PhD Applications Communication Studies Fall 2025 Cycle

[Martyna]

7 minutes ago, Omkar Poojari said:

I saw this comment being posted by the person claiming the UPenn acceptance. It seems a little weird to address the people of this forum in an unrelated comment on the results page? And I guess the same person has posted the acceptance three separate times. Idk what to make of it.

"Also, people on the comms forum, I've never been able to post there for some reason but wishing you the best of luck! The offer letter spoke to letting them know about the decision when possible, so I think they may be doing offers in multiple batches or at least have a waitlist in mind."

 

 

It seems very odd. I don't know what to make of it but also I don't quite understand what the person is trying to say "letting them know about the decision when possible"? Do they mean the offer letter mentioned they are offering admission on a rolling basis? Why would they state this in an offer letter though? You've already got accepted, it isn't relevant how they are making those offers since you've already got yours. Why would they mention this to anyone who got accepted? Seems irrelevant 

[Omkar Poojari]

59 minutes ago, Martyna said:

It seems very odd. I don't know what to make of it but also I don't quite understand what the person is trying to say "letting them know about the decision when possible"? Do they mean the offer letter mentioned they are offering admission on a rolling basis? Why would they state this in an offer letter though? You've already got accepted, it isn't relevant how they are making those offers since you've already got yours. Why would they mention this to anyone who got accepted? Seems irrelevant 

Based on their further replies in that thread, it seems to me that their letter mentioned that they had to let the school know if they were accepting the offer. And then this person stated that they think that the school might be rolling out decisions in batches.

 

Personally, I see two red flags- they posted the same result thrice. Second - despite not engaging on this forum they referred to the conversation going on here in this forum.

 

And based on what I've seen in forums of previous years (for another field), trolls posting results is quite common. Just not sure if that is the case here. Fingers crossed 

[CLudmila]

43 minutes ago, Omkar Poojari said:

Based on their further replies in that thread, it seems to me that their letter mentioned that they had to let the school know if they were accepting the offer. And then this person stated that they think that the school might be rolling out decisions in batches.

 

Personally, I see two red flags- they posted the same result thrice. Second - despite not engaging on this forum they referred to the conversation going on here in this forum.

 

And based on what I've seen in forums of previous years (for another field), trolls posting results is quite common. Just not sure if that is the case here. Fingers crossed 

Additionally, is the same author in all of the UPenn publications: CommsHopeful25

What deplorable behavior if they/he/she is a troll. 

UPenn is a very serious university, so I do not think that they are sending some emails or notifications. Mrs. Rachel Pepper was great and meticulous during the application process!!

Edited January 31 by CLudmila
add more details

[Omkar Poojari]

2 minutes ago, CLudmila said:

Additionally, is the same author in all of the UPenn publications: CommsHopeful25

What deplorable behavior if they/he/she is a troll. 

Indeed that is the biggest red flag- that the author is the same person.

[c202]

While it is indeed weird that the same username appears in all three posts, I wouldn't find it weird that the department decides to have a waitlist--as some people have mentioned it has been a year with an exceptionally high number of applicants. 

This is all very stressful but I am hoping we all hear back at some point

[Omkar Poojari]

Got this in my inbox from one of those who claimed a UPenn acceptance today by posting on the results page. Putting it here as it might help others get some clarity. Keeping fingers crossed for everyone.

 

Hi,

I think I've caused a lot of confusion tonight and I promise you none of this is intentional, and comes from gradcafe's odd forum structure. I'm one of the people who got a penn offer, there may be two others. I'm not trying to troll anyone or produce false info - I know how distressing that would be for applicants who are actually waiting - but in trying to be helpful I've had the opposite effect.

To clarify:

- when someone posts a decision on gradcafe, the decision is anonymous. People then have the option of responding to that decision in a thread below, in which case their username shows up. 

- I posted one decision myself, I presume someone else posted the other two decisions

- to be helpful I answered people's questions in the threads across the acceptances, which is why my username showed up across different acceptances.

- for whatever reason I've been unable to post in the main comms forum. Maybe I'm just being technically stupid but for the life of me I can't find anywhere to post a response or engage with this forum. To confuse things further it's given me two usernames - the commshopeful one and another one that is avm6

- when I saw the confusion start to to crop up on the forum - which again - I'm unable to post in - I decided to post in the acceptances thread to communicate with y'all. That's clearly caused more confusion and I apologize further for this.

The whole point of frequenting these forums is to keep track of updates on admissions and I'm trying to provide legitimate information so you can keep track of things and have an expectation of the process. I was in the same boat earlier this week when I got my Stanford rejection - having seen people allegedly get interviews in weeks previous - I was able to open my decision with low expectations. 

And yes the results came out surprisingly early, but that's because admission timelines are unpredictable - again, Stanford came in 10 days later than last year.

