UC Berkeley MS/PhD or PhD Mechanical Engineering Program 2021

[wiseseaweed]

Hi everyone! I've been waiting to hear back from UC Berkeley since Monday when they said results would come out and looks like many others are too. Just made this forum so we could reach out and talk to each other and get through this together!!

[zishanulh]

Hi everyone! There is no update on my application. Applied for the MS/PhD program. Did anyone receive rejection for the MS/PhD program as yet?. Thanks for creating this forum.

 

[__init__]

Hi! Thank you for creating this thread. As I mentioned before, who said the end of March is defined as Mar. 31 ?? For administrators, it could be Mar 46th, Mar 61st or Mar random(). Similarly, "the end of this week" also doesn't necessarily mean Friday, it could be enum{Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday}.

By the way, since it's Easter this weekend, I suspect they are just not working today. Sorry! Please wait another week!

Edited April 2, 2021 by __init__

[wiseseaweed]

No problem!! Yeah I also applied for the MS/PhD and haven't heard anything since the waitlist email. I am perplexed that they said an admissions update would be out "no later than Monday" and it's literally Friday today . . . They could have at least emailed us that there would be more delays but this is just nerve-wracking. 

And yeah exactly! It's already the end of the month . . . and Easter is not helping with that timeline. Looking back at last year's results, it looks like Berkeley didn't even get back to people until after April 15! I am so nervous right now. I talked with a prospective research advisor and they didn't know what's going on with admissions either other than that they said "end of March." 

[__init__]

Just received rejection from another school's PhD program. I suspect my chance here at Berkeley is also close to zero. Very likely I will end up accepting MS offer at UPenn.

[wiseseaweed]

1 hour ago, __init__ said:

Just received rejection from another school's PhD program. I suspect my chance here at Berkeley is also close to zero. Very likely I will end up accepting MS offer at UPenn.

Yeah rejection sucks but that's an amazing choice, congrats!!!

[Jaden_Nam]

Hey,

All my friends who applied to UCB's ME department got rejection (4 people). But I didn't get any updates.
Are we likely wait-listed?

[wiseseaweed]

Did they apply to the MS or PhD? I got an email that said I'm in a "waitlist for further review" but no updates since. I think if you haven't heard then probably waitlist. Looking at the previous posts it seems like Berkeley didn't notify some people until after the April 15 deadline . . . 

[zishanulh]

1 hour ago, __init__ said:

Just received rejection from another school's PhD program. I suspect my chance here at Berkeley is also close to zero. Very likely I will end up accepting MS offer at UPenn.

UPenn is a great school. 

[zishanulh]

14 minutes ago, Jaden_Nam said:

Hey,

All my friends who applied to UCB's ME department got rejection (4 people). But I didn't get any updates.
Are we likely wait-listed?

Same here. Didn't get any update. But I know UCB sends rejections only after all the admit and waitlist decisions have been rolled out.

[Jaden_Nam]

10 minutes ago, wiseseaweed said:

Did they apply to the MS or PhD? I got an email that said I'm in a "waitlist for further review" but no updates since. I think if you haven't heard then probably waitlist. Looking at the previous posts it seems like Berkeley didn't notify some people until after the April 15 deadline . . . 

They all applied to PhD!

[__init__]

I think all schools will sort the applicants and review them in a certain order. Basically, the better you are, the earlier you get the decision. I know some dude with straight 4.0 GPA and extremely powerful research experience (might even better than some faculties) got their offer in like the first week of January.

The fact that I'm still waiting here is just a side proof that my profile is not impressive at all. It doesn't even worth that 30 seconds that might take them to write up that generic rejection.

[wiseseaweed]

41 minutes ago, __init__ said:

I think all schools will sort the applicants and review them in a certain order. Basically, the better you are, the earlier you get the decision. I know some dude with straight 4.0 GPA and extremely powerful research experience (might even better than some faculties) got their offer in like the first week of January.

The fact that I'm still waiting here is just a side proof that my profile is not impressive at all. It doesn't even worth that 30 seconds that might take them to write up that generic rejection.

Hey now, don't get yourself down like that! I think the fact we're waitlisted and not straight rejected means our profiles are competitive! This pandemic has really made this grad school application cycle rough for even the smartest people I know. And getting into UPenn is not easy, they wouldn't accept you if they weren't impressed with you! People get accepted and rejected all over the place that they don't expect because there's a lot of people applying and a lot of the time it really goes down to luck and having the right person reviewing your application. Although you get a rejection with the school name attached, it really is just a handful of people who look at your application and they definitely don't define what your self-worth is. You're a strong candidate, be proud of that and try not to let the rejections get you down! (Easier said than done that's for sure though)

[__init__]

30 minutes ago, wiseseaweed said:

Hey now, don't get yourself down like that! I think the fact we're waitlisted and not straight rejected means our profiles are competitive! This pandemic has really made this grad school application cycle rough for even the smartest people I know. And getting into UPenn is not easy, they wouldn't accept you if they weren't impressed with you! People get accepted and rejected all over the place that they don't expect because there's a lot of people applying and a lot of the time it really goes down to luck and having the right person reviewing your application. Although you get a rejection with the school name attached, it really is just a handful of people who look at your application and they definitely don't define what your self-worth is. You're a strong candidate, be proud of that and try not to let the rejections get you down! (Easier said than done that's for sure though)

Thank you for your kind words. It is a difficult time and I'm not a upbeating person. I really apologize for being a downer again.

Let's hope together that we will have a good result!

[Jaden_Nam]

1 hour ago, wiseseaweed said:

Hey now, don't get yourself down like that! I think the fact we're waitlisted and not straight rejected means our profiles are competitive! This pandemic has really made this grad school application cycle rough for even the smartest people I know. And getting into UPenn is not easy, they wouldn't accept you if they weren't impressed with you! People get accepted and rejected all over the place that they don't expect because there's a lot of people applying and a lot of the time it really goes down to luck and having the right person reviewing your application. Although you get a rejection with the school name attached, it really is just a handful of people who look at your application and they definitely don't define what your self-worth is. You're a strong candidate, be proud of that and try not to let the rejections get you down! (Easier said than done that's for sure though)

Yeah I totally agree with you!

[Jaden_Nam]

Any updates? I wrote email to MechE at UCB but no reply yet

[wiseseaweed]

@Jaden_Nam I haven't heard anything ? 

[zishanulh]

No news.

 

[__init__]

Another week! No updates here too!

[Jaden_Nam]

You guys have other options? I don't know whether I could accept other offer and withdraw that offer after April 15 if I get UCB's admission by any chance

[__init__]

7 hours ago, Jaden_Nam said:

You guys have other options? I don't know whether I could accept other offer and withdraw that offer after April 15 if I get UCB's admission by any chance

Yeah that's a tough decision. I would say if it's a MS offer then you will probably be fine because the scholarship they provide is not significant most of the time, and many students are doing same things.

If it's a PhD offer then I think you might want to be more careful. Try to find some connections with former students and see what they say. But congrats! You have PhD offer! Much better than me..

[zishanulh]

This is so frustrating. ?

 

[__init__]

2 hours ago, zishanulh said:

This is so frustrating. ?

 

It is. I'm gonna assume it's a rejection and prepare accordingly. Rely on their decision is just not doable. 

[wiseseaweed]

Yeah honestly I feel over it at this point . . . terrible communication with applicants. If they are waiting until April 15 for spots to open up from people who reject their offers, they should just say that to us. They literally said there would be an update no later than March 29 ?? I am just planning to reapply to grad school next year haha

[zishanulh]

Somebody got acceptance today. It's on the results page.