BirdBrain

Hi everyone! A closed Facebook group called EAPSI 2016 has been created. There is also a community page called EAPSI 2016--ignore this! It will be deleted soon. See you in DC!

Just got my tentative offer for Japan in mathematics! I'll be at Nagoya University. The wait is over!

Oh man, I'm still hoping for Japan math. I can't decide if your post makes me feel better or worse for not hearing yet!! Congrats on your acceptance!!

Is this just worst-case scenario? Or did you talk to someone at EAPSI?

Sooooooo glad to hear I'm not alone! I wish we would all just get accepted already. I re-read the email and they say not to take a delay as any sort of indication, but it's hard not to. Trying to put it all behind me until the second week of March but it's near impossible! Two of my classmates got into this program and they seemed to think it wasnt so bad to get accepted into. I don't feel so optimistic at this point. :/ I hope we hear something soon!

All of you who have heard already are so lucky! To think I may have 2 weeks of waiting still to find out...it's almost unbearable at this point. My application wasnt sent for external review til 2/4, so perhaps that's something that contributes to being in a later group. (If I even make it!) Good luck to everyone else in a similar situation. Don't drive yourselves too crazy!!

I applied for Japan, mathematics. It says my external review started today, 2/4. So much suspense!!

Fes_Alum: Right, that would definitely pose a problem. If I do go to University A, I would likely change my specific are of focus. My field is mathematics, and there are many topics I could see myself studying in the long run, though at the moment I am inclined to study algebraic topology. Whatever school I attend, I will make sure to choose an area that both interests me and that has strong faculty representation.

Hello everyone, I've received a few admits so far, and have narrowed my current choice down to two programs, both for PhD: University A (ranked ~15-25 in field) University B (ranked ~40-50 in field) When deciding, is it best to go to the highest ranked institution you can? Or to go to a school that has 'famous' people in the topic you'd like to study, even if that school is not ranked as high as one might like? I have a strong inclination now for the exact topic I'd like to study, though this could certainly change---I'm the type of person who loves whatever field I've learned most recently. Even so, I have a feeling that I would really love this topic. Unfortunately, there is only professor working in this topic at University A, and he does not seem too well known (in that he has not published papers with known professors working in this topic). This is a great school for many other areas, though, and it has a name recognition factor. Placement coming from University A seems to be great; many graduates go off to top 10 institutions for postdoc work. University B, however, has three strong professors working in this topic, and one who could be considered 'famous' in the field. Two of them regularly publish with well-known professors, and they both received their PhD's under 'famous' people. Placement records don't seem to be published for this program, so I could not get a sense for this. What do you think? How do you make this type of decision? Also, I'll be visiting both programs to get a feel for the departments. Thank you all!