I know on some level it will be disappointing for people to see these admissions decisions from Penn, because it reduces the chances of people who are still waiting. And yes on some level there's no reason to believe someoen on an anonymous forum. But I've gone to the effort of writing this response, not because it makes a difference to your perception of me - an anonymous poster on an anonymous forum - but to try and give credibility to what is accurate information on the process, so you can adjust your expectations accordingly. And to also apologize for the confusion I've caused.

Sincerely, I wish you and the others the best with your applications, and hope you end up where you wish to go, whether that's at Penn or elsewhere.

Thank you.

 

[Martyna]

4 hours ago, Omkar Poojari said:

Got this in my inbox from one of those who claimed a UPenn acceptance today by posting on the results page. Putting it here as it might help others get some clarity. Keeping fingers crossed for everyone.

 

Hi,

I think I've caused a lot of confusion tonight and I promise you none of this is intentional, and comes from gradcafe's odd forum structure. I'm one of the people who got a penn offer, there may be two others. I'm not trying to troll anyone or produce false info - I know how distressing that would be for applicants who are actually waiting - but in trying to be helpful I've had the opposite effect.

To clarify:

- when someone posts a decision on gradcafe, the decision is anonymous. People then have the option of responding to that decision in a thread below, in which case their username shows up. 

- I posted one decision myself, I presume someone else posted the other two decisions

- to be helpful I answered people's questions in the threads across the acceptances, which is why my username showed up across different acceptances.

- for whatever reason I've been unable to post in the main comms forum. Maybe I'm just being technically stupid but for the life of me I can't find anywhere to post a response or engage with this forum. To confuse things further it's given me two usernames - the commshopeful one and another one that is avm6

- when I saw the confusion start to to crop up on the forum - which again - I'm unable to post in - I decided to post in the acceptances thread to communicate with y'all. That's clearly caused more confusion and I apologize further for this.

The whole point of frequenting these forums is to keep track of updates on admissions and I'm trying to provide legitimate information so you can keep track of things and have an expectation of the process. I was in the same boat earlier this week when I got my Stanford rejection - having seen people allegedly get interviews in weeks previous - I was able to open my decision with low expectations. 

And yes the results came out surprisingly early, but that's because admission timelines are unpredictable - again, Stanford came in 10 days later than last year.

I know on some level it will be disappointing for people to see these admissions decisions from Penn, because it reduces the chances of people who are still waiting. And yes on some level there's no reason to believe someoen on an anonymous forum. But I've gone to the effort of writing this response, not because it makes a difference to your perception of me - an anonymous poster on an anonymous forum - but to try and give credibility to what is accurate information on the process, so you can adjust your expectations accordingly. And to also apologize for the confusion I've caused.

Sincerely, I wish you and the others the best with your applications, and hope you end up where you wish to go, whether that's at Penn or elsewhere.

Thank you.

 

In all fairness, while this person cannot interact with us on this forum, I can't comment on the grad cafe updates, so maybe it is genuine! I've tried a couple of times and I just can't comment there. 

[c202]

I think that's because our forum accounts and results accounts are not connected. If I am not mistaken you need to create a different account for the results section

5 hours ago, Martyna said:

In all fairness, while this person cannot interact with us on this forum, I can't comment on the grad cafe updates, so maybe it is genuine! I've tried a couple of times and I just can't comment there. 

 

[Omkar Poojari]

Had emailed the UPenn program coordinator asking if all acceptances have been released. Got a reply stating that they understand this is a stressful time for applicants and that have begun by sending some decisions and that they would continue releasing decisions over the next two weeks.

I don't know what this means. A tiny bit of hope, I guess.

[c202]

Honestly, with the current political climate and the national funding freeze that was announced, universities might take longer to get back--specially for those whose research areas could be targeted. I saw a thread on reddit ("temporary pause on graduate admissions fall 2025") in which the author shared a letter from a school admin that says "Despite the freeze being rescinded, the action has apparently given universities concern about their financial future."

[Martyna]

I can see UCSD started releasing offers. Two international applicants got accepted. Anyone else waiting to hear from them? I am so worried. 

Also, I am an international applicant, I do follow USA politics, but I am not sure how the current situation might affect university admissions. My topic is strongly related to migration, equality, and racial disparities. Will this harm my application? I'm feeling hopeless now. 

[c202]

34 minutes ago, Martyna said:

I can see UCSD started releasing offers. Two international applicants got accepted. Anyone else waiting to hear from them? I am so worried. 

Also, I am an international applicant, I do follow USA politics, but I am not sure how the current situation might affect university admissions. My topic is strongly related to migration, equality, and racial disparities. Will this harm my application? I'm feeling hopeless now. 

I hope not, I am also international and working on feminisms, so I understand what you are feeling. Don't lose hope, I am sure the work you are doing is very important right now! 

[Martyna]

I didn't get into UCSD.

3r/8 waiting 🥺

[aiyakashi]

On 2/1/2025 at 2:25 AM, c202 said:

Honestly, with the current political climate and the national funding freeze that was announced, universities might take longer to get back--specially for those whose research areas could be targeted. I saw a thread on reddit ("temporary pause on graduate admissions fall 2025") in which the author shared a letter from a school admin that says "Despite the freeze being rescinded, the action has apparently given universities concern about their financial future."

