Decision made within 20 days ? How?!!!

[needanoffersobad]

Just got an rejection from Rice. 
sad, kinda expected since i am an international applicant without US degree and rice is an small department compared to other. 
But still can’t understand how does a school make decisions this quick and without writing sample or interview? Yes, Rice doesn’t require writing sample but I submitted mine anyways. 

The deadline for Rice was on Jan 5. So it only took them less than two weeks to review SOP LOR GRE GPA and that’s it?       How? 
 

please help me figure this out.  Maybe it will help for my potential future application. Millions of thanks! 

[ihatedecisions]

given that they do not require writing sample from all applicants it is reasonable to assume that they place more value on grades, gre and lors. I would advise you to look over big threads in this forum on application. I found them very useful. 

[Richelieu]

I believe this would not be a problem if you were admitted. 

It is relatively easier for departments that do not require a writing sample from all applicants. Moreover, 20 days should not be considered so short. Many departments start reviewing applications as soon as the deadline hits. 

[munch22]

Keep in mind faculty are the ones reviewing applications. These professors have other things (research, teaching, etc) they are devoting their time to than reading applications. 

[horololo]

I don't think that being an international applicant without a degree from the US makes much difference. I also personally think that if they made the decisions so quickly, that's kinda better than taking too long and torturing me with false hopes.

[needanoffersobad]

2 hours ago, horololo said:

I don't think that being an international applicant without a degree from the US makes much difference. I also personally think that if they made the decisions so quickly, that's kinda better than taking too long and torturing me with false hopes.

Not a faculty but as what my current supervisor, American and graduated from UC school , told me , there is indeed a difference. Like if a department intends to take in 8 students. 1-2 is preserved for international students. Even less in private school. 

[horololo]

45 minutes ago, needanoffersobad said:

Not a faculty but as what my current supervisor, American and graduated from UC school , told me , there is indeed a difference. Like if a department intends to take in 8 students. 1-2 is preserved for international students. Even less in private school. 

That’s why I’m saying that it doesn’t make much difference. An international applicant doesn’t compete with an applicant with an American degree. The applicant competes with international applicants. It’s an even ground at least among international applicants. The number of spots may be smaller, but the density of competition offsets, in my opinion. International applicants have additional hurdles such as TOEFL and perhaps bigger challenge coming from GRE verbal section, and I think it kinda narrows down the pool for the international applicants.

Personally, I think that without the international applicant quota, if it really exists, the competition could have been even worse for many international applicants, given that many international applicants do not have significantly higher GRE verbal score or come from a college that is renowned in the US, not to mention inevitable flaws in English grammar that would be found in an SOP or a writing sample.

Anyways, I try not to think about the fact that I’m an international applicant negatively because it’s not something that I can control now. What’s done is done, and I went to a college that isn’t in the US, but I did my best on things I still had the control over. That’s all I could do anyway.

Edited January 25, 2020 by horololo

[Theory007]

12 hours ago, needanoffersobad said:

Just got an rejection from Rice. 
sad, kinda expected since i am an international applicant without US degree and rice is an small department compared to other. 
But still can’t understand how does a school make decisions this quick and without writing sample or interview? Yes, Rice doesn’t require writing sample but I submitted mine anyways. 

The deadline for Rice was on Jan 5. So it only took them less than two weeks to review SOP LOR GRE GPA and that’s it?       How? 
 

please help me figure this out.  Maybe it will help for my potential future application. Millions of thanks! 

In my view, it is possible that one of the essential components of your application was lacking GRE/GPA/LOR/SOP and therefore did not meet the minimum threshold for admission. For example, often the graduate school division, not the department, has minimum GRE scores for entry to the university. So if you fell short of this, or one of the others, maybe the admission committee just rejected your application outright without further consideration.

[needanoffersobad]

On 1/25/2020 at 1:59 PM, Theory007 said:

In my view, it is possible that one of the essential components of your application was lacking GRE/GPA/LOR/SOP and therefore did not meet the minimum threshold for admission. For example, often the graduate school division, not the department, has minimum GRE scores for entry to the university. So if you fell short of this, or one of the others, maybe the admission committee just rejected your application outright without further consideration.

Thanks for your reply. Honestly I don’t think so.  My gpa is good. GRE both V and Q reach 90 percentile. LOR  SOP handed in          So really can’t figure it out 

[needanoffersobad]

On 1/25/2020 at 12:15 PM, horololo said:

That’s why I’m saying that it doesn’t make much difference. An international applicant doesn’t compete with an applicant with an American degree. The applicant competes with international applicants. It’s an even ground at least among international applicants. The number of spots may be smaller, but the density of competition offsets, in my opinion. International applicants have additional hurdles such as TOEFL and perhaps bigger challenge coming from GRE verbal section, and I think it kinda narrows down the pool for the international applicants.

Personally, I think that without the international applicant quota, if it really exists, the competition could have been even worse for many international applicants, given that many international applicants do not have significantly higher GRE verbal score or come from a college that is renowned in the US, not to mention inevitable flaws in English grammar that would be found in an SOP or a writing sample.

Anyways, I try not to think about the fact that I’m an international applicant negatively because it’s not something that I can control now. What’s done is done, and I went to a college that isn’t in the US, but I did my best on things I still had the control over. That’s all I could do anyway.

Thanks that makes a lot of sense to me. Now I feel more motivated. Thanks and good luck 

[ihatedecisions]

I think there is a lot of idiosyncracy to the whole process as well. Sometimes, poi might be not taking new students or fit is just not that perfect. I also am not sure how foreign schools are generally viewed. One thing you are coming from a known university, but if it is something people have never heard of, I feel like it might have negative impact. 

[needanoffersobad]

2 hours ago, ihatedecisions said:

I think there is a lot of idiosyncracy to the whole process as well. Sometimes, poi might be not taking new students or fit is just not that perfect. I also am not sure how foreign schools are generally viewed. One thing you are coming from a known university, but if it is something people have never heard of, I feel like it might have negative impact. 

Your last point makes sense to me and it hurts me a lot to be honest.  That’s what my supervisor with US admission experience told me as well. In terms of global ranking, I am from a well known university. But I guess this well known is not well known enough to shine or compete with other international applicant. 

[ihatedecisions]

I am sorry that you are feeling bad, but this is really not personal (which sorta feels even worse). I mean the whole admission process. Sometimes people with very good profiles just do not make the cut for things they cannot control; i feel like half of it is being at the right place at the right time. If you are dead set on getting PhD from the US, wait for the results of this cycle and if you dont get into anywhere, try asking around about what might have been lacking, read more on the application here and try again. But i do not think outside of a very select group of people there is a guaranteed way to sucess. 

ALso take my words with a grain of salt, given that I barely have any idea about this whole process. I am just relating my impression so far.