liszt85

This is indeed a paranoid question This year, people say the competition has been fierce. That coupled with the economic crisis has led to many excellent candidates being turned down. I got an email from a top Psychology program rejecting me but the professor who I wanted to work with emailed me before the grad school could send me a rejection letter. She said that she was writing to make sure that this point was driven home: that she really tried her best to get me there and that she sincerely wanted to work this out. We had research ideas that matched well. She said that she was however unable to find funding from the state of California and hence a rejection letter might be on the way that may not inform me about the precise reason and that I had no reason to worry that I could have done anything differently and that my application was just fine. So she just wanted to make sure that I knew that this rejection was based on purely financial reasons. So what I'm trying to say here is that if you were waitlisted and have now been offered a fully funded place, you are as good as the rest! It must surely have been a tough decision for them to decide on who was to go to the waitlist and who was to go to the first tier. So please put such thoughts out of your head and be proud of your achievement! Good luck,

Rightly said. My 780 was only a 90%. So what you call a "stellar" quant score must be a 790 or 800. Lesser than that isn't really stellar. If however your program doesn't tend to look at quant scores too seriously, a 720 might work just fine as well. Anything below 700 in my opinion is a poor quant score. Also like the others said, if you include just a line in your SOP explaining that bad semester and then clearly mention how you've grown since then, mentioning all your important and relevant research activities and publishing experience, it should do just fine. I've had one AWFUL semester. I got 2 F's and my GPA (called CPI here) was once upon a time a dismal 5.2/10. Those were core engineering courses which I abhorred. Then I entered the departmental phase and did well in Physics and my GPA rose to 7.0/10 which for my university is a decent score (not too good either!) but what got me accepted into two very good programs (and awaiting one more for which I'd received an informal +ve email) was my research experience and the paper I'd submitted for publication as first author. My writing samples also helped (a very good term paper on which I'd worked really hard). So if such an academic record doesn't matter in the long run, yours shouldn't either. I have to say though that my grades were responsible for rejections from the top schools (Berkeley, McGill (my first choice)). All of those professors wrote positive things about my research work but said that I couldn't win funds from the university because my grades posed a problem. So you may now decide if you want to retake that class.

I agree with the above. When he asks you for reasons, I'd advise you not to say "I was pressed for time due to ... and hence..", rather say something like "I do not know what got into me, I've never cheated before. I don't expect you to believe that, but I take full responsibility and promise never to do this again. I'm willing to accept any punishment that you deem fit for this behavior of mine. I am all the more ashamed of myself since I also serve as a TA and have set a bad example." Own up to your mistake and brace yourself for the worst. Normally, people do appreciate honesty and the willingness to accept mistakes. So let this also be a way of showing him that you intend to be an honest person now on. Anyway, that is what I'd have done in your place.

How would you compare the Psychology departments of the Ohio State University and McMaster University? I couldn't find a ranking list on which both schools occur as McMaster is in Canada. Assuming that research interests fit more or less at both places and based solely on reputation, which one would you opt for? Also could you tell me how well regarded OSU's program is within the US?

I don't really know about France but I'm guessing interviews everywhere, including France, will be in English! Don't know about your other queries though. I guess you should just explain to them what you just did to us

Fastest Acceptance: 23 days Latest one: 3.5 months after the deadline.

And yes, KaKirsten, could you please drop me a message with your impressions about the place when you come back from your visit? That's my only way of getting to know about the campus and the academic atmosphere there as I cannot visit (I'm from India).

That's awesome Kakirsten!! Congratulations! The university fellowship is very prestigious. My funding is different, I was awarded a "Departmental fellowship" which is not really a fellowship. Have to do RA/TA duties for all five years but I have no complaints OSU would become my first choice over Northwestern Linguistics IF the stipend they offer me is good enough to support two people in Columbus (as I intend to bring along my spouse and would be supporting the two of us solely on my stipend). The Northwestern stipend is good but not good enough for two people in Chicago which is a rather expensive place. I do not know if my stipend would be comparable to yours, it might be much lesser, but I hope not too much lesser. Would you mind sharing your funding amount with me through PM? Its just to make a comparison. I've had a few others share with me their amounts and it is all to the tune of ~$20K. If yours is somewhat the same, I might safely be able to assume that I'd get something similar, and if that happens, its a pretty good amount for two people to live off on comfortably in Columbus and OSU would then become my top choice.

Thank you, rebeccafav!

I love that program too but the Northwestern stipend is not sufficient to support two people on it I plan to take my spouse with me and I'd be supporting her too on just this stipend. She would be on a F2 visa and would not allowed to work in the US. The stipend of $20.5K in Chicago before taxes is just cutting it too close. (That's about $1500 pm after taxes. A 1BR apartment costs $800-900 in the cheaper areas. We'd be left with $500-600 for our monthly expenses which is crazy). Its a real pity.. I am greatly drawn to their program, its a really good one and perfectly tailored to my interests too

