Hi everyone,
I recently heard back in an informal email from a POI that I wouldn't be successful this cycle. I had spoken to him before applying and he was super thoughtful in the email to me this week. I might be reading too far into this, but it seemed he was implying that he and the other professor in the subfield tried to advocate on my behalf but were unsuccessful.
Just wanted to ask if it is common to hear back this way and if I can extrapolate anything from this situation as I wait for other decisions? Doesn't seem a great sign (if I'm reading this correctly) that I had two professors on board, but they weren't able to get my app off the ground.