TheCreuset Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Just a quick congratulations to all the new admissions! It looks like the UCLA and Duke waves had a lot of good news. Question - how is everyone coping with the stress of the waiting period?
Tufnel Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Just a quick congratulations to all the new admissions! It looks like the UCLA and Duke waves had a lot of good news. Question - how is everyone coping with the stress of the waiting period? I'm catching up on films, drinking lots of whiskey, running (not after imbibing - though that's always funny), and most importantly, playing lots of music.
secretly_yes Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Do you think UCLA is done giving out acceptances? I e-mailed them on Monday and they said it would take until early March for the admissions process to close. I wonder if that just meant "mailing out rejections" though.
Gradhorn Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 It's been a while since I've taken math stats/probability theory, so this might be a bit off, but I think it's a bit misleading to consider the probability of acceptance at different universities as independent events. I think the better way to think of it is in terms of conditional independence; your probability of being accepted by different universities is independent conditional on a third random variable, namely the quality of you as an applicant/your application... ...This is probably just a formalization of what people are already doing intuitively, and may not actually contradict what you said, but insofar as we're calculating explicit probabilities as in the previous posts (even rough ones), it's probably a good idea to keep in mind how it works out formally. I've been doing something like this, where I manually set odds on each school that I adjust daily which in turn adjusts the overall probability of getting in somewhere (in my case it's a field of nine schools). I treat the schools as mostly independent events because I think program fit is the most important factor. Updating "The Big Board" each day and posting revised odds injects a little fun and levity into what is an otherwise emotionally brutal process.
Count de Monet Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 From what I understand, sometimes it's several weeks. I had a friend who'd already accepted a package at NYU who didn't hear back form Columbia until mid- to late-March. I especially don't understand that for schools who only admit one batch and don't do waitlists... There are typically 3 waves of "acceptances" from what I've come to understand from my professors who have sat on admissions committees The first is for people who they love. They send out acceptances to their top choices (who I'm sure are also the people who are getting into the top programs). When they get acceptances/rejections from those people, the committee then sees how many spots are left (sometime in early/mid March probably) and sends out a second wave of acceptances to people who just missed the cut the first time. This time they also send out wait-lists/rejections to everyone else. Then there's the "3rd wave" which is the "oh snap, we still have spots available because not enough people want to come!" This is when they contact people who are on the wait-list, and if there are still not enough people coming to fill open spots then they go ahead and look at the best rejected people again...
RWBG Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 There are typically 3 waves of "acceptances" from what I've come to understand from my professors who have sat on admissions committees The first is for people who they love. They send out acceptances to their top choices (who I'm sure are also the people who are getting into the top programs). When they get acceptances/rejections from those people, the committee then sees how many spots are left (sometime in early/mid March probably) and sends out a second wave of acceptances to people who just missed the cut the first time. This time they also send out wait-lists/rejections to everyone else. Then there's the "3rd wave" which is the "oh snap, we still have spots available because not enough people want to come!" This is when they contact people who are on the wait-list, and if there are still not enough people coming to fill open spots then they go ahead and look at the best rejected people again... I think this is true for some schools, and makes a lot of intuitive sense. However, looking at admissions patterns in the past, I think the more common pattern is more like two waves; the first wave of acceptances, with some applicants being waitlisted (often the waitlist notifications come out a bit later) followed by a smaller number of acceptances later in the year based on who accepted their first wave of offers. So basically, I don't know if the second wave you described is actually that common in practice. Especially given that most people will not accept or reject schools until they absolutely have to (i.e. April.)
GopherGrad Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 If schools set largely similar dates by which students must commit, doesn't that leave a fair number of open slots not matched to the right applicants? Maybe I'm just frustrated at the idea that Duke wouldn't bother to reject me until late March. I'm catching up on films, drinking lots of whiskey, running (not after imbibing - though that's always funny), and most importantly, playing lots of music. Which reminds me that I've been meaning to ask who your profile pic is. He reminds me of some Finnish rock star or another, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
UVaSpades Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Just checked Duke's website and their rejection notice was up. I'm glad to at least hear something from them, even if it's negative.
