What were you doing when you received your acceptance?

[gingin6789]

45 minutes ago, Windmills said:

I was just doing my daily status check online and saw that I had gotten in to a safety school at the end of January...

I work from home and one day a few weeks later I got a push notification on my phone and saw an email with the subject line "Admission Decision: Con..." when it cut off. I scrambled to my email and saw that the rest of it read, as it looked, "Congratulations!" I was pretty pumped since this is a highly ranked program and the better version of the safety that I had been accepted to earlier.

Afterwards, I was curious and checked the status page for my top choice school and saw that after months of nothing (it was my earliest deadline too), my status had changed to "Accepted" and the page had a new set of "Congratulations!" and accepted information. This particular program isn't all that popular or selective, but it's at a good, nationally recognized school that I didn't think I'd be able to get into—especially coming from a small, no-name undergrad. I never cry from happiness, but I certainly did then. I went and hugged my dog and told her the good news. Then I composed myself and texted my sister who was at work but immediately called me back to confirm; I couldn't contain myself during the conversation. She seemed just as surprised as I was. I definitely didn't get any more work done that day.

The next day, I was back to work when I got another email on my phone. It was an acceptance to another top program at an even higher ranked school that I thought would be even harder to get into. I was all cried out from the day before, but I think I was more shocked than anything anyway.

Congratulations! The part about your dog made me tear up with happiness. The tears are partly cause I miss my pups (one of which is my little avatar pic). 

Isn't it wonderfully overwhelming getting offers in such a short time-span? Ride that high: now is the time to celebrate!

[RecommendedByGuyFieri]

I received my acceptance while on a bus from my office to the dentist. It was an email from Tufts inviting me to the accepted students open house. "Amazing!" I said aloud. I don't think I shouted, but it had been quiet on the bus, so I got a few looks. I must have been glowing.

And I had been so hard on myself in the preceding days, often finding myself drifting out of the moment, imagining the doleful emails I'd write to my recommenders, explaining how I was grateful for their help, but hadn't gotten the offer I wanted.

The email was rather sudden. First of all, it was Thursday, and they were asking me to RSVP by Sunday for an event two weeks later. On top of that, the email assumed I had received my acceptance letter, and had been contacted by my future advisor (should I end up going to Tufts). Um, no, this was the first I was hearing of this! Might this be a mistake?

Fortunately, the official acceptance came the next day, along with the financial offer. I'm flying to Boston next week!

[RecommendedByGuyFieri]

4 hours ago, Windmills said:

I work from home and one day a few weeks later I got a push notification on my phone and saw an email with the subject line "Admission Decision: Con..." when it cut off. I scrambled to my email and saw that the rest of it read, as it looked, "Congratulations!"

Great little moment of tension there! And I suppose it could've turned out to say "Condolences".

[sbroccoli]

Finally have all of my decisions -- accepted to 2 of 3 schools I applied to. YAY!

Cornell : I had a Skype interview which I had to take at work because of the time, so I had reserved a conference room for myself. They told me I was in during the interview. Cue : me jumping on conference table in excitement.

University of Chicago : I had spent a long morning working from home and compulsively checking my email. Finally decided to go into the office. Was in the garage parking a scooter and decided that (as soon as I had stopped moving) I needed to refresh my email again right then. Saw mysterious email from 'admissions'. Nearly dropped scooter. Got it onto the kickstand and waited for the email to load (since I was in an underground parking garage). Finally saw Congratulations!...

[hippyscientist]

I can post in here finally! I got my acceptance today, in the middle of a particularly challenging coding lab. I got quite excited, showed it to my friend sat next to me and the professor came over to see what we were talking about. I told him and he was excited for me. We stopped the lab for a 10 minute break and had some coffee and I had so much excited energy I ended up hop-scotching down the lab Just hoping beyond hope I get the funding now...

[Phiner. Determination]

1 hour ago, hippyscientist said:

I can post in here finally! I got my acceptance today, in the middle of a particularly challenging coding lab. I got quite excited, showed it to my friend sat next to me and the professor came over to see what we were talking about. I told him and he was excited for me. We stopped the lab for a 10 minute break and had some coffee and I had so much excited energy I ended up hop-scotching down the lab Just hoping beyond hope I get the funding now...

CONGRATS!!!!! :-)

[Phiner. Determination]

I was cooking breakfast and getting ready to travel to yet another interview. Got a phone call from a mysterious number ( I am starting to like mysterious numbers), that turned out to be my POI for the program. The conversation lasted for like 30 minutes. I silently screamed the whole time. There were moments that I broke out in dance and jumped around the room while he was on the phone. I hope he did not hear the gasp for air as I rolled around on my kitchen floor. I finally got myself together and wrote " F#$% YEA!!" on a slip of paper attached to my refrigerator. The program had wait-listed me two days prior, so I had given up hope in being accepted. Nothing like Pancakes and an Acceptance to start my morning! :-) 

[artsy16]

(Today) I was on the phone when I heard the call waiting beep sound. I thought it was probably my mother or something, until I ended the call and saw the area code for my POI at a school I had been waitlisted at (not even first on the waitlist, so I didn't really have hope). I tried to answer, but my POI had hung up already. Luckily they had immediately called back. I didn't get my hopes up right away because I did actually get a call earlier in the week from a POI at a school I was waitlisted at, just to tell me I wouldn't be getting an offer. But I'm beyond excited that it turned out to be a happy call!!!! I had really been down in the dumps these past few weeks because I got not good news from everywhere I interviewed with. I can't even put into words how I feel right now. 

