There&BackAgain

U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (I hope after five year I will have a clue how to spell it #modestgoals)

U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (I hope after five year I will have a clue how to spell it #modestgoals)

U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (I hope after five year I will have a clue how to spell it #modestgoals)

Two things come to mind: if many people in the audience were having a more negative experience with academia and they shared that with your co-panelists then they might have more easily bonded with them than you. So there there's nothing you did wrong it's just you had an uphill battle to begin with.
Second and more crucially: I don't know if you had a chair but if none of the questions were addressed to you directly I assume not all were addressed to your co-panelists directly either. Regardless of that it feels to me the chair (if they existed) did a bad job moderating. We usually forget that it's not just us on the stage (and the audience) that control the question session. It's largely the job of the chair. If there was no chair then you had an even steeper uphill battle. So once again it's not a reflection of you or your abilities.

No worries. I mean I don't have cast iron proof either obviously. All I know is what the invite said and how I interpreted it so there is obviously still some leeway. The sceptic in me is suspicious though that anyone would be flying in people from abroad just for an info session. That being said this is my first time around the block so I am literally a newbie at this, so pinch of salt and everything. Keeping my fingers crossed for you too!

I've been accepted to UIUC (PhD Linguistics) but since I have some other applications that are still open/ running I'll still be seeing if I end up there (though it is highly likely! = ) )

Sorry for replying only now. Trying to stay off of here but I finally caved in XD Applied to Linguistics at Maryland, University of British Columbia, U of Toronto, NYU and U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Just had an interview at Maryland and an accepptance from Illinois the other week.

I have an interview with Maryland on Monday. 

Sorry for replying only now. Trying to stay off of here but I finally caved in XD Applied to Linguistics at Maryland, University of British Columbia, U of Toronto, NYU and U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Just had an interview at Maryland and an accepptance from Illinois the other week.