ridgey

Yup. I'd be interested - or maybe scared more - to know how many people don't get in anywhere. On these and other forums it seems rare, but I suspect that could be the self worth thing - to admit to across the board rejection publicly (if anonymously) when everyone else is excited about their options...

I'd forgotten that, thanks. I know i definitely got email confirmation fromall three. I guess it's just general processing a bajillion applications, rather than mine is screwed up.

Yeah, complete rejection is feeling like a very real possibility right now. Rationally, I know these applications aren't reflective of my worth as a person. I'm confident that if I have to apply next year I'll be far more competitive, and my plan B is reasonably appealing. But the rational thoughts give way frequently to pessimism, and trying to ready myself for dissappointment.

I understand that mailed documents can take a while to get onto status pages. But what about electronically submitted LsoR? My UMich application shows in Embark (I really don't like Embark) that all three letters were submitted; but on their status check page in Wolverine-watchamacallit, it only lists two of my letter writers and says that nothing has been received. Deadline was only 15 Jan - too early to worry yet, right? It's just that for the letters I would have thought they would update automatically...

Well done! I hope you didn't take me too seriously; your original poll was better than my non-existant one. I'll go take advantage of having a vote now...

Central America, the Carribean, Pacific Islands. As a kiwi (note: not the fruit, which is the youngest use of this term) I am dissappointed that Australia gets its own category. It's bad enough there's no NZ, but Australia gets its own line? The whole continent of Africa is grouped together, and Australia is singled out? Don't you know how huge the Aussie ego is? :wink:

Yes, you get the "prize". In NZ, urban legend has it that American maps omit NZ, that Americans think NZ is connected by bridge to Australia etc etc. Now, most people like to repeat these stories but don't actually believe them. Brett and Jermaine, whenever they do interviews in NZ, they always talk about how their American fans have complimented them on their comic genius in inventing a country and making up bizzarre accents. I think most people know they're joking, but that is now part of the oft repeated lore...

Luckily, I did the opposite (scored 750, my total was XY40, I was confused) so we didn't compromise this robust study! And, I just posted this message quoting the wrong post, so I'm the thicko!

OK, on closer inspection, there are other parts of the world missing too. That makes me feel better!

You missed my part of the world! You're perpetuating the urban myth that goes around here that the rest or the world (OK, America) is particularly ignorant of our existance/thinks we're part of Australia etc. And no, I won't give you any (more) clues! :wink:

Thanks! I'm sure I can find a way to rationalise hours on that site instead of doing anything even remotely productive.

I think there are more professors specialising in early victorian shoplifters who suffer from gout than there are who do what I'm into! I found two faculty members in the US who share my intersts. One is probably ready to retire anyday, and is at the top ranked school in my field. The other is at a lower ranked (late teens) programme in my field, but said programme is at one of those universities that is SO prestigous and has the name recognition that it gets enough applicants to make it super competitive.

Sure. Though it seems California admits far fewer international students than the public universities in other states. I guess this is the downside of linking admission and funding. On the one hand, at all the schools I applied to, if I'm admitted, I'll be able to go. On the other, sometimes I'll feel like a rejected loser when really it's about money. I'd also suggest that at the grad level the uni isn't exactly serving students in the way it is in undergrad. The uni gets direct benefit from cheap labour in the form of TAs and RAs. The added prestige of having scholarship affiliated with them is difficult to gauge.

These are probably kids games, but I love them, especially the first. From a website that tries to educate people abour social justice, etc. Keep a Haitian family alive http://www.tigweb.org/tiged/projects/ayiti/game.html Organise successful elections in the Ukraine http://www.tigweb.org/games/orange/

I gave up on the same plan coz of difficulty finding funding - all the programmes I saw only commonly fund UK/EU students. If you've found a database or list of funders, would you mind sharing?

Aaargh! The first public health results are on the board! Ok, they're MPH not PhD, and not at a school I've applied to, but I feel like its officially started now, even though I don't expect to hear anything for another month.

Wonder if the Q and V should be separated; I'm sure there are lots of programmes that only care about one or t'other.

I would actually be tempted to do this for my programmes, except there is no way there will be 200 data points. Maybe 10 if I'm lucky. Easier to summarise, (even more) meaningless results.

I have NO idea. Different grading system, multiple degrees, etc. I think that I'll just assume I have a 4.0 :wink:

Not me! But definitely not in your time zone either...

In the same spirit: don't plan your itinerary for backpacking your way through South and Central America to the US. I guess that's only an issue for international students...

I read this thread a few months ago, and it is the reason I'm not aplying to UC Berkeley, despite it having a programme that supports my somewhat odd combination of interests. It seems to me that it may, in the long run, be detrimental to the school to not be able to take many internationals. They are missing out on scholars who can contribute to their prestige. Sure, they're taking the top, I dunno, 0.5% of int. applicants, and there's definitely value in that. But if another school takes applicants who are the next, say, 4.5%, then it is likely that second school is going to get more value - a comparatively large group of very, very, very good people versus only one excepetional person. Also, if each department ranks its applicannts and takes the first however many on the list, but skips over international students, then that department is deliberately choosing an incoming group less strong than possible. I'm sure the university must have done some models and confirmed that the loss of very good students to other schools is less than what it would cost to enroll them. Still, public university systems in other states manage to enroll international students.

I'm yet to hear anything back from my programmes, but what I gather from the Chronicle forums is that it's discipline specific. The sciences definitely need pre-application contact, the humanities less so. The advice from the professors over there though was to only be contacting with genuine questions about research and your potential fit. They can see through attempts to make contact that are merely trying to gain an advovcate in the admissions process. Plus they're incredibly busy people, and likely you won't be the only one to contact them. Definitely go read some of the discussions they've had over there though; there is a wide variety of perspectives.

I discovered a way NOT to pass the time: DO NOT, under any circumstances, search in Medline (or the equivalent in your field) for the person you hope will be your advisor. Obviously, we all did probably did this when we were applying. But at this stage in the game, I discovered it is a recipe for getting desperate for one particular admittance. I had been trying so hard not to get my hopes up (to protect myself from disappointment in the event of across the board rejection) but that is not possible now. Approx. 4 weeks to go...

So, I just submitted an application, and realised I needed to clarify something with the department. I go to the website to find out who I should contact, and I notice that one of the three faculty I mentioned in my SoP is the DEAN ofthe whole school this department is in. Probably not taking students. Probably would only take those who noticed that he's the freakin' dean. Am I the only one who has turned into a complete airhead through application season?