La Cosmopolitan

Is it standard for PIs to not send a personal rejection email after interviewing? It feels a bit disrespectful of the time, energy, and effort we put into our applications and then interviews to just receive a standard rejection email from the university without a note from the PI. Overall, this process has been disillusioning as to how applicants are treated through the process.

i'm so confused about what "in the review process" even means! like, are they still extending first offers? possibly extending offers to those on the waitlist? trying to sort out funding?

One person posted an acceptance on the results page about a month ago, and I haven't seen anything since! I'd be surprised if they haven't made offers considering it's 2 weeks until April 15!

yay, congrats! this gives me hope.

Yes. I have a lowish gpa, not-stellar GRE scores, but strengths in other areas. I think that everyone is looking for something slightly different and there's really no perfect formula. Some departments/profs may value GPA more highly and some may place more of an emphasis on research experience. Hang in there! It's still January.

I actually emailed a program about this and they said non-first authored papers are fine when I asked if it would be ok to submit part of a paper i am 2nd author on. They just said to be sure to state it somewhere in the document.

Same here. Someone help us!

This is exactly my predicament. My AW and verbal exceed the averages but my quant is below by about 4 points. On one of my programs' websites, it says, "strong academic records, as evidenced by GRE scores (scores of at least 160 verbal, 152 quantitative and an analytical writing score of at least 4.5) " My scores all exceed those benchmarks, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to just submit them? I'm so torn.

I have the same question. Some schools say explicitly that it's optional and will not be held against you if you don't submit them, whereas others say "strongly preferred" or "recommended". I'm in the same boat as you (lower than average quant) and so I sent mine to the ones that said "strongly preferred" but not to ones where it is completely optional.

Not sure whether to submit my GRE scores when it is considered "optional". On the one hand, I am 97th percentile for verbal, but on the other hand, I am 48th percentile for quant. Any thoughts?

I would say no. I watched Mitch Prinstein's youtube video (I think someone linked to it here) and he said he wouldn't recommend sending them unless you are something like 76th percentile or above. Unless they will add something really positive to your application, don't send them.

Agreed, I'm scared haha

@justanotherbutterflyI totally get that and I am the exact same way! As long as you are polite and professional, I think that asking for clarification can only be a good thing, especially since it will help you to submit your application correctly.

@justanotherbutterflyI know there are some application portals that only notify your letter writers once you submit the application. I don't think it would hurt to reach out to the grad admissions coordinator.

From Loyola Chicago: "As is the case at many other schools, Loyola University Chicago is expecting an unprecedented financial deficit this Fall due to COVID-19 and the resulting enrollment drop in undergraduate freshmen. As such, our Provost has asked all PhD programs not to admit any new graduate students for Fall, 2021. Our Provost has re-assured all of us that our enrollments can go "back to normal" for Fall, 2022 and that we can take in a new class for Fall 2022. The Provost also informed us that there will be no reductions in stipends for any current or incoming students and no reductions in faculty. We are sorry that we will not be taking new students for Fall, 2021; please consider applying for Fall, 2022 if you do not enter a program in Fall, 2021. Good luck to you!"