Can confirm this! I received a similar notice from the University at Buffalo: they also had their admissions process paused due to the current administration, and it has not proceeded as of this message ;;;;

[CLudmila]

On 1/31/2025 at 4:50 PM, Martyna said:

I can see UCSD started releasing offers. Two international applicants got accepted. Anyone else waiting to hear from them? I am so worried. 

Also, I am an international applicant, I do follow USA politics, but I am not sure how the current situation might affect university admissions. My topic is strongly related to migration, equality, and racial disparities. Will this harm my application? I'm feeling hopeless now. 

Hello, Martyna. I completely understand and share your concern. I thought the process would be less complex than it’s turning out to be, mainly because I was awarded the Fulbright scholarship and am applying with their sponsorship. However, after reviewing the admission information shared here about programs I didn’t apply to—like the PhD at NC Chapel Hill, which has only one place for an international student, and recently UCSD, where they mentioned just two international spots—I think the situation is pretty tough. My main worry is that I’m from Latin America, and I’ve even seen raids on legally settled migrants. I hope that won’t be a factor in dismissing my application. 🙁.

I’m still waiting and keeping my faith that a positive response for all of us will come soon!! 

[Martyna]

3 minutes ago, CLudmila said:

Hello, Martyna. I completely understand and share your concern. I thought the process would be less complex than it’s turning out to be, mainly because I was awarded the Fulbright scholarship and am applying with their sponsorship. However, after reviewing the admission information shared here about programs I didn’t apply to—like the PhD at NC Chapel Hill, which has only one place for an international student, and recently UCSD, where they mentioned just two international spots—I think the situation is pretty tough. My main worry is that I’m from Latin America, and I’ve even seen raids on legally settled migrants. I hope that won’t be a factor in dismissing my application. 🙁.

I’m still waiting and keeping my faith that a positive response for all of us will come soon!! 

I'm so sorry about the whole thing! I really wish you get in! God Bless you! I hope everything will work out in the end. I'm Eastern European, I'm not really the target group I think but I'm not represented in the overall USA student body much either, not many Slavic people in grad departments across the country, I'm not sure why but this is also stressing me out. 

Please, have faith and I will keep my fingers crossed for you too! 

[Fostering_kittens]

Hi! I’ve received an acceptance to UMass-Amherst PhD communication but I am an international student. Can someone help me with how respected/prestigious the program is considered in the field? Especially vis-a-vis Penn state (I am interviewing there also).

[CLudmila]

3 hours ago, Fostering_kittens said:

Hi! I’ve received an acceptance to UMass-Amherst PhD communication but I am an international student. Can someone help me with how respected/prestigious the program is considered in the field? Especially vis-a-vis Penn state (I am interviewing there also).

First of all, congratulations on your admission!!! UMass is an incredible university with a strong background in Communication and Humanities, and it's part of an innovative community. Amherst is a beautiful town; I took some classes and gained experience at Amherst College and UMass as part of an international leadership program. The people are respectful and diverse, representing the core of what Massachusetts is as a culturally rich state. UMass is an outstanding university with high levels of productivity, an excellent academic staff, and professors who truly love to support and challenge their students. I would have loved to go back to Amherst and pursue my PhD there, but the program focused more on media and cultural studies and my area is more related to Organizational Communication. Additionally, Amherst is very well connected to Boston,  Salem, among others. I don’t know Penn State, but I can definitely recommend UMass. 

Edited February 4 by CLudmila
Words.

[Fostering_kittens]

Thank you for your input :3. I am just panicking a little because I’m worried about being deported if I can’t find a job after and PSU has better placements

[Martyna]

2 hours ago, Fostering_kittens said:

Thank you for your input :3. I am just panicking a little because I’m worried about being deported if I can’t find a job after and PSU has better placements

Do you know if PSU always interviews potential admits? I applied there as well but haven't heard back. 

[theadoragradstudent]

Hello everyone,

I’m new to this forum and excited to connect with you all! 😊

I wanted to check in and see if anyone has applied to Northwestern’s Rhetoric, Media, and Publics program or the University of Miami and has heard back from them yet. 

[Martyna]

4 hours ago, theadoragradstudent said:

Hello everyone,

I’m new to this forum and excited to connect with you all! 😊

I wanted to check in and see if anyone has applied to Northwestern’s Rhetoric, Media, and Publics program or the University of Miami and has heard back from them yet. 

Hi there! I applied to Northwestern and I've not heard back yet. 

[Omkar Poojari]

After Jan 30, has anyone got a decision (acceptance/rejection/waitlist) from UPenn Annenberg?

[c202]

52 minutes ago, Omkar Poojari said:

After Jan 30, has anyone got a decision (acceptance/rejection/waitlist) from UPenn Annenberg?

Nope

[Omkar Poojari]

So, it seems unlikely that they would roll out more offers

I wonder why they have not sent out the rejections yet. Also, has anyone applied for the joint Pol Sci  + Comm PhD?