LadyWolfshadow

I'm Biological Sciences instead of Biomed so I'm not 100% sure on the structure of those two programs, but are they rotation-based at all? If you have to do lab rotations, which one has more labs that you think you would be a good fit for? If you know that there are more, it may signal that you're a better overall fit for that program and the chances of landing in a sucky lab for even a few weeks goes down, but it's also a good safety net in case something happens with the PI you're really interested in. (Great match on paper but turn out to be major personality conflicts that couldn't be figured out remotely, any unexpected leaves of absence due to personal circumstances with the pandemic, any sudden funding issues cue to COIVD-19 that result in them not being able to take students, etc.) What's your preferences for location beyond the cost of living aspect? I haven't been to St. Louis but I grew up in the Mid-Atlantic. If you enjoy the idea of being able to plan to take short weekend trips somewhere, the Mid-Atlantic is great for that. Baltimore is only a couple of hours from beaches, you can use mass transit to get to DC fairly well and it's not hard to get from Baltimore to Philly/NYC. As far as comments on the schools themselves, some of my faculty members have either done research or taught at JHU and they only had positive things to say about the school. I don't know much about WashU at all, so I'm not much help there. Do either have any additional programs that you would have the option to take advantage of? (Ex: One of mine has the option to convert to a Ph.D/MBA program or some side certifications you can do. Even if you don't necessarily think you want them now, them being an option isn't a bad thing.) I actually have a similar problem to the point where the programs are VERY even and there's a lab at the one that I really like and the other has a really good program structure. I'm having to drill down REALLY far into my list of preferences to start seeing where there's differences that may be able to tip the scales one way or the other. I'm to the point that I may have to start considering things like which one has easier access to a better array of grocery stores.

Once I make my final decision (which is terrifying to think has to happen in a few short days), I was originally going to give them really cute handmade thank you cards. With the current situation, I'm going to cobble together some sort of digital personalized thank you announcement/letter type thing that's printable in case they want to add it to their collection of thank yous from students and give them an IOU for some kind of gift with that school on it once I get there (since by then things should have calmed down to the point that it'd be safe to send them something). That way, they get something now that shares the joy and gratitude and they can make it tangible if they want, but gives them something to look forward to in a few months.

It's in the neighborhood of $25,000

So what schools and which programs are doing this? OMG I can't do this again. I really can't.

So I'm sitting here with an acceptance to a PhD program at UMBC and my visit got cancelled so I have no way to see the area and I'm trying to figure out if living up there is actually doable on a grad student stipend because the numbers seem a little scary for living in a suburb of Baltimore. I have no clue what taxes are like, what the going rate would be for sharing a house or an apartment up there, how difficult it would be to get around without a car, how difficult food shopping is in the area. I also have no clue what the general vibe of the town or the campus are like and all of this is SUPER difficult to figure out from hundreds of miles away. I'm wondering if anyone who either goes to UMBC or has lived in the area could give me any insight on how doable all of this is.

I was accepted to UD for a PhD program starting in the fall. I'm currently trying to weigh my program options and I'm trying to figure out if the stipends UD pays are enough to actually live on. I know it's going to be tight because well...most PhD stipends aren't set up for living a life of luxury, but I'm trying to get opinions on if it's actually doable. I'm not the type who needs an entire apartment to myself or anything, I'm fine with having my own bedroom and access to a kitchen to make my own meals since I'll be TAing and probably in the lab a lot. I'm just severely limited by the fact that I don't own a car and the issue that I may be going into lab at some seriously oddball times of the day, depending on where I wind up. I'm just trying to figure out if it's realistic to live on the stipends offered once you factor in things like taxes, eating, etc.

It looks like Tech gives a discount on MARTA passes, but doesn't include them in fees. Staff and faculty can have them deducted from their payroll, but students are on their own and need to buy them from the school. (Don't buy them from MARTA because they're $68.50 from MARTA themselves and $55 from the BuzzCard office) I can't think of any of our area schools off of the top of my head that actually include them in the fees--most just offer discounts. https://pts.gatech.edu/regional-transit

I still have three that I haven't heard back from yet and all were 12/1, 12/3, or 12/15 deadlines. I'm pretty much writing them off at this point since the ones that I have access to see the status are in various flavors of "under review" and have been there forever. I wish I was in some kind of position where I could negotiate anything, but it seems like that's pretty rare and I'm definitely not the most competitive candidate, so it feels like a minor miracle that either of these programs wanted me in the first place. I'm just now realizing that I have exactly one month to figure this all out and sign on the dotted line, then I have to worry about things like relocating. This whole process is a giant flustercluck.

It's definitely a lot of planning and strategizing at this point. One of my programs already reached out to us yesterday letting us know that the program director is going to host a video conference next week to talk to us and they're trying to organize the virtual visit thing for early April and the other one hasn't said anything yet about it, but their campus had confirmed cases of COVID-19 so I'm giving them some time to put out at least some of their dumpster fire. I have no clue how the faculty interactions are going to go long distance, especially since I read so much into tone of voice and body language that doesn't translate well online. Regardless of which way I choose, I'm having to look at moving 700-800 miles away so it's going to be a huge logistical challenge. What sucks is realizing that if it's going to take them until early April to put this stuff together, there's going to be so little time to think before we have to sign our papers to commit to our programs.

I'm absolutely experiencing this. I've only got three schools I never heard from, acceptances to two programs I really like, and now I'm a giant ball of anxiety when I should be super happy about this. It's like...I know that I'm going to be a PhD student in the fall and I should be excited and happy, but my visits got cancelled and my entire university system shut down for two weeks, so there's even more time to stress out about all of this even though it's almost over.

I'm in the same boat, just different department. Two PhD acceptances to BioSci programs, both visits were supposed to be this week and got cancelled. Going to have to make the decision basically blind as well. I'm trying to reach out via whatever channels I have to see if I can find current/past students and even community members to talk to. I've called and talked to one program coordinator for a while on the phone, am going to reach out to the other one. I'm still trying to find other ways to get the information I need to make this kind of major life decision with at least SOMETHING to go off of. It's about the best I can do since this isn't likely going to get better before Decision Day and the Council of Graduate Schools thinks the April 15th deadline needs to stand.

It really is. One of my programs is hoping that IF this situation gets any better, they MIGHT try and figure out a way once the campus opens up again, but that would be RIGHT before Decision Day and having less than a week left to sign and date the offer doesn't leave much time. I'm sure the departments aren't happy either because those of us with offers are frozen trying to see what the heck is going on and hoping that we can find SOME way to make up our minds, so they can't do anything with the waitlists, either. I'm not going to lie, I straight up lost it when I found out about the visit cancellation today. This is too important of a decision to have to make with so little to go from.

I agree with you 100%. One of my visits this week just got cancelled for sure and I'm pretty sure that the other one is on its way to being cancelled. "Virtual open houses" really aren't a substitute for having the option of an in-person visit. There's a lot that doesn't come across in that kind of format that people may need to be able to make their decisions. I'm already wrecked at the thought of having to try to make a decision without any face-to-face interaction or having walked both campuses. I would love for CGS members to agree to some kind of "extenuating circumstances" clause for the April 15th Resolution, but that's like asking for fair weather. Right now I'm trying to brace for the possibility of making this huge decision without the information and interactions I really need to commit 5-7 years of my life to being somewhere.

It's about 100 miles each way from Harrisburg to Philadelphia, so the better part of 2 hours. Most of that is on the PA Turnpike, so there are tolls. It would be very expensive and very exhausting.

I'm going to guess I'm on the silent waitlist for Maryland, I've heard absolutely nothing. Oregon State I'm starting to wonder if they even remember my application exists. Apparently Jefferson is great at the silent rejections, so not expecting anything from them. I just want to know for sure either way so that I can process everything and move on.

The waiting is absolutely the hard part! I thought the apps would be the worst and nobody warned me that this would be SO much worse. (Yet they all yell at me for being on the Results page...) One of my programs said that the earliest I'd hear back is the 28th and the other pending ones had 12/1, 12/3, or 12/15 deadlines so I'm assuming silent rejections at this point.

