Semester Photon

I feel the same way you do. I don't think it's abnormal to look at the huge leap you're making and think, "I don't know if I can do this." I'm lucky in that I have a really supportive spouse. Just try to have confidence in yourself! The program wants you! If this is what you want, you can make it work!

I'm sorry to hear that. I applied to 5 schools. I've gotten 2 rejections and 1 acceptance. I asked one school to quit reviewing my application. That leaves one school, and I have no idea if they are one of the "silent" type schools. I think some schools send out their rejections last minute because they hope that the rejected applicants will have some acceptances by then, so the rejection won't hurt so much. Of course, I've also heard of schools not sending out any notification at all. The reason probably depends on the specific program. Of course, the notifications I have gotten so far have been pretty speedy, so maybe you just happened to pick schools that are really slow. It could also be that your name was held on the wait list for a while, so your application was in review for a long time. How many schools did you apply to? I hope there were some acceptances in there.

I agree with the others. At this point don't read too much into it. Maybe followup with the Professor after a week or so of silence. Professors are very busy people.

I'm 90% sure that I'm going to accept my offer to attend Portland State for the program in Mathematical Sciences. Anyone else going to be attending (any program, not just math)?

I'm sorry. I think you've mostly missed the boat. There are a few schools that accept late applications, but at this point it would be for admission only (no funding). I know I finally made my decision to go for applied math (instead of pure) January 10th. By that time 80% of the deadlines had passed or were too close to make. It made me wish I had just written two statements of purpose back in October and applied to both types of programs and made my decision after applying. In your situation, I would start looking for any schools that do Spring admissions with funding. Do you have a copy of http://www.ams.org/programs/ams-fellowships/asst.pdf ? That was the first resource I used in looking for schools whose deadlines hadn't passed. It looks like the University of Fairbanks may be accepting applications until 3/31 and University of Arkansas Fayette maybe goes until 3/15? If you look at the guide, be sure to skip all of the schools that have: "Master's Only: Yes" in the upper right hand corner. Be careful because some of the deadlines given are actually the later deadline for the master's program instead of the Ph.D.

It's been messing with my dreams, too. However, I've had nightmares the past several nights. I woke up three times from nightmares last night of which the worst one was about my brother dying and found a (polite) rejection in my inbox this morning. Ironically, I've already been accepted to one program with funding, so you would think my unconscious mind would relax a bit. :/

I would just like to add that admissions get emails like this all the time, so there is no point in being coy or long-winded. If you are writing to an actual professor that you could be working with, still keep the letter brief and to the point. You might mention why you want to work with them (briefly, they are very busy as well).

I would just be direct and to the point: Dear Prof: I would like an update on my application status. (If you interviewed with them: I really enjoyed seeing your campus/meeting Prof. So-and-so/getting a better feel for your program. If you didn't interview: I am still very interested in attending your program because [insert short reason]). I have already heard back from several schools, and I hope to hear back from yours soon in order to weigh my options. Thank you for your time. [signature]

jdharrison: I'm going to go out on a limb, so I may be completely wrong. Maybe part of the reason that you are frustrated is that you feel like people judge you personally when they don't understand what you do. Religion seems very important to you, so it's probably tough when you try to explain to others and they ask you questions like, "But you're still a Christian, right?" You want them to understand that you can still have faith even if you are trying to consider the subjectivity that is inherent in interpreting the Bible. Not only that but you get frustrated when they suggest to you directly or indirectly that absolute certainty is the only way to be faithful. Maybe you are looking for a way to "reason" with such a viewpoint, but Imho you shouldn't try. It's between you and God whether or not you are a good Christian. Maybe you don't want to misrepresent what you do, but you also don't want the perceived judgement. My advice: do your best to provide a simple explanation, and if it doesn't work, just move on. It may be tough if the other person doesn't want to change the subject, but I find a simple, "You've given me something to consider" usually does the trick as a last resort to close a conversation. Remember that there is no arguing with some people, and that their judgment shouldn't matter to you. Outside of my field, I have met on rare occasion people who have insisted that math was nothing but memorization. For some of them, it doesn't matter how I try to explain because they aren't listening in the first place. I recognize that talking to such people who insist on belittling my field without chance of rebuttal is futile. I don't waste my breath as it will only irritate both of us.

I'm not really in the same situation. My third choice go back to me right away with acceptance, and my first choice sent out my rejection in the first round. The other three schools that I'm applying to haven't gotten back to me yet, and from the looks of the results page they haven't gotten back to anyone yet. (Although from the results history, I'm hoping that my second choice sends me a decision by the beginning of next week.) I'm just happy to be accepted. I committed to going to graduate school at the eleventh hour, convinced that I had no shot of getting in anywhere. I didn't have time to contact any POI's, and I picked programs that had later deadlines just so I had a chance to get everything to them on time. Not a good way to go about things, and I really don't recommend it. (I wish I had discovered this website a year ago!) The only reason this worked for me at all is that my area is fairly common, so there were a lot of programs that were a potential fit. Even though I know I shouldn't be hearing back from my other programs just yet, the waiting is tough, especially because I don't know about funding at the place I got accepted (yet). Since the places I applied have later deadlines, that also means in general that they have later dates to send out their acceptances/rejections. I've already heard from so many people that have gotten in places; it's tough not to be jealous sometimes. :/ You don't seem like an A-hole to me. Everyone wants to get into their top choice. I know this is hard to hear, but try to be happy that you are still in the running at your top choice. The waiting can be frustrating no matter what the situation. I hope your top choice gets back to you soon.

