ThisIsCruel

Fellow Washingtonian here! I definitely think strong GRE scores (especially for a PhD program) will help out your lower GPA. Just put everything you have out there!

What do you mean, they're no longer reachable due to job changes? Unless they also went into witness protection, I'm pretty sure it's possible for you to find out where they work now (e.g. by asking the department secretary or simply googling their names) and reaching out to them via their new email.

If you can't provide rec letters, you won't be admitted. I would contact those with jobs in different states and ask them if they're willing to write. Academics change jobs and everyone knows that you'll be writing letters for t hose from your last school while at your new one.

You're definitely overthinking this. There's no reason whatsoever to reply to the Associate Dean or even the other senior professors. You don't need to thank them for your admission. If you have questions, send those to the PhD coordinator or your supervisor.

Personally, it wasn't things I asked or did, it was how I felt or things I observed. At one, the current students spent the first night dinner complaining about the commute, the free shuttle, the crowded gym, etc. Didn't get happy vibes from them. At another, I just felt like the current students weren't really my crowd, neither were the people in the recruitment class. I didn't feel like I would fit in. Only question I asked at one place that turned me off was whether or not they had outreach programs. The director of the program literally asked why I cared.....

Of all my interviews, there were 2 I was most excited about and 2 I was least excited about (and considered canceling). Those opinions flipped entirely after my visits. Bottom 2 became top 2 and vice versa.
It was vibes. 

So me.  I am still waiting for my first choice and it is awful.  I was told that I should hear in early February but now it’s early March.  I just want to know regardless of the outcome.  

I was accepted and now I'm terrified about the funding I may or may not receive 

This actually helped me so much. thank you.

Another Update: 
Program: School Counseling
Schools: Gonzaga University, WWU, EWU
Status: Accepted (2/3) Rejected (0/3) Interview (1/3)
Hope everyone is doing well!! We got this!

Suffering together!
Program: School Counseling
Schools: Colorado State, University of Colorado at Denver, University of Arizona, Penn State, Northwestern (counseling)
Accepted: (0/5)
Rejected: (1/5)
Interviews: (2/5)
Waiting: (0/5)

Got accepted to Gonzaga !!!

Awwww :/ try not to get discouraged. People have described the game of admissions to practically be a crap shoot, meaning you could apply with the same credentials and get in easily next yr and wonder why the previous year was SUCH a hassle. Also, I’ve noticed this with myself, all the schools I thought would be easy to get into, I spent MUCH less on the application and ended up getting rejected, as well. I even asked one of the “easier” programs to get into why I was rejected and they told me it was JUST my personal statement. Looking back I realized I assumed they would just let me bc of my qualifications and literally forgot to put enough effort into the full application. Of course this may not be your own issue but next time around (if you have to reapply, which happens) broaden your scope of schools and areas you’re willing to study in. It can help with the admissions process (it’s helped for me at least getting onto waiting lists and not flat out rejected).
I’ve said too much. Lol 

I am about to write an email declining a top university Fellowship with a 31k stipend with a super nice professor that had aggressively recruiting me. I might die inside a bit but I made a decision to go elsewhere. Definitely not an easy task. 

I declined my first offer today.  It was harder than I expected.  I felt bad but it is not like I can attend multiple programs. 

@Bayesian1701 45 days?!?  I am still waiting to hear back from 4 schools... How am I supposed to start really making a decision with so many unknowns still?? This process has been SO much harder than I'd imagined. 

Common ad comm!! Do they even exist? You sure they're not unicorns? 1a/3r/8p......... EIGHT PENDING. Better start hearing SOMETHING, now that we are going into March! Nice to see that I'm not the only one going crazy! I second every single one of ya'll in this thread. Stay strong guys... the day shall come... All is well HAHA

Hello:
I'm usually a silent reader, but I've found that discover gradcafe has helped immensely with the anxiety of waiting to hear back from schools. I applied to Rutgers, NYU, Columbia, and USC. I want to get my PhD in Social Welfare and my research interest is Intimate Partner Violence and homelessness as it pertains to women of color. I have never worked this hard in my life for anything, truly I have invested years in this work, and it is only in the past two years that I've realized how much more impactful I could be to serving this community by investing in research that could potentially change how we are addressing trauma in shelter settings, and looking at more holistic ways of healing in order to fully address the impact of IPV. It's literally the only thing I think about. Anyways, I'm babbling. I'm supposed to hear back from USC in the next few days. It has been extremely difficult being patient and waiting, and my friends are definitely tired of hearing me talk about this. Thanks for giving me space. 

!!!! I was just accepted to a great MA program. They have a great renaissance lit program and I’m so excited! I’m sorry if i seemed a bit melodramatic before but this has honestly been such a long process. I initially applied to 6 MA programs and 4 PhD, each with lots of hope/consideration. I also have two more apps still pending but it feels so good to finally hear a yes! Especially one that’s funded. And from a phone call of all things. 
Thanks again everyone for being so supportive. I will probably seek professional help in the upcoming months and  I really appreciate everyone here.

I really want to thank everyone for their kind comments. This process has been a very long and arduous one but this thread has really helped. Its actually given me strength to look into internships and I've started on a few applications for those as well. If I get into a program I will definitely update. But I feel a lot more hopeful about what will happen in the future

Omg...after getting nothing last year, the fact that I get to post in this thread is EVERYTHING.
I was  going into my POI's office for the second time that day at the end of 8hrs of interviewing with a different prof every half-hour, so I was beat and just thinking that this was the culmination big interview/maybe decompression debrief? Nope. I come in and the grad adviser is sitting there with my POI with a manila folder on the table between them. I sit down, we do debrief a bit, and then grad adviser opens the manila folder saying, "We were really impressed by you and we'd be really happy to have you here. You're the first person we've accepted this year, and we're doing so ahead of hearing back from the grad office, so we apologize for the low funding offer. It will go up. Do you have any questions?". 
Yeah, no, I had no questions. I had tears. And a voice squeaking up 18 octaves while I tried to thank them. They laughed, so that's good. They know I'm a hot mess right out the gate. Good they know before they get false expectations. 
 
(NB: that first funding offer was NOT low, still way more than I'm making now, and it has since gone up 1.5x thanks to a merit fellowship so that's...something...omg) (found out about that today while at work and cried in my office right before a meeting with my boss...good times)

Like many people, I was just sitting at work, obsessively checking my email when a notice to check a portal came through. I could hardly contain myself. I practically ran out of the office to find a private place to call my husband and my dad. My husband works for the government and was onsite at the time, so I couldn't get through to him. I called my dad, and realized I was like yelling into the phone, haha. I had to make myself quiet down.
Then, as stupid as it might sound, I went to the bathroom and sat in a stall and cried. I cried for like fifteen minutes, and I "talked" to my mom, who passed away in 2015. Just said how grateful I was and how much I wished she was here to tell. When I went back to my desk, I realized there was another page to the offer letter, and it was a decision for some funding. I was so happy and surprised.
I feel immense relief to know this is actually happening. Good luck to everyone out there! Keep faith. <3

Same, some of the creative writing MFA responses are great.
I saw this one from last year, though it's actually an applicant rejecting the school:
City University Of New York (CUNY Hunter) Creative Writing (Fiction MFA)  Accepted     after one of the strangest conversations of my life, I declined.
I am so curious... 
Also, I had to laugh because the Hunter MFA admissions page is quite possibly the most pretentious thing I have ever read in my life. 

Saw this one and LOL'd.
"
i guess my docs in all emojis were tooooo experimental

It's fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine.