Phoenix88

Hi @LCZ! A lot of topics have already been covered, but be sure you know about: Living closer to campus and paying way more, versus living further and paying less, but a bit less connectivity (although living in Boulder hasn't been super connected these days with Covid stuff, and people generally being flaky). Boulder is more like a large town, or a very small city, than you realize before you get here. Lots of driving/buses from place to place to meet people, between "suburbs" and other cities as well at times too. However, there are lots of hikes within driving distance (I need to get a car ASAP as a result lol) You can find some people eventually, it's just a lot harder than in a lot of different places, people aren't as open in Colorado as other places in the US such as the South or Midwest. I'm still a newbie (going into my 2nd year of my PhD) so it's been tough to connect. Trying to get connected to your labmates or one social activity (or more if you can swing it) would be helpful. Bike lanes are abundant, and buses between cities are great, but buses in the cities themselves don't run often. It's often quicker to bike somewhere than take the bus! Hope this helped, let me know if I can help any further

A lot can go on in a week in a professor's calendar. Since the interviewers are often professors themselves, they may not have gotten around to finalizing decisions, or drafting letters of acceptance or rejection within a week. I'd give it one more week and then maybe reach out to the department administration department to get a better timeline!

@jlbr As a caveat, I can't speak for the University of Maryland, but I can speak on my experience with the application process. I know that they may have invited so many people expecting that many of them would have turned down the potential Maryland offer for other schools, firstly. Secondly, did you ask them about their research as well, or indicate that you had looked at their past work? That's an indicator of their interest in you. It seems counterintuitive, but they don't have the time to go through student files, not even the ones who they are interviewing with. So it's largely up to you to show interest and motivation. That's a big part of grad school as a whole, really. They were being friendly, yes, but if they didn't feel YOU were interested for one reason or another, that means that they wouldn't express much interest either. If you did the above, then I'm not totally sure what to do. I'd recommend writing follow-up emails thanking them for their time (it will help you stick in their mind as well), and ask if they have any further comments or questions for you! That may give you some answers.

@redhartI totally understand. I moved from an undergrad school that was a bit better than average, to a school, which although not internationally known, is one of the best in the country in my area! Last semester was a total trainwreck, and both semesters I've had to drop to 2 classes to keep up (even though this semester, I didn't have to be a TA, I need to get better grades, and on top of having to move again and a RIDICULOUS amount of work on a fellowship, I needed to be realistic.) I've been creative with trying to socialize a bit, and fortunately, my partner was able to move to another city in the same state, but it's been isolating with not as many chances to meet, and that's definitely taking a toll. Speaking to the few classmates I know though, I do definitely feel like I'm falling behind, but looking at it again, sometimes I realize that quite a lot of it is just busy work, or people trying to boost their own egos, or people that just have more mental stamina than me. But that doesn't mean their ability is better. (Those are the good days though tbh... most of the time is full of self doubt.) I am looking forward to the summer though, when I'm more integrated into research, and I don't have to worry about classes at the same time. I feel like you may be in a similar situation.

Congrats @Jessica2020 ! I'd totally agree with Supe's viewpoint there, you'll have to put your best foot forward at the recruitment event before admission. Try to connect with the faculty that do the work that excites you and let your passion shine through. Best of luck!

I'm glad that I was able to help you out! I'm surprised that POIs at other schools are reaching out to you though! Maybe it's a field-dependent thing. Engineering professors definitely pride themselves in being too busy for their own good. But yeah, it's good that you see the value in networking at the recruitment event, it should really help you out as long as you put the energy in. Emailing the profs should double up on the efficiency as well. Best of luck, and feel free to reach out via PM if you need more help!

@Supe Have you emailed or reached out to any of the professors that you are interested in working with? During my application process in 2019-2020, I never had a professor that I was interested in working with contact me directly from the application process. Even if you list them directly, most of the time they are too busy to scan through and reach out. They may not even know your specific interests, depending on what part of the application they saw (if any)! To hear from them, I would have to email them, and hope they would get back to me. I got about 70% of them get back to me even after an email, and a follow up if needed. I will say that you have to do super thorough research into your advisor's interests, and it would have been way better if things were in person this year, as some people can meet new advisors that way. I actually hadn't heard of my advisor until the PhD visit weekend at my school, but the open sign up times were a lifesaver for me, as his research fit my desires way better than the others who I was considering working with. Anyway, if you have emailed and haven't heard back from any, that's worrying. If it has been at least a couple weeks, do follow up, sometimes emails get lost. Additionally, expect a more formal event, most advisors are looking for students who are good fits for their labs at these events.