Strangely enough I relate a little to this even though my field is different. I'm a mathematician, and most of the people I talk to say things like, "I thought math ended at Calculus." Or "I'm really more into creative pursuits." I think it's just human nature to try to apply previous knowledge even if it doesn't necessarily apply in the particular situation. I think a lot of us "specialists" will run into people that think they know more about our field than they actually do. You have it worse than most because religion is such a personal and dear subject to many people. Someday maybe you will find a simple way to explain to people what you do. (Like with the linguist explanation I read in another thread: What language are you going to study? All of them.)

In your position, I would probably email my top choice program and ask how their evaluation of my application is going. You might even go as far as to tell them that you got a good offer from your second choice, and you need to know what their offer is (if anything) because your decision is wanted right away. You may even try to flatter them a bit by saying that if you weren't interested in their program for such and such reason that you would've taken the other offer right away.

Wow, I just had a mini heart attack. My apps all have my student email on them. Just checked out my university, and their policy is "as long as you graduate from the university, you get to keep your student email for life." I guess they are on the generous side.

Similar to Ameonna. I will be moving, brushing up on my computer programming (especially pseudo-coding), and reviewing math. (I'm a math major that graduated a couple years ago. What I will focus on reviewing will depend on which program I choose to go to as they are all a little different, but likely I will be, at least, reviewing analysis, abstract algebra, and dynamical systems.)

Lol. I totally relate. When I told my mom that I wanted to go to grad school in mathematics, she was like, "Can't you do that online?" Then she sent me emails for online schools (in which the closest was a a program in mathematics education.) Thank you, Mom, but my programs of interest don't really have an online version.

Oh one I almost forgot when people hear I'm applying to University of Hawaii (one of my safeties), "Oh, that's awesome! I would love to live in Hawaii! I hope you get in there!" Um... thanks, now if only you could show that kind of enthusiasm for my first choice... Lol. Or, "Why do you want to go to school X more than Hawaii?"

One thing I got which made me really depressed was: "If you don't get it, it's only because there's something even better out there for you." The person meant well, but I was, like, exactly what is that? Does this mean there is something better out there and I just spent *ridiculous amount of time* agonizing over this decision and it's details?

The way I usually deal with this kind of thing is to just try to be reassuring, but not patronizing. Your friend has a good reason to be freaking out because it will affect the rest of her life. On the other hand, things will probably work out for her. She just has to keep her chin up and try to have faith that she will get in somewhere. Just listen to her, and don't make it about you (none of us would ever do that, right? )

cold shoulder

I'm not sure if you've already made your decision. I will say that you should go with your gut. I wasn't sure myself about entering grad school. I was "burnt out" on my subject when I graduated two years ago. Now though I realize that I do love my subject (applied math) even though it can be extremely frustrating and even tedious sometimes, but it can also be extremely rewarding. I'm going into this with the attitude that I am going to hate my subject somedays, and I am going to have to find the patience to get through those periods because there's a beauty in using models to help understand the world that I also get to experience. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with my subject, but somehow I can't see myself living without it.

Well, I also applied to UCI. I don't know anything about their Cognitive Neuroscience program, but I applied to their math program and I haven't heard anything yet. From the look of the results page, the math program admits people between the beginning of March and mid -April. (The deadline for math was Jan. 30). It's more than possible that you could hear something in the beginning of March, but it's also possible that you won't. UCI seems to have really spread out admissions in general.

I've been on an informal interview before. Try not to be too stiff but keep in mind that it is an INTERVIEW. The professor wants to know if they can work with you. DO: Talk about your interests. Come up with good answers to their potential questions ahead of time. Ask your POI relevant questions. DON'T: Dwell on your personal problems. Be a conversation hog. Bring up hot button issues (religion, politics etc.) Drink more than one alcoholic beverage (and only if they are). Remember to act professionally while still being friendly and relaxed. Treat it like an office Christmas party (if you've ever been to one).

Hi Kbert, I am somewhat in the same boat as you. I was worried about not getting into grad school. I had days where I was sure every school would reject me, but I did hear back from one school recently. (I'm so glad it was an acceptance; I probably would have gone a bit insane if the first thing I heard was a rejection.) Anyway, I haven't heard about funding yet, but even if I'm not funded, I'll try to make it work. Is there some particular reason you're worried about getting into grad school? For me, the fear was mostly irrational. Having a plan B did help me to cope somewhat. My plan B was to apply to master's programs at the last minute if all the Ph.D. programs rejected me. My plan C was to move anyway to a city with better employment opportunity (where I live is a retirement destination with unemployment near 17%). I also had a plan D and F, but I won't go into those as I might need to make a flowchart.