A few professors who saw my application were very interested in my background as they did work that required a certain kind of expertise that I happened to have due to my previous research work in pretty similar areas and I'd also published as first author on a topic that they found quite interesting. So they interviewed me via skype and probably found that I was good enough for their purposes and then decided to re nominate me for the departmental fellowships but the deal here was that one of the profs would now fund me for two years out of his own research grants while the dept pays for the remaining 3 years. So out of this 5 year departmental fellowship title that they claim to have awarded me, I think 2 years out of those is purely from the research grants of that professor. So that's the story. I had established contact with this professor many months back and had written to him asking about some other research interest of mine but he took a look at my CV and asked me if I would mind working on his kind of research and I found it quite alright and agreed. So that helped as well. He then wrote to me saying that I had been rejected at the first instance but that he could support me through his research grants if I wished. That was how this was taken forward from there. So though this is under the name "departmental fellowship", some of my activities are bound to be restricted due to the source of a good chunk of that funding, which is the prof's research grants. So I will be expected to work on those projects. So the remaining students of the dept probably have a better deal than I do, but what the heck, I was rejected and they got me back up and those projects are pretty interesting as well! So I'm not complaining Now I need help with choosing between Ohio State University Psychology and Northwestern Linguistics. That's the difficult part. Assuming that research interests fit more or less equally at both places, what would you guys have done in my place?

This probably means that they haven't made a final decision yet but when it will be made, there's a very bright chance that you'd be admitted. Relax and wait..hopefully it should be good news. Good luck! As for my Friday the 13th, I received an acceptance email from a university (which had initially outright rejected me ), with a five year departmental fellowship (RA and TA combinations). Long story.

Can international students on F1 visas buy a place too? I'm really curious. Say there is this place that costs 75K, how would I go about making the payments? I don't exactly understand this business of downpayments, mortgage, etc. BAck at our place, you pay the 75K and get the place. Could someone please explain the process to me?

Research interest fit well at both places, which one would you opt for: 1) OSU Dept of Psychology OR 2) Northwestern Dept of Linguistics and why?

I got accepted finally with a five year departmental fellowship (combination of TA and RA). Don't have information about the amount yet. If other people in the cognitive psychology area who have been awarded the same fellowship (departmental fellowship), please do PM me the amount that has been offered. Thanks!

I've been sleeping six hours a night (or sometimes lesser) for the past several years now :|

I guess.. He had initially told me that as much as they want me to come, they understand that I'd have to respect external constraints. Then he again sent me an email: Dear liszt85, One last message before I leave town. I re-read your message several times, thinking about the amount of money you've calculated would be available. On deeper reflection, this amount of money is clearly insufficient to support two people. This is not surprising, as the stipend is meant to provide modest support to a single individual. I would strongly recommend that you do not try to support yourself and your wife on our stipend. It will not be a good situation for either of you. If this prevents you from coming to our program, I do believe that's for the best. Thanks again for your compliments on our program, but it is critical that these other factors be taken into account. best So I think that was a frank evaluation of the situation that he gave me so that I could make a well informed choice. NU has been thoroughly professional and was one of my top choices. I have to however arrange for some personal funds if I'm to make this work. Mom's very generously trying to sell off some ancestral property to help me with this! I'm also awaiting a funding decision from OSU and McMaster. Hope one of them offers me a slightly better financial deal.

You're welcome, but nobody else seems to be keen. Anyway, feel free to PM me if you have questions.

My surname starts with a S. This is the response I'd received from the professor: Dear S, Thank you for your e-mail and patience. Invitations for interviews have gone out to selected applicants. Further official communication from Graduate Studies at UC Davis is forthcoming. Regards, This, most probably, means a rejection is on the way and that the grad school is taking its own sweet time to update the status page. I wonder why he wouldn't tell me directly as some professors from other places did. They probably have a policy that doesn't let them convey this information via email. So far, the theories that llcooln6 has come up with, make sense.

One of my batchmates got accepted by the Maryland biophysics program a long time back, around the end of Jan-beginning of Feb. Its possible you might be on some waitlist if they haven't already sent you a rejection notification. That should be considered positive, in my opinion, because I believe they may have sent out some rejections too, can't be sure though. Good luck!

The application site says no decision yet. Has anybody heard from UCD yet?

Well, I guess then that Northwestern really doesn't want me then, because they said "There's absolutely no possibility for additional funds" to my query. :|

If you, like me, have no savings to speak of and have to rely solely on your stipend to support your SO and yourself, I guess the amount of financial support becomes of utmost importance. (I am seriously stumped on whether to go to McMaster (or OSU) Psychology instead of Northwestern Linguistics because of this factor though I believe I would enjoy the work at Northwestern a tiny bit more than the other two). If you do not have the above concern like I do, the only question that remains is the research fit. Before that, I would ask my SO about her preference too (based on what kind of lifestyle she'd enjoy more). So that's my $0.02 You might also want to consider job prospects. Would UCLA be a bigger name in your field? UCLA is a big name in almost all fields.. so you may want to consider that as well.

Now I planned to take my recommender out to dinner but she told me that she was planning to take me out and hang out sometime before I leave the place! Now I'm stumped as to how to show my appreciation. She wrote recommendations, shortlisted universities for me, advised me throughout the application process and now is even taking me out to dinner. I really would like some advise on what else I could do to show her my appreciation now that dinner is out of the question I was planning on booking a houseboat (google to see what it looks like) trip for her if she were to come down to Kerala, which is a beautiful place and where I intend to get married but she said she might not be able to attend my wedding.

This is weird!! "In the middle of reviewing your application" and an "acceptance package" simply don't go together :| I would cautiously regard this as an acceptance though.