I hope you've heard back at this point! Haven't been on the platform in a while either. Do know that things will work out in the end. I didn't end up with the advisor or the place I expected, but it still seems to be a good fit for me and what I want to do. You can make it work out somehow. If the POI can't answer your emails now, it would probably get worse later on (trust me, I've done research with those "too busy for anything" professors before). I know Notre Dame is rough to lose (I definitely was disappointed at my rejections as well), but maybe it's a sign better things are to come. But I hope that one way or another, you're able to start your grad school experience soon! Best wishes.

Mvem, I'm sorry to hear that you were put into the back of the pile due to the pandemic. How often did you contact your POI after he asked for the follow up meeting? In my experience, many professors have had their workload significantly increase due to Covid, and your email may have gone unnoticed if you only reached out once. I am surprised you waited for this school in particular, was it the only one you applied for? At this point, it honestly depends on the professor. Some may tell you to reapply for next year, some may accept you with open arms for the spring (but may or may not be able to give you funding, remember that), and some may not reply. At this point, you may also want to contact the graduate advisor of the program and ask these questions to him or her. They may have a better understanding of why a decision based on your application was never finalized. With the trickiness of international admits right now, it may be extra hard for you as well. But overall, you won't know unless you ask! Do try, and the worst thing is that you get delayed a bit further in your studies. Best of luck to you!

@Starie that is tough news! I'm sorry that you have to go through that for the fall. It will not be an easy start to grad school. Hopefully some of the social things will start opening up over time so you can make those vital connections. I'm still waiting on my side. CU Boulder is not sure yet on what they will do, they are still weighing options. We'll see....

I do think that it should! I know of a couple people who were able to work with the professor, or get into the school they wanted, because they had that funding. It all came down to the extra funding they had that the school couldn't provide for them. At the very least, having that gives you a negotiation point to speak to your program or professor of interest. They are taking less of a risk on you if they don't have to fund you, so they would be way more likely to consider your application.

Where did everyone else decide to go? In the midst of the Covid crisis, I'm sure it has pushed back some decisions, but I'm curious on what everyone decided on!

This actually happened at my undergrad university this semester, with one of my labmates who was in her PhD studies. She was randomly placed into a course for TA-ship, and it happened to be a course she was planning on taking the upcoming semester. Apparently there weren't so many qualified students available to TA at the time (the mechanical department, which she and I were both in this semester, at our university has only a few dozen MS and PhD students.) She also had to submit her work early, but she was struggling to learn the material early, as well as help others in the class. I saw people come in a few times to try to talk to her about it, but she often struggled to give the answers as well. So apparently a practice like this isn't completely unheard of, but I do agree in that it is definitely absurd. I think it's mainly due to shortages for available TAs, and not cross-referencing class schedules before assigning TAs. However, the fact that she is a first year grad student and assigned to TA a grad level course raises some eyebrows. Administrative error, or just lack of awareness on the part of the grad advisors? (Sidenote: I'm assigned to be a TA this upcoming school year for my 1st year of PhD studies, and I'm hoping it will be for undergraduate courses! This type of situation seems awful for both the TAs and the students alike...)

@boulderbound what program will your wife be going into? And I know a few people in town, mostly from the PhD visit day, but one from a conference as well, and a couple people in Colorado from my university (one in Denver, and one in Colorado Springs!) As for housing, I'm working on figuring that out! I'm trying to move out there with my partner, who is looking for a job in software engineering, but is international. As he is not able to go for many of the jobs in Boulder (due to US security reasons in the aerospace sector), he is looking for jobs in other cities and towns nearby. If he gets a job near enough to me that we can both commute, we will try to find a place together. However, if a company places him outside of Colorado, I'll be looking into other options near campus, probably with a roommate if possible. Right now, I'm trying to get everything done in my undergrad program so I can graduate, as well as get a research paper out for DSCC. Between that, and corona concerns, I haven't had much opportunity to start planning moving quite yet. That will be a next month thing for sure, but I'll probably move out to Boulder towards the end of July. What are your guys' plans at the moment with moving and housing?

Hello, all future Buffs! I wanted to start this thread for fall 2020. I'll be coming to Boulder for a PhD in aerospace engineering, co-advised in the astrophysics department. Anyone want to connect before getting to campus? I'll be moving there from Cincinnati!