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Fall 2011


fadoesaudade

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So does anyone have any new news about interviews? That other part of grad cafe lists people who've been interviewed by UCSC and others. I haven't had any (:-(), but my friend (phonology) had been interviewed by UCSC and UMass recently. Does anyone if it's the case that all accepted applicants were previously interviewed by schools who do them? (For instance, Fuzzy, you were accepted to UMass—were you interviewed by a UMass PI before then?)

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So does anyone have any new news about interviews? That other part of grad cafe lists people who've been interviewed by UCSC and others. I haven't had any (:-(), but my friend (phonology) had been interviewed by UCSC and UMass recently. Does anyone if it's the case that all accepted applicants were previously interviewed by schools who do them? (For instance, Fuzzy, you were accepted to UMass—were you interviewed by a UMass PI before then?)

A couple of minutes ago I received an email from USC saying that I'm admitted but I have to wait for financial aid. It sounds positive. This is the first email I've ever received from any of the adcoms concerning my application. I also applied to UMass, but no interview yet. I hope this isn't a bad sign.

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A couple of minutes ago I received an email from USC saying that I'm admitted but I have to wait for financial aid. It sounds positive. This is the first email I've ever received from any of the adcoms concerning my application. I also applied to UMass, but no interview yet. I hope this isn't a bad sign.

The interview process for schools that do them started not to long ago, so perhaps they haven't finished evaluating you (us!) just yet. I'm hoping that only a proper subset of applicants they're considering for admission are actually interviewed (perhaps the stronger half, or the weaker half, or...).

EDIT: Or, at least, this is what I'm inferring from what I know thus far.

Edited by Typologaster
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A couple of minutes ago I received an email from USC saying that I'm admitted but I have to wait for financial aid. It sounds positive. This is the first email I've ever received from any of the adcoms concerning my application. I also applied to UMass, but no interview yet. I hope this isn't a bad sign.

Yay! Congrats!

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(For instance, Fuzzy, you were accepted to UMass—were you interviewed by a UMass PI before then?)

Schools I was interviewed by: UPenn, Brown, UCSC.

Schools that accepted me without an interview: UMass, MIT, UCLA, NYU, Rutgers.

The three schools that did interview me were the ones that were really not a good fit for my research interests, and I think that was the reason for the interviews. Talking to PIs at all three schools (2-3 profs per schools) made me realize that I would not be happy in those programs so I ended up withdrawing my application from all three, which means I declined the invite to Brown's open house and I have no idea if there were any further steps after the first round interviews and before the adcoms at those schools decided who would be accepted. For four of the other five schools, I got a "congratulations!" email without having any contact between submitting the app and the decision. MIT notifies via phone, not email, but again no prior contact.

A couple of minutes ago I received an email from USC saying that I'm admitted but I have to wait for financial aid. It sounds positive. This is the first email I've ever received from any of the adcoms concerning my application. I also applied to UMass, but no interview yet. I hope this isn't a bad sign.

Congrats!!

It's too early to be worrying about not hearing back from schools, don't worry about UMass.

Edited by fuzzylogician
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Great Job!! Congrats

A couple of minutes ago I received an email from USC saying that I'm admitted but I have to wait for financial aid. It sounds positive. This is the first email I've ever received from any of the adcoms concerning my application. I also applied to UMass, but no interview yet. I hope this isn't a bad sign.

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Thanks guys. rolleyes.gif

When I submitted the application to USC, I was a month and 4 days late from their Dec 1 deadline. I met one of their professors in mid-December and he said they already sorted out the applications into "strong" ones and "not-so-strong" ones. At that time I hadn't even started. It turns out that missing a deadline isn't a big deal, but maybe this is why I have to wait for the details of financial aid?

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Fuzzy,

What was your interview at Penn like? I will be interviewing there in a little over a week and any insights would be appreciated!

Schools I was interviewed by: UPenn, Brown, UCSC.

Schools that accepted me without an interview: UMass, MIT, UCLA, NYU, Rutgers.

The three schools that did interview me were the ones that were really not a good fit for my research interests, and I think that was the reason for the interviews. Talking to PIs at all three schools (2-3 profs per schools) made me realize that I would not be happy in those programs so I ended up withdrawing my application from all three, which means I declined the invite to Brown's open house and I have no idea if there were any further steps after the first round interviews and before the adcoms at those schools decided who would be accepted. For four of the other five schools, I got a "congratulations!" email without having any contact between submitting the app and the decision. MIT notifies via phone, not email, but again no prior contact.

Congrats!!

It's too early to be worrying about not hearing back from schools, don't worry about UMass.

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Schools I was interviewed by: UPenn, Brown, UCSC.

Schools that accepted me without an interview: UMass, MIT, UCLA, NYU, Rutgers.

The three schools that did interview me were the ones that were really not a good fit for my research interests, and I think that was the reason for the interviews. Talking to PIs at all three schools (2-3 profs per schools) made me realize that I would not be happy in those programs so I ended up withdrawing my application from all three, which means I declined the invite to Brown's open house and I have no idea if there were any further steps after the first round interviews and before the adcoms at those schools decided who would be accepted. For four of the other five schools, I got a "congratulations!" email without having any contact between submitting the app and the decision. MIT notifies via phone, not email, but again no prior contact.

that's interesting - I wonder if most programs only contact applicants that they think wouldn't be a good fit, and they're interested in why they applied. Smart to withdraw your application if you don't think it would work out. I wonder, what made you apply to the schools in the first place? Did you not realize they were a good fit until after the interviews? I'm having the same feeling about one of the schools I applied to. I'm wondering what I would do if it was the only school that accepted me.

