socialpsych

If funding is limited in a particular group which has sub-units--such as finance vs. marketing vs. OB in business school--I think they at least get to fight about the number of offers each one gets to make...

Yeah. I got in to one. I haven't heard the funding details yet, but if they're livable, I'll certainly go there if I don't get in anywhere else.

I would say your instinct is right: don't contact them. Now that they are reviewing your application, the ball is in their court. For complicated reasons I was thinking of asking to visit a nearby school where I had already had a phone interview and where on-campus interviews had not happened yet. I asked a prof whether this would be appropriate and he said, no, you can't ask to visit if on-campus interviews are by invitation. I think the same principle applies to your situation: at this stage, communication with potential advisors is by invitation, so you shouldn't contact them without an invitation. ETA: now that I think about it, I was also thinking of contacting a different POI with a somewhat less demanding request; I asked for advice from a different mentor of mine, and that person too said, no, you need to wait until they talk to you. So there seems to be some inter-rater reliability on this point. (:

Looks like they have been notifying people over a few days already? People seem to have been getting phone calls since Friday, including today. Don't give up yet...

OMG soooooo glad it's February. Never thought I'd be happy about February!

I've had two profs call me to request a phone interview. In one case it was my POI at that school; in the other case it was another prof on the adcom. One call was around 4:30pm in the school's timezone; one was around 1pm. I didn't answer the phone either time. Several people have advised me not to answer if it's an unknown or non-local number. They can always leave a message and that way it gives you a chance to think and prepare. A friend of a friend was caught off guard and answered the phone early in the morning before she'd quite woken up; they said "Do you have a few minutes to talk?", she said "Sure," and they proceeded to interview her! She hadn't had any time to prepare and apparently forgot what the school's theoretical orientation was, etc. etc. Was not invited to on-campus interview. Moral of the story: if you DO answer your phone, tell them you need to talk later! Last year a friend of mine got an acceptance phone call during class and actually ran outside to answer it. That was around 2:30 pm the school's time.

Yeah, I have now heard the same thing from someone who is actually involved in the process (vs. my previous post). Universities will want to fill their spots, but they also will not want to accept more candidates than they actually want to end up with (which they often do because yield is not 100%), due to the risk of ending up with too many students and not enough funding. So they will be more inclined to accept precisely as many as they want but have a bigger waitlist.

I don't think you can ever assume you're in until they tell you so. Sorry... :| Some schools will give all applicants a login name so that you can access your application status through their own website, or whatever. Hey, though, I hope it is a good sign! Good luck!

Oh noooo! Frosted Mini Wheats have been a staple for me throughout college! :cry:

Is the "vegetarian" category supposed to be mutually exclusive of all the others? Because...last I checked most cereal is vegetarian... :?

Princeton social psych! Someone posted an acceptance (Thurs) on the results, and someone else has been invited to interview. I am pessimistic.

Drpsych, was it you? If so, can I tell that other program we have discussed that you are no longer interested?

Who got in to Princeton???!!!!

If at all possible, ask profs or even grad students in your field rather than relying on these published rankings. I have been told that the rankings are notoriously bad and behind the times.

Glad to hear it! One prof who interviewed me was quick to assure me that she encouraged her students to collaborate with other profs. Apparently some profs tend to get a little jealous and possessive of their students. So your POI was probably just trying to reassure you that that would not be the case.

In general, I think you can't assume that different programs in the same dept will do things together/simultaneously. Maybe some do, but many seem not to.

I agree! Also, I am hoping to be in a similar situation as you, and I know what I'm going to choose. My top choice school is my undergrad institution (although not department), and it would allow me to work with many of the same people I've been working with for the past two years. Sometimes I feel tempted to move away, for the novelty of being somewhere else, but honestly I just love where I live right now and I know it always makes me sad to live anywhere else. So I definitely want to stay there if I can!

Can't be bad. Anytime they spend extra time talking to you personally, I think it's a good thing.

Ranking of subarea. For the same reason I would consider the ranking of the department over the ranking of the entire school! The subarea is where I'm going to be spending my time and where my degree will come from, and if I'm looking for an academic job in the same field, my sense is that's what people will judge me by.

Yeah. I'll speculate. I would guess that waitlists are probably pretty common. I only know much about the inner workings of one program, but it is a top program in the field and I think their yield is very high...also, it is a very small program with about 2 students per field per year. And they have a (short) waitlist. If they have one, I can't imagine what kind of program wouldn't. I did hear that one program tends to reject people who don't pre-commit to choosing the program if they get an offer (which is really crappy of that program :x ) so I could imagine that program not having a waitlist. But I think that's a special case.

Well...they made you an offer, right? They might be pissed at you, but the offer's still going to be there, so the door is open for you to explain yourself and reverse any damage. And it's possible no damage was done. I think it depends on the program. In psych especially, programs and profs really vary in whether they expect you to work exclusively with one person or whether you are expected to work with multiple people. If you did not know this program was particularly collaborative--or if your POI is lying and it's really not--then it was reasonable for you to assume that the one research fit with your POI was good enough. Ultimately I think your POI's response will be the surest sign as to whether you have screwed up! Why ask us? We don't actually know, and there is nothing you can do to change it now. :wink:

So I seem to be in the (yes, I know, very enviable!) position of having two conflicting visit/recruitment weekends. :? If you end up with this kind of conflict, how will you resolve it? Obviously, ceteris paribus, the school that is more important to you should get priority. But aside from that, how would you factor in: - whether you have already been accepted or not? / your chances of being accepted? - distance from where you are currently located? - ...anything else you would factor in? Argharghargh, so confused! Suggestions? Inspiration?

Yes. Which is odd--because I'm also feeling overwhelmed by the number I did apply to. So basically no number would have made me happy. I think 10 was about right for me, though.

The invites went out, what, yesterday afternoon? Give it another day or two. If you don't get one by the end of the week, it is probably time to start being a little less optimistic, but I think the consensus around here is that hearing nothing is slightly better than getting rejected...you could be on some kind of waitlist.

You might want to check the results. Looks like no: http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=yale+literature