ddot.

This is good to know, and something that I was pondering. An increase in applications does not entail an increase in competitiveness. Have hundreds of amazing applicants with several years of research experience just popped up out of nowhere? Maybe, but I agree that it does seem like the bulk of these applicants won't have much experience. Another point to ponder, if any of the schools people applied to did require GRE scores, these programs may be less competitive this year? Purely conjecture, but something to think about. One of the schools I applied to required the GRE, so I am hoping this program may have their usual number of applicants this year (or maybe even less applicants).