At this point, the only advice I can have is to expect the unexpected and focus on whatever distractions you have in the meantime. From everything I'd seen, I thought that all of the programs in my field did interviews and totally gave up hope when everyone else was posting interview requests from most of the places I applied to. Even the ones I hadn't seen interview requests posted, it was historically 2-3 weeks past their actual decision dates. I pretty much gave up hope at that point, but I got two acceptances without interviews....somehow? I didn't know that was even a thing. I know it's not cold, hard numbers and I'm probably an n of 1 at this point, but I say all of this because this cycle seems VERY wild and unpredictable. I definitely wish we could all do hugs and drinks and try to have some fun and get our minds off of this absurdity. Hang in there, find some great stuff to binge read and binge watch, come here and vent, hope for the best, and hold on for this wild ride.

Don't be so sure about that, I'm applying bio too and a lot of my professors and some of the grad students that I know said that they didn't hear back until mid to late February or early March. And apparently not all biology programs do interviews--some accept first and invite for visits after. I know that doesn't make the rejections and the waiting suck any less because holy crap do they suck. I'm still waiting and every time I get an e-mail notification, I panic thinking that it might be from another program. Hang in there and don't give up hope--it's not over until April and no matter what, you aren't the failure. This process outright sucks and can make you feel like one though.

It's okay to reach out when you're feeling so stressed out and overwhelmed and everything feels like it's going wrong. Life just keeps on throwing more and more crap onto you and you feel like you can't keep holding on, but you're still here. You may have considered ending it all, but you haven't. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for, and we see you. Not hearing from your dream school sucks, there's no doubt about that, although not hearing from them isn't an outright no, either. And even if you don't hear from them, it's not the end of the road. Surprises really do happen--one of those other programs that you applied to may accept you and it could wind up being a better fit for you personally in the end, despite not being as big as Princeton. Take things one day at a time, try to take care of yourself, keep reaching out, and remember that good things come to those that wait. You deserve good things and they'll come to you.

It really does border on masochism. We spend so much time and money and stress out so much getting those applications in, especially trying to condense our academic journey into the severely limited spaces we get for those SoPs. I have such an odd history and transcript issues that so many of them didn't give me a chance to explain that most programs probably want nothing to do with me. And THEN comes this waiting. We have absolutely no control over anything at this point and that's definitely a nightmare in its own right. Even trying to ask some of these programs questions can be an effort in futility at times, which just compounds it. But yeah, I share the belief that there's no other place in the world I would rather be.

My friends and faculty constantly yell at me for the e-mail checking and constantly being on GradCafe, but the uncertainty is SO frustrating. Seeing programs that have historically decided the last week in January having nothing posted for this year is driving me up the wall. And I know that not being rejected means that there's still a chance, but not knowing anything is SO stressful. After a while, the rejections become less frustrating than the radio silence.

Thanks SO much for giving the insider view of this. I don't know how it is for applicants from bigger institutions, but my college is entirely undergrad so there's not a lot of information about the process here. It feels like we put our credentials and money into a giant black box and hope for interview invites. (I honestly didn't know acceptances in my field could HAPPEN without interviews if that tells you anything.) The different amount of information the programs offer is a little disconcerting too...under departmental review makes sense, but one just saying "submitted" really does make me go "Uh oh, did I break something?" Knowing that I haven't gotten outright rejected and that there's still possibly a shot makes me feel better, but what happens with any of those decisions that theoretically come in closer to that April deadline? Would they still even try to offer a visit day?

My heart definitely jumps every time I get a notification from my school email account. I keep waiting for the rejections and trying to brace for them every time.

I TOTALLY feel you on this. I still have so many applications out there that I just want the ones where I stand absolutely zero chance to cut me loose now. Actual status updates would be nice too, but that's like asking for the moon. Some say that they're under departmental review, but some of them just say "Status: Submitted" and it's like "Well that's a little vague, isn't it?" Submitting the applications was SUPER stressful, but nobody warned me that the waiting would be SO much worse. It doesn't help that one of the programs historically made all of their decisions during the last week of January but it looks like it's been radio silence for everyone. At least a rejection we can process and move on.

Yeah, I really didn't talk to my family about it. I'm in a pretty small department and one of the officers for two STEM orgs at a pretty small school, so naturally EVERYONE knows about my plans and they're the ones doing the whole "You're gonna be fine, you'll have multiple offers" etc. and I know that they're watching my anxiety levels go through the roof and don't want to see me get any worse, but STILL, building my hopes up is a bad plan.