LizKay

I saw this post come up in a google search a while back and I just had to respond. What the OP has stated is absolute baloney.
 
I am currently attending a top 10 (Ivy) phd program. My stats were as follows:
 
Undergrad: 3.6gpa
Graduate (MBA): 3.2
GRE: 1500 combined
Institutions: mid-tier
Work experience: Lehman Brothers, Ernst & Young, Credit Suisse (total 5 years), worked in 3 different coutries
Research: 1 paper published in respectible journal before applying (sole author)
Statement of Purpose: Honest
Personal background: African-American from a low income family
 
Now let me address the OP's statement that graduate admissions only consider a gpa over 3.9. Firstly, GPA is one piece of a complex subjective puzzle. When I was an undergrad student I worked 2 part time jobs to put myself through college. Although my family was extremely supportive, they did not have the financial means to provide me with any assistance.
 
The ability to come up with original research ideas is a skill that is completely unrelated to GPA. This is the most difficult part of the phd process. The only thing GPA indicates is a students ability to handle coursework. For those who are currently not pursuing a phd, this accounts for only a small portion of your 4-5 years. Students with perfect gpa's and test scores are a dime a dozen.
 
What admission committees are looking for are student's who are different. Individuals who stand out. I was informed after my admission that what essentially sealed it for me was the diversity of my background and potential. No matter what you may read on these forums, the only thing that will set you apart is your SOP and your optional essay. These are the only non quantitative measures of the person behind the numbers. These are weighted more heavily than anything else.
 
If you have a 3.9 GPA, then great, but what did you do to acheive that? What did you overcome? Whate ELSE did you do during your 4 years? What is your personal background? These are more imprtant then that that little two digit number on your transcript.
 
Top programs have very low gpa cut-offs for a reason. They know the value of those characteristics that cannot be represented by a figrure.
 
I could never imagine a professor in my faculty telling a student such a thing as the OP has stated. No real academic would state such a riduculous thing to a student.
 
To all those who are going through this difficult process, do not let posts such as this one get you down. Anything is acheivable, it may just take you a little longer then you would like. Good luck to all.

my laptop webcam has 0.1 megapixels. It's total crap

These threads always make me laugh. Usually ends up with someone saying One Thing determines a grad applicants success, and then someone else comes along and says "Nope. . .its the Other Thing" that is the true measure. For what its worth I was rocking a 3.7 GPA from a pretty no-name State University (in a state that does not lack for private universities), and was accepted into a top 10 program, and three top 20 programs out of 10 applications. There are a myriad of factors that will determine a persons success; a blanket "This is what one needs" ignores the needs of the program and university of interest.

Nice, those programs sound great. Seems like interviews could be important for future teachers haha. Who knows.

I'm old and have kids in school!  Don't judge. I do use the new-fangled push button phone instead of the rotary dial though. 

I've noticed in many posts regarding applicant profiles that state that one has X number of "strong" letters of recommendation lined up. How are people so sure of this?
Just out of curiosity, I wonder how people assess the strength of a letter of recommendation. For the most part, professors don't seem to always show students the letters they have written, at least in my own experience and from what I've gathered in my school. 
If one doesn't know what's actually written (or will be written) in a letter, then is a "strong" LOR referring to one written by a prominent scholar? Or is it based on the assumption that the letter writer will most likely write a persuasive letter? 
Just a matter of curiosity as "strong" LoR (or even SoP for that matter) is quite subjective and personally, I feel like even if the letter writer is quite well-known in the relevant field, if they cannot directly attest to an applicants capabilities with evidence to back up their claim, it wouldn't be a strong letter.
 

To the original poster....are you talking about interview open house or typical open house? Because they are totally different. Open house where you're literally going to just learn more about the school is OK to bring a parent, but I would say that an interview/open house is not. I have been to both kinds and while I saw parents at the typical open house, I did not at the interview/open house. After reading the comments and knowing that it's interview season, I had to clarify that there is 100% a difference. Hope this helps!

I brought my mom to one open house that I attended and went to another alone. Both times there was about a 50/50 split of students who brought their parents and those who did not. Nobody thought it was weird to bring parents! 

I literally just made an account moments ago just to tell you that this would be incredibly weird. Do not bring your mother. Nobody else will have parents (or friends) there. You are an adult and this will make you seem like an immature child. I don't know of any program/circumstance in which it would be normal to bring a parent.

How fuzzy we talkin' here?
 

 
...or....
 
...
 
...
 

Relax. He’s just posting his thoughts on an anonymous message board while he waits for results, just like everyone else is doing. It doesn’t require therapy or an intervention with family members.

