socialpsych

I really don't want to sound harsh, but I think there are at least three potential problems with the way you're thinking about this. 1. People grow a lot during graduate school. Maybe your classmate will go on to do great on the job market and be a well respected researcher in his field. When you're judging the grad school, that's what really matters, not how he looks when he comes in. 2. Even if you're right that your classmate had no business being accepted, you shouldn't dismiss the program that accepted him without knowing more about the students as a whole. If, hypothetically, you were in the same field, I would advise you to reserve judgment until you've talked to multiple students in the program or (preferably) visited. If you feel like you don't fit in socially and don't respect several of them, that could be a problem (with your fit with the program, if not with the program per se). However, if there is just one person you feel this way about, don't worry about it. 3. However, those considerations aren't relevant given that you're not even in the same field! Even if the program that accepted this guy is a dud, that has no bearing whatsoever on the reputation of your program. Don't make the mistake of judging the prestige of the university as a whole, because, since you're a grad student, that isn't what matters anymore. It's about prestige within your field now.

Last year, I ended up withdrawing from 6 out of 10 schools at some point before I got an official yes or no (a few were after an interview). It was fine even at the time, but having seen a bit of the other side of this whole process, let me tell you that schools would LOVE any info whatsoever about whether you are actually still interested. So, this is definitely a good idea and no one will be offended whatsoever, as long as you send a reasonably worded email.

Last year I felt like I'd have a hard time answering this question, but a year later I'm pretty sure that networking is a huge part of it. Having LORs from famous people will definitely get your app considered seriously, as long as your GRE/GPA are good enough.

I transferred during undergrad and I don't think grad programs even batted an eye. It shouldn't be a problem at all. As for GPA, I calculated them separately for each school, and listed them separately on my GPA. I can't remember whether I ever needed to report just a single undergrad GPA, but if so, I probably just took an average since I was at each school for 2 years.

Last year, I heard from 4/5 of my business school programs in the last two weeks of February. Don't worry yet.

Yes, they will reimburse you, as others have said. About the hotel: it sounds to me like the school will be paying, but it doesn't hurt to ask the prof just to make sure you're absolutely clear.

Personally, my experience with stats has been somewhat different from many of you. We have 2 required courses in my program and I actually enjoyed them both (for the most part). They were time consuming, but not soul-sucking by any means. The prof teaching the course was super nice and committed to helping us understand the material, and to my taste he explained things very clearly, though I think some other students felt differently...still, as far as I know everyone passed. And the TAs were certainly willing to put in the time to get everyone to understand the material. I think of data analysis as my favorite part of the research pipeline (I probably did before I took the classes, but even more so now) and I want to take more advanced stats. All that said, other students in my program and related programs that use the same stats courses do sometimes complain about the courses and report experiences more like "[made] my brain hurt." I think the prof's lecturing style may have been more effective for people like me who felt fairly confident of basic stats and comfortable dealing with numbers, than for others whose basic stats knowledge may have been less (or more rusty). To clarify, I don't think I'm someone who would enjoy and do well in stats in any case; the class was actually taught well, it's just that it was optimized for people who already knew some stats. I also don't mean to say that anyone who found stats difficult didn't have a good foundation to begin with. I'm sure there are a lot of grad stats classes that are just inherently frustrating and awful. But, no, it's not a universal experience.

Congratulations! Why exactly are you hesitant to commit? Is it because you're not sure these programs are even in the running, or because you fear time conflicts? Either way, I would recommend going if you are available during those weekends, even if they are not within your top 2-3 choices. First, because your preferences could change once you start visiting, and second, because it's just a really valuable experience to go on those visits and meet people (faculty, current students, other admits -- all of whom will be your colleagues in a few years' time). If there is really no chance you'd attend a program, don't waste time and money by going...but if there is a greater than zero percent chance, you should go.

I know, right? The internet situation in Vegas is ridiculous! Did you enjoy the conference?

You too, JSocial? Wow, that's a lot of morality folks applying this year!

Nope, I had a few interviews initiated by the program last year, and that's about how those went, too.

For future reference, you can still equivocate in that situation. Say you have not yet visited school X (or the questioner's school), or that you aren't thinking quite at that level yet given that you haven't seen the details of the offers, etc. In other words, pin your indecision on ANY information that you don't yet have. If you have more nerve than I do, I could also imagine saying something like, "I was under the impression that I had until April 15th to make those kinds of decisions! Am I wrong?" ...but that definitely requires more nerve than I have.

Educated guess: This forum? Absolutely not. Facebook? Quite possibly if you're short-listed, especially if they're trying to gauge your interest/other options. Otherwise, no.

