coolgod

Hi, I just received a funded offer for graduate school but the deadline is the 10th, this Canadian school doesn't follow the CGS rules I guess. I have competing US offers on the 15th but I still haven't visited this Canadian school and one of my US schools yet. I would very much prefer to push this deadline to the 15th, so I have time to visit both schools and make a good decision. What is the best way for me to ask for an extension? By phone or email? Who is the best contact for this, the graduate program director or the administrative assistant?

Apartments on Bay st. go for 1k each month if you split it with other flatmates. There are cheaper housing options, usually, small houses with each room used just renting to individual students around the campus (usually south) for about 500-600 a month. Or you can choose to live farther away, which then you would need to commute every day, but you get more bang for your buck.

Still waiting on UMich CSE, I swear I'm on the waitlist yet no one informed me I'm on the waitlist. I thought the PI's email wording suggested I got rejected but I have no idea what's going on.

I think you do have a point, perhaps if I knew more about how funding and the admission process worked better I would have pursued a different strategy. Perhaps the moral of the story is chase the money, not your interests. Although just out of my friend circles the ones which got good Ph.D. offers all had publications. Undoubtedly there is some correlation between the success of future Ph.D. students and publications in undergraduate, but I think the adcom is giving more credit to this factor than it deserves. Of course, they are also making decisions without perfect information so I can't blame them. I also haven't noticed many people with publications getting lots of rejections.

Undergrad Institution: Large Canadian schoolMajor(s): Computer EngineerGPA in Major: 3.83Overall GPA: 3.83Position in Class: near topType of Student: International Male for US schoolsGRE Scores (revised/old version):Q: 170V: 162W: 4.0Research Experience: No publications Senior year research project on integrated couplers for quantum opticsJunior summer researched simulations of condensed matter systems in optical systems in GermanyFreshman summer researched fabrication of microstructures for biomedical applications at home university, gave a poster presentation.Awards/Honors/Recognitions: nothing significant, Dean's list, scholarships, research funding awards etcSpecial Bonus Points: misc math, physics and cs grad classes, don't think the adcom will figure that out from transcript though Pertinent Activities or Jobs: worked in FPGA company during sophomore summerApplying to Where: MIT - Ph.D. - EECS -Quantum Computing Wisconsin - Ph.D. -ECE -Quantum Computing (no funding? contacting POI for funding) UMich - Ph.D. -CSE -Quantum Computing Interviewed haven't heard back Gatech - Ph.D. -ECE -Quantum Computing Duke - Ph.D. -ECE -Quantum Computing Berkeley - Ph.D. - EECS -Quantum Computing Stanford - Ph.D. -EE -Quantum Computing Harvard - Ph.D. -ECE -Quantum Computing Moral of the story, publish or get rejected from big name schools.

Current ECE student at UofT, from just talking to UofT profs, it seems like there are still some profs with fundings and projects available for Master students. Hope this helps.

Yes, i tried to inquire about opening with PIs before applying, but most of them just recommended me to apply anyways, without going into details. Currently decided to apply for out of US opportunities. I don't plan to take a year off. Luckily there are still some opportunities open. I am a little disappointed with how graduate schools respond to email or phone inquiries. A lot of them respond with the generic line not all decisions haven't been made. When it's obvious you won't be admitted or are stuck on waitlist and have a 1% chance of getting in. As nice as that sounds it isn't helpful to the applicant at all. Purposely obscuring the probabilities of admission hinders and misguided the applicants choices. I feel the mantra a lot of people go by is you can do nothing but wait, but I don't think that needs to be true. We should be actively pursuing opportunities in the meantime, academic and non academic. Not just sit and wait. A lot of U.K. Quantum projects only have funding for EU/U.K. Students sadly . I thought funding for US projects were hard then I realized how much worse it is outside US. Looking back I think the biggest reason why I haven't gotten accepted as opposed to my friends with similar credentials is because of my narrow interest topic I wrote in my SOP.

Applied to 13 phd programs and so far all rejections. I have a feeling I'm waitlisted on a couple and won't get accepted anywhere. Feel the same as others in the thread. Many people who know me all thought i had a very competitive profile, yet I felt I failed to live up to their expectation. Feeling very hopeless, the anxiety and uncertainty is eating me alive.

Is there any potential downsides to emailing the professor directly. Will they see me as desperate (which I am) and be less likely to give you offer?

It's mid-February and I've lost all hope regarding my Ph.D. applications, sent in 13, 10 of them are long shots, 0 accepts in total. Had an interview early January with UMich was suppose to hear back in a month. I have contacted my top choice UChicago professor before and it seemed very promising over email but I still have heard nothing back since I applied. Should I email these professors before I hear back? I want to end the uncertainty and possibly improve my odds of getting in at least 1 school.

Name also included, but have not received any email, applied mainly for EE, should we try to contact MIT and ask whats up?

Hi, I was wondering if someone can take a look at my SOP for Ph.D. in quantum computing, I am applying to ECE, physics and computer science departments with slight variations of this statement. I would like a second opinion since the professors I asked haven't given me any comments. Comment or pm me, I'd be glad to review yours in exchange

Hi, I am interested in researching a very niche part of quantum computing which unfortunately not many professors do. I've seen many guides telling me to apply for schools where there are 2-3 Profs I want to work with in mind, but this is very difficult for me since most schools often only have 1 professor working on something close to my interest. These professors are even sometimes in odd departments where they are the only one working on quantum computing and while the majority researchers are in Physics or CS dept. I'm applying for a Ph.D. in the US for 2017 and my question is should I apply to schools and specific departments where there is only 1 person working on what I like, or should I apply to larger departments or schools who research quantum computing but their interests are less similar to mine? I feel like I could survive a 5 yr Ph.D. in other areas of quantum computing but for some reason, I feel strongly attracted to this niche area. Has anyone had a similar experience like me and ultimately went into their non-favourite research area for Ph.D.? If so how do you feel about it now? Is it possible that I get accepted by a professor who's current research interests aren't exact what I'm looking for but lets me work on a project that matches my interest? Thank you.