I agree with tr_th--you need to pick what you are passionate about first (it is a 4-6yr commitment) before you pick the school.

teachgirl22, I think you have good chances with your experience. However, make sure that you at least break 600 for V/Q for GREs. I know from insiders that 600 (or minimum 60% percentile) is the cutoff for most students unless you have an amazing resume.

hitomimay--I was a former TFAer myself and I will say that being in TFA for two years is not a qualifier or pass to good programs/good jobs--most two years get into HGSE's M.A. program but very few get into the PhD. You should look at their stats and average years of experience--that will help you figure out if you are a qualified applicant. My personal opinion is the fact that you still list summer school experience shows me you have no business being in a ed leadership/policy PhD program, especially with such a low undergrad GPA, no publications, and no relevant research experience. You might have better luck in a science ed PhD program. Some suggestions are to take on more leadership roles (i.e. member of instructional leadership team, department chair, program development, VP, Principal, school founder, etc) and also get more "relevant" research experience. Undergrad bio research has very little to do with ed policy unless you want to study how to improve science education.

Penn State University Psychology, PhD (F19) Rejected via E-mail on 23 Jan 2019 ♦ U 23 Jan 2019 report spam The rejection wasn't as ugly as the font used in the email.

On a University of Wyoming rejection. ?

I keep reading these "Where were you when you got accepted" posts and all I keep thinking is I wish these sort of things would happen to me, but, ultimately, I know it won't.  I know I'm suppose to be uplifted and feel like "hey, that could happen to me!" but I don't...I've seen too much rejection.  So, I'm ambivalent.  I'm both happy that they got the opportunity to feel that feeling of absolute excitement and relief and sad knowing that I won't be able to.  Hope you all go on to being good academics.  Work hard for those of us that will never get the chance.  Wish I could be there with ya! 

Relax. He’s just posting his thoughts on an anonymous message board while he waits for results, just like everyone else is doing. It doesn’t require therapy or an intervention with family members.

That is really a good topic.
 
For the first acceptance; due to the difference of time I was at home and watching TV. It was at 11.30 p.m., I just thought that I should go to my room to check my e-mails. I signed in my gmail account and two minutes later than it, the e-mail came from York's Env. Studies PhD program director. The director says "congratulations, the committee unanimously recommends you for admission". When I saw that sentence I suddenly started to cry with happiness
 
The second one. Again due to the difference of time (I am in Turkey and applied for Canadian Schools) It was at 10.30 p.m. I have a f.ck buddy, and we met on that day. After a dinner in a restaurant, we went to her home. We continued to drink some beers (as we did during the dinner), then at 10.30 p.m. I just thought that I did'nt check my e-mails for more than 5 hours. I checked my e-mails via my phone and it is written that McMaster's faculty of graduate studies sent me an e-mail (it was sent at 10.20 p.m.) with the subject line "admission to McMaster", then I opened the e-mail and all the details could be found on it. I became very happy and confident after that since this was my second acceptance. So, you cannot imagine what happened between my f. buddy and me after that great news

If they don't understand, make a better job of explaining, bring in more tangible examples of what you are going through.

You should be talking to your family and friends... not some strangers on the internet

Relax. He’s just posting his thoughts on an anonymous message board while he waits for results, just like everyone else is doing. It doesn’t require therapy or an intervention with family members.

Relax. He’s just posting his thoughts on an anonymous message board while he waits for results, just like everyone else is doing. It doesn’t require therapy or an intervention with family members.

You mail in your personal statement and are in such a rush you forget to omit the part that says in big capital letters "INSERT STUFF ABOUT X COLLEGE HERE!"
 
This totally happened to me.....luckily the first person to get it was an assistant and a student and they emailed and called me telling me to reply back with my ACTUAL SOP. So I did and I actually got my acceptance from them. I never thought I would be so grateful for hard copy applications being required!

Are you okay?? take a chill pill its not the end of the world bro.
Go outside breath some fresh air it will do you good?

Oh my goodness, I have a paper folder that I call my happy folder, too! I've kept every piece of good news in that folder... It really is a good way of bottling the feeling! 

This is now 4 years ago for me, but one school called me just as I was putting on my shoes since my spouse and I were going out to dinner. Being from Canada, long distance calls are super expensive and I was expecting a telemarketer so I was a little grumpy at answering the phone (didn't say anything bad just a grumpy hello I guess). It turns out it was a prof from the dept telling me the good news. I was both shocked and didn't know how to recover from the beginning that I kind of just froze and said "Thank you for the good news" in the most flat and monotonic voice possible. The prof asked if I had any questions (I didn't, since I was completely unprepared for the news!) and said that someone else will follow up via email about planning a visit etc. Then we hung up. Afterwards, I was kicking myself since I thought I sounded like a jerk for sounding completely unexcited at the news. At the actual visit, I mentioned this to the professor that called and of course, I had over analyzed everything and he didn't even remember me sounding unexcited. In fact, he said he was the one that felt bad because they actually called me 3 days after everyone else got notice because they forgot to assign a person to actually call me. lol
The way I "bottle" the feeling is to save all of the emails like this to a gmail folder. I call it my happy folder and I put all good news in it (admissions, fellowships, "your abstract is accepted for a talk", "your paper is accepted", etc.) Grad school has a lot of downs and there are some days the imposter syndrome really kicks in and I feel like I don't have what it takes to make it. So, when this happens, I open up my happy folder and re-read all of the emails affirming that I am capable of this and it helps a lot.