Venting Thread - 2019 Applicants

[Eheydon]

On 2/20/2020 at 7:19 AM, TheCarbWhisperer said:

Hmm okay. I'm just n e r v o u s (and also didn't want to crash your congratulation thread on FB haha). Thank you!

They sent the official letter with the funding details; I got it yesterday afternoon and it was a fairly standard-looking package. 

[BabyFarmer]

5 hours ago, Eheydon said:

They sent the official letter with the funding details; I got it yesterday afternoon and it was a fairly standard-looking package. 

Congrats again! I got a rejection from them yesterday lol but at least the nerves are done where they're concerned. 

[Eheydon]

1 hour ago, TheCarbWhisperer said:

Congrats again! I got a rejection from them yesterday lol but at least the nerves are done where they're concerned. 

Ugh, I’m sorry to hear that!

[BabyFarmer]

Just now, Eheydon said:

Ugh, I’m sorry to hear that!

It happens! I love their ethics people but the program overall wouldn't be a great fit. 

[UndergradDad]

Since this is after all the venting thread, does anyone else find it frustrating how haphazardly the results seem to come in? Sometimes an acceptance comes in and then no other result shows for a week, some programs dont even bother to send rejection emails for over a nonth after the acceptances and waitlists go out. I just saw someone post a Syracuse waitlist before anyone posted acceptances. I would just chalk all of this up to the randomness of the grad cafe posters, however I have called a few programs myself and they seem to do things all over the board. Doesnt seem to be that much logic to the process from this end.

Just had to rant for a minute here.

[sisyphushappy]

The randomness is definitely confusing at times. I frequently remind myself that it's hard to arrange meeting times for people who are all incredibly busy to begin with.

 

Edited February 21, 2020 by sisyphushappy
TMI lmao

[sisyphushappy]

Also, found out that the Northwestern wait-list has 10 people on it. Saw that someone withdrew from it here, so 9 now! It would be very cool if everyone stopped having my dream school as their dream school too, haha.

[BabyFarmer]

Do we know what schools tend to have "hidden" waitlists? 

[malaphor]

*dramatically awaits any news from MIT*

[MtnDuck]

3 hours ago, TheCarbWhisperer said:

Do we know what schools tend to have "hidden" waitlists? 

It has changed over the years a bit, but at some points Rutgers, Purdue, Cornell, USC, UNC, Texas @ Austin, Notre Dame (at first), University of Kentucky, and Stony Brook have all had hidden waitlists. Some of them, along with other schools I haven't kept track of explicitly, have a second waitlist that they will pull from if the initial set declines fwiw.

[Prob]

On 2/21/2020 at 11:30 AM, UndergradDad said:

Since this is after all the venting thread, does anyone else find it frustrating how haphazardly the results seem to come in? Sometimes an acceptance comes in and then no other result shows for a week, some programs dont even bother to send rejection emails for over a nonth after the acceptances and waitlists go out. I just saw someone post a Syracuse waitlist before anyone posted acceptances. I would just chalk all of this up to the randomness of the grad cafe posters, however I have called a few programs myself and they seem to do things all over the board. Doesnt seem to be that much logic to the process from this end.

Just had to rant for a minute here.

I can claim posting about being on the waiting list at Syracuse. I think the seeming randomness may at least in part be due to idiosyncratic features of applicants. For example, I’m an international student living in the UK, and in the e-mail I received they invited me to visit the campus. They may have wanted to let me know as early as possible as it will take longer for me to make travel plans than someone from or who lives in the US (e.g if I needed to update my passport). But I’m sure that’s one of many factors (and perhaps only in play in a small number of cases).

As for all the radio silence from most of the programs I’ve applied to while people are posting acceptances...well, I don’t think we should write them off quite yet. It ain’t over until it’s over. And I reckon most people who are going to the very top programs also applied to (and got accepted by) the mid-ranking programs that I know many are waiting to hear back from (including me!) So you could easily slide from a hidden waitlist to an official one.

[UndergradDad]

Yes I've heard about hidden waitlists and that does seem to be in play with some programs.

Congrats on Syracuse!

Good school!

 

[UndergradDad]

Anyone hear anything on Purdue yet?

[Kantattheairport]

On 2/22/2020 at 1:15 AM, UndergradDad said:

Since this is after all the venting thread, does anyone else find it frustrating how haphazardly the results seem to come in? Sometimes an acceptance comes in and then no other result shows for a week, some programs dont even bother to send rejection emails for over a nonth after the acceptances and waitlists go out. I just saw someone post a Syracuse waitlist before anyone posted acceptances. I would just chalk all of this up to the randomness of the grad cafe posters, however I have called a few programs myself and they seem to do things all over the board. Doesnt seem to be that much logic to the process from this end.

Just had to rant for a minute here.

It does seem like this year's decisions are particularly straggled out, not sure why.

 

On 2/22/2020 at 8:29 AM, malaphor said:

*dramatically awaits any news from MIT*

We'll be waiting a while - word I've gotten is that they're yet to begin looking at the application files.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Kantattheairport

[Mischief]

On 2/24/2020 at 8:02 PM, Kantattheairport said:

We'll be waiting a while - word I've gotten is that they're yet to begin looking at the application files.

