foxfire123

Thank you so much!!! I've actually been to LA a couple of times, but definitely not to an extent where I know the different neighborhoods. I've heard of Culver City, but Palms and Mar Vista are great to add to my list! I just did a quick search, and it's nice to know that the rent is relatively affordable compared to the rest of LA. Also, super happy to hear I CAN still do LA without a car. I'll obviously consider getting at least a used one if I feel like I need it, but I just needed some time to feel out living there for myself. Have you heard from other students about 1) how long it takes to commute to school by public transportation from the areas you mentioned, and 2) how they like the single graduate housing? Or maybe someone else can answer that? (Also your username looked SUPER familiar, and I realized it's because I saw you on the sociology forum last cycle! Glad you had good news and were able to begin right away, despite the pandemic.)

Hi everyone! I'm reviving this post because I need some help gauging what living in LA will be like. I've been accepted (and really want to accept) a PhD program at UCLA, and I'm trying to figure out what my funding offer needs to be in order for me to bite the bullet and go. What is the rent like these days? Would it be possible to find a studio for ~$1300/month? I'm willing to commute! On that note, what are some good areas to live in order to commute by public transportation to UCLA? I maaaay end up getting a car, but I'm an international student, so that is not going to be my priority for at least a year or two. When should I get myself to LA in order to secure a satisfactory place? The school year starts in mid/late September, but I worry that everything "affordable" (by LA standards, lol) and of decent quality will be taken by August. I'd appreciate any kind of input!

Wow, for a PhD program? That's a very delayed timeline. I would email the administrative staff there and ask if all the acceptance letters have been sent out.

Yeeeeeah, I realized quite a few schools do the "rolling rejections" method, and I don't think I'll ever really understand the purpose. I wonder if it's like a game of cards, where they keep their best cards (would that be the waitlist?) until the last possible minute ? Anyways, best of luck to you!

I just got mine! No luck at Irvine, as expected, and totally fine with the result. Glad to be done with this year's cycle!!! I hope you hear soon too

:( I'm sorry to hear that. You've been here since the beginning of this thread, and I was hoping that we'd all receive good news. I'm sure you'll have better results next cycle, if you decide to apply again. I checked my UCI portal after I read your post since I did not receive an interview either, but no news... There was another rejection posted on the results page from this week, but still nothing. Maybe they just totally forgot about my application, haha.

Wow, lots of emotion and positive support on this thread! I’m in the same boat of waiting, but I just wanted to add that, even for Ph.D. programs without interviews, many professors who have been in touch with applicants will opt to communicate the good news to the accepted ones personally. This can also come from the director of graduate studies or of that particular department, and will usually be a few days earlier than the official portal notification. In case you weren’t familiar, that’s what most people mean when they say “informal/unofficial acceptance.” I don’t know exactly how “unofficial” Stanford’s communication is, but this kind of “professors first, portal later” notification is on brand for many other doctoral programs as well. Y’all probably know that already, though. I just wanted to add it just in case some didn’t (and for future applicants, too). I had to learn a lot of this procedural stuff last year by digging through years worth of posts on GradCafe when I applied for doctoral programs the first time. What I also understand and have personally experienced is that Stanford is quite consistent about its “around Valentine’s Day” notification timeline. We’ll all know soon enough. Good luck, everyone!

I think I already replied to you on the general 2021 application thread, but I received an email in like late January-ish that I believed was sent to all HEOC applicants. It said that faculty was currently reviewing the applications and that their goal was to have decisions out by early February. I also wrote on that thread somewhere that I confirmed with staff about HEOC not doing any interviews.

Yes! But only very briefly before application because I made the final decision to reapply after election results (I'm an international student, so it mattered haha). He actually replied within a matter of days and asked me to send him a reminder in late January, which I did. I also emailed a very nice staff member a few times for questions regarding my TOEFL waiver. If you applied to HEOC, you should have received an email from her confirming that the decisions will be released by early February. And speaking of UCLA, to anyone who was curious, they have one of the most transparent and open search systems for admission data. https://grad.ucla.edu/graduate-program-statistics/admissions/?t=Annualsnapshot&p=Education If you go here, you can look up the admissions data for whichever cycle (up to Fall 2019) and for whichever program with pretty tailored specifications. For example: Or don't look it up, if these kind of numbers don't actually help you feel better. I like having any kind of information, personally, so it helped.

Ope, I guess CU Boulder has sent out their rejections because I definitely received one haha. On with the next results! (I'm making it a point to share this here at the risk of it being TMI because I think it's super important to normalize failure. Ph.D. applications are really challenging, even during non-pandemic years. GradCafe has been a very helpful place to me, but I do think it tends to welcome posts from stellar candidates with multiple success stories, which, if you are like me, can make you feel extra anxious and intimidated.)

