What were your experiences this application season?

[martizzle]

Its April 15th (its practically/almost over) for PhD applicants looking for funding...idk about the situation with MS applicants. What were your experiences this year? Did you nail that no. 1 school? Did you hear back from all the programs you applied to? What school(s) pissed you off with their lack of professionalism, miscommunication or stupidity? How do you feel about your getting multiple offers/rejections? Who got accepted/rejected across the board? Anything crazy happen during the application process (since September)? Any break-ups/new significant others? How many couples got accepted into the same program?

Anything and everything....share whatever.

[martizzle]

First off...this is my second time around applying & I thought it SUCKED big time. It's April 15th & there are still a number of programs I have not heard from. One school lost my transcript twice, and as of monday, told me that they still had not seen my transcript, but that they were currently processing a lot of stuff so it would take a couple weeks (the usualy crap, yes; but its wayyy too late in the game for said school to be so stupid/unprofessional).

1/12??? This is the worst feeling ever. I gave up a LOT in undergrad, did mad REUs, was TA for 3 years, RA for 2...the ultimate geek...1 out of 12 just doesn't seem fair after all that. Ah well, i got in somewhere so its all good (for now lol).

(wow, my post -this one- kinda seems boring lol...when i thought of this, i imagined it to be everything: cool, lol funny, thought provoking,...everything but boring. so hopefully, someone else can do a better job than me)

Edited April 15, 2010 by martizzle

[Bumblebee]

I did nail my top choice, but without funding. Getting there made me proud, and made my grandma proud as well (I think that it was the first time in my life she told me so, yay!). The only problem is that, without funding, I just couldn't make it, so I turned down the offer (without making my grandma less proud of me, yay!). I ended up in what turned out to be my second top choice. When I applied, I hadn't given it much thought, but when I heard from them I did a thorough research on the program and, to my surprise, it was the perfect fit for me. Plus, they gave me full funding (2 years for the MA and 5 for the PhD), a summer fellowship and told me that I would have the opportunity to work in their summer program in my own home country.

I've heard from all 6 schools I applied to: 3 rejects (two of them had already been rejected by me, even if they didn't know it, so they don't count), and 3 acceptances (my original top choice and two with full funding). There was a little family crisis with my decision (my parents wanting me to accept the other fully funded offer), but I stuck to my decision and managed to finally get their support. I guess it was too damn hard for them to see me in the Midwest, instead of the East Coast (where I would be one flight and a bunch of miles closer from home).

Anyway, I'm happy I survived this long process. It took me almost 3 months since I had sent applications to hear from the schools. The first school I heard from rejected me (which led me to think that it was going to be the first of a long list of rejections). Less than 24h later, I got accepted in the program I'm heading to, so the depression lasted for only 16 hours.

It took me more than a month to hear from the next one (my original top choice). Then, after asking about my status at other school, I was told that my sample paper was missing and that they had told me on Feb. 5th (this was at the end of March already). I never got the e-mail. So I quickly submitted my sample paper.

This was the school that rejected me, accepted me without funding and accepted me with full funding all in less than 36 hours. Oh, and they gave me 3 days to respond.

After that, two more rejections (from schools I wasn't even considering anymore). One of them, even sent me the rejection letter to my home country (I'm currently living in the US and they're supposed to know it).

[Jae B.]

As one person put it, I unexpectedly got everything I wanted as an master's applicant this season. In my heart, I had hoped to be accepted to both the schools I applied to. I thought my odds were good for one acceptance -- because my fit with the program seemed that strong -- but expected a rejection from the other, thinking I wasn't strong enough as an applicant. But, as it turned out, I got into both schools with some funding. The one I thought would reject me I could actually attend for free! But I have sticker shock regarding the school I expected to get into. It makes me really glad to have a choice, even though it's between two schools I regard equally, and dislike picking one over the other. I can see myself at either one. What ifs are bouncing all around in my head!

Edited April 15, 2010 by Jae B.

