Good signs?

[seabee]

Has anyone gotten some positive signs from schools prior to being admitted (or rejected)?

I've recently spoken with two admissions reps from my top choice and they both seemed super positive about my application. That's gotta be good, right? Right?? 

[PokePsych]

yeah and then I got waitlisted lol

[TheHoff]

TL;DR - Yeah and then I got "rejected"

Full story:

Last year I contacted one professor at UCSC months before applying, his response was pretty positive, saying that he always managed to get his students funded, that our research interests matched and my past experiences would make a very competitive candidate.

Due to some financial problems, I decided not to apply to UCSC and save the $100 fee since it was not one of my top choices, but 2 days before the deadline he contacted me asking me what happened because he was going through the applications and my file was not there. I took this as a very positive sign and decided to apply and "guarantee" a spot if my top choices didn't accept me.

About one month later I got my acceptance letter and it didn't offer any kind of financial assistance, which for a Ph.D. program I understand as a polite rejection.

 

At least they waived an app fee for this year, so I ended up applying again but no word so far