otakupaul

Well so far ive heard from 3 of my 5 applications and they have all been rejections. While I try my best not to give up hope, what hope I have is waning fast as my remaining two applications are made up of 1 ivy leaguer and another well renowned private school. I just wanted to wish everyone the best of luck with their remaining applications, congratulations to those who got acceptances and my condolences and shared sympathies with those who are out of luck. I am sure that things will work out in their own way and better things may come of this but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone here, your support and ramblings have been a big help! Peace out Otakupaul

I've seen some wait listers for Fordham and the first result from the philosophy program at Villanova. Anyone willing to share how they were contacted and any other news on this years applications from these places?

If your recommender has work published and is an established academic then I don't think typos or grammatical errors will make any difference. Despite how harshly we students are graded and criticised, a lot of academics aren't particularly academic. Some of mine could barely use a computer, couldn't spell and could barely dress themselves. One of mine even asked me to proof read and spell-check his recommendation to me and it had me seriously worried he was dyslexic. I guess thats what TA's are for. I do however have the same worry as you. I found my relationships with my lecturers became quite strained at certain points (I often forget I need them for recommendations when speaking my mind), im more worried that they might have some negative criticisms of me and my work, I just hope that if they do they don't put it in my recommendation! Im hoping for some feedback but from what ive heard its not likely and I especially wouldn't imagine that they would rat out one of their own. The recommendations are the part of my application I worry most about really. just my 2 bits

Now I don't want to go as far as to call the fine institutions we are applying to liars, but I have been disturbed at the apparent gap between what these institutions say in their decision letters, and reality. For example, in my first rejection I was told that decisions are only sent by snail mail. The reality is that a number of people who received acceptances from the same College received notification by email. While I certainly would not want to accuse an institution of giving out incorrect information based on the results here at thegradcafe, it does not seem to be isolated to this one college. So, do you think the colleges justified in doing this? Is it defensible? Personally I do not like this. I was obviously not happy about receiving a rejection but I accepted it and continue to stay positive. I would rather be told the truth, no matter how ugly it is, rather than told something false. For example, if they said "sorry otakupaul you will have to wait for the letter." Thats fine, but to tell me they only send letters when they don't just seems like frustrating pampering. Maybe its to stop hissy fits but it just seems pointless to me. Whats your opinion?

Well even if our optimism won't change whether we get accepted or not we need to keep optimistic. I'm probably double-posting but if I hadn't received some crushing rejections in previous years I would not have met my fiance and would probably be doing my phd part time while still having to hold down a regular job, and most likely living with my parents well past 30. My whole life is different now because of some rejections and it just goes to show how its not the end if im not successful this year. In the eternal words of Forrest Gump... Life is like a box of chocolates... yada yada yada. Don't give up because sometimes what we need is more important than what we want and if we aren't successful this year, theres always next year. More importantly I know that unless I get banned from applying to grad school I will keep applying until I get in somewhere.

Well im a realist (in the philosophical sense); the attitude we take towards something will not affect its state or outcome. It is how it is regardless of what I think of it. I do believe that a positive attitude is crucial when we are doing things, why else apply to do a phd unless you believe that you can do it? But once we've done all we can and its out of our hands... well my hoping or not hoping / optimism or pessimism won't change a thing. Of course thats the hard thing, if you get pessimistic too early you might inadvertently ruin your chances, likewise if you get too optimistic you might find yourself in a tight spot if things don't go your way. But... I do find that having backup plans etc. is cynical, but I don't see an alternative. If I was a man of faith on the other hand I would believe on the strength of the absurd... but since im not ill just sit on my hands and wait.

I got my first rejection letter this weekend. It certainly wasn't my first choice but it has left me anxious as to what the grounds for rejection were. I find myself worrying now, is my GPA high enough? Have my GRE's let me down? If anything though im more worried about my LOR's. I asked them for some feedback but haven't received any and I doubt I will. I started wondering at first whether it was better to not hear from the places ive applied but I worry now that its a sign they are processing rejection letters and just waiting to get to mine. I want to email and inquire but I feel like there is nothing I can do. It is frustrating but I fully understand how you feel. You just have to make sure to remember that this is historically a bad time to be applying and you WILL have success. Take care and dont freak out too much.

Congratulations on the acceptance! Sadly it did turn out to be a rejection letter. It would have been preferable to have been told "sorry we don't have the time to reply to queries" rather than "we only send letters" which is false. I guess that means a lot of the results for these programs are correct then, just seemed like some of them notified earlier than I had initially expected. I hope it works out for you at BC.

