Kitkat Posted December 19, 2010 Posted December 19, 2010 Curious to know how peoples applications are going at this point, and hope to hear later about the downs and hopefully lots of ups about the applications in the spring. So how is going right now for those of you who are applying already and still?
katerific Posted December 19, 2010 Posted December 19, 2010 Let's see. I'm applying to 7 places, and out of those 7, I've submitted 2 apps already (since my first deadline was the 14th). My next deadline is January 1st, and the rest are due up until the 15th. Overall, it hasn't been nearly as stressful as I thought it was going to be. I think it's because I started early this fall, though. I had a first draft of my SOP written in August (I mean, it was pretty bad, and it in no way resembles what I have now, but it was WRITTEN, by golly!), took the GRE before school started, and asked my letter writers back in September. So at this point I'm mainly just tweaking my statement for each school. Starting early also gave me a chance to meet all my potential advisors in person, so I could run into them at conferences/talks. I've met 6/7 (although one of those I already knew, so I only really met 5/6), and they all have wickedly different personalities....! So yeah, it was a good idea to spread out the stress, I think. Based on what I keep hearing from profs, I should hear decisions by early Feb. For others, they do interviews in Feb, and then acceptances/rejections. Man, January's going to be rough.
katerific Posted January 12, 2011 Posted January 12, 2011 I haven't heard back from anywhere yet, but here are some tidbits that people might find interesting: - My friend has already been invited out to the interview weekend at Purdue! I think she applied to EAS for a master's. I also think it's more of a "visit and check us out!" sort of thing rather than an interview. - I also heard (on Monday) that some professors in my dept are already thinking about inviting students to visit. Wowza, so early!
waddle Posted January 12, 2011 Posted January 12, 2011 I've heard from two professors at one school; one of them wants a phone chat and I'm supposed to go meet the other in a few days. Not a peep from the other programs, though.
katerific Posted January 12, 2011 Posted January 12, 2011 Oh cool! Congrats! Although I thought that my panic stage (ie: where other people start hearing back while I don't) wouldn't start until at least two weeks from now
Kitkat Posted January 18, 2011 Author Posted January 18, 2011 Are people here looking more at MA programs or PHDs at the moment? Or are people having a mix to cover all their bases? And I am glad to be hearing good stories so far!
katerific Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 I only applied for a PhD. No MA or MS programs. I want to go in to academia, and I'd prefer to dive straight into a PhD program.
mooseundsquirrel Posted January 20, 2011 Posted January 20, 2011 (edited) Hey, everyone. Just thought I'd pop in to say hi. I'm a fellow geosci person, and waiting for application news has been a lot tougher than I anticipated! I applied for a few paleoclimate/oceanography programs, both MS and PhD (usually based on what Profs had suggested regarding possible funding/project availability). I've gotten a couple informal updates from two departments - both Oregon State and Michigan emailed to let me know my application had been forwarded on to the review committee this week - but haven't heard anything official yet. Hope you're all holding up better than I am! Edited January 20, 2011 by mooseundsquirrel
Kitkat Posted January 20, 2011 Author Posted January 20, 2011 I only applied for a PhD. No MA or MS programs. I want to go in to academia, and I'd prefer to dive straight into a PhD program. I am also looking to go into academia, but I will probably be applying to my own school for a MS just as a very extreme back up. But hopefully it won't be entirely necessary. ;-)
Kitkat Posted February 7, 2011 Author Posted February 7, 2011 I hope for all of you that this is not bad news yet. Although I am sure that it isn't. Waiting is always the worst. I have my fingers crossed!
borodinsky Posted February 8, 2011 Posted February 8, 2011 oh well, here it comes: rejection from Davis, unofficial word from prof. Still waiting on Berkeley, they didn't want to tell me yet. Good luck everybody! I hope for all of you that this is not bad news yet. Although I am sure that it isn't. Waiting is always the worst. I have my fingers crossed!
Kitkat Posted February 8, 2011 Author Posted February 8, 2011 oh well, here it comes: rejection from Davis, unofficial word from prof. Still waiting on Berkeley, they didn't want to tell me yet. Good luck everybody! Did you only apply to those two schools? Wish you the best with Berkeley!
borodinsky Posted February 9, 2011 Posted February 9, 2011 yes, I am geographically bound so applied close to home... I am also out of my element a bit since I did physics in the undergrad not geology Did you only apply to those two schools? Wish you the best with Berkeley!
Kitkat Posted February 9, 2011 Author Posted February 9, 2011 Well I think it might all depend on what sub field you are looking at. Are you focusing more on geophysics? Then it might not be as much of a hindrance. If it doesn't work out this year, I would say just take a few classes in geology around the field you are interested in geo, in order to make your application stronger.
mooseundsquirrel Posted February 16, 2011 Posted February 16, 2011 I just got my first acceptance! It's also the first update I've gotten from any school - what a relief! I just checked my status online and the website now reads 'accepted'. I sent a quick note to the dept. to ask if this was the real deal/when might I hear more, etc. If ever there was a time for ice cream and a 'Community' marathon, this is it. Huzzah!
billobob Posted February 19, 2011 Posted February 19, 2011 I applied to Columbia, UW Seattle (oceanography), USC, Texas, and Michigan. So far my app at UW is on hold (although I imagine I'll get rejected since the prof I want to work with turned out to not be able to take another student this year); something similar happened at USC but I talked to a different professor who said he was interested in maybe taking me on and I should know within a week or so. FWIW I ended up applying ridiculously late because I couldn't pay on time (Christmas season stolen ID/frozen bank accounts ftw!) so honestly any acceptances at all would surprise me. At any rate I've received some good feedback.
mooseundsquirrel Posted February 19, 2011 Posted February 19, 2011 Guh. So, it turns out that while I've been accepted to at least one school, my potential advisor is still waiting to hear whether his (and my) project is getting funded. No funding would mean a no go for me, so we'll see what happens there. Nice to get in, at least. I applied to UW's oceanography program as well, but haven't heard anything one way or another. How did you hear your app was 'on hold'?
billobob Posted February 20, 2011 Posted February 20, 2011 On 2/19/2011 at 4:10 PM, mooseundsquirrel said: I applied to UW's oceanography program as well, but haven't heard anything one way or another. How did you hear your app was 'on hold'? I just emailed the person in charge of admissions and asked her when we could expect decisions by
mooseundsquirrel Posted February 21, 2011 Posted February 21, 2011 So, what are your opinions on contacting departments about decisions or expected timelines? I've been pretty hesitant to make contact yet, just because I don't want to seem desperate or annoying. That said, it's getting to the point where I'd happily trade a little bit of cred to have some sort of definite knowledge one way or another (especially for programs whose deadlines were early Jan). Have any of you contacted a department or two? Do you feel comfortable doing it, or is it not worth it?
Kitkat Posted April 26, 2011 Author Posted April 26, 2011 So do people have good news to report about their attempts for this year? I have been nervous about asking ...
waddle Posted April 30, 2011 Posted April 30, 2011 So do people have good news to report about their attempts for this year? I have been nervous about asking ... Yup!
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