisome because you might have spent all this time worrying about no news when you could have prepared for prospective interviews (it's definitely possible if the professor or the department gives a short notice).

When I was applying for one of the schools a few weeks ago (deadline was Jan 15), I was browsing through a few professor's research websites, and one of the professor's website looked very interesting and I was stoked because I finally found a faculty whose interest may mesh with mine. I wrote the entire email, prepare to send him my qualifications, only to glance at his "prospective students" webpage again to see a sentence of small font size reading "note: I am not taking any graduate students this year or next year".

Usually for these applications you will have to enter your undergrad and grad GPA separately in their application forms. Some programs do explicitly state that they admit students with cumulative undergrad GPA over 3.4 or somewhat (if they're competitive), and if that is the case, it doesn't matter what your master's GPA is. Most programs from my experience require that for your undergraduate grades, you have to have at least 3.0 cumulative GPA & 3.0 cumulative GPA for the LAST 90 quarter credits or the LAST 60 semester credits (which is roughly last two years of your undergraduate education). I think you're perfectly qualified for the most programs you are applying for, since a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0 is what the majority of PhD programs are looking for (except for those which are exceptionally competitive - they sometimes say that most students they admit have cumulative GPA over 3.5).

I try to think about this too to stay as positive as possible - this is also my second time applying for PhDs, and yeah, some programs with deadlines as early as December don't even start reviewing until late January or February. I've had some schools not getting back to me until as late as late April or early May (that's ridiculous I think). From my past experience, some staff (not faculty) working in the admissions/student affairs department don't particularly enjoy their jobs mainly because their office is understaffed and they are overwhelmed with emails from students, and I guess the overall duties of responding to grad students about housekeeping issues gets boring. Hence that could contribute to late replies by some schools...

For last night at least I tried watching The State of the Union address to distract myself away from this waiting anxiety, but no, before I knew it, I was back online, checking my email constantly and checking everything thoroughly (through spam folders, etc), lol. Also re-watching Breaking Bad isn't a bad way to distract yourself from the waiting game.

Ugh, had ANOTHER dream about an interview last night - I was having a phone interview with a prof at University of Chicago (I didn't even apply for that school for this fall! Don't even know why I had that interview haha), and as soon as I finished talking, she said "okay, thank you for your time" and simply hung up on me. I hope that certainly doesn't happen with my real-life phone interviews in the upcoming future lol...

spring garden

danger dog

Acceptance letter

Thanks sfrie! Good luck to you too. I'm also really hoping all that money I spent on applications is all worth it...

Crazy Knight

Hello all! Shadowclaw told me about this thread so I thought I might pitch in the conversation As for my application experience so far, I've had one interview PRIOR to applying - the POI scheduled a phone interview with me after I sent him an email (letter of interest, CV, GRE report, etc). It was a great conversation, half informative (background about the program, his expectations from students, what the facilities are like, timeline of the doctoral degree, etc), and half formal question & answer (asked me about my academic background, my research interests, my career goals). Overall he sounded very happy about my background, and I've also exchanged a few emails with him after this interview. Though I haven't heard back from him about my application status since I submitted my application (I informed him of the submission, and he thanked me for keeping him posted), which kinda worries me... Did anyone else have a promising interview like this before submitting the final application?

Black Crystal

Same here! Some of my POIs have been taking up to a week to get back to my emails, so sometimes I've been calculating the average time it takes for them to respond haha. Three of my schools had mid-January deadlines so I don't expect to hear from them anytime soon until mid-February or even early March at the earliest lol.

Do you live somewhere in the northeast? I live near NYC and it's been brutally cold last week though I feel like if I ever have any unmotivated students I should teach them in the freezing cold to toughen them up... just kidding about that one haha