snake400

Attending: The Ohio State University Reason: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Wow. So many people are trying to make this work. I hope you can all find happiness wherever you all end up. It is a nerve-wracking time trying to do all this with someone else in mind. I am graduating in May and starting a PhD in the fall. My girlfriend of 3 years and I just broke up in november (nothing to do with the future/grad school, something unrelated), and I quickly got involed with someone else (rebound, I know, I know). After doing our thing for a while, but not actually dating, we finally sat down to discuss the future, as based on my choice of potential schools, we would be quite far from each other. We basically both said we would want to date, but the situation is not ideal right now. It seems like whatever it is we have is gonna have to end. It hurts to give up something that makes you happy, but we dont have nearly enough history to guide us through anything of such a long distance. I know we are handling it like adults and making mature decisions, but it just sucks to know you had to turn your back on someone you know you can be happy with. So i wish you all luck, and pray that everything works out. For others however, you have to realize it might be more trouble than its worth.

Well, my waiting is finally over. Maryland sent me a nice email today informing me I have been placed on the waiting list. They had over 200 applicants this year, for a cohort of 15. You deserve to be very proud regarding your acceptance there! In the next few days, I'll shoot them an email asking about the size of the list, is it ranked, ect. Because waiting lists can be very tricky. People tend to wait until very late in the game to accept/decline offers (judging from the amount of confused people on this website, this is definitely true), meaning an offer from Maryland may come after the April 15th deadline. By then, I will have accepted another offer. So it makes sense to see what their deal is with the wait list, and if I have any chance of receiving an offer before signing day. But at this point, UMD looks very unlikely. At least I know that my application was one of the very best that didn't make it. Oh, and I saw all the chaos regarding Penn and their decision making... best of luck to you.

Yeah I definitely feel you on the waiting tension, but you did well to get an offer from UMD. That is a highly ranked program, and one you can succeed in. The program appeals to me for a few reasons. First, I applied to programs all over the country, as you can see from my sig, and UMD is the closest to my hometown. I'm a born and raised New Yorker, going to school currently in Philly, so I've been purely east coast my whole life. My other top choices, Notre Dame and Ohio State, are pretty far away, so the close proximity of Maryland to home is definitely appealing. Secondly, for my specialty, Maryland is very strong in Stratification. If you look at their course offerings, they have a wide variety of course offerings in strat and the faculty do a ton of work with race and ethnicity. I'm hoping to study stratification with an eye towards urban soc and cultures of the ghetto, and i think that matches up well with some of the work they do. Of course, all these things are fairly specific, my home and my specialty, so I don't know if all this means anything to you. But that's why I like UMD, and am anxiously waiting to hear. Like you said, not too many acceptances have been reported, so I doubt that all acceptances have gone out. No news is good news, right? Visit day is at the end of the month, so just like you, I'm hoping that I ain't reading this the wrong way and I'll be getting a letter soon. UMD has a strong program, you mentioned that you were worried about your fit in it? what exactly are you looking to study? It seems like they have a broad reach with the things they study. And best of luck with everything you still waiting on.

hey, congrats on getting into Maryland. That is one of my top three choices, and it remains the only school that I am waiting to hear from. Just out of curiosity and for my own sanity, when did you hear from the school? And did they already have a visit day, or does UMD not do that. I'm just anxious to find out what the deal is, because having that last one hanging over my head is not fun. Once I know what all my options are, I can decide how to quarterback this thing. I just worried that I may be on the wait list, but they might not tell me, and this could really drag on for a while. Thanks