gradcafe26

I didn't apply to a couple of schools last year because, via email correspondence, I learned that certain professors that I'm interested in are moving/retiring. So in my case, contacting POIs helped me to save some money. But I agree that it won't boost your chance of getting in.

Will decline Toronto as well, good luck to waitlisters.

^Still waiting for a few schools and will post after my cycle is over. Thanks for your sharing in the profiles and results thread.

I'm in a similar situation, but I won't wait for another year because the weaker aspects of my application are unchangeable things like undergrad university (unknown, international) and GPA, plus I don't think I can publish in a real journal or get an MA in Statistics by the end of 2014... But if I were you, I would check on three things before taking the risk of reapplying. First, I assume you aren't telling them your true plan, so find out under what circumstances they will grant you the deferral. Second, ask adcom members why they rejected you, which may or may not include the two issues you mentioned. Third, read the profiles of people who got Harvard and Stanford this cycle and evaluate whether your application can be more competitive than theirs in one or two years (admission gets harder each year, doesn't it?) Good luck, and congratulations on the offers you already have!

...

Toronto here

Thank you very much BFB!

I did contact quite a few POIs regarding that question, and my experience is that, 30% POIs no response, 40% POIs say this is not your concern (and from their tone I sensed that this question is indeed presumptuous), 30% POIs say yes I’m taking students, looking forward to your application. But this is just my impression based on a small n, BFB’s insights would be greatly appreciated.

Of course you don't include X in the list you give X. The previous comment that "don't put X at the end of the list you provide them" confused me a bit as well, but I thought that was an obvious misunderstanding and ignored it. Aside from that, the question remains the same.

“I am fairly sure adcom members, once they read your SoP and see your GRE scores, will be able to easily figure out which other schools you are applying to.” Makes sense, thanks.

Any other suggestions? I'm sure it would be helpful to many applicants this year. Suppose the school list does somehow affect admission, what is our optimal strategy? For instance 10 schools on my school list, ordered by ranking: 1,2,3,4,X,5,6,7,8,9. Program x asks for my school list, I should a. ignore the question b. give them the full list c. something like 1,2,3,4,X d. something like X,5,6,7,8 e. something like 3,4,X,5,6 f. (from TheGnome) a sample of schools that you are applying to - one or two higher ranked, X, and one or two lower ranked. g. ???

Why?

I was just ordering them according to program rankings available to the public, it says little about dept strength in my areas of interest.

Thanks for all the inputs here. I can't agree with #7, because at least for UNC, they ask you to send your school list to the DEPT in a SEPARATE email. So it matters for the dept (thus admission?), but I just don't know how. Let me divert the conversation a bit: suppose the school list does somehow affect admission, what is our optimal strategy? For instance 10 schools on my school list, ordered by ranking: 1,2,3,4,X,5,6,7,8,9. Program x asks for my school list, I should a. ignore the question b. give them the full list c. something like 1,2,3,4,X d. something like X,5,6,7,8 e. something like 3,4,X,5,6 f. ?

I saw this at the UNC website, and encountered similar questions on my school list while filing out online applications for other programs. Anyone has any idea why this information is "most helpful to the department"? Does it affect admission at all? Thanks a lot!