[skiergirl24]

This was a terrible experience for me. I still have not heard from 2 schools. I got into two schools but without funding and was rejected by 3. 2 schools sent me rejections right away. The third one I had to call and call and call. Finally someone called back and left me a message on my voicemail telling me I was rejected and that they sent the letters out weeks ago. Riiiiiiiight. Re: funding I know one school has none and there is no hope there. the other school told me funding letters would arrive this week. Nothing came. I called and spoke to them and they told me that funding may come available but that was all they would tell me...it was like talking to a brick wall "We can't make any promises. We may have funding but maybe not. Sorry."

My experience was that some of the schools don't care at all about their applicants. They collect your $50 and then leave you hanging. Then they lie about sending rejection letters, refuse to answer your calls, won't answer emails etc. It is almost like they can't be bothered. I mean how hard is it to send a rejection email...send a mass email and BCC every reject. But don't NOT say anything. I am so frustrated with the process I could scream. I am so upset and depressed that I am finding it difficult to function in my day to day life. This just sucks.

[socnerd]

I actually had a pretty good experience, places got back to me in a timely manner and I ended up with two fully-funded offers, which I hear is rare for a Master's. I got into 6/12 places I applied and there were no real disasters as far as lost materials or miscommunications. I'm extremely happy with my decision and am looking forward to moving and starting the next phase of my life. Maybe I'll do it all again in a year and a half for a PhD, I haven't decided yet. I'm just going to leave that door open and enjoy the next 2 years.

[geochic]

I had a good go actually. I was an MS applicant and I got in everywhere I applied with some degree of stipend and full tuition waivers/scholarships. I can't believe my luck. I also have been TAing as an undergrad and I completed an helluva undergraduate research and thesis project. I suspect my LORs were great too so I had that going for me but otherwise I'm a pretty average student- which is to say I have a 3.75 GPA and my GRE scores weren't steller by any means. I'm also a single mother of two kids (one of which I had in the middle of my research/thesis-Yowsa that was a tough year!) so I'm not sure if that was a point for or against me.

Anyway I ended up going with my second choice only because the funding offer was comparable to my top choice and the school is located in the same city as my folks which means I'll have substantial help with the kids. In a perfect world I'd have gone with my top choice and they made me a fantastic offer and had great research so I'm still kinda bummed about the decision. But the school I picked is great and little work is required for my stipend since it is a fellowship.

I was really on the fence about going to grad school and didn't even apply to any program until January 31st so I wasn't sure how things would work out for me. After I had my baby in early 09, my confidence plummeted since my thesis advisor started treating me like he'd written me off (nevermind the astounding volume of data and statistical analysis I produced for an undergraduate thesis all while very pregnant and not sleeping, and then taking care of a new baby and not getting paid for any of it), and I started to just feel like all my previous hard work (I went into my thesis with a 3.93)had just been undermined by the idea that I was this piece of trash who'd chosen to have another baby with no help. The bottom line-academia does not like single parents anymore than the rest of the country. Folks can argue this til they are blue in the face but I know better... I'm not whining by any means, and it comes from both sides. An education like mine could isolate me from my other single mother friends simply because it is so much of my life so I struggle to remain very connected with my not-in-university counterparts. It doesn't help that I am also a high-school drop-out from a low-income inner-city background, and a first-generation student so I already feel some social detachment with academia (which I am working hard to eliminate and currently is a muted version of my past demons). So I wasn't sure if I'd even have a shot at grad school, and wasn't sure if I had the will to keep going. That said, I'm about to wrap up this first chapter and apparently as a competitive candidate so here's one for single mamas in science!

I want more than most things (save good things for my children) to be a researcher in environmental earth science and I know I can make this happen. In addition, I can't think of a better example to set for my boys.

I suspect that some of this came through in my SOP...

Sorry if this was intense-I really didn't intend for it to be.

So in a nutshell- I was pretty happy with my application season. I hope my PhD applications go as well in two years.

Edited April 18, 2010 by geochic

[Serric]

Overall, I'd have to say my experience this application season was pretty good.

