LifeGoesOn

Accepted: Caltech, CMU Rejected: MIT I think I'll choose Caltech (California weather!!!) but in the next days I'll be visiting CMU so they could make me change idea.

Hi all! I have been accepted at Caltech. So the wait is over. For those who weren't accepted there: it's a very very small place, so you must be both good and have a lot of luck to find an advisor with similar interests! they told me that receive loads of extremely good applications, so, in their case, the usual rejection letter burb "... we had to reject many qualified applicants ..." is actually true. This "support" group was very helpful during the wait :-) Good luck to everybody!

Oh, I didn't notice you were applying for CS.

After a year of being in the application process (in a few days it will be my TOEFL anniversary :wink: ), there's one thing that I still don't understand. I see that people frequently post their stats, but nobody writes their age. Why? Don't you think that age is significant? If I finish my Master's at 27 or at 22 there's surely a difference. From what I understand, in the US it's a don't-ask/don't-tell thing, as nobody writes the age in CVs. But, if I remember well, all the graduate applications required that I wrote my birth date, so it's surely something they take into account.

For the top schools a published paper is worth 10e7 subject tests. The subject tests just shows that you can do homework. The only case for which it might be useful is when you went to a very very obscure university.

Wait -- are PhD students supposed to exit the lab sometimes?

They emailed me for scheduling a phone interview.

I agree...

me too.

What program are you waiting for, at Caltech? I applied to Control and Dynamical Systems. I haven't heard anything yet. I guess that if they had been interested, they would have contacted me by this time.

Not yet (but I'm not in the US, so I guess it's 5-7 business days for non-priority mail).

My admission to CMU arrived via UPS "express envelope".

I wonder why they don't send also rejections via email.

I really do hope you have inside sources at MIT that told you that. :? I think I have the average "qualifications" (pubs/recs/experience etc) for MIT, but unfortunately, I had the following disadvantages: 1) no outside funding 2) non-american, male, white (cuts 95% of possible fellowships) 3) did not have contacts with faculty before 4) possibly screwed up my SoP But it was surely worth a shot (and $80).

Ok, so this is the REAL REAL last day. We should see some rejections today, too.