jash

Me too!! I accepted an offer, and It is my top choice program. Congrats to everyone who finally completed this journey

AMEN to not having to go through all this again next year! We're going to grad school wooo - maybe we'll all meet up at conferences one day Best of luck all!

AMEN to not having to go through all this again next year! We're going to grad school wooo - maybe we'll all meet up at conferences one day Best of luck all!

This Winston Churchill Quote seems apt, not only while we wait now, but also after we're accepted and trying to get published, and eventually after we've graduated and looking for tenure. We've got this everyone!
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
-Winston Churchill
 

Damn that sucks, sorry to hear that!! It definitely may not be because you are not qualified. Interesting Reddit post from an Adcom member here: https://www.reddit.com/r/gradadmissions/comments/ayzqqj/i_was_the_chair_of_the_admissions_committee_heres/ 
I think that the most important thing is a good research fit with the faculty. You might be able to demonstrate that you fit really well if you do a research based master's degree with a thesis on that subject and a publication would certainly be beneficial if possible (this can be harder in some disciplines than in others). As an added benefit, you would probably be able to net another solid letter of recommendation from this as well. Then again, a Master's program is no small commitment of time.
If I may ask, are you planning to not accept offers from the other institutions that you applied to or are you just preparing for the worst case scenario?

Just had a moment of "perspective" that I thought I'd share. I'm making myself the tiniest bit crazy checking this and other forums/results. The REALITY is, between my first interview and what will likely be my last, IT'S BEEN 3 WEEKS. That's NOT a lot of time. Also, by the end of NEXT WEEK, I'll very likely hear from school(s). If not, I'm well within my rights to 1) check in on my application or 2) assume I'm somewhere on the "not quite waitlisted so... maybe" list.
I definitely underestimated the stress everyone talks about going into this waiting period, but all in all... it's gonna be fine. For all of us, no matter what.

Here is a link to the April 15th Resolution by the Council of Graduate Schools. https://cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution
In general from what I have heard, schools have a very limited number of funded positions so they accept their favorite candidates first and then a few of those applicants likely reject the offer and the institution moves on to the students on the wait list like Jash was saying.
However, it is kind of considered in really poor taste for these high level applicants to hold on to the acceptances any longer than necessary. IF someone is accepted at their 5th school and then hears back from the 4th as well and both have April 15th deadlines then the applicant is supposed to decline the offer from number 5. It helps both the school who can then move on and hopefully still get a pretty solid candidate as well as the wait listed students that are waiting to hear back. If the candidate waits all the way till April 14th though, there is not really enough time to do this.

@DoktorDoktor Congratulations on the acceptances!! That is fantastic news. Sounds like you have some big decisions ahead of you. @jash Congrats on the 5 interviews,  hope your acceptance emails start rolling in right away. I only applied to 4 programs (probably should have applied to more) so its still crickets on my end. But hopefully next week we all start to get some good news. 

??
You know.....this "waiting" thing would be a lot easier if you didn't have to stay plugged in for potential interviews and such. Can I just go to an island for 10 weeks? Maybe get an envelope when I get back, awards show style, with my acceptances and rejections all listed in one place? No?? Well I tried...