It_Must_Be_Abstract

n00b question: how is everyone inferring these "implied rejections"? Is it that when you see others have been accepted to/waitlisted by a school, and you have heard nothing from that school, you can therefore assume that you are most likely on their reject list? Or some other method still mysterious to me? Glancing at threads, I see the topic of how/why/when to predict outcomes has been belabored extensively. But I'm missing something here with the implied rejects and, like everyone else, I'm trying to make sure I have the unquestionably valid, exact right amount of hope–no more, no less. P.S. congrats to all accepted.

Thanks for your inputs. Crow: You mention not wanting to impose... Yes, similar anxieties inhibited me in emailing faculty directly. But I certainly researched publications by faculty at all schools to which I applied and made my best effort to draw connections between my proposed work and faculty specialty in the SOP. Based on how it sounds, I suppose it's safe to say that this is the more important job than reaching out to faculty directly by email. I'm sure that's a useful tip about using the SOP to "show...what you can do for the department." This is a piece of advice you see on PhD program websites from time to time, particularly those which are more detailed on their expectations for the SOP. But it's another tactic I somewhat shied away from for fear of sounding arrogant in the statement.

Excuse me if this question has been covered in other threads (I'm new to the GC). But reading your post here, @Isocrates2.o, I'm wondering what people think about this: should emailing faculty at the PhD programs to which one is applying be treated as a necessary step in the application process? Sincerely, Someone who didn't email any faculty