Bayesian1701

How long ago did decisions start coming out? You could be somewhere on an unofficial waitlist or a borderline case. If it’s only been a few days wait it out. My waitlist notification came two weeks after the first acceptance and one week after the first rejection so it can definitely take time. I debated back and forth about emailing but I decided that I was going to wait until after their visit weekend to contact. Maybe start a draft of an email to the professor sleep on it for a few days and then send it. I had to clear my browser’s cache to get a decision to show up on a portal so that might be something you can try if you haven’t already.

Waitlist advice threads:

I am a domestic student and the odds work out a little differently. I don’t know why it matters though. It’s still pretty high but not as high as for domestics. I think maybe because they use the interview as an English screener for international students, but that is just a theory. I don’t think it is independent so that might changes how the numbers work if 15% of domestics don’t aren’t waitlists and you look at the general case of shortlist and admitted. It’s still pretty high.

Assuming that Duke admitted for their goal class size of 12, and that 15% of domestic students roughly made the short list for the past three years then there were 35 domestic shortlisted students and 27 of them were offered admission based on their official statistics. That is approximately 77%. However range is probably something more like (60-90%). I am not super confident in that estimate but I taking that as it’s definitely worth the wait. Edit: I guess I can come up with something a little bit better. I’ll think about it.

It depends. My estimates for Duke are about 77% of receiving an offer for domestic students assuming they only sent out offers for a full cohort and they typically only admit/waitlist the short list. It’s worth waiting it out until you know all your decisions and get it down to UMich and somewhere else you have been admitted to. Unless you are already admitted with funding somewhere else you like more it’s perfectly fine to wait it out. I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up admitting double their class which seems to be typical. As long as they only sent out as many offers in the first round as they have spots you should be in good shape. The only reason I think you should decline a waitlist is that you know you would rather go somewhere else.

Got a Duke response finally. I am waitlisted. I am going to go on visits and then start withdrawing until I have 1-2 programs left and wait until a get a response for Duke and NSF GRFP before committing. So I am in a similar boat as you @BStat.

It ended up being a mistake. It had the wrong number of people. It just seemed odd and like it would be a weird thing especially since you don't know the people. I actually am getting my own room which I think confirms my fear of being the only woman admitted so far.

Basically. I think all they really do is check that GPAs, GREs, and TOEFL meet requirements and perhaps that documents aren’t forged.

So I got my hotel confirmation for my upcoming visit. It is for a six person cohort program and my room has four people in it. I am a woman, and statistics is probably about 40% female. It would be incredibly unlikely that there are four women in my cohort. This implies that it more likely that this is either a mistake or that I will be sharing a room with three men that I have never met before which I something that would me very uncomfortable. No program would do that right? It sounds like a huge liability issue and an overall bad idea. I want to clarify but I don’t know how to ask about this. Sharing a room with other women would not bother me, but this does. I am a cisgender woman with a feminine name so I don’t think I was misgendered. Thoughts?

Mine is similar. Did you get any emails from mathprograms@ams.org? I got one for each rec letter and one saying my application was submitted, and one for updates. You don't get a portal or anything until after you get accepted and you formally apply to the program. I got an email one day saying I was accepted and that was it. They do rolling reviews so you aren't out yet.

So who else is struggling with impostor syndrome in making their decision? I know that the adcoms must have thought I could succeed in the program, but I feel like they don't realize that I am not actually as great as they think I am and will fail quals and have to leave. I literally only applied to a certain program because it had a free application so why not? It was a total impulse decision. And then I got in and realized that they are tied for #10 in my field. It's not that I don't want to go there, but I seriously doubted that I would ever get in. Am I at 21 years old ready to start a top ten PhD program? I thought I would be limited to second-tier programs and now that I have gotten in places across the spectrum I have no idea where I want to go. I know many people would love to have 4 funded offers at great programs but it kinda sucks. I envy those who get a single offer. I know I should pick the better programs if I want a TT job at a great statistics department, but I don't know if that's what I want. Should I go to the place where I know I'll graduate and be successful and may not have the opportunities I would have elsewhere? And I haven't heard from my first choice yet, and considering my success so far I think I will get in (it's nowhere near as competitive as some of my other programs), but you never know. I just felt like I belonged there. The base stipend is best, the completion rate is the best, the male/female ratio domestic/international ratio is good, the professors are great, the structure is great. It's perfect for me, but I haven't been accepted yet. I thought my stress levels would be better once I got my first offer, but it has gotten worse.

