ihatedecisions

mine has the same thing now. I have not recieved any communication from chicago

I really underestimated time I would need for GRE, SOP and writing sample. So I support previous commentators in that I would get done with GRE way earlier (preferybly, before doing other parts of application) if I had another go. I would also wish I had at least a couple more months to write SOP in terms of developing research angle, which would ideally involve being very fluent in the state of art research.

congrats to Michigan admits I think sending this stuff out today is especially brutal, getting reject from your top choice today is really sad.

Also, it is quite unclear how many of those 400+ applicants to schools like Michigan could really ever be competitive. Rising number of application probably also have something to do with rising popularity of doing PhD, in general, so it might be that more random people apply. However, it means that even if a school would get 399 bad applications and 1 good, it does not have to result in 20 offers. I do not think that schools would admit people just to fill the spots (or so I hope, at least, but, I guess, people might also say that if u admit less people you might miss out on funding for the following years).

I second this. I feel like it is also not really fair to insinuate that people overdo it with applications to somebody's harm. When I was applying, my profs straight up told me I had a very, very low chance of getting into anywhere. So yeah, I did go all in and I am not sorry if somebody feels like I might have "stolen" their spot by applying broadly. Also, schools do not admit top 20 or whatever applicants. Very often people with top profiles do not get offer because a school understands that they are quite likely to get into some chymp and do not even bother offering.

My Michigan portal has not changed as well. I guess we cannot take anything on here for granted, neither results posts, nor forum ones

I just wish somebody would make me an offer I cant reject ?

I'm also IR track, but my portal did not changed. Maybe, rejection?...

Congrats! that is really wonderful news. Did you recieve an email or randomly checked apply web? *fingers crossed*

*refresh* *refresh* *refresh* *refresh*

well, if rejection is coming, it is coming. i'd rather know sooner than later

damn, i was really hoping for some closure today

I agree. I did not mean to claim that the scores do not matter at all, rather that they do not guarantee anything either.

i'd want to relativize this a little, if i may I know people with 170/170 and 4 GPA who got into 1 of 15 schools they applied to. I think whereas scores obviously matter, there are other aspects of application that might outweigh them both in a positive or a negative way. I was rejected from a school that was probably the best fit but accepted into comparable ranking with a little worse fit. My perspective on this is that maybe they just did not need somebody like me this season and that's it.

Anybody claims unofficial letter from POI from UMich?

same here lol. Also had to take GRE multiple times but because my quant was trash (not that it helped to boost it lol)

I am an interntional and no wavers really apply to me, so I ended up sinking an insane amount of money in this whole process

fair point. I sort of went all in with my safe choice closing the ranking and dropping places like Rochester or some Ivys because I really chanced myself as a very unlikely admit.

i applied to 15 schools and prob would stupid go for 23-ish if i could afford it

I could do that Shoot me a dm if you want

I sort of have this issue unsually because I can mostly think only about something like "Hello my name is Potato..." lol. I had different takes, a)anecdote/hook to catch attention (discarded because was too edgy/awkward); b) "Since I was a kid...." (discarded because it made me yawn); c) Straight saying "I am into field XXXX because YYYY". I rewrote my SoP 3 or 4 times completely and at the end it sort of crystallized into something I was more or less satisfied with. My conclusion regarding the intro is that I found it easier to write the intro once I had the main body. Then you sort of can pick an intro that best opens your central point.

I structured my SoP as follows: fields I am interested in, which led me to mention in depth my research interests (c. 65% of the whole text). And I ended with how my background and previous studies relate to these interests (I mentioned only what would be actually relevant) and a small paragraph on the school. Idk, however, if it is a good way to write since the admissions are not done yet. I had people look over it critically to help me find weak spots like undeveloped ideas that look cool but do not say much actually. There are older threads on this forum and some people have posted their SoPs, so you could read them for inspiration.

that's what I was thinking. I do not expect to get in there though

you sure about that? Because I think I read it somewhere that the last year was extremely small cohort because of a very high yield the year before but this season should be back to normal.

I am sorry that you are feeling bad, but this is really not personal (which sorta feels even worse). I mean the whole admission process. Sometimes people with very good profiles just do not make the cut for things they cannot control; i feel like half of it is being at the right place at the right time. If you are dead set on getting PhD from the US, wait for the results of this cycle and if you dont get into anywhere, try asking around about what might have been lacking, read more on the application here and try again. But i do not think outside of a very select group of people there is a guaranteed way to sucess. ALso take my words with a grain of salt, given that I barely have any idea about this whole process. I am just relating my impression so far.