The biggest problem, of course, was the stress. No numerical part of my application, with the exception of my GRE, was above the average. I didn't realize how much weight was given to the letters of recommendation/statement of purpose, and so discounted their importance in my mind. I spent five and a half years in undergraduate (switched majors from English to cell/molecular biology three years in), and REALLY didn't want to spend another year trying to figure out what to do and go through the whole thing all over again.

So I started early. I looked through as many grad schools as I could find and narrowed my list down to ten, made sure I knew exactly why I wanted to go to each of them, researched faculty, revised my statement of purpose at least a dozen times, networked as much as possible, and ended up getting interviews to half the schools I applied to. At the end of the day, I ended up with a fully-funded acceptance (with a fellowship) into my top choice; which (thankfully for my stress!) was also the school that gave me my first interview and my first acceptance.

[gildedProgressive]

I only applied to 4 schools to begin with. Two of them were questionable from the get go, and I ended up being rejected from them both (which was ok for me). The other two schools were both in state schools, and they couldn't've been more different experiences. The first school I was accepted to (School A) got back to me within a couple weeks of all my application materials being turned in. Needless to say, I was excited that I would at least get to go somewhere. From that point on, however, the "customer service" I thought I SHOULD get was nonexistent. I was definitely a number and not taken seriously. I was at a conference a couple weeks ago, and another student said they got the same treatment from School A. After suggesting I take out an insane amount in loans, I finally got a letter from the department, telling me they weren't going to offer me any funding. I am pretty angry with the way they handled their admits.

Luckily, the school I am SO HAPPILY attending (School was consistently in contact with me throughout the app. season. They took a little longer to make decisions than I thought they should, but the acceptance letter I got was personalized for me, and they offered an exceptional amount in funding, in addition to an assistantship. I was lucky to meet many of the faculty at a conference this past weekend, and they were all super (had lunch with the department head, but didn't know it was him until a few minutes into the conversation). I even got recruited for a particular track within my program. Meanwhile, at this same conference, there was nobody in attendance from School A, even though this conference was in state, too.

It's just amazing how my experiences were very night and day. I feel lucky to have gotten the offer I got. I'm very excited to move and begin school.

[tem11]

I applied to a total of 10 programs and was accepted to 9 of them. With the exception of one university, I had a very positive experience. There were some hold ups with my LORs and a few less than responsive secretaries, but pretty much everyone got back to me in a timely fashion. I'm still a little bitter about how one university treated me, but I'm going to a much better institution anyhow so I feel like I got back at them in some strange passive-aggressive way .

As corny as it might sound, I wasn't expecting to learn so much about myself and my academic goals as I did through this process. Applying was easy, but deciding what direction I wanted to take my career turned out to be much more difficult. I settled with my undergrad institution, so sifting through all of the universities, their reputations, finding faculty whose interests matched mine, etc. was extremely eye-opening. I now have a much clearer picture of what I ultimately want to do with my life.

Money was probably the most frustrating part of all of this. Most of the programs I applied to are professional programs that offer little to no funding, so that narrowed my choices down tremendously. I will be taking out around $20K in loans for my master's degree and compared to the $120K price tag of some universities, I can't complain. Overall, it was a very good application season. Hoping the PhD/DPhil applications in a few years time go just as swimmingly.

[grad_wannabe]

I was surprised with how well this application round went.

It was my first ever year to apply (just graduated last June) and I was told by multiple people that it "usually takes a couple years of applying to get a good combination of program, acceptance and funding." On top of that, the crappy economy inflated the applicant pool, so I was nervous I'd be edged out by the intense competition. i prayed that I'd get into one, just ONE program so I wouldn't have to go through this intense application process again next year, even though I only applied to top-shelf programs (I told myself that I didn't want a Plan B school - it was either get into a top choice this year, or wait and apply to different schools next year).

I ended up with no rejections at all - 3 acceptances and 1 waitlist out of 4 applications. On top of that, one of the acceptances came with 50% funding, and the other two were fully funded (one offered a TA position, the other a Graduate Department Fellowship).

