Any way to move the needle?

[Dwar]

Hey Guys, 

so I have a question for y'all

I am currently in a situation where I have been rejected from two schools, waitlisted at one, and still pending at two others. I am wondering if there is anything I can do right now to move the needle a bit on one of the schools that are still pending? I have already sent an update concerning some recent news (asked to speak at two conferences and submitted a paper to a journal for review) and I've also sent in a new writing sample (the submitted paper) but I am wondering if there is anything else I can do now? before decisions are released? 

I was thinking maybe something along the lines of sending an email talking about how they are my top choice (they were my top choice even prior to the other two rejections) as well as reiterating the reasons for this? They have a number of research centers that I think are so fricken cool and I would love to work on/with. 

Would something like this help? or would it be seen as too much and actually hurt my chances in the long run? I know that this type of thing is usually done only if a candidate is on the waitlist, but I am just thinking about things that I can do now, in the pending period before I hear anything from them. 

Edited February 2, 2019 by Dwar

[oats]

No, you just need to relax man. Don't obsess. You've done what you can now let the chips fall where they may. Maybe you get into your preferred schools. Maybe you get rejected from every program. It will sting for a while. A lot. That's okay. Life will go on, you'll be happy again. In the long run, this isn't as important as it seems now. Obsessing won't help you get in. It only makes it harder on you now and harder on you if things don't pan out. Just relax. 

[Dwar]

5 hours ago, oats said:

No, you just need to relax man. Don't obsess. You've done what you can now let the chips fall where they may. Maybe you get into your preferred schools. Maybe you get rejected from every program. It will sting for a while. A lot. That's okay. Life will go on, you'll be happy again. In the long run, this isn't as important as it seems now. Obsessing won't help you get in. It only makes it harder on you now and harder on you if things don't pan out. Just relax. 

Thanks. I kinda needed to hear that. With the two rejections and one waitlist I’ve started to kinda feel like I’m spiraling out of control and need to do something to ground myself. 

I know that what I said above is kinda crazy, but honestly I just wanted to do something proactive instead of sitting around doing nothing and waiting, that part is killing me.

thanks for the reply! I’ll take it to heart! 

[magicdonhuang]

6 hours ago, Dwar said:

Thanks. I kinda needed to hear that. With the two rejections and one waitlist I’ve started to kinda feel like I’m spiraling out of control and need to do something to ground myself. 

I know that what I said above is kinda crazy, but honestly I just wanted to do something proactive instead of sitting around doing nothing and waiting, that part is killing me.

thanks for the reply! I’ll take it to heart! 

What I had to do two years ago around this time was start thinking about contingency plans. All the places I had applied to where looking like rejects so I scoured around for terminal masters programs that hadn't closed their admissions yet. Luckily, there was one at my Alma Mater that was open and had a pretty good track record of getting their grads into good phd programs or related industry jobs. It ended up being a great (albeit expensive) decision as now my application was more rounded out with a masters + 2 years of pretty focused research. I have an offer from a T25(ish) now and couldn't be happier. That all being said, 2 years of unfunded grad school doesn't make sense for just anybody and there is lots of wisdom out there that suggests those terminal masters are a waste of time. You have to decide for yourself.

 

Long story short, there's nothing you can do about the applications you sent out. It might be helpful to focus on other things/work on backup plans in the meantime. Both your current sanity and your future self will benefit from this approach.

[deutsch1997bw]

I wouldn't do anything. Waiting sucks, but it is what it is. And I write this as someone who was in a similar situation last year.

Sending an email to the program asking about your status might signal to the admissions committee, among other things, that you don't have enough patience and therefore aren't mature enough to enter a graduate program.

Good luck!

Edited February 2, 2019 by deutsch1997bw

[Dwar]

29 minutes ago, magicdonhuang said:

What I had to do two years ago around this time was start thinking about contingency plans. All the places I had applied to where looking like rejects so I scoured around for terminal masters programs that hadn't closed their admissions yet. Luckily, there was one at my Alma Mater that was open and had a pretty good track record of getting their grads into good phd programs or related industry jobs. It ended up being a great (albeit expensive) decision as now my application was more rounded out with a masters + 2 years of pretty focused research. I have an offer from a T25(ish) now and couldn't be happier. That all being said, 2 years of unfunded grad school doesn't make sense for just anybody and there is lots of wisdom out there that suggests those terminal masters are a waste of time. You have to decide for yourself.

 

Long story short, there's nothing you can do about the applications you sent out. It might be helpful to focus on other things/work on backup plans in the meantime. Both your current sanity and your future self will benefit from this approach.

