jacket24

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but apparently the Carnegie Mellon Computer Science program sent out acceptance letters to the wrong students. See the link below for details: http://newsfeed.gawker.com/worlds-best-computer-science-program-tells-wrong-studen-1686290968 As if the whole process and waiting in agony isn't cruel enough...

After months of silence, I've finally seen some signs of life. One of my POIs sent me a message to let me know that I've made it past the first round of application reviews. I still don't expect a decision very soon but it's nice to know that the wheels are turning. Although it's far from a sure thing, it's a huge relief to know that my application is competitive enough to warrant further discussion. Hang in there everyone, we're moving into the later stages of this hellish process. This will be an interesting and stressful month but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Congratulations on your acceptance. It's still early in the game but it must be a weight off your shoulders knowing that you're in. Can't wait until more decisions start coming out.

Yes, one of the programs that I'm talking about had a December deadline but that doesn't mean it's the case across the board. In this instance, they said that Master's applicants are reviewed first and then PhD applicants shortly thereafter. I'm not sure why they do it in that order, as it seems that the PhD review process would be more intensive with funding offers and whatnot. The moral of the story is that each field and program have their own nuances that make the process difficult to predict.

There is probably some merit to this line of thought, but a lot of schools will not even start to review until February according to my interactions with some professors. There really is no telling.

Lots of structural applicants here. I'm environmental, myself, but I wish you guys the best of luck. What are your top choices?

That would be a useful feature for the results search. Imagine if they had a timestamp for each posting that you could sort by program and average by day/time, year, season, or all results. Not sure how much coding that would require but it would give us one more thing to obsess over while waiting.

It would be reasonable to expect responses to come during the business hours for the time zone of the program. There is no hard and fast rule though, as I got some decision e-mails later in the evening when applying for Master's programs. As with everything in this process, the real answer is "...it depends."

The waiting really is painful but it's a bit of a double-edged sword. I think we would all question the thoroughness of the process and be pretty upset if they sent out rejections a couple of days after the deadline. At least we know that adcoms are (hopefully) taking the time to review our application materials thoroughly and make informed decisions. That's what I'm telling myself to pass the time.

April 15th is the "unofficial official" deadline (set by the Council of Graduate Schools, and agreed to by a large number of institutions, but not all) for students to respond to funding offers. If those students choose to attend elsewhere and decline funded offers, they effectively leave money on the table for other applicants. Since each student can only attend one program and some get multiple offers, it is likely that the 2nd and 3rd choices will then have access to those opportunities.

Depending on the program and field, it could be any time between now and April 15th, or later for Master's applicants and waitlisted students. You may try compiling historic notification dates from all of your applied programs based on the Results Search. I did this to occupy/distract myself and made a spreadsheet which showed some pretty clear trends. The average for my field hovers somewhere around mid-March with rejections generally coming slightly later. The Results page actually has some pretty useful search tools so you can look specifically for your programs all at once. I used a Chrome extension that notified me any time a result was posted at one of my programs. In hindsight, this probably only made me more anxious so I probably won't be doing it again this season...at least until next month.

Any Civil or Environmental applicants out there? Where did everyone apply? What is your area of interest? What do you think of your chances?

I have made a conscious effort to postpone any major planning until decisions come out but it's becoming more difficult to avoid. I don't want to become too invested in any one option and close myself off from other possibilities. It helps to have a job to keep you busy but the holiday season provides an abundance of time to process everything.

It may be because I've been through this process before, but applying was not nearly as stressful for me this time around. Now that almost all of my applications have been submitted, that feeling of anticipation is beginning to crawl back in. When did the possibility of grad school really start to sink in for you? Was it when you started researching POIs? When you clicked 'SUBMIT' on the application for your top choice? Weeks later?

If you're referring to the US News rankings, their Environmental Engineering program is top 25 and it's the same department. I wouldn't put too much stock into those numbers anyway. Yale and other small programs tend to get undervalued (number of students does factor into their ranking). When you look at some of the professors' outputs, they are comparable to other top tier schools.

I'd say you have a pretty strong chance based on the info posted. I plan to apply as well with an environmental background. Are you applying for PhD or Master's? Also, what do you want to research? From my understanding, admitted students are accepted with full funding for at least the first year while they find a lab to work in. That makes the admissions process a bit different than some other programs since decisions are made by the full committee rather than by the professor that you would work with.

Congratulations on your acceptance! Was it for MS or PhD?

There has only been one Berkeley EnvE PhD result posted this application season (an admission in late February) so I think they're just a bit behind like Washington. Still, we are coming up to prime rejection season so hopefully they're not just drawing out the torture.

I haven't contacted them but it's been tough to fight the urge. Cal's website says they make decisions up until late March and previous years' results confirm that. Which programs have you heard back from so far?

I got bad news from Stanford yesterday but I'm waiting for Berkeley as well. I'm not feeling overly confident at this point since I'm 0/3 but I just keep telling myself that I only need one. Sooner would be better than later...

Berkeley's application status website is currently down (for me at least)...any chance this means they're posting decisions or am I just reading too much into it? Seems strange that they would do anything on the weekend but crazier things have happened.

Another thing to note when comparing US News rankings from different years is that the methodology varies a bit from time to time so an apparent rise/fall in ranking may not necessarily equate to a tangible change in the quality of the program, but rather different weightings for certain evaluation criteria.

According to the FAQ on the US News website (http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2013/09/09/frequently-asked-questions-2014-best-colleges-rankings#26), the only way is to buy previous print copies. Some programs may have their rankings history posted on their websites, although it appears that only a few consistently high rated schools seem to do that. Another format of the NRC data for the spreadsheet inclined can be found here (although the data is dated by now): http://www.nap.edu/rdp/ I believe that phds.org uses the same raw data as the previous link but they have a slightly different way of presenting it.

I seriously hope that is not the case for environmental, otherwise I will try to get my application fee back. It seems as though this week is going by particularly slowly since we are nearing the end but at least we're getting closer with every hour.

I just got a phone call from Maryland and my heart jumped into my throat (thinking Hopkins was notifying applicants)...until I answered and it was just a WEF survey. This needs to end soon.