One school I didn't even bother visiting beforehand because "there's no way I'll get in, so why waste the time and money?" Their acceptance and fellowship offer were a total shock.

Overall VERY pleased with everything. Sure, there were a couple bumps in the road (schools claiming not to have received materials when I'd already gotten delivery confirmations, a bad group interview, and I got sick of paying for millions of transcripts) but everything came up roses.

[NeuroNerd86]

It was my first time applying and it actually went pretty well, although of course those were pretty stressful months.

I have a couple of application regrets, such as applying to 2 schools where, as I realized eventually, I wouldn't go even if they accepted me. And I also wished I was a bit more brave and applied to a couple more top ranked programs, even if just to be rejected.

Nonetheless, I got my acceptance into the program I liked the most the day of the interview in the end of January, so the rest of the application season was a breeze.

I applied to 10 programs, interviewed and got accepted at 4.

[wang chuk]

I applied to 2 programs. First one I heard back from rejected me and I reacted with ever growing insecurity about my qualifications to the point of convincing myself there was no way I would get into the other program (which I knew would be the better program for me). But I was wrong. Exactly one month after being rejected from the first program, I received acceptance notice from the other school. I had so thoroughly convinced myself that I wouldn't be a grad student in 2010--and I'm still having trouble believing I got into my preferred school. But I did!

[Nibor6000]

I went 5 for 5 with applications and acceptances - which was pretty amazing. I visited four of the schools.

So much of this forum is about advice to applicants, but let me give some advice to the grad schools: you need to encourage your faculty to at least pretend to be interested in working with Ph.D. students during the visit day! I had such a negative experience with so many of the faculty that, despite the great reputation, there was no way I would attend.

In the end, I chose the school that actually wanted to work with students and had the funding to back it up.

[juror#1]

This was my first time applying and I think it went pretty well. I heard (eventually) from all of my schools and got accepted into my top 2 schools as well as another school, all with full funding. I am going to my top choice with a fellowship on top of everything else. My only regret is in applying to a couple of the schools that just were not great fits for me and so I could have saved the time, energy, and money. Regardless, I enjoyed it for the most part, despite how stressful the whole process was--it did let me visit 4 states I had never set foot in before Now I just have to find an apartment and figure out when to make the trek west!

[coyabean]

I went 5 for 5 with applications and acceptances - which was pretty amazing. I visited four of the schools.

So much of this forum is about advice to applicants, but let me give some advice to the grad schools: you need to encourage your faculty to at least pretend to be interested in working with Ph.D. students during the visit day! I had such a negative experience with so many of the faculty that, despite the great reputation, there was no way I would attend.

In the end, I chose the school that actually wanted to work with students and had the funding to back it up.

I had 5 of 9 and I have to agree with Nibor. In the end it all came down to the department that made me feel welcomed. At some point every school you applied to should have strong faculty, facilities, etc. But feeling wanted, to me, means someone will invest in my success. That's immeasurable.

My only booo moment was with Carolina. I just had a horrible experience with some faculty there. But other than that it went better than I could have dreamt.

[astroturf]

It was a surprising application season for me. I applied to the same departments/cities as my partner, and for awhile it looked like we'd only have our undergraduate institution admitting the two of us together. In fact, we had both been settling down to do our MA there when we both got two acceptances to the same schools right after April 15th.

We did not get in together to some of our top-choice schools, but when these offers came and we sat down to look at the programs, we realized one program that was honestly near the bottom of our list we completely underestimated. They offered us both full funding and had a program very tailored to our interests.

I guess that was the biggest surprise for me- I didn't really realize what schools were the best fit for me until near the end of the application season. I don't really feel bad that I didn't get in to some of my top choices anymore, because now I wonder how great a "fit" I truly was for these departments. I am very thankful I took one of my professor's suggestions and applied to the school I ended up accepting because it was better for me than I realized. I guess that's my one regret- I feel like I lucked into a fantastic program when I really wished I would have investigated the programs I applied to for "fit" more thoroughly. I also wish I would have utilized these lists of funded MA programs on this forum more and investigated more funded programs. Now that I'm at the realistic, planning my finances stage of this, I don't know how I would have gone to some of these programs if they hadn't have offered funding.