I wrote them, too! I wrote back within 48 hours to just officially thank them for their time. I thought it would be more timely this way, but I get your worries about coming across “pushy.” I guess I did it early because it was a thank you note and not anything to do with my enthusiasm for the program. You’re so nice! It was not me, haha. I actually didn’t even get an interview from Irvine (or any replies back from my PI back in November). Thanks for thinking of me, though

I mean, I’ve been recommended both cycles to submit 10+ applications but never followed the advice. I considered it for a while this year but ultimately decided not to and finished with eight applications. I think “the right number” depends most on your situation! Applications take so much time, energy, and money, so you have to take all of those into consideration. For me, because I have a full-time job and started my applications quite late this cycle, I thought spreading my eggs across 10+ baskets would hurt me more than submitting eight that I could feel more confident about. I feel the panic more now, too, since I have fewer cards in the game. But I’m trying to remind myself that it was a deliberate choice that I knew was right for me at the time. The other upside is that when (not if) you get your good news, it’ll up your success rate by a lot!!!

Well, master's programs tend to have pretty high acceptance rates. Not that this downplays any of your qualifications or accomplishments, but it's because they don't require too much commitment on the school's behalf to fund the candidates. Most people are willing to take out loans for a master's degree -- especially at a school like Harvard with high name value -- because they see it as an investment to advance in their careers. The US News data (so take it with a grain of salt) says that the master's acceptance rate for HGSE is 53.6%. They have Penn GSE at 64.3%, and Stanford at around 29%, so it does tend to be much higher than the PhD acceptance rates at these schools.

Same here. They do have a “final” deadline in February, so maybe there is still a chance! If not, I am sure you will hear good news from your other choices I’ve already had a cycle where I didn’t get in anywhere, and last year, I struggled with not taking the rejections personally and the lack of feedback (as in, not knowing where I “went wrong”). But this year, I’m trying to be more objective. I put a lot of work into my application, so maybe they just saw something that let them think I would thrive elsewhere. There is a lot that we don’t know, like how COVID has affected their funding situation, which faculty are planning to accept students, and how the faculty’s research interests have changed since writing their bio. This is all to say, I hope you are not down for long! Like I said, we’ll hear back from somewhere (maybe even Irvine!). I really believe we’ll end up where we’re supposed to.

So I've been just trying to organize the information that's been posted on the Results page in the recent weeks as we ready our minds for the flurry of notifications that are to come. It's too difficult to break everything down by program, so I just created a list based on my personal interests or what I was seeing most often. If you find this helpful, please feel free to add on with any other information you may know + your program of choice! Corrections are also welcome Current status as of 1/26: CU Boulder (Ph.D. in LSHD) - Recent result indicates that POI has sent invite for panel interview and Finalists Weekend (Guessing this means interviews are required) NYU Steinhardt (Ph.D. in Too many tracks) - According to website, interview requirements seem to differ by program / A couple of interview invites on the results page, and final results seem to come around late February ~ early March Ohio State (Ph.D. in FSML) - Acceptances seem to have gone out; don't know if it's sent in rounds Stanford GSE (Ph.D. in Too many tracks) - Website indicates there is no formal interview process and that they may be conducted on a faculty-by-faculty basis / A couple of people have posted about interviews, and results page consistently shows Stanford releasing most decisions by mid-February (around Valentine's Day) UC Irvine (Ph.D in Education) - Website indicates interviews are required / Results page indicates interview invites have been sent out and a few informal acceptances have been made UC Los Angeles (Ph.D. in HEOC) - Email from staff that HEOC does not conduct interviews and that results will be available by early February UC San Diego (Ph.D in Education) - Interviews are required / Email has been sent out to shortlisted candidates that program hopes to finish interviews by 2/2 UMich, Ann Arbor (Ph.D. in Higher Education) - Interviews are required / Email has been sent out to shortlisted candidates U of Minnesota (Ph.D in Second Language Education) - Rejections seem to have been sent out U of Minnesota (Ph.D in CIDE) - Acceptances seem to have been sent out; don't know if it's sent in rounds USC Rossier (Ph.D in Urban Education Policy) - Website indicates interviews are required for semi-finalists and continue throughout January / Results page shows a few interview invites; website timeline says decisions will be out by early February Vanderbilt Peabody (Ph.D. in Special Education) - Rejections seem to have gone out

Yeah, I think there have been a couple of interview notices since mid-January. On the GSE website, it states that they don’t have a formal interview process or requirement, and that faculty can choose to do so on a case-by-case basis. Stanford has always been timely with their responses (right around Valentine’s Day), so I’m sure we’ll hear back around that time this year, too, even if our application status isn’t updated.

No!!! I think you can still have some hope for Irvine because of their “rolling admissions”-type process. Maybe whomever is reading your application hasn’t gotten to yours yet. And like I said, maybe Irvine actually updates their platform with different statuses. I’ve just been in this decision limbo stage before, so I’ve decided to opt for the assume-the-worst-and-be-pleasantly-surprised-later approach. Stay strong!!!

