lkaitlyn

Nice! I'm also applying to a mix of different program types. Fingers crossed for you.

I heard from the U of Arizona grad director via email this morning saying I was recommended for admission. Specific funding is not determined yet. It's unclear if they've made all decisions or not, and my portal still has no status update. I hope that helps. My focus is on sexuality, race, law, and history.

Yep, this week should be Cornell, NYU, Michigan, Stanford, Harvard acceptances ... eek. Sending everyone good vibes as well! And let's remember that whatever happens, it doesn't define our worth. ♥️

Fingers crossed for you! It seems like there are a lot less for some schools in general — Berkeley there were only 3 acceptances posted (?!). I don't know if it's the site glitches, programs admitting fewer, acceptances coming out in waves (not for Berkeley, obv), or something else.

I did not apply to USC but did some digging through the Results board. Historically they have sent out acceptances around the 25th of January and rejections near the end of February, with some people hearing nothing until April (which I guess is their version of a waitlist). Not sure if it will be the same this year, but that's what has happened historically.

Personally I disagree with the last piece. If you know this isn't even in your top 2-3 of programs you were admitted to, you should let the spot go sooner rather than later. Someone on the waitlist may even be admitted soon enough to be able to attend the visit. It's your call, but that's my two cents. (This changes if you're only able to attend a single visit; then maybe keep the school in the running. But if you're going 2-3 other places, keeping this seems excessive. You can only enroll in one.)

Well that's a good situation to be in! Too many acceptances is never a bad thing. Totally your call. I would say that if you don't go, you should turn down the school entirely (and ASAP) because you shouldn't go to a school you don't visit but visit others, and maybe they could extend the offer to someone else before visit day if you did it sooner rather than later. If you can make it work, though, and the schools are reimbursing you for travel, it might be worth it to check it out if it's still in the running at all. A lot of people in past years have talked about switching their decisions after visits, and this is the next 6-7 years of your life. If you do message the school, I'd write something like "Thank you for considering me for your PhD program and inviting me to your Open House. In the past [insert time since you RSVP'ed], I received a few acceptances I didn't expect from [actually name the couple other schools, IMO], and after thinking about my options, I realized that these other programs make the most sense for my needs and goals. I therefore wanted to make sure I informed you I would be declining my spot in your program immediately so you can perhaps extend your generous invitation to another applicant. I apologize for any inconvenience, and again, thank you so much for the opportunity to learn more about your program."

Hang in there. I remember your post from the Am I Competitive thread and you looked like a great applicant. If you stuck with that list of schools, they're all super difficult to get into and admissions to them is very arbitrary at a certain point, so I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. Worst case scenario you come back and rock the app cycle next year, maybe with a couple schools that are slightly easier to get into so there's more diversity. But you're certainly qualified for the schools you applied to and I wouldn't be surprised if one or more pulls through for you. (And waitlists are very much living things!)

I just asked the schools to rule out the overlap. Sorry! You should try calling if you want specific dates, though since they’re all probably releasing next week, I’d wait if I were you.

I anonymously called my remaining schools to confirm no overlaps and nothing conflicted. The programs seemed happy to help out when I explained why I was calling. I can confirm UCI does not conflict with UMich, Cornell, Stanford, or Northwestern.

Michigan is releasing next week we think, UCI deadline for recruitment weekend RSVP is tomorrow so they’ve made their first round of acceptances, some people got into Columbia today, some have heard from UCLA as posters above commented, and no one has talked about Harvard, Yale, Penn, or Princeton yet. I do agree with others mentioning the results board as a resource, but I’m answering you because I know that board is super stressful. Checking it is the most stressful part of my day. I would, however, at a minimum recommend checking or monitoring this thread if you’re curious about when others hear, because people have referenced the schools you mentioned in previous posts or in their signatures when hearing back. I hope that helps! ? P.S. Irvine has been notorious in past years for having silent wait lists and not sending out prompt rejections or status updates to not accepted but not rejected students. They’ve certainly made initial offers but if they haven’t rejected you yet, you could still get in if enough people turn down offers.

Based on history, next week should have Cornell (the rest of the decisions), UMich, Northwestern, Stanford, Harvard (acceptances), and some others. So yes, big week for many people! Yikes.

A friend of mine called. Apparently the committee decided last week on decisions and the department is probably going to try to release the decisions this week, but the person wasn't 100% sure. So hopefully we'll hear something soon!

Congrats! Fingers crossed for you.

It took me a while. Where you see your username in the top right corner of the page, click. Go to "Account Settings." One of the settings you can choose on the left will be "Signature."

Some schools do send in waves, or have informal wait lists and wait to reject until they know they filled the cohort, or send acceptances and rejections at different times. You can look at the Results board for a specific school/program and see if there was a pattern in past years to get a sense of which programs do waves of acceptances and which don't. (Sometimes it changes; in past years, UC Irvine did waves, but this year, they notified everyone the same day instead.) And I wouldn't worry about graduating early. I'm a senior and I don't feel like this year has given me any type of advantage in terms of knowing things or interacting with people. Trust me, I think we all feel lost.

I'm with you. It seems like the cohort was pretty small this year, based on how few people posted. After the rejection, I oddly felt a thousand times less stressed about everything else. Hopefully next week brings better news. Looking at your signature, it looks like you have some amazing choices! I almost applied to UW — their program looks amazing.

GPA is only one part of an application, and I've gathered in years of reading people's posts that your writing sample, personal achievements, etc. are far more important than GPA and GRE (for most schools; as discussed above, Cornell openly uses both as screening tools). I wouldn't count yourself out based on GPA!

Rooting for you! Did you apply to MA programs or PhDs?

Belated congrats to the Rutgers/Chicago/UT (I think?)/Oregon/other acceptances! Didn't apply to those schools but excited to see so many people getting great results! Edit: But schools really need to stop accepting people but waitlisting them for funding. I imagine that's extremely anxiety producing.

Anyone else starting to lose their minds waiting for UCLA?

Nice! I’m really so happy for you. It gives me hope that not getting into a lower ranked school doesn’t mean all hope is lost for others. I know I kept preaching that earlier in the thread but it’s comforting to see that actually happen.

One of the worst parts of this process In my opinion is being ghosted by schools who don’t bother to release rejections at the same time as acceptances. Sometimes if it’s been a while you can call the department and gently ask if all acceptances have been sent out.

Thinking the same thing, though I'm confused because many schools send decisions out right after they make them. For example, Berkeley met on Wednesday and that's when they notified people. It's odd to know weeks in advance of them telling us, no? I don't doubt it happened, but I'd be surprised if they really decided on the entire cohort.

See my comment on your other post. This belongs as a comment on the 2020 Fall thread in the Sociology forum.