RWBG Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Which reminds me that I've been meaning to ask who your profile pic is. He reminds me of some Finnish rock star or another, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Not to speak for him (but kind of); it's This Is Spinal Tap. I approve of the choice of avatar, Tufnel.
jmoney123 Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Just checked Duke's website and their rejection notice was up. I'm glad to at least hear something from them, even if it's negative. Did you just login to Duke's applyyourself.com site?
Rodao Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Did you just login to Duke's applyyourself.com site? Was wondering this myself. Just checked my online Duke app. and still nada either way.
UVaSpades Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 (edited) Did you just login to Duke's applyyourself.com site? Yep. Went to Duke's grad school site, clicked on the Apply for Admission button, then the link to check a current application. Might just be my luck that they knocked me out of the way early on, haha Edited February 2, 2011 by UWSpades
GopherGrad Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Yep. Went to Duke's grad school site, clicked on the Apply for Admission button, then the link to check a current application. Might just be my luck that they knocked me out of the way early on, haha You mean "log into an existing account", where it would have previously said "Submitted"? That's still what mine says, but I want to make sure I've looked in the right place...
GopherGrad Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Hahaha. You're never going to believe this. I just got an email from Duke, but I didn't properly log out of ApplyYourself after I checked just now, so I can't read it until it logs me out automatically.
jmoney123 Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Hahaha. You're never going to believe this. I just got an email from Duke, but I didn't properly log out of ApplyYourself after I checked just now, so I can't read it until it logs me out automatically. I did the same thing at one point, try another browser if you have one installed. Otherwise delete your cookies and restart your current browser....
GopherGrad Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Someone else already claimed a rejection, so I'm sure I know what's waiting for me, but I'll give it a try.
Rodao Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Hmm, I just got a decision letter from Duke. I'll open it once I calm down a bit here. Doesn't bode well, though :/
Gradhorn Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Someone else already claimed a rejection, so I'm sure I know what's waiting for me, but I'll give it a try. Yeah, that was me.
eagleton Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Someone else already claimed a rejection, so I'm sure I know what's waiting for me, but I'll give it a try. I just got mine as well. Was available for me on the apply yourself site when they were first being reported by others on the results search, and a notification email came just after five.
GopherGrad Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Yup, dinged. It's surprising considering there are those who would argue that I'm already qualified to teach polisci. balderdash, GopherGrad, kaykaykay and 2 others 5
RWBG Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Yup, dinged. It's surprising considering there are those who would argue that I'm already qualified to teach polisci. Sorry to hear that. Also, don't take my "liking" your post the wrong way. It was definitely based on your second sentence.
hupr Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 A quick question, did you inquire them via email or did they just sent that to you ? I am also not in US and not sure about the results. They just sent it, but I'd mentioned a couple weeks before that the Middle East isn't exactly known for its reliable postal service.
Rodao Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Rejected from Duke. I guess they do it in waves.
camcgee97 Posted February 3, 2011 Posted February 3, 2011 (edited) Rejected from Duke. I guess they do it in waves. I was also rejected by Duke today. They did tell me that they just about only accepted political theory students whose stats were in the top percentile. All in all, I'm disappointed I didn't get in, but Duke seems to be very efficient and responsive in their admissions process. Kudos to them. Edited February 3, 2011 by camcgee97
Tufnel Posted February 3, 2011 Posted February 3, 2011 (edited) Which reminds me that I've been meaning to ask who your profile pic is. He reminds me of some Finnish rock star or another, but I can't quite put my finger on it. RWBG nailed it. http://en.wikipedia....ki/Nigel_Tufnel This calls for a digression. The sustain! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll7rWiY5obI Edited February 3, 2011 by Tufnel
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