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that's interesting - I wonder if most programs only contact applicants that they think wouldn't be a good fit, and they're interested in why they applied. Smart to withdraw your application if you don't think it would work out. I wonder, what made you apply to the schools in the first place? Did you not realize they were a good fit until after the interviews? I'm having the same feeling about one of the schools I applied to. I'm wondering what I would do if it was the only school that accepted me.

It turns out I did very well my application season, but who could have known that in advance? I applied to schools I thought I could see myself studying at, but obviously I had my favorites. It really was the interviews that made me realize I didn't want to go to those schools. For Penn, that was the year Maribel Romero left but the website still listed her as faculty when I applied...but not when I interviewed. She was my main POI there, the other people I talked to during my interview didn't have research I was that excited about. For Santa Cruz, my main concern was that I would be one of very few international students in the department, and in general in that town, and that I would not fit in. That came out of the funding situation that was explained to me during the interview. Not to mention, it's farther away from home, flights would be much more expensive, and the money situation there in general didn't seem that inviting. For Brown, well, honestly at that point I had offers from my top schools, and talking to PIs on the phone didn't get me that excited about their program; I already had a university visiting schedule that would take me from the west coast to the east coast, and Brown's open house would have forced me to start on the east coast, fly out west and continue on my schedule, which I thought would be too exhausting.

If the situation arises that you are only accepted to one of your least-favorite schools, you'll have to ask yourself if you can still see yourself working and being happy at that place. I think two major components of the decisions are ones you don't have yet - the funding situation and how you get along with faculty and students during a visit. The visit re-arranged a lot of my preferences and impressions of schools, I can't stress enough how important it is to visit, if you have the chance.

Fuzzy,

What was your interview at Penn like? I will be interviewing there in a little over a week and any insights would be appreciated!

I don't have any special tips for that interview, it was just like any other. There are general phone-interview advice threads on the GradCafe that I've contributed to that you could look up.

It was a strange interview, a conference call, with Robin Clark talking from his office and Florian Schwartz talking on his cell-phone while driving somewhere. It was very hard to follow, the connection wasn't great, they were sort of talking at the same time sometimes, and I was foolishly being shy about asking them to repeat their questions or comments--so I couldn't get past the initial stress and wasn't comfortable throughout the conversation. They asked the usual questions - what research I was interested in, why I applied there, some specific questions about my profile. They spent a lot of time telling me about their work in the department, and about the program in general. I asked some questions about the requirements and funding. It took about a half an hour, I think.

Good luck with your interview!

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Congrats! NYU has some great researchers engaged in exciting work.

Has anyone heard from UC Santa Cruz about admissions? I had an interview with a professor there about two and half weeks ago and I haven't heard anything since. I am curious because the professor said that they would get back as soon as possible, probably within a week. UC Santa Cruz is one of my top two programs and I am starting to wonder if no news is bad news.

Thanks.

Edited by hopefulapplicant
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I've got an interview request from NYU. We haven't fixed the time slot yet. The two slots they suggested do not work for me.

Good luck!

going to talk to Kayne and Harves in four hours, nervous~~~

Congrats mang, and good luck! Also, feel free to tell us about yourself/what you're into/where you applied.

Congrats! NYU has some great researchers engaged in exciting work.

Has anyone heard from UC Santa Cruz about admissions? I had an interview with a professor there about two and half weeks ago and I haven't heard anything since. I am curious because the professor said that they would get back as soon as possible, probably within a week. UC Santa Cruz is one of my top two programs and I am starting to wonder if no news is bad news.

Thanks.

I called in one to two weeks ago because there was this issue with my transcript (which is now resolved); they said at the time decisions would be made in a few (e.g., 2-4 (?)) weeks.

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why, according to the results posts, the interview notifications of UMaryland are not given on the same date?

i am waiting anxiously...

I wouldn't worry yet, Spitz. I had two phone interviews a week apart with U Maryland. I think they broke them up between professors and there may be some professors still calling students. They are still about 1 to 2 weeks out from invites to the Open House.

I do know how you feel--UCLA and Stanford both came up on the results board today, although I haven't heard anything yet. Exciting and nerve wracking!

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I wouldn't worry yet, Spitz. I had two phone interviews a week apart with U Maryland. I think they broke them up between professors and there may be some professors still calling students. They are still about 1 to 2 weeks out from invites to the Open House.

I do know how you feel--UCLA and Stanford both came up on the results board today, although I haven't heard anything yet. Exciting and nerve wracking!

Me neither. My fingers are getting tired from clicking the mouse to refresh my mailbox. (And I'm neurotically checking my cellphone as well.)

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Congrats!

I applied to UPenn too, but haven't heard anything from them. This is expected given that I'm not a really good fit to the program. Were you interviewed by the adcoms before the acceptance?

just got an email from Gene Buckley telling me I got the admission to Penn. Anyone else applied for Penn too?

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yeah i was interviewed by David Embick and Julie Legate. That was my first interview and I was very nervous and didn't perform very well. I even emailed to Embick two days later to tell him that I'd like to work with him very much, but he just gave me an obscure reply and i thought it was over.

Congrats!

I applied to UPenn too, but haven't heard anything from them. This is expected given that I'm not a really good fit to the program. Were you interviewed by the adcoms before the acceptance?

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