ANDS!

There is no negative tone. It is simply me not shining you on; you asked for opinions, I gave you one which you reject out of hand which lead me to conclude you don't actually want opinions just validation for a decision you have already made. Nature of the beast.



I amended my recommendation to be more in line what you were seeking. . .did you not see?

I agree with the OP that your posts in this thread have been pretty negative. I don't think the OP was trying to get advice to send "handwritten scented cards" as you suggested in the last post, but to get some advice of what to say to POIs from a rejected program. I think it is bad advice to tell someone that a professor that they have been in contact and accepted them to work with will not want to hear from them. As we all know grad school is extremely competitive and often professors in a program will only pick one or two students that they would like to work with and will suggest them for admittance. Professors often spend a significant amount of time fighting for certain students and it would be unwise to not send an email thanking them for their support and telling them of your final decision.

Well, it certainly sounds like you want to go to Yale! If potentially better academic placement coming out of Michigan is the only thing stopping you, you might look at Yale's alumni listings and see how you feel about what has become of the former students of your potential advisors: http://www.stat.yale.edu/People/alumni.php?displaytype=Ph.D.%2C+rev+chron

Yale. Definitely a tough call, especially since much of Yale's cachet comes from its name (although a top 30 program is nothing to sneeze at). However, that is one crazy small department; you are going to be with these people for the next couple of years - I don't doubt the Bulldogs have a social life, but much easier with a cohort the size that Michigan has.

So of course my recommendation is Michigan.

Yale. Definitely a tough call, especially since much of Yale's cachet comes from its name (although a top 30 program is nothing to sneeze at). However, that is one crazy small department; you are going to be with these people for the next couple of years - I don't doubt the Bulldogs have a social life, but much easier with a cohort the size that Michigan has.

So of course my recommendation is Michigan.

No. Perhaps in the non-STEM based programs this is prevelant, but I am pretty confident about my choice.

There is no negative tone. It is simply me not shining you on; you asked for opinions, I gave you one which you reject out of hand which lead me to conclude you don't actually want opinions just validation for a decision you have already made. Nature of the beast.



I amended my recommendation to be more in line what you were seeking. . .did you not see?

There is no negative tone. It is simply me not shining you on; you asked for opinions, I gave you one which you reject out of hand which lead me to conclude you don't actually want opinions just validation for a decision you have already made. Nature of the beast.



I amended my recommendation to be more in line what you were seeking. . .did you not see?

Exactly. Perhaps people want to over complicate things because it is a big step in their life, and each action demands some grand gesture. Unless you're an exceptional candidate and the department went out of their way to recruit you (read: did they do anything they didn't do, or wont do again, to another candidate) a simple email suffices.

But hey I'm sure someone will come along and tell the OP what they want to hear: personalized hand written cards (perhaps scented) expressing deepest regrets and the hope that this doesn't completely shatter their graduate program.

Not sure how much dissonance is going on in the previous posters scenario.

I guess it sounded good though when hitting reply. . .

Exactly. Perhaps people want to over complicate things because it is a big step in their life, and each action demands some grand gesture. Unless you're an exceptional candidate and the department went out of their way to recruit you (read: did they do anything they didn't do, or wont do again, to another candidate) a simple email suffices.

But hey I'm sure someone will come along and tell the OP what they want to hear: personalized hand written cards (perhaps scented) expressing deepest regrets and the hope that this doesn't completely shatter their graduate program.

Well then by all means, craft personalized emails for these instructors you have had these substantive conversations with who I am quite sure will remember you in 5 or 10 years.

Exactly. Perhaps people want to over complicate things because it is a big step in their life, and each action demands some grand gesture. Unless you're an exceptional candidate and the department went out of their way to recruit you (read: did they do anything they didn't do, or wont do again, to another candidate) a simple email suffices.

But hey I'm sure someone will come along and tell the OP what they want to hear: personalized hand written cards (perhaps scented) expressing deepest regrets and the hope that this doesn't completely shatter their graduate program.

Exactly. Perhaps people want to over complicate things because it is a big step in their life, and each action demands some grand gesture. Unless you're an exceptional candidate and the department went out of their way to recruit you (read: did they do anything they didn't do, or wont do again, to another candidate) a simple email suffices.

But hey I'm sure someone will come along and tell the OP what they want to hear: personalized hand written cards (perhaps scented) expressing deepest regrets and the hope that this doesn't completely shatter their graduate program.

Well then by all means, craft personalized emails for these instructors you have had these substantive conversations with who I am quite sure will remember you in 5 or 10 years.

Well then by all means, craft personalized emails for these instructors you have had these substantive conversations with who I am quite sure will remember you in 5 or 10 years.

Well then by all means, craft personalized emails for these instructors you have had these substantive conversations with who I am quite sure will remember you in 5 or 10 years.

Well then by all means, craft personalized emails for these instructors you have had these substantive conversations with who I am quite sure will remember you in 5 or 10 years.

Well then by all means, craft personalized emails for these instructors you have had these substantive conversations with who I am quite sure will remember you in 5 or 10 years.

Well then by all means, craft personalized emails for these instructors you have had these substantive conversations with who I am quite sure will remember you in 5 or 10 years.

I doubt you're going to get any "fresh" takes on these because the consensus is the same:

"Dear so-and-so,
Thank you for reviewing my application; however I have accepted an offer from University X."

There is no reason to over complicate it, and likely whomever is in charge of grad admissions is just going to check mark your name off and move on.

While I do agree that your email may be appropriate for the program admission supervisor, I think that it'd be best to put a bit more effort into the emails to professors. They spent a lot of time trying to get us to work with them. I don't see this as overcomplicating the situation; we should certainly keep a good working relationship with people who will be our colleagues.

LMAO!

EGS your post smacks of "academic entitlement". Sorry but graduate students are not going to be making any "top overworked profession" lists any time soon and as such aren't likely to be getting any tax sympathies. Yes, yes I'm sure the hours you spend pouring over ancient texts is grueling and seemingly Sisyphean in nature, but the great majority of the population isn't going to have much sympathy for you.

Would it be nice for the amount on your stipend to be what you're actually getting - heck yes. But it's income. And income is taxable. As it should be (if you're into civic responsibility and all that).

I doubt you're going to get any "fresh" takes on these because the consensus is the same:

"Dear so-and-so,
Thank you for reviewing my application; however I have accepted an offer from University X."

There is no reason to over complicate it, and likely whomever is in charge of grad admissions is just going to check mark your name off and move on.

Ha. Laughing at the "rep" on my previous post.



Eh. Not about not being supportive. If one of the metrics is long-term success, then I would say the STEM programs have more than a leg up here. Yes I am pretty confident in my choice because there is an established history of success for folks in my program (and within the department I'll be joining).

If the metric is "buyers remorse" - well that is just something that will happen in any program; quite impossible to really judge how well a fit a program is going to be until you are in the thick of it.