First good stats one of the year coming from a Harvard PhD rejection: "As a patriots fan, New England really hasn't come through for me this past week."

I had a phone ”interview” but that was mentioned in my email. It wasn't a real interview it was more like a recruitment call. The only question they asked me (besides do you have any questions) was more about the details of my research.

Not a biostat applicant and I can't tell you if it is normal, but that seems like a good sign. I checked results and it seems early for them for MS. Email back send some questions, say you are interested (if you are) and see what happens. I wouldn't call it an unofficial acceptance or an interview but it seems you likely made some version of a shortlist. I don’t think they would contact you and say those things unless they actually liked your application and that you have a better chance of getting in at this point than the average applicant. You could still get rejected but it is looking good for you right now. I got a similar email from the Virginia Tech Statistics PhD program and it turned into an official acceptance two days later. That may not happen for you but I would intercept it as it is more likely than not that you get in somewhere.

Same. I really wanted just one. I know with a high degree of certainity what I want to do my dissertation on so I basically said that in my SOP whether they had someone doing that or not (most don’t). I figured this way it would make my decision easier and I would get to spend another four years on the problem. It's my niche and I am lucky to have found it so young. I have five acceptances so far and I am wondering if they actually do support me continuing my research. I guess I'll find out on visits. One program commented that I should go there because they would let me continue it so hopefully it will work out. I tried to make a ranking system but I think I might go on a gut feeling based on visits.

I finished writing after E-P and fuzzy posted but I basically concur. Did they offer you a multiyear funding package or just a year? If there is some uncertainty about future funding and the funding is insufficient to the point where you would have to take on debt to survive and you have other options with better funding especially if they are of similar quality I could understand why you would decline UIUC. I wouldn't rule it out completely yet personally but I definitely am considering funding as a factor in my decision. But if you have a better offer at a similarly prestigious program that would be enough for me to rule it out.

This forum for people applying to graduate school in mathematics or statistics. But to answer your question there is no one right way to compare different models. All of those measures have different pros and cons and it depends on what you are looking for. No one can really answer your question here. If you are a student see if there is a statistical consulting center on your campus to help with these kinds of problems.

I think CMU and Washington s the there acceptances and CMU started sending out the waitlist. It's possible they just didn't finish. The rest may come out on Monday or Tuesday. Maybe what's left is the borderline cases and rejections they didn't have time to process. I have no idea how hard it is to send rejections. It could be accept these people, waitlist these people and reject the rest but if it has to be done individually it could take a while to reject a couple hundred people. I am really surprised that there aren't a lot of Duke rejections yet. I might email them this week to see if I am waitlisted or rejected. Hopefully I’ll hear from Baylor soon. I also wanted to share visit weekend dates: UT Austin 2/22-24 Missouri - 3/4-6 V Tech - 3/21-23 OR 3/28-30 TAMU - Early March Kansas State - nothing planned

Some questions I have been asked for other interviews are: Why do you want a PhD (MS) in (bio)statistics? What are your research interests? Do you have any faculty members you are interested in working with? What are your career goals? Why UIUC(this program)? Questions about my research experience (what exactly did I do, do I want to continue it) Questions about my academic preparation (classes I have taken, how has it prepared me)

I created a decision version here. Good luck to those still waiting.

This is the decisions edition of "Let's just TALK about it...". This is the place to talk about your feelings about your decision. This way we can talk about our feelings about how to choose a program while respecting those still waiting.

I am also an applicant in this cycle, but I think the advisor is a huge factor in the decision especially if you are going to be funded as an RA. If the advisor at B has a good placement history than that may mean that you may be just as successful at getting a job at B than you might at A with a new advisor. If you're happy with almost everything at B besides the ranking but you only like A because it's prestigious maybe you should go to B. Ask your LOR writers what they think as well.

Mine says completed. Did you get a receipt email?

Try http://www.mathematicsgre.com. This is more of a stats-oriented forum.

@ileeminati I would wait it out for a few months. People are likely to wait to decline until they visit so you might hear something a few weeks after their visit weekend. Do you have any other offers yet?