Well, for UCLA, the email that was sent to HEOC applicants explained that they don’t update their status on the application platform — meaning it will stay as “submitted.” When I applied last cycle, I never had status updates either until the decision. What I mean to say is that I think the option may be available to schools, but whether they use it or not depends on the program. Personally, I’m just readying myself for the rejections from USC and Irvine. Those two schools specify on their sites that they require interviews, and several people have now posted they received invites. I even saw a couple acceptance results (probably informal) from Irvine. One good thing about doing this for the second time is that I am very used to rejections, I guess ?

Ope, I see someone posted about an interview invite from NYU Steinhardt. A couple from Irvine, Stanford, and UMich Ann Arbor this past week, too. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here like Bernie at the inauguration staring at my cold and empty inbox haha ??‍♀️ On the flip side, I confirmed with UCLA that the HEOC program doesn’t conduct interviews. They were also nice enough to send out an email to all applicants saying that decisions will be ready by early February. Hopefully, we’ll be out of the dark soon, since it’s actually late January now and February soon! We’re almost to the end of waiting, everyone!!

That.... is very vague hahaha. I know people are feeling nervous about Irvine, myself included. I was re-organizing the table I made for this application cycle, and when I looked back at past results for UCI, I realized that there were always waaaay more interview invites by now -- perhaps all. It could be that GradCafe is a total ghost town this year, but I think it's more likely that everything has been delayed a couple of weeks due to COVID. In-person visitation weeks, which usually take place during the first couple weeks of March, are essentially impossible this year, so I wonder if that has an effect. I also saw a recent AMA on r/gradadmissions by an authenticated admissions director, and they said that, although Ph.D. admissions are a time-sensitive issue, once it's at the faculty review stage (i.e. your POI), there is most definitely a difference in processing pace because it's up to that professor. I mean it's one person on Reddit, so take it with a grain of salt, but it helped me feel a little better! :) On the other hand, I've heard nothing from NYU Steinhardt or CU Boulder either. Wondering if it's been similar for other people?

I just re-read my reply to yours, and I think I phrased it in a confusing way! I spoke with staff members and faculty from different schools (including two that were UC's, one being UCLA). I actually received no reply from UC Irvine, staff or faculty... I meant that the non-Irvine people seemed to think there would be a delay, so I thought it could be applied to other schools as well. I'm sorry if this causes any disappointment. But yes yes yes, best of luck to you and all of us UC folks

SAME. Once the initial offer is posted, I feel the window slowly closing for me to get mine. For UCI, though, their "priority" deadline full funding consideration is December 1, and the final deadline is February 1. I'm sure they're going through the priority applications now. I spoke with a few staff and faculty during the application process, and they all seemed to agree that the pandemic may delay the application review process since it's the first time they've had to do a bulk of it online. Also, winter and spring terms either just began or are about to begin, and there's general political unrest on top of everything. It's helped my anxiety to know that professors probably have more pressing priorities at the moment.

I'd also like to know if they're in here. GradCafe is such a ghost town this year. I'm seeing posts slooooowly appear, but nowhere near what past years have been like. Most of the schools I've applied to should have started sending out interview invites. I'm wondering if it's because there are actually fewer applicants who use GradCafe this cycle (i.e. I just didn't get an invite) or because COVID is slowing down the admissions cycle. Either way, the January anxiety is all too familiar and still unwelcome!

I was wondering how you found that out, as I applied to the Johns Hopkins PhD program; were they just taking applications with no intent to admit anyone? I read it on a master list on the “gradadmissions” subreddit. I guess I didn’t read the list carefully because I wasn’t applying to JHU, but it seems from here that it’s a lot of master’s programs and grad certification programs: https://education.jhu.edu/academics/academic-catalog/suspended-programs/ Sorry for the panic I may have caused you! Definitely didn’t mean to do that to a fellow applicant Happy new year though!!

Oh god. I was saving The Queen's Gambit for post-app season, but I blew through in like two days. So you and I are in the same boat. I had a whole bunch of books I also wanted to read, but after having read like 50+ papers from different professors, my brain requires less stimulation for at least the holiday season ? A few. But when I reached out to the staff members asking for email protocols for their schools, some specified that it was not necessary/advantageous to find a faculty sponsor because the admissions team is responsible for the preliminary matching. I took this to mean that the professors wouldn't reply even if I emailed them. I reached out to one professor per program for schools that either explicitly or implicitly encouraged communication with POI but did not hear back from all of them. I had an informal Zoom call with one professor, but they are just very generous with their time and do that for every potential candidate. From my understanding, it's a professor-by-professor situation in most scenarios, so I'm trying not to be too discouraged if I didn't hear back. In fact, that made me want to ask, has anyone been in contact with POI from either USC or UC Irvine? I've looked through previous years' posts, too, but the information isn't as abundant for the education forum