Ternwild

Stick to how you wrote about it in your SOP. That simple.

Not all universities have spring break at the same time (or at all). If they do, however, have it next week, you can expect that most faculty are lazier during this time, but not everyone takes time off, esp if they have deadlines or something during that week (such as grad app deadlines).

Bound and broken on the floor...

Yeah, you should definitely expect them. Aside from the Master's programs that I applied to within the last month, I'm expecting rejections from all of them, at this late in the decision process. Tally ho! Here we go!

Yep. They reuse a lot of the same questions but with the numbers changed.

Email the professor.

This is true. If your GPA is lacking a Masters is a way to prove you can do better. If GRE, then just get a job and study. If research, unless you work in a field that makes it easy to find jobs where you're doing publishable research, then researching in a Masters with a Thesis option, is a viable way to fixing that.

Yes, from undergrad to graduate, most programs err against academic incest. That does not, however, apply for Masters to PhD. I've never seen a single graduate program push their grad students away to other grad schools. That's ridiculous.

This is wrong, in my opinion. Doing a Masters in the program you hope to do a PhD in will help you and here's why: 1. Working in a masters program at the school you're hoping to get into for a PhD program will allow you to show the graduate advisors that you can succeed in graduate school and you can prove your ability to do good research and work well with existing faculty. 2. Most importantly, you can network within the university. It is easier to reject a person who is only numbers than a person who you know. Get to know professors, work within the department, make your name a common one, and network with people who are actually on the grad admissions committee. This is an advantage that other applicants simply won't have. 3. Your talking with these GAC members will allow you to get a better understanding of what is considered competitive in that program and allow you time to improve your application so that they truly want to admit you. Either way, if this is the university you really want to get a PhD at and you like the program, then this is a very appropriate way forward instead of taking a year off and studying to get your numbers higher.

No it doesn't. There's no way to of knowing what your position is, unless they specifically tell you.

*UPDATE* The Grad Cafe just pinned the original topic to the the main Applications forum. So, if you haven't taken the time to fill out the details of your deadline data for F19 or S20, please do so! Thank you!

*UPDATE* The Grad Cafe just pinned the original topic to the the main Applications forum. So, if you haven't taken the time to fill out the details of your deadline data for F19 or S20, please do so! Thank you!

@Conviction It seems like a classic case of "imposter syndrome." "Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon, impostorism, fraud syndrome or the impostor experience) is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud". Despite external evidence of their competence, those experiencing this phenomenon remain convinced that they are frauds, and do not deserve all they have achieved. Individuals with impostorism incorrectly attribute their success to luck, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent than they perceive themselves to be." Essentially, you've convinced yourself that they will catch you lying about your English capability and that you're nothing compared to your peers. The feeling of being caught as a fraud. Sounds to me like that's why you struggle to convince yourself you will do any good at this interview because you're going to be talking to "professors" who you expect will know your English strength is some sort of lie. You should really read about how to deal with imposter syndrome. I could be off base, but that is what it sounds like to me. I think the thing you need to realise is that we all suck at English. English is a hard as fuck language to master and is often ranked as one of the hardest languages to learn. I've been speaking English for over 30 years and I still fuck it up all the time. I've also been exposed to a diverse international culture most my life and the truth is: people who don't speak native English always screw up their words and phrases, literally all the time. Anyone in here that has a friend, family member, or coworker that was not born speaking English knows that they often say things in weird ways or skip articles and particles when they talk. We aren't, like many languages' native speakers can be, too often bothered by it. There are so many damn rules in English that we break them all the time. Honestly, most of us who aren't racist, self-righteous cunts often find it endearing that people from different cultures speak the language and are quite fine with their small mistakes because we are aware of how difficult it must have been to get as far as they have in language fluency, especially since, in America, most people can't speak more than one language and, if they can, it is often Latin American Spanish or whatever language their parents or family speak (run-on sentence, yay!). Even looking back at what I've written so far, I'm sure the journalists and English majors are ripping their metaphorical dicks off looking my use of grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and my flagrant over use of "literally." And, I feel I can write and speak a bit more eloquently than average (esp people on the internet). We all have a lot to learn. Hence why some people here are making a career out of and literally getting PhDs in English. The fact-of-the-matter is, everyone sucks at English. And if you're expecting your professors to expect you to speak fluent English with an American accent and everything, you are soooo very wrong.

You need to start hiring a professional resume write and applying to jobs. Save up some money and apply to more universities than one, next year. No. You don't want to pester or annoy. You may have to bite the bullet on this one and accept you're probably rejected and start working on backup plans. Hopefully this isn't your only university you applied to. If I can give advice on anything, it is what to do when rejected or when to expect rejection. Though it is not entirely uncommon for people to get late road acceptances, you still need to seriously consider what will you do if you don't.

Yeah, it doesn't really exist for Physics, either. Outside of Master's programs.

I'm gonna have to 2nd this suggestion. It is a rock solid book and helped me raise my pGRE score by 110 points.

I applied, but it seems I will not be admitted. =P

Well, I mean, you could apply for Spring admissions, surely, to gain more rapport.

Sometimes programs or universities are too small to be posted on TGC by people.

Universities aren't always ready to commit to a relationship and like to keep their options open.

Looks like someone checked their spam folder...

I was literally gonna say that to the guy from the previous one.

Yes, I would, if I were you.

Probably best to presume rejection. Check the results page and see if any acceptances have gone out.

Worth mentioning, I envy anyone who gets to attend UC Boulder.