There were a few road bumps with departments. I won't name departments, but we talked back and forth with the graduate director at the other program we ended up declining and when we sent a polite email declining the offer, they became very rude. It was surprising because we were going to keep this department on our list when we started the search for PhD programs, but now we're not so sure. The whole correspondence with them they seemed too bothered to answer our questions and then their last rude email makes us wonder if we should knock them off the list. And one program sent a rejection letter that seemed way more harsh than necessary. But, oh well.

All in all, this was my first time applying and I am very thankful both me and my partner got into an excellent, funded MA program together. There were definitely mistakes we both made that kept our number of acceptances low, but I feel like I understand the process better now and will be able to put together a much better PhD application in a few years.

[Tall Chai Latte]

It's nice to see that some of us had positive experiences and results from this tough application season. Congraz!

As for me, this season was pretty rough. I applied with an UGPA just barely enough to be considered for admission and an okay GRE score, and I was dreading all the way that I won't be accepted anywhere. Then a surprise came - one LOR did not submit her letter to any of the schools I applied to! I emailed and called, eventually the letter got to my schools one month after the deadlines.... Huge disappointment. I had to ask for an emergency letter from a colleague to patch this up, very thankful indeed.

Honestly, I consider myself to be very very lucky to have 2 admits out of 7 schools (5 rejects) to pick from, given this unanticipated LOR situation.

[Jae B.]

I guess that was the biggest surprise for me- I didn't really realize what schools were the best fit for me until near the end of the application season.

I had this experience as well. I'm just glad I applied to the school I wound up accepting!

[Riotbeard]

Accepted with funding: 5

Accepted w/out funding:1

Waitlisted: 1

rejected: 4

American Studies: 0/2

Applied to: too many, but it worked out.

I actually got into with funding (and an akward bidding war against nobody really...) my #3 choice and got waitlisted at my #2, but I am going to a school I applied to on a whim (see below). I did not really look that school closely except to quickly adapt my SOP, but they gave me a fellowship, so that peaked my interest. When I went to visit I got an incredibly hospitable welcome and a big hug from the department secretary (Southern Ivy= Southern Hospitality apparently). They wined and dined me a bit, but overall, it was the feel of the program, the professors and students I met, and my awesome advisor that got me there. It was really unexpected and excited. So I declined the offer from my #3 school and pretty quickly withdrew my name from # 2's waitlist. Overall it was a very good season for me since striking out last year. Also I got a funded offer before I expected to hear back from anybody, so I knew I had somewhere before getting any rejections which was nice. I did have an interesting telephone call with UNC's DGS. I had not heard, so I called and the DGS and she was like: "oh, I think you were rejected, but we should've gotten you a letter out earlier." Rest assured a few days later I was officially rejected. And at Georgia, graduate admissions never sent my transcript to the department, so when I called the department they had to get it from the graduate school. This was all after acceptance letters had been sent out, and I had not heard anything. After they got my transcript, they put me on the waitlist, but they were very non-commital, and I knew where I wanted to go so... I withdrew.

[Medievalmaniac]

This was an awful experience for me, but it did underscore how much I want to do this- because I've already rolled up my sleeves and gotten to work on the next application season, and if I didn't really want this, no way would I put myself through what I am going to have to go through to achieve this goal (another GRE, subject test GRE, ouuuuuuuuuch...).

I applied this past season to five schools, was rejected at four, and given a spot with no funding at the fifth. No way could I swing that - and I'm not going to, either. I have a decade of teaching experience, publications, and conferences, and I paid for my MA out of pocket. I fully expect to be funded as a doctoral candidate. Furthermore, as a mother and wife, no way can I possibly bankrupt my family going after my dream (we're close enough already without that).

What have I learned? Welllll.......

I learned that there are programs out there that will look at your undergraduate GPA from fifteen years ago as the deciding factor, even if you have a 4.0 from an MA program last year.

