quantitative

Great advice, thank you! Definitely makes sense to me. I'm thinking business casual/nice for everyday (undergrad presentation ?). I'm female, so I'm thinking nice flats/boots, dark jeans, a nice sweater/top + accessories. Not over the top, but definitely above the normal college student. I'll save my fancy work clothes for conferences. I'm definitely with you on finding out the culture of the place. I, as most graduate students, would want a comfortable environment where I can openly collaborate with faculty AND other graduate students. I'm definitely going to watch out for an underlying competitiveness although it seems like the places I'm visiting have a friendly/collaborative environment. It's a TOUGH decision and I'm definitely going to keep my ears open to make sure that I'm making the right decision! Best of luck to you as well! That's exactly what I'm thinking of (as I said before). Glad my choice of clothes would be appropriate! My special talent is asking question...so I'm not too worried about that..haha. I'm really looking forward to meeting grad students in the field to get to know them AND to hear about the program. I'm a very friendly person, so I'm just looking forward to meeting new people. I'm generally the type of person who thanks people in some manner if they put themselves out even a little, especially if I stay at their place. I might try to bring a small gift or do as you did, send one later once I know what the grad student likes. Great idea! Thank you all for the help. I really appreciate the advice. Can the visits come already!? I'm already excited!

It happens. Just a bit disappointed to say the least as it was my other top choice. However, I'm in at my other top choice, so I can't really complain. Maybe it's for the best as I'm lactose intolerant.

Same for me. =/

Rough ANL... I hope things get better. I have pending on my app as well. Sociograd... I'm thinking the same. Considering how many applied and how many were probably admitted this past week, I'm just waiting on a rejection letter at this point. :/

Sorry, I didn't apply to Berkeley. I was just trying to help out the OP. Best of luck to you!

I like your thinking and I'm sending those positive brainwaves right now. Except, I've already ate all the chocolate in my house.

Don't chalk it as a rejection yet! I'm just hoping they're slowly notifying everyone...and just didn't get to ours yet.

So begins the even more obsessive checking of my email....

I never realized my email, my cellphone AND my mailbox could be so disappointing.

"That's not politically correct..."

Correlation is not causation SocHope! (However, I wouldn't be surprised for the theory to hold true when you're looking at Masters. I'd think Ph.D applicants were more serious about graduate school to begin with and would treat it as less of a detour from the awful job market. I'm thinking it's simply due to the rising numbers of college graduates.)

It sounds like they're very very interested in you... It does not sound like something they do for any given student. Congrats!

I think we'll be hearing back tomorrow or Wednesday. I would have checked but... I need to dig up my Wisconsin log-in ASAP. With each of the schools having their own separate usernames/log-ins, it's impossible for me to keep track...

I think any top program knows that students apply other places and will be competitive enough to get into other schools. My mentor told me that I might get this question as well. A school cannot make you commit until April 15, so realize this single question is not binding. Say yes if you're comfortable saying it. I think it's an unfair question to be honest. If you're not comfortable saying yes for the time being, you should say that this is one of your top choices and you'd be thrilled to go. However, you did apply another places and need to see what other offers you receive before committing. I'm sure every year students who tell them 'yes' change their minds, so don't feel guilty.

Depressing, as I expected. I think everyone here is hoping they'll be part of that meager 6%.

Hi everyone! I just would appreciate your advice. I just finished undergrad where I did independent research that was accepted into a fairly well-known regional conference for a round-table discussion with 4 other people who also did research on my topic. What exactly does a roundtable discussion entail? What kind of preparation should I do before hand? Advice? I'm so nervous! Thank you in advance!

Congrats! I might start checking my email 24/7 now...

Hi guys, I have a lot of questions on school visits. I was called by 2 of the Ph.D programs I applied to informing me that I was accepted with tuition waivers/stipends/etc for a social sciences M.A./Ph.D. Both have invited me to expense-paid school visit. Since there is no interview and the money is already on the table, what etiquette should I exercise concerning school visits? How should i dress? What should I expect for the visit in general? Similarly, if staying with grad students in the program, should I bring something to thank them with? If I end up not visiting one of the schools, is there anything I should do? I figured since I don't have the pressure of the interview, things might be a little different than some of the topics regarding interview visits. Nobody in my family is an academic, so I'm lacking people who I can ask about these school visits. Thank you all so much!

"Why are you getting a Ph.D in that? There's no money in that field." and the inevitable "Why don't you want to go to law school?"

Both of you can feel free to message me. I'm not comfortable putting my info publicly on here while I'm still waiting for other schools. Once I'm done with the admissions process, I'll gladly post it.

"RELAX. You'll get in everywhere!" My least favorite line ever

I got into one of my top schools last week. After hearing I was in, I started gchatting my friends with something along the lines of "ajdfklafjkld YESS! OMG!!!" Then, I screamed the news to my parents, called my mentor, then danced in my room. Later, I baked some victory chocolate chip cookies and sent out texts to all my close friends with far too many exclamation points. Once I send in the paperwork for officially becoming a grad student at whatever university, I'm buying myself a bottle of cheap wine and visiting my friends to celebrate.

I'm learning to drive for the first time! Hoping i can get my license before I head off to my doctoral program! Otherwise, I'm just taking a mental break from school until a conference/school visits. I'm burning through my pleasure reading list that had grown to 60+ books (and a few in my field!). I'm still really impatient, but at least I'm enjoying my time until the craziness starts! You guys are inspiring me to start running again... Probably a good idea before the stress of grad school makes me eat my weight in chocolate!

That's me. The notification is via email last week. Their weekend is in the beginning of March and I didn't get contacted by DGS.

I got a rejection from UTexas this past week with the same email someone wrote. Tonight, I got another email from them. So, I reset my password and logged in only to see "Denied." UTexas was a good fit for me too. :/