Waitlisted for Stanford's PhD in Stats

[hopesandprayers]

My situation is exactly as the title states.  I'm wondering if anyone has had an experience where they've gotten in off the waitlist (and I recognize it's unlikely for anyone to say no to the best stats program in the world, but I am still curious lmao).

[Geococcyx]

I'm sure you've looked, but I only saw one person who reported getting in off the waitlist in the last few years, an international student in 2015 who got accepted on April 14th after being waitlisted on February 7th of 2015.  I'd guess from the relative paucity of people reporting being waitlisted that Stanford has a pretty short waitlist, so you don't have many people to compete against.

Anecdotally, people do turn Stanford down.  Over the summer, one professor we talked to told me that they left Stanford because they just didn't like the program, and at their new program met someone else who had (prior to enrolling) turned Stanford down for similar reasons.  That was a while ago, and I don't really know anything about what issues they had with Stanford, but whatever those issues were aren't the point -- students will even turn down Stanford if they perceive somewhere else to be a better fit for them as a person, or if they have a specific research mentor they want to work with somewhere else, or any number of other factors.  You're not guaranteed to get into Stanford, but given the apparent small size of the waitlist, you're in a good position.  Find somewhere that's a good fit for you, and if Stanford calls, go find out if it's a good fit for you, and if it is, then congratulations!

Edited February 8, 2019 by Geococcyx
Clarity for waitlist reasoning

[hopesandprayers]

Thanks for the detailed reply! I've been accepted at Chicago and Duke and the rest are pending, so I'm not desperate to go to Stanford but I really would love to.  We'll see how it all falls but I'm not going to get my hopes up at this rate.

[insert_name_here]

I know of people who have gotten in off the waitlist in the past, so it does happen (unlike other schools, which seldom use their waitlist). FYI, people regularly turn down Stanford. I've heard that students admitted to both Berkeley and Stanford tend to split around 50-50.

[MathStat]

Hi, @hopesandprayers! I also got waitlisted for Stanford and was accepted to Chicago, but didn't get into Duke (my undergrad university). I've heard it's nearly impossible to get off Stanford's waitlist, but we'll see what happens. 

[hopesandprayers]

@MathStat congrats on Chicago! Fingers crossed for the both of us, and good luck on your other applications! @insert_name_here, thanks for the info and I really hope that will hold this year too lol

[Schweinchen]

Ditto here. Maybe I'll see you all on visit day.

[galois]

On 2/8/2019 at 9:34 AM, MathStat said:

Hi, @hopesandprayers! I also got waitlisted for Stanford and was accepted to Chicago, but didn't get into Duke (my undergrad university). I've heard it's nearly impossible to get off Stanford's waitlist, but we'll see what happens. 

Do you say that because people don't tend to get in after the first round at Duke? Or are you close enough to adcoms that they let you know?

[MathStat]

Hey @galois. I think you should not worry that much. It is indeed the second one in my case and the fact that I was not a very good match for Duke in terms of my preparation and interests. 

You still have a chance! Good luck!!

[Cauchy]

I was accepted to Stanford (and everywhere I applied), but I have not yet decided where I'd go. People will start turning down offers in March. There is still hope and good luck!

[hopesandprayers]

10 hours ago, Cauchy said:

I was accepted to Stanford (and everywhere I applied), but I have not yet decided where I'd go. People will start turning down offers in March. There is still hope and good luck!

Congratulations @Cauchy!  Your decision is obviously a really awesome problem to have, and I'll keep my sliver of hope for now.  Also @MathStat and @Schweinchen feel free to hmu if you guys wanna get in touch before Chicago's visit day if you're going