Your own moral standards are up to you, but you might want to check in with an advisor or someone to make a game plan. I wouldn't be surprised if it were possible to damage your advisor's/letter-writers' reputations by saying something like "I would definitely go if admitted" and then not going.

This seems suspect to me. I completely believe that the GRE quant doesn't explain much variance in student performance, because the distribution is so skewed, but that doesn't mean it isn't important to do well; it might even be more important, if, for example, so many people have 800s that the only way in is 750 or up.

Quite possibly, but don't take it personally if they don't. Some programs make a policy of not accepting their own undergrads, because of the problems associated with having all of one's training from the same place. If there is no such policy, on the other hand, you may have an advantage.

Yeah. Happened to me a few times. It's really unfair, but you should try not to say anything concrete about your chances. Something like "I am definitely very excited about the possibility of studying here," and add as needed (concrete reasons why you're excited; reassurance that it's not a safety school; explanation that you're still collecting info about what your options will be, but this program remains one of your favorites, or something). I would be comfortable being pushed to say any given program would be "one of my top choices" (one of how many top choices?) but I strenuously avoided telling any school that they were my top choice, until the point where I had a clear top choice in mind (and told that school right away). And if they ask you for a subjective probability...I'm stumped. That happened to me last year and I just folded -- I withdrew my application right away. This particular school had been really aggressive and I couldn't do it anymore. I had almost made up my mind (to go to a different program) when the question came up, though, so it didn't matter to me as much, but I don't know what I would have done if it had ACTUALLY been important to me to get that offer. Guess I would have just gone ahead and given them a high probability! Ugh, I can understand why schools would want to know this before making an offer, but I don't know how it doesn't seem awfully unfair to them. I mean...you applied there! You paid an application fee, and you haven't withdrawn your application! You may not even know at this point whether you're going to have any other offers! Of course you're going to do whatever you can to get an offer. It's just testing your conscience against your anxiety about your chances elsewhere, essentially, which seems like a terrible idea.

Too forward. If your POI gets to take a student this year, that person will be involved in the process anyway and will stick up for you as much or as little as s/he sees fit. To make an explicit request might seem pushy.

Good luck getting sympathy for that. (:

There must have been threads about this before, but I just wanted to speak up as a person who will have bachelor's and PhD degrees from the same school (different departments/programs). True, some grad programs won't even take their own undergrads, and you should take seriously the danger of looking like you are only familiar with one approach to things, but it is not a black-and-white issue. My program is the top program in my field and I have an unusually great research fit with the professors here, so pretty much everyone, even at other schools, expected that I would stay here -- and few tried to tell me it was a bad idea simply because it was my undergrad. Also, if you start out already knowing a few of the profs in your program and feeling comfortable with their working styles, that can ease the transition and help you get started doing research sooner. And if that's the difference between an extra first-authored paper in a top journal, and nothing...I'd think it would at least somewhat balance out the damage to your CV . Again, none of this is to say that the "inbreeding" worry isn't real, but there are tradeoffs. It's not like you should NEVER return to your undergrad school. Of course, I won't know for sure how bad an idea this was until I go on the job market, but I'll keep you posted. (:

Yeah, I would reserve judgment until then. A lot of things could be going on. Professors are busy and don't always follow through. Even if you did mess up, the best thing you can do now is probably not dwell on it and try to make the best impression you can going forward.

Well...shamelessly but within reason. You don't want to make it sound too deliberate or over-the-top.

Huge help, in my experience.

Don't say anything you don't mean, but don't make explicit reference to waiting for other schools or give a time table. Does the school have a visit day? If so, that might give you something to be totally positive about (assuming you're planning to go). Or do you have any plans to talk to anyone from the program? Or did the DGS offer this opportunity? Those are all good things to refer to in order to take the pressure off responding directly to the offer. Otherwise, "I'm very excited about the possibility of working with you" seems acceptable (maybe not the stuff about exploring further...). And yes, in any case, you should DEFINITELY reply.

I'm going even though I'm not presenting...just to get out there and show my face. It is a bit different for me, though, since people will probably remember me marginally better than a prospective student, given that they can associate me with my program -- and since I met a bunch of people through interviews last year. I didn't go last year, but I get the sense that the networking possibilities might have helped a bit. However, it might not be worth a plane ticket and a hotel room, if you are coming from far away. If it's driving distance, seems like it could be a good idea. If you've had any contact with your POIs so far, I'd think it could be appropriate to email them and ask whether they or their collaborators will be giving any talks or posters.