Tinyboss

Maybe not too pleasant, but entirely pertinent. Mommy and Daddy can help you in high school, but in college, you're on your own. Helicopter parents will not help your case, ever.

You're splitting some mighty fine hairs here. In practice, as soon as you report something like this, you'll be asked, "how do you know?", and then you'll tell them. The distinction you're making is not realistic.

How do you figure? Someone tells me they committed a crime (yes, forgery is not just academic dishonesty, it's a crime). I report the crime. If it urns out the person lied...how is that conceivably my fault? That just doesn't make any sense.

Did you check the results database here at thegradcafe.com, and see when they went out last year?

Or maybe the OP (assuming it's not a troll) asked too close to the deadline?

That is a seriously unfair question. They're asking you whether you'll enroll if accepted. I think it violates the spirit of the Council of Graduate Schools Resolution that says (basically) that applicants shouldn't have to make commitments before April 15. I suggest putting that school as high on the list as you believably can (if you're reaching for a top-top school, it might not be credible to put it below their school). Preferences can change for any number of reasons, after all.

None of my six have such emails. I just check their sites. Weekly updates would be nice!

Here's another one! Subject as shown in my pop-up notifier: "[univAdm] Orientation Services..." Full subject: "[univAdm] Orientation Services Needs Your Advice!" Something about providing tips and advice to incoming freshmen at my current school. Yay.

Are you serious? She knew it was wrong, and she did it anyway. How could she not deserve the consequences?

Let's keep some perspective here: this girl put someone else's name to her own words. That's worse than plagiarism. It's probably an actual crime, and certainly has no place in academia. The methods might be debatable, but the OP absolutely did the right thing turning her in. For those of you who say it's a rat race and you do what you've gotta do to get ahead: maybe if more people would stand up for what's right like the OP did, it wouldn't be that way.

One of my schools just updated their status page today, showing most, but not all, of the forms I've sent them. Some of the forms they just now acknowledged are ones that I know they signed for on the 12th. I suspect they're in the process of sorting through the mountain of papers and building individual files.

You're right. That's basically what I was told--that the review would begin the day after the deadline, so I'd better get them in.

[quote name="Louiselab

Email and online status pages are worse. At least if you know it's only by post, and you know the guy doesn't come till 4:00, then there's a chance of getting some work done in the mean time.

I fell down (up?) a slippery slope...first I wanted to teach high school math. But I didn't realize I needed 24 math hours for that. By the time I had taken half that much, I thought I might as well plan on a Master's degree, so I could teach in community college. After a few more classes, though, I realized that I'll always want more math, so I might as well go for the PhD and try to become a researcher.

My current institution sends lots of mail to students, with subject lines that start like: [Advisory Committee] [Academic Notification] [Financial Aid] [student Affairs] [Hey You Just Got Into Grad School Haha Made You Look] Alright, that last one hasn't happened (yet). But seriously...I'm tired of my heart skipping a beat every time my email notifier goes off with a suggestive email subject from my current school!

Even if you accept before 4/15, you can back out before that date, if you do so in writing. If your acceptance is in force after 4/15, it becomes binding. This is governed by the Resolution of the Council of Graduate Schools. The idea is I got that from this page, which also has a PDF of the actual text of the resolution. Edit: I just realized that the OP is talking about offers that come after April 15. That's a tough one...I think it's in any school's interest to get their offer to you before that date, since the Resolution calls for an offer after 4/15 to be void if the student had an existing, accepted offer by 4/15, unless the student can get a written release.

Isn't it nice how the example of "math* - math or mathematics" is clickable? If I check 92 times a day, that adds up to some real time savings!

Don't get too discouraged about someone else's acceptance to your program. I don't think it's common at most places to send out all acceptances simultaneously (though maybe some places do). Maybe that other guy was extraordinary, or maybe they just happened to schedule his interview first. Don't assume you're out.

I scored an 800, but I hear that's about 68th percentile among my major (mathematics).

Well, people who are especially excited about their score might be more motivated to participate.

This thread inspired me to search out my first choice's results from 2008. Although their website says decisions are made in February, in 2008 all but one came in March. I wonder if they said February last year, too?

I'd interpret that as miratrix said. I wish you luck!

I'll make plans (can't follow through till after May!) to build a bonfire, and burn my heavy gloves, earflap hat, thick jacket, and snow boots.

I'm sure there's some self-selection going on, too.