MinervasOwl

Is anyone else out there now getting cold feet at the thought of drastically changing your life, moving, committing to a new place, new people and a new kind of life for 5-7 years? I am swinging between panicking that I won't get in anywhere and not knowing how I would handle that and wondering if maybe I'd be better off finding something else to do, staying in my own city with my old friends, haunts and habits. Then back to panicking again. I interviewed at my top choice program last week and haven't heard back- that probably means I am not getting in right? oooooooooooooooh

yeah, same here, my estimated score was a lot higher than the scaled score above- its all about the percentiles.

Hahahahha I asked the magic 8 ball if I would go to uni this year and it said absolutely not so just for fun I asked "Will I ever die?" 8 ball says absolutely Not- I guess I'm going to become a vampire instead of getting a PhD. Terrific.

My POI at one of the programs I applied to wants to chat "casually" on Skype this week, he says this will be an opportunity for me to ask any questions I might have about the program. I don't but now I feel I should have at least one or two. What do I do? What kind of questions do people have about programs? YIKES- I'm so nervousssssss- please help.

since I'm one of the 3.9 GPA 1310 GRE score people freaking out on this forum, let me clarify. Last year I thought I was a shoe in when I applied- but I didn't get in at any of the US schools I applied to- I should mention that last year my GRE scores were 1150. But I think its a little more complex- it really has a great deal to do with fit- if you're proposing to do research that is interesting and relevant to one or more Professors at your school of choice and if those Professors happen to not be on sabbatical and happen to be accepting PhDs to supervise then your chances are great. The stats I feel are probably used as a base line weed out so maybe people with a lower than 1000 GRE scores get culled in the first round. I've also heard the scores are only useful for the schools in the last steps of the process when they're choosing one over another candidate or trying to justify why you deserve funding.

Yes it has happened to me a lot. It doesn't mean anything, last year I saw LSE bumper stickers, T-Shirts etc, all over the place, I still never found the funding to go. Also, once I was flirting with this guy, and I used to see his name everywhere, on hoardings, in the news papers, in movies, we didn't end up going out. I think since these places are in the forefront of your mind you're just picking them out of your environment more often than you normally would.

This happened to me last year- rejections from all 3 funded programs I applied to. No funding at the one place I did get into, went through a painful process applying for every scholarship I heard off- didn't get any of them. Took my GREs again, rewrote sops changed one recommender and trying again this year. If it still doesn't work out then this is not my path- I don't know yet what else could be so am hoping it will work this year. Best of luck- think positive.

So according to the results pages UMadison typically sets up its interviews by the first week of Jan. I sent my contact a season's greetings message some time ago and he said you'll be hearing from us soon- that was ages ago- I'm so anxious. Do people get accepted without interviews or does no interview call pretty much mean you're not in This is my second year applying. Stats : GPA 3.9 GRE 1370

Hi, I applied to Northwestern but my deadline was 1st December- (phd Communication) It was nice getting it out of the way

I never got a reply from Stanford either and ended up not applying- although, that's partly because I'm strapped for funds and can't afford to apply to too many places so I chose places I had heard back from. That said, I think some universities might have a policy of not replying

I'm applying again this year- wish me luck. The loan option someone mentioned was not viable because I'm from Pakistan and if you convert the 13000 pounds a year tuition into Pakistani currency, that's roughly a mid to upper level management professional's salary for a whole year. It's roughly twice the price of my car and its enough to pay rent on a 2 bedroom house for 2 and a half years just trying to put the figure in perspective.

I'm worried about the same thing except I was really silly and ordered reports for a 1st dec deadline on thanksgiving day- they still havent gone- I doubt they'll make the deadline

Just wanted to add that one professor I spoke to recommended that if its been a while since you got in touch with some professor at a program then you should re-write to them just as you're about to apply- touch base etc. Two professors I had written to earlier continued to show warm interest. Fingers crossed.

Hi, This is the second year I am applying to PhD programs. Last year I was not too smart and only applied to places like UPenn. I got into LSE- but didn't get funded and I got rejected at my 2 other applications. This year I was trying to be clever- get more of a spread in and apply to as many places as my meager pocket will allow so this year its UPenn again (I have better GREs this year with v165 q153) Yale Northwestern George Washington Madison Wisconsin Rutgers McGill Arizona and I'm thinking about UVA but am not sure - the website is not very appealing- but I did get a nice friendly email response from one faculty member Are any of these safety schools at all? I just don't want another year of rejections all around- I dunno what I would do. And since I'm an international student I don't know where I can find out about the competitiveness levels for these schools

Hi, I applied to 4 places last year, got into just one but couldnt go as they don't really fund you in the UK. I was majorly disappointed not to have gotten in anywhere in the US because my Masters is from an American Uni. Anyhow, this year I thought maybe I should write to some professors with similar research interests before I apply. I've gotten pretty encouraging responses, or at least I think they're encouraging- are they just being polite? One prof said he strongly encouraged me to apply and hoped he could work with me sometime but didn't have any influence on admissions- but he forwarded my mail to the admissions director who forwarded to another faculty member Another prof forwarded my email to several colleagues, one of whom wrote to me instantly introducing me to another colleague. A third prof said I had an interesting profile and one of my interest areas was not compatible with the school but another one was. what shall I make of this? Are they being polite, or should I be more hopeful of better results this year in the admission struggle?

Thanks everyone, hugs back at ya all too, I ate an entire box of chocolates earlier so those are holding me through this. I keep telling myself I did my best and now my path must also choose me.

so I got two rejections and one acceptance sans funding. That leaves one decision to go and no big hopes. I only applied to 4 because I couldn't afford to pay for more than that and honestly it was hard enough wringing timely recommendation letters from my professors for 4 places when I'm several continents (or at least a few continents) away and could only request via email. So, I'm currently working as a teacher and the place where I work said I either had to get a phd or get out and now I'm thinking I need a plan B. Any ideas? Anyone else out there have a plan B or thinking about coming up with a plan B?

just got another rejection- maybe its time to consider an alternate career- just don't know what that could possibly be

I got an offer from LSE but I don't know how I'm going to pay for it so I'm hoping some funding will come through otherwise I'm waiting to hear from my other places.

So UPENN rejected me- I feel pretty awful and as my other 2 unis will also do the same I got into one place but without funding so I really hope something will work out. One of the places I'm waiting on- their website says that successful candidates will receive a phone call- does that include international candidates? Has anyone heard from Steinhardt?

Hi, so I've seen some posts on the internet from people who went to NYU and are complaining that the funding was horrible and the place was very unwelcoming- suddenly I feel so unsure about applying- anyone out here have any experience with the Univ?

Hi, I'm applying this year. Whats it like? Is it ridiculously tough to get in.