I learned that there are programs that claim they don't look at the quantitative score on your GRE if you're applying for English, but that they ultimately do.

I learned that programs that outwardly claim not to require the subject GRE "secretly" expect you to have taken it anyhow.

I learned that your LORs had better all come from professors - no colleague/peer-reviews of your teaching!

In short - I learned that just being a deserving candidate and a passionate one doesn't cut it - they claim to be looking for the best candidates, but they are actually really looking at the best application packets - and these can be two different things, especially if you don't really know how to assemble a "perfect packet", as it were. So - I learned that what you really have to do is to be smart about the process. This forum has been an invaluable tool in figuring out what I did wrong...hopefully, all that I have learned from this go-round will help me get in with funding next season!

[RNadine21]

I'm on the fence about the process.

I applied to four schools. Faculty members at all four schools seemed very optimistic about me, despite the fact that I didn't think I was that great of an applicant (3.2 GPA, 3.0 in my major GPA, one research internship, no conferences or senior thesis, etc.)

School A really reached out to me and two faculty members showed a lot of interest in me, but there was a serious lack of communication in the department. The department head would tell me to visit one weekend (my favorite was telling me I could come up the next weekend....yes, I can put together a weekend trip to another state in one damn week) and faculty members would tell me to visit another. Then I was offered a doctorate fellowship, but I initially turned it down because I wasn't 100% positive I wanted to commit to a PhD. Well, I was unaware that my acceptance depended on my accepting that offer...after many emails, I found out from the head that the two faculty members committed to other people (while ignoring my emails) and there was no room for me. By the end of all this I was beyond done with this school and had scratched it off my list even though I could have waited for an official decision.

School B was basically my last choice. The program was good but I wasn't excited about the location. The faculty was great there, but I wouldn't have gotten a response before I had to accept another offer so I withdrew my application.

School C was my dream school. Great faculty members, well-known institution, great city that's closer to home but still far enough away to make my own life. Unfortunately, one faculty member didn't get the funding for the project I wanted to work on, and I wouldn't have received a response before having to accept an offer so again, I had to withdraw. I was however annoyed that a month later I got an email from the same person that acknowledged my withdrawal, saying my application had just passed the first stage and was available for faculty members to view....uhhh, yea. In retrospect this wasn't so bad, I might still be waiting for a response from this school, which would've killed me.

So I'm going to School D in August. I completed a research internship here, and while I loved the city, I wasn't sure about the school. My biggest issue was a lack of public transportation (I'm from a city farther north and never really needed a car....or a license for that matter :/). However, the application process went smoothly and I was personally called to be notified of my acceptance (the person who called knew me from the summer before). I'm now very happy with my decision, and I'm looking forward to at least getting my license this summer....maybe a car if things work out.

[coyabean]

I had this experience as well. I'm just glad I applied to the school I wound up accepting!

Me, too.

My story is so funny that it's almost cosmic.

I landed on my department's webpage months before I started applying. I looked at the requirements and I didn't meet them (no masters); and then I looked at the field (ed. studies and american studies) and my mentor told me both were academic ghettos; but I couldn't shake the feeling I got. I actually remember showing the page to a friend and commenting upon the sense of wit and humor the grad student profiles displayed. But then due to the aforementioned stuff I forgot about them.

Then months later I contacted the school...but another department. In doing so I put out some emails to faculty that could sit on my committee -- suggested by the department i was researching. Well, one of those I emailed called me out of the blue and, gently but persuasively, urged me to consider the department where she has her main appointment. It just happens that it was the department I'd looked at months earlier.

I waffled and she called me AGAIN. While driving home for the holidays. I was floored.

I waffled less but still waffled. Eventually I applied to both programs, made the final cut for both and felt a sense of resonance the moment I interviewed wit the program I'd written off earlier.

Despite not meeting the requirements, my fear about the field, my multiple apps (some schools frown on this), and my mentor's concerns I was accepted and I think I always knew it was right to accept.

Now, I couldn't be happier.

But it is NOT where I thought I'd be when I started this process.