Thanks for the advice!

I actually have been working on contingency plans. I applied for like 7 research assistant jobs at various think tanks, as well as AmeriCorps. Ive also created a new list of schools to apply for cycle two, and rewrote my SOP. I also am planning on doing one of those fancy GRE prep courses to get my scores up as I think they were the weakest part of my application. 

It does kinda help to have those contingency plans, but wow do I hope I don't have to use them. 

[Dwar]

11 minutes ago, deutsch1997bw said:

I wouldn't do anything. Waiting sucks, but it is what it is. And I write this as someone who was in a similar situation last year.

Sending an email to the program asking about your status might signal to the admissions committee, among other things, that you don't have enough patience and therefore aren't mature enough to enter a graduate program.

Good luck!

Ya, thats what I was afraid of. 

Guess i'll just have to wait until they send out decisions, and then go from there. 

The waiting does suuuuuuuuck though. 

[Tedmonkey]

I went through that last year. It sucks. I ended up with 11 rejections without a single interview, let alone wait list or acceptance. The only thing that is helpful is to start making contingency plans and figure out things you can do to improve the application package for the next round. I was finishing my MA when I got all those rejections so I took a gap year (luckily my spouse could support us for me to do that) and focused on studying to retake the GRE for a higher score and doing some independent research to present at another conference. This year I was more selective about the programs I applied to and made sure they were better research fits that last year's batch. So far I have got 1 rejection, 1 interview, 1 acceptance, and 2 others pending (in addition to the interview school). The gap year also gave me a chance to step back and reevaluate my goals and make sure that this is the plan I want to pursue and not just because it is the next thing. Also, find something to distract you like a hobby, job, school work, games, books, really anything that can take some of your focus off obsessing over something that is now out of your control. I also would not contact them as at this point it would likely come off as desperate and may damage your chances if they are on the fence between you and someone else.

[Dwar]

7 minutes ago, Tedmonkey said:

I went through that last year. It sucks. I ended up with 11 rejections without a single interview, let alone wait list or acceptance. The only thing that is helpful is to start making contingency plans and figure out things you can do to improve the application package for the next round. I was finishing my MA when I got all those rejections so I took a gap year (luckily my spouse could support us for me to do that) and focused on studying to retake the GRE for a higher score and doing some independent research to present at another conference. This year I was more selective about the programs I applied to and made sure they were better research fits that last year's batch. So far I have got 1 rejection, 1 interview, 1 acceptance, and 2 others pending (in addition to the interview school). The gap year also gave me a chance to step back and reevaluate my goals and make sure that this is the plan I want to pursue and not just because it is the next thing. Also, find something to distract you like a hobby, job, school work, games, books, really anything that can take some of your focus off obsessing over something that is now out of your control. I also would not contact them as at this point it would likely come off as desperate and may damage your chances if they are on the fence between you and someone else.

Thanks for the advice, and I do have a plan if I don't get in. 

I've applied to a number of jobs and AmeriCorps positions for next year, and my plan would be to buy one of those fancy tutoring services to raise my GRE over the summer. I've also spent the past few days making a new list of schools that I would apply to, as well as looking for faculty fits and rewriting my SOP for the new research interests. 

But the feeling of failure at not getting in this cycle is honestly terrifying and the idea of going through this entire process all over again is daunting. 

[Tedmonkey]

2 minutes ago, Dwar said:

Thanks for the advice, and I do have a plan if I don't get in. 

I've applied to a number of jobs and AmeriCorps positions for next year, and my plan would be to buy one of those fancy tutoring services to raise my GRE over the summer. I've also spent the past few days making a new list of schools that I would apply to, as well as looking for faculty fits and rewriting my SOP for the new research interests. 

But the feeling of failure at not getting in this cycle is honestly terrifying and the idea of going through this entire process all over again is daunting. 

One thing I didn't mention that I did different this year is each school got an individualized SOP that showed and understanding of my proposed fit to their department. I agree that feeling of failure is horrible. I wallowed for a few months after all those rejections just trying to figure out which contingency plan was the right one to follow. Last year was brutal, although the worst was three rejections in one day including my top choice in school.

[Dwar]

1 hour ago, Tedmonkey said:

One thing I didn't mention that I did different this year is each school got an individualized SOP that showed and understanding of my proposed fit to their department. I agree that feeling of failure is horrible. I wallowed for a few months after all those rejections just trying to figure out which contingency plan was the right one to follow. Last year was brutal, although the worst was three rejections in one day including my top choice in school.

Oh i'm sure, three rejections in a day sounds like a bad joke