I saw the posted result but if it is true it contradicts the message I got from BC wasnt true because it means 1) they notify applicants by means other than snail mail, and 2) decisions were not made the day they said they were. Unless of course it was just that my application received its decision on the day they said they were, but I would imagine that they made decisions all at the same time. That is assuming the result on the board is not made up... I'm more inclined to think that it is. I don't have access to Agora as I am a Furrener, but I saw the update on my web application status check.

Have any of you received your decision letters yet? I, too, applied to BC and after emailing them and checking the online application forms found out following: On the online app: BC GRAD A+S DECISION LETTER 02/25/2009 and the email: A decision was made yesterday, and a letter was mailed to your local address. Due to university policy, I am unable to disclose the decision. You should receive your decision letter shortly. My fear is that this is a rejection letter, but according to the email they only notify people by post. Is this true? Will they send acceptances and wait lists by snail mail or do they email/phone those people? My GRE's weren't that great but i felt that my other interests matched the department well. Hopefully I can get some feedback if I am rejected. Any news from the rest of you BC applicants?

Have this years decisions, on average, been made earlier than in previous years? I'm making another attempt to try and make sense of all of this and just wondered whether I should be prepared to wait this out until the end of April, say, or whether I should reasonably expect all of my decisions sometime in March. Any thoughts?

I'm interested in knowing what could possibly strengthen my application for the next time. If I am unsuccessful with this round of applications I will then work on getting a teaching job if I can. I will also retake my GRE's. I would like to be able to take some more courses but I don't have the money for that right now, though if I was offered a funded Ma position I would take it so that I could get new LOR's and maybe boost my US GPA. Also, I will do my best to get access to a research library so I can try to get some papers finished and published and try to get some papers I can present. I will definitely be reapplying for next year and will hopefully be better prepared to apply to more than the 5 I applied for this year. I will be moving to America soon and marrying my fiance so even if I don't get in I have a lot of great things to look forward to. Oh and I want to get an Old English Sheepdog puppy which I will call Sir Lancelot.

I can really empathise with the OP with all of what was said. I used to be such a chilled out person but gradually ive found that as I become more involved and have more at stake financially and emotionally in academia I have become a lot more anxious and have myself suffered panic attacks. A lot of it began in my undergrad, I was just floating by and expecting a fairly OK grade then found myself getting very good marks. I then felt a lot of pressure to maintain this performance and was given a lot of support from my lecturers to pursue postgrad study (which added to the pressure) and found myself cockily assured that I was going to get funding and would do well (in the UK funding is hard to secure and there is one public body you can apply to for humanities). It was pretty crushing when I got rejected and it took me some time to get over that. I would just cry randomly and found myself getting panicked and rushing home. I managed to self-fund my masters but during that time, because of the pressure, stress, isolation, and a lot of conflicts I had with fellow students and lecturers, it got worse. It has been a trial by fire though because although I have seen the ugly side of academia there is nothing else I want to do and I know it will all be worth it in the end, especially if I can appreciate how hard the whole process is for my students and help them. Thankfully nowadays im a lot more chilled out again but I do annoy my gf with how often I check email and websites. Theres no harm in getting help to ease the stress but take faith and reassurance from the fact you have one acceptance already and there will be more to come.

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I applied to five grad programs in Philosophy this year; Boston College, Syracuse, Fordham, Villanova and Columbia, and so far I haven't heard a thing (or not a sausage as we say in England). Is this normal? A lot of other people seem to have had at least one rejection or news from the programs they have applied to. Is it just that the ones I've picked make decisions later in the year? Anyone else in the same boat and not heard anything? Good luck to those still waiting, I hope you get into the programs you want. Who will be next to get in? (also, is it me or is the results section not very trustworthy? seems like a lot of random results turn up on their own that don't fit with the overall application process)

Sadly in the UK I have been rejected from receiving funding three years in a row. The first time was the worst because I was close to the cutoff (the AHRC give your application a rating) and was so sure I would get it. The second two were not much easier, the third was perhaps worse because they changed the system and I didn't even get put forward. However! Because of these rejections I ended up meeting my fiance and I have just applied for some PhD programs in America. It actually feels like things have worked out better. So don't worry if you get rejected, I know its hard but you only fail when you stop trying. The moral of the story? I think this chinese fable sums it up: http://chineseculture.about.com/library ... 291999.htm