2019-2020 Application Thread

[Romcomulus]

Just now, kemalgider said:

I mean concerning the application fees that average around $70, it makes more than $1500 to only apply to that many schools. As an international student, that is more than the whole salary of a person in Turkey. LOL.

Probably even more than that considering all UC's have a $120 fee I think.

[ihatedecisions]

2 minutes ago, Romcomulus said:

I can't think of 23 schools I would want to go to. However, my desire to get in somewhere far outweighs any reservations about going to a school I'm not familiar with, lol. 

fair point.

I sort of went all in with my safe choice closing the ranking and dropping places like Rochester or some Ivys because I really chanced myself as a very unlikely admit.

[sloth_girl]

13 minutes ago, Romcomulus said:

Is it common for applicants to apply to 20+ schools? I just saw an NYU admit that applied to 22 schools. I applied to ten and I thought that was a lot. Lol, now I'm worried I should have applied to more.

That's me. I have a different family situation than most (kids and a spouse who wants to work in their field), so I applied to a good number. Additionally, I REALLY didn't think I'd get into many, so I wanted to apply broadly so as to have options in terms of cost of living, rank, etc.. My undergrad department also funds up to $500 in application fees for students and former students, so that helped a bit. 

[Romcomulus]

1 hour ago, sloth_girl said:

That's me. I have a different family situation than most (kids and a spouse who wants to work in their field), so I applied to a good number. Additionally, I REALLY didn't think I'd get into many, so I wanted to apply broadly so as to have options in terms of cost of living, rank, etc.. My undergrad department also funds up to $500 in application fees for students and former students, so that helped a bit. 

Well you absolutely killed it. You’ll have your pick of amazing schools and advisors   Congratulations!

[Dwar]

CU Updates are out BTW

[Romcomulus]

Congrats to whoever posted that they struck out last year, that's awesome! Never give up guys!

Edited February 4, 2020 by Romcomulus

[needanoffersobad]

2 hours ago, Romcomulus said:

Is it common for applicants to apply to 20+ schools? I just saw an NYU admit that applied to 22 schools. I applied to ten and I thought that was a lot. Lol, now I'm worried I should have applied to more.

On one hand, of course it’s better to apply as many as possible.  On the other hand, ranking and fit kinda limit my choice.  For example, I didn’t apply for any top 20 schools based on my mediocre gpa which is around 3.5. I didn’t apply for schools ranking after 40 either    And between 20-40, I have to make sure The department fit me. Make sure there Are at least three professors to be my POI         I applied for 9 and so far one acceptance. 

Edited February 4, 2020 by needanoffersobad

[needanoffersobad]

Anyone got interviews from Vanderbilt?

[niceward]

27 minutes ago, Dwar said:

CU Updates are out BTW

You have a decision? Nothing on my end. 

[horololo]

1 hour ago, needanoffersobad said:

On one hand, of course it’s better to apply as many as possible.  On the other hand, ranking and fit kinda limit my choice.  For example, I didn’t apply for any top 20 schools based on my mediocre gpa which is around 3.5. I didn’t apply for schools ranking after 40 either    And between 20-40, I have to make sure The department fit me. Make sure there Are at least three professors to be my POI         I applied for 9 and so far one acceptance. 

It might be a bummer to tell you this at this point, but my college GPA is below 3.5 and I got admission from a top 20 school. I think the research fit was the most important thing in my case

Edited February 5, 2020 by horololo

[Imperator Totius Hispaniae]

Just now, horololo said:

It might be a bummer to tell you this at this point, but my college GPA is below 3.5 and I got admission from a top 20 school

Which school? 

[Dwar]

1 hour ago, Romcomulus said:

Congrats to whoever posted that they struck out last year, that's awesome! Never give up guys!

Ayyyyy thanks! It’s such a relief.

 

[niceward]

I applied in CP in Boulder. @Dwar, I know you're not in my field. Wondering about the other poster...

Congratulations, by the way! I'm glad you got some good news.

[Dwar]

11 minutes ago, niceward said:

I applied in CP in Boulder. @Dwar, I know you're not in my field. Wondering about the other poster...

Congratulations, by the way! I'm glad you got some good news.

Thank you so much!

