Dean

I spoke with the professor in charge of the committee today, and he basically said they liked me, but that my undergrad GPA was below the Graduate Division minimum. So they were going to have to write some letters to justify my acceptance, and no one on the committee felt strongly enough to go to that trouble. Seems like you could at least write a letter after you've told someone you're already working on their financial package! And don't these programs all say how they look at applicants wholistically? Can my grades from 8-10 years ago really ouweigh that I'll have a JD, am an executive editor of our school's law journal, had a high GRE (according to this same professor) and have high school teaching experience? Let's hope they learned from this mess not to notify anyone in the future until it's set in stone.

Thought I should share my story for a little sympathy if nothing else. Applied to 10 sociology Ph.D programs. Received an unofficial email acceptance from UC-Riverside saying "Congratulations!" and that the admissions committee had recommended me for admission and were working on my financial package. Two weeks later (on 2/23/11), I heard from the same person at Riverside saying that upon further review, the committee had decided to rescind its recommendation for admission. The email said that although my GRE was high, my undergrad GPA was "ineligible" and my law school GPA was "justifiable," whatever that means. (I'll be graduating law school this May). Has anyone heard of other Ph.D acceptances, official or unofficial, being rescinded? If my undergrad GPA was ineligible for some reason (granted, it's from 2001-05 when I was not the most serious student), why would they have accepted me in the first place? Seems very unprofessional to basically tell people they're admitted and then do a complete 180 and take it all back a short time later. I'm still not over the sheer shock of that email.