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2018 Acceptance/Rejection Thread


mynameismyname

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1 hour ago, syn said:

Officially waitlisted at Washington University in St. Louis, my top choice. Saw there’s another waitlisted on the search/results page, too. 

2a/1w/0r/2 to go

Same here! It is also my top choice. Which track did you apply to?

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On 2/22/2018 at 6:34 PM, Schwarzwald said:

I'll try. I actually think University of Iowa is the best fit for me out of all the schools I applied to (20), so, I'm not sure if I'll be declining them at all. However, if I do, I'll tell them to only give my offer to comrade Bookchin. :D

Haha! Thank you! :) We have tough decisions ahead!

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Hi, I'm new to this thread, though I submitted some results. I am currently in at UCLA, UPenn, Harvard. My AOI is political (and moral) philosophy.

I am still waiting for a few decisions more, but UCLA and Harvard are my top choices. I will try to make my decisions ASAP. Hope that means good news to those on the waitlist! 

Edited by yhkim
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I had to register for a new website, including going through a whole new password process with something like three different confirmation emails, just to view my USC rejection. Absolutely absurd. This process just humiliates you over and over again. They can't even just attach your decision in an email like civilized people.

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1 hour ago, prtrbd said:

I had to register for a new website, including going through a whole new password process with something like three different confirmation emails, just to view my USC rejection. Absolutely absurd. This process just humiliates you over and over again. They can't even just attach your decision in an email like civilized people.

I had a similarly frustrating experience. I don’t understand why they can’t attach the letter either. Indeed, I don’t understand why programs feel the need to send letters from the dean. Why not just send an email to everyone who is rejected with a subject that says “Admisssions Decision: Rejected” with a body that includes one or two sentences like “lots of qualified folks applied, and we rejected most, including you. Best of luck in your future endeavors.” That’s all I need. 

Edited by machineghost
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34 minutes ago, philosophyswede said:

At least they sent an email at all - despite discovering my updated status (rejected) on Yale's online portal last week, I still haven't had an email notifying me of such...

That's awful. Do these people have no memory at all of being on the other side of this process?

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It surprises me that there have only been a handful of rejections from USC on gradcafe so far. Typically, when rejections go out from a top 10 school, we will see 10-15 posted all around the same time, and where are the waitlists, one wonders? Maybe they will be personally emailed tomorrow or something. It strikes me as bizarre. 

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3 minutes ago, machineghost said:

It surprises me that there have only been a handful of rejections from USC on gradcafe so far. Typically, when rejections go out from a top 10 school, we will see 10-15 posted all around the same time, and where are the waitlists, one wonders? Maybe they will be personally emailed tomorrow or something. It strikes me as bizarre. 

Actually, scratch that. I see that there are more than I originally thought.

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1 hour ago, philosophyswede said:

At least they sent an email at all - despite discovering my updated status (rejected) on Yale's online portal last week, I still haven't had an email notifying me of such...

Yup, the same exact thing happened to me. Still no sign of an email, I guess it must have been some kind of hiccup in their system. If I hadn't known to check their online portal thanks to Grad Cafe, I would still have no idea that a decision was available.

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49 minutes ago, machineghost said:

It surprises me that there have only been a handful of rejections from USC on gradcafe so far. Typically, when rejections go out from a top 10 school, we will see 10-15 posted all around the same time, and where are the waitlists, one wonders? Maybe they will be personally emailed tomorrow or something. It strikes me as bizarre. 

The last few rejections I've received, I haven't even bothered reporting, maybe people are adopting the same attitude? It's been a rough season.

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14 minutes ago, soproperlybasic said:

Just waitlisted at my own school: Fordham.

Gotta say, that’s better than the typical rejection many would get in that situation. I’d look at it as a net positive. 

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3 minutes ago, syn said:

Gotta say, that’s better than the typical rejection many would get in that situation. I’d look at it as a net positive. 

Yeah, I'm actually quite happy that my own university showed some faith in my ability to do a PhD, since I've had nothing but rejections on that front thus far. Especially given that I'm not exactly the greatest fit for them, as I lean towards working on analytic stuff.

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19 minutes ago, prtrbd said:

If that's a real Harvard waitlist, I guess the rest of us can expect rejections coming pretty soon.

Not necessarily. Their acceptances trickled out over many days, so there's a chance it's similar with the waitlists.


(I say this as much to myself as to you...)

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1 hour ago, prtrbd said:

If that's a real Harvard waitlist, I guess the rest of us can expect rejections coming pretty soon.

It's worth noting that on the email I received notifying me of my position on Harvard's waitlist, my POI started the email with "I’m writing to let you know (if you haven’t heard already) that you are on the wait list for admission...". This seems to imply that they have had some differential methods of notifying candidates of their position on their waitlist...meaning that it's possible not all the waitlist notifications have been sent yet. 

Edited by samsara2
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Acceptances: Texas A&M (PhD), Northern Illinois (MA. Still waiting on funding)

Waitlist: University of Miami, USC (California)

Rejection: Baylor, University of Wisconsin Madison, University of Michigan, Berkeley

I wonder what percent of acceptances are given to a small minority of applicants. If there is an applicant with a very strong application, then they will be accepted to most places they apply, and if they apply broadly, then they will take up many acceptance spots. I can't wait until NYU, Princeton, and Rutgers send out their decisions to get this process moving. Fingers crossed that those given an acceptance to USC will also be accepted into another program they prefer!

I am surprised by how my decisions don't correlate to schools' PGR ranking. I am waitlisted at USC (rank 8), but rejected by Baylor (unranked). It goes to show how variable (and perhaps arbitrary) the decision making process is when a school has to choose between so many qualified applicants. Anyone else have any big disparities like this?

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