ALSO, I'm not seeing any rejections out yet, so not sure what that timeline will be, but I do know that CU likes to hold a large waitlist so if you don't receive either an acceptance or rejection then I would assume you're on that. I know last year they drew alot of students from it. 

[Theory007]

2 hours ago, Dwar said:

CU Updates are out BTW

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! THAT'S SO AMAZING EXCELLENT TERRIFIC TREMENDOUS OUTSTANDING!!!! Plz show Dwar some love people!!

[needanoffersobad]

1 hour ago, horololo said:

It might be a bummer to tell you this at this point, but my college GPA is below 3.5 and I got admission from a top 20 school. I think the research fit was the most important thing in my case

Wow u r killing me hahah! Congratulations!   Later after this application cycle, maybe u can share your tips in application.  That will help lots of people I bet! 

[taraeh]

1 hour ago, Dwar said:

Thank you so much!

ALSO, I'm not seeing any rejections out yet, so not sure what that timeline will be, but I do know that CU likes to hold a large waitlist so if you don't receive either an acceptance or rejection then I would assume you're on that. I know last year they drew alot of students from it. 

Dwar you got in to CU??? WOOHOO!!! Excited to hear that! Two years of this and it paid off! My fingers are crossed I get similar news - I can't possibly come back a third year.

[bigmood]

2 hours ago, horololo said:

It might be a bummer to tell you this at this point, but my college GPA is below 3.5 and I got admission from a top 20 school.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. Sub 3.5 GPA and so far I have acceptances from two top 20 and two 20-25 schools. I think research fit makes such a difference when departments are reviewing applications. 

[GabriellaG]

4 hours ago, Dwar said:

Thank you so much!

ALSO, I'm not seeing any rejections out yet, so not sure what that timeline will be, but I do know that CU likes to hold a large waitlist so if you don't receive either an acceptance or rejection then I would assume you're on that. I know last year they drew alot of students from it. 

@DwarAlso yes congrats!! That's great :) 

@niceward I applied to the IR subfield and haven't seen anyone post about that so hoping that they either haven't done anything for IR yet or that the waitlist is indeed long and used 

 

 

 

[niceward]

Just curious... Anyone else applying to CUNY, Rutgers, JHU, Brandeis, or Brown? I've yet to hear from any of them. All theory subfield. 

[e2e4]

28 minutes ago, niceward said:

Just curious... Anyone else applying to CUNY, Rutgers, JHU, Brandeis, or Brown? I've yet to hear from any of them. All theory subfield. 

I applied to CUNY, JH, and Brown. Have not heard anything yet. 

[niceward]

1 minute ago, e2e4 said:

I applied to CUNY, JH, and Brown. Have not heard anything yet. 

Hey, good luck! Maybe we'll see each other in the fall.  What subfield? 

Edited February 5, 2020 by niceward

[e2e4]

1 minute ago, niceward said:

Hey, good luck! Maybe we'll see each other in the fall.  What subfield? 

? I'm CP --- slide in my dms when things wrap up

[e2e4]

9 hours ago, Romcomulus said:

Probably even more than that considering all UC's have a $120 fee I think.

plus you have to shell out for sending GRE scores, so + $27*n. then some schools require official transcripts up front. massive racket.

[e2e4]

9 hours ago, ihatedecisions said:

i applied to 15 schools and prob would stupid go  for 23-ish if i could afford it

 

9 hours ago, Romcomulus said:

Is it common for applicants to apply to 20+ schools? I just saw an NYU admit that applied to 22 schools. I applied to ten and I thought that was a lot. Lol, now I'm worried I should have applied to more.

If eligible, I would recommend taking advantage of GRE fee reduction program. This opens up a number of fee waivers. Affiliation with some programs that promote diversity open up waivers, but not all programs are included. Most top schools are happy to offer fee waivers if candidate shows demonstrated need / hardship. Apply for these early. I'd like to put Stanford on blast as an exception, as they have a particularly distressing system of selectively applying program waivers after candidate jumps through a number of hoops. I find this gatekeeping abhorrent. Georgetown's is also particularly troublesome. As you go lower in rank, it seems these waivers are harder to come by, but still worth the ask. In my mind, this very high barrier to entry runs counter to missions of diversity and inclusion. As if there wasn't already enough inequality and exploitation in higher ed