GeorgeC07

I'm packing for my vacation back at home, and one last thing I do before I leave my office is check the emails and this forum again. I mean these really get to me now. Bah I'm gonna enjoy my vacation and leave this behind for a while.

I only use my institute's email server for the applications, and the main server already has a filter turning all looking-like-junk stuffs into spam box, so I don't bother checking that part. Yeah you should try reading something. It's been keeping my mind off those stuff for half a month now.

Uh, not the spam box because my email account only considers commercial ads as junks. But I do check my email on a hourly basis, after finding out that the remaining schools usually send out results through emails. Still early though, I anticipate the results to come around mid February.

I've read more books in the two weeks I got my kindle than last year, and now I'm wondering whether I have spent too much time reading stuffs not related to my research project.

Check this forum everyday instead of the application portals, and you'll find this to be more interesting.

I was sure like you when I received no interview invitation for a whole month. And then I received an early admission to a program whose deadline is February 1st without hearing from them except an email telling me that they have received my application. So don't panic, the good news will come.

Don't be too stressed. It's normal to wait during this month. Results from previous years really help determine the time span of when the admissions will come. For my field it's from February to April, so I don't expect any news until early February. No sweat, just enjoy the spring festival.

I've been at my current institute for two years and a half. We spent the first year at another university for classes, and then returned to the institute for research. I do have a few classmates with whom I can whine about the mess at the lab over dinner, but I don't think we are close enough to share my thoughts on private matters. We probably won't stay in touch for long after we graduate this coming June. I do have a few close friends going way back to high school and we've been helping each other with this and that over the years. One of them told me that he hopes we could meet in New York next Christmas, and we both are applying this season. I think having a friend on the same path really helps with my anxiety. Hey you know what, I've been fat since I was like 12, but that didn't stop me from making friends with those amazing guys and girls. I did wonder why my ex agreed to date me in the first place coz I was no where near looking cute or handsome, and I didn't ask her in the three years together. I guess finding someone like her would be harder than losing weight, and CHECK that's what I'm gonna do this spring.

Gee I was expecting a serious response like this. I mean I was kind of joking about my own becomings. I've always been optimistic about life, pessimistic about possible outcomes, and that's why I always hope for the best and prepare for the worst. I don't think being single bothers me, but I do wonder when my parents are gonna start to bug me because of it. I was rather lonely when I graduated from college. No friends at the new institute and no hope in finishing what the professor had planned for me. But eventually I got through it, and I guess confiding to a close friend really helps. And in recent months I discovered a new way to unload the anxiety--nothing can't be solved by some delicious foods(I try to simplify my life now).

Ah it's been so long since I submitted the application to UT, and no news at all. They have the earliest deadline and it makes me wonder how many applicants on earth they have.

@DrNuttyActually there're a few students with perfect GPAs. They even got top marks in exams that failed one third of all the students. But I'm way past the worrying-about-gpa stage, along with worrying about SOP, LOR and many other things. At this point I just let things slide. I've got tons of waiting ahead after all. Keep up with the good work and good luck.

Yeah I found the decision making process quite puzzling. My friend at MIT told me what I posted above and suggested that I not bother contacting the professors in advance. And then other phd students told me to keep on with emailing the POIs even after submitting the applications. And then I found out that one school simply let the professors make the decisions and told me if one of them offers me GRA, I would be admitted. It seems that it's not just due to different fields, even the same programs at different schools have different mechanisms. But I don't bother myself with these anymore, I'm already so anxious. BTW, do you know whether UT Austin have sent out their admissions? Then again, this question is more or less meaningless since different programs have different dates.

@nixipixiI was going to comfort you at the first sentence and then I read the words "my dear husband". Okay, besides having been single for more than three years and having no clue when I'll finish my expertise, I really have nothing to worry about. I was fretting like you, whining about the anxiety and depression until two days ago when I checked the application website and found an admission. It's not the dream school but it's satisfying enough. So, now I only have to process my own destructive feelings of being single for so long, and frankly speaking, I don't think I have the courage to make it through this problem for another three years. Hope this helps.

Don't ask anything then, just be yourself like usual. In many schools, the admission committee is made up of professor emeriti and retired tenure professors, since they know almost anything in their fields. Usually the professors who can recruit graduate students have little say in admitting which applicant, so even if you ask your POI, he or she probably can't give you any concrete response. But they know you've applied, and they know how good you are, so that's your advantage. Just be yourself, and don't appear to be pushy. It's gonna be fine if you just treat this group meeting just like previous meetings.

Thanks. Good luck with your applications!

Okay I considered Chapel Hill last year and then I found out they don't have nuclear engineering program. In case you find yourself wondering when the decisions will be made all day, you can go to the result search and see when the first round of admissions came in the previous years. I found out about one of the schools I applied near the new year's eve, and yesterday I got my first result from that same school. What I hear from my friends in the US is that many schools have started to send out the first round of admissions, so go check it out. The good news may come as a surprise.

@Brooke2016Same here, but I think it's more of a provisional thinking problem. Most of us didn't have the thought of applying to graduate schools when we were younger, but I guess few would think like this since there're so many factors and temptations working here. Now when I'm applying, I find myself competing among guys with much better GPAs, and when I was writing PS and SOPs, I kept wondering what my advantages over them were. Then I told myself what I had been telling myself since the fourth year of undergrad, "you can only seem to be effortless when you are sparing no effort". Yeah, I guess I'll try like hell in the following years.

I feel the same when I hear the new email sound alert from my phone, but it's been so often that I have become numb now.

Thanks. Good luck with yours!

Thx haha!

Thanks. I'll post my result in the result section after I see the decision letter. Good luck to you all!!!

Update I see another description on the website saying "conditionally admitted and see the decision letter for the condition". Seems I got the first admission. Haha!

I didn't hear from them after submitting the application except a notification that they have received my application. I don't think they will admit a student without an interview, or maybe there's a small chance they will. Gosh I need food, like a lot. TOT

Ahhhhhhhh the status on UTK has changed to decision made and the decision letter will be available in three days. I have a strange feeling that this is not good news. Gee I'm more anxious than before now.

Nah I just get my hands glued to my kindle. But I can almost feel that something's coming soon, just don't know how much longer I have to wait.