@ray92 I think there are a lot of silent waitlists going on. I just emailed a POI at GATech, and heard back that I'm on a short waitlist. Of course, that's unofficial, but it could be what's happening to a lot of people. Until I emailed, it had been radio silence from the program.
I like to think of admissions as an optimization problem. Due to the explosion of applicants to CS programs, it is a non-trivial problem to optimize admissions results, such that schools get the top applicants they are capable of attracting. As the competition grows, students rightfully fear rejection, thus apply to more schools. The stronger applicants are likely accepted to many programs, essentially holding those spots hostage as they decide. Many wait until campus visit day before accepting an offer, which is often a month or more after initial acceptances are sent out. This is exacerbated by large numbers of applicants, e.g. just got back from UMass Amherst where they stated they received 2500 applicants for grad school this year.
Considering these are CS schools we are talking about, hopefully they can figure out a better algorithm for acceptance/rejection that is more optimal. That will realistically only happen if it effects the quality of applicants accepted to their programs.
Stanford University
Symbolic Systems, Masters (F18)
Rejected via E-mail on 16 Mar 2018
I
17 Mar 2018
The universities must have a competition between them on whose rejection emails are more generic.
Dear (insert name),
We have chosen not to offer you admission t (insert school name). This year had a record number of talented applicants...
"I have no f***ing idea why they rejected me. Top school in India, 4.0 GPA, 2 internships in USA and Germany, 2 years of UG research, 3 very strong recommendations, ToEFL 119. This was my safety school."
russia.on.ice reacted to spamhaus in Fall 2018 Admission