Good grief.

[Coconuts&Chloroform]

Now that Stanford acceptances are out, I'm starting to get a bit concerned that all of the top-10 programs to which I've applied that have sent out acceptances have not yet accepted me (though only one outright rejected me, I'm not terribly hopeful about the rest). I know it's silly to complain when I have three acceptances, including a program that is top-ten in my AOI, but I'm pretty hopeful about CUNY and NYU, and not even getting waitlisted at Berkeley, UCLA, Pitt, and Stanford concerns me. 

[Quaaliaa]

Anyone else been hopefully answering every spam call?

[Coconuts&Chloroform]

Anyone know anything about CUNY? People on Facebook who presumably have insider info have said that MIT and Columbia are unusually late this year in looking at applications, but so is CUNY (historically), and I haven't heard any rumors. 

[Nw20]

35 minutes ago, Coconuts&Chloroform said:

Anyone know anything about CUNY? People on Facebook who presumably have insider info have said that MIT and Columbia are unusually late this year in looking at applications, but so is CUNY (historically), and I haven't heard any rumors. 

Also wondering about the same thing, but haven't acceptances/waitlists for MIT already gone out?

[Coconuts&Chloroform]

6 minutes ago, Nw20 said:

Also wondering about the same thing, but haven't acceptances/waitlists for MIT already gone out?

Oh, maybe so. I didn't apply, so I'm not up to date.

[Coconuts&Chloroform]

Last night I dreamt that I had an 'Admissions Decision' letter from CUNY in my inbox. I woke up before I could read what it said. The wait is clearly getting to me.

[strongkleeneevalscheme]

31 minutes ago, Coconuts&Chloroform said:

Last night I dreamt that I had an 'Admissions Decision' letter from CUNY in my inbox. I woke up before I could read what it said. The wait is clearly getting to me.

At least you could stay asleep long enough for REM! I am ravenous for news from CUNY as well. After my ignoble rejections from Rutgers, USC, and MIT right in a row last week, CUNY is the only major department on my menu that hasn't turned me down or stuck me on their waitlist. I am doing my best to be somewhat optimistic about my station on those waitlists, but CUNY is the last department I haven't heard from that I can feel really excited about hearing some good news from. Not that there's anything wrong with the back end of the catalog, but I happen to be way more enthusiastic about UT than any of them. To tell you the truth, it was getting the nos from USC and MIT in the span of three hours that really drove me up the wall last last week, and I am eager to hear something good soon. That's just to say that you're not alone in going a little bit neurotic with the rest of us. I am blaming it on that damned February 29th!

[Coconuts&Chloroform]

2 minutes ago, strongkleeneevalscheme said:

At least you could stay asleep long enough for REM! I am ravenous for news from CUNY as well. After my ignoble rejections from Rutgers, USC, and MIT right in a row last week, CUNY is the only major department on my menu that hasn't turned me down or stuck me on their waitlist. I am doing my best to be somewhat optimistic about my station on those waitlists, but CUNY is the last department I haven't heard from that I can feel really excited about hearing some good news from. Not that there's anything wrong with the back end of the catalog, but I happen to be way more enthusiastic about UT than any of them. To tell you the truth, it was getting the nos from USC and MIT in the span of three hours that really drove me up the wall last last week, and I am eager to hear something good soon. That's just to say that you're not alone in going a little bit neurotic with the rest of us. I am blaming it on that damned February 29th!

Do you think you'd accept CUNY over UT? I'm also excited (and hopeful) about CUNY, but the truth is that their placement record isn't particularly compelling, especially given their top-15 ranking.

[strongkleeneevalscheme]

Just now, Coconuts&Chloroform said:

Do you think you'd accept CUNY over UT? I'm also excited (and hopeful) about CUNY, but the truth is that their placement record isn't particularly compelling, especially given their top-15 ranking.

I have no idea. I get strong 'chaotic energy' from basically everything I know of that department. I imagine studying there would be like "Uncut Gems". I mostly want to keep my options as radically open as possible -- many of the departments I am waiting to hear from seem perhaps like the 'lite' alternatives of other schools on my radar. That's not necessarily anything to complain about, but it is a little disenchanting. 

[Coconuts&Chloroform]

Just now, strongkleeneevalscheme said:

I have no idea. I get strong 'chaotic energy' from basically everything I know of that department. I imagine studying there would be like "Uncut Gems". I mostly want to keep my options as radically open as possible -- many of the departments I am waiting to hear from seem perhaps like the 'lite' alternatives of other schools on my radar. That's not necessarily anything to complain about, but it is a little disenchanting. 

That sounds like a fair assessment.

If it's any consolation, I have been absolutely wiped out - not even a waitlist - on all Top 10 programs other than NYU and Columbia. Stanford, Pitt, Berkeley, UCLA, Yale and Harvard all seem to have passed me over. If you have even a waitlist from one of these programs, then you're doing better than me. The silver lining is that none of these schools are particularly good fits, and that every school (excepting CUNY and NYU, from which I haven't yet heard) at which I have a strong POI has accepted me. Then again, so far those have all been schools outside the Top 10. So I have no idea whether to be optimistic or pessimistic about what I'm about to hear.