[Phiner. Determination]

@artsy16 Congrats!!! I am so freaking happy for you!!!! :-) 

[artsy16]

Thanks!!! Same to you!!!

[CornUltimatum]

I was talking to my dad about the possibility of going house hunting over Spring break because I was invited for recruitment weekend for a University I really liked. This University you sort of have to look for housing in person since nothing is online. I knew I was supposed to receive an official word sometime this week.

He cautioned me saying it may not be worth checking out until things are official. After I hung up the acceptance email came in and I flipped out! Such odd timing. 

[PhDinPublicHealthHopeful]

When I got my acceptance, it was unofficial because I kept bugging them so much!! I was actually in a department chair meeting at my school district where I teach. WAHOO!

[hjyshane]

waiting for rollercoster!

 

And, got more excited for rollercoster and rode it!

[BooksCoffeeBeards]

I just exited a faculty meeting announcing my departure, regardless of the outcome of this application cycle. Then, I got to email everyone with a BETTER reason for why I was departing!

I shut my office door and cried, silently, by myself when i read the email. After 7 years and 3 applications cycles, with one waitlist 6 years ago to show for it, I was beginning to think this was a dead-end road for me. The amount of relief and joy that hit me has been difficult to describe, even over a week later.

[Neist]

8 minutes ago, BooksCoffeeBeards said:

I just exited a faculty meeting announcing my departure, regardless of the outcome of this application cycle. Then, I got to email everyone with a BETTER reason for why I was departing!

I shut my office door and cried, silently, by myself when i read the email. After 7 years and 3 applications cycles, with one waitlist 6 years ago to show for it, I was beginning to think this was a dead-end road for me. The amount of relief and joy that hit me has been difficult to describe, even over a week later.

I'm so happy for you!  ASU is a fantastic university, and I wish there was a program there that aligned with my interests. I wish you the best!

[Need Coffee in an IV]

I received Texas Tech's offer while I was at home laying down on my futon, basically the exact same situation as Oregon. But with a much happier ending! I'm very anticlimactic 

[Happington]

I was in a meeting with my Masters advisor having Chapter 3 of my thesis torn apart when I got the PhD admission to my #1 choice today.

It made the whole event sting a little bit less.

[day_manderly]

I was waiting for a taxi with one of my favorite colleagues. It was the morning, and I was sleepy. The letter arrived. I grabbed my colleagues arm, read the letter, jumped up, started pacing excitedly, read the letter again... It was in Siberia, in a beautiful place, -20 Celcium, the sun was shining, and the air was extratransparent.

[CoffeeFueledAnxiety]

I was sleeping when my acceptance email arrived. Almost all application updates etc comes through the night since I live somewhere with roughly 12 hour difference of time with most of the schools I applied to.  I really should never have bothered refreshing my email when I am awake, nothing ever turns up while I am awake! 

Anyway, I think it was a perfect time to get it, since I was on a quick vacation to get my mind away from the process. I was somewhere surrounded by beaches and spent the day before snorkeling 

[GeorgeC07]

Ah I was looking through the app portals and found that one of the schools had made the decision on my application. A day later I found out that it was an admission. The official notification came one more day later. 

As for the second one, I had just woken up and got the email, since I was on the other side of the planet and the emails always came during nighttime. 

Now the first thing I do everyday after waking up is check the emails on my phone. Pretty exciting.

[KTF87]

I was jogging when I received a phone call. Equal breaths were already a challenge.

But i sprinted afterwards!! - then I had a subway footlong...or three...

[zactak]

I found out I was accepted while I was at work. I checked my cell phone and saw I had an email letting me know a comment had been added to my application. I think I paced around the office for a few minutes before a coworker shouted at me to just check it already. A brief celebration ensued, then it was difficult for me to concentrate the rest of the day. 

[Coffee Snob]

I was actually on vacation in Bali! It was such a pleasant time - I was at a friend's house in Ubud, a quiet village in Bali. Just the right time to celebrate. A POI notified me of my acceptance by email, but she emailed me to my institutional email, which I do not check regularly, instead of the email I registered with for the online application. At the time I checked my institutional email because I had to submit a recommendation letter to my student, so I only saw the subject "congratulations!" and I did not read the email right away because I was prioritizing submitting my student's recommendation letter (which was literary minutes before the deadline!). When I finally checked the email from the POI, it was sent three days. I was probably lazing in the beach when the email came, so I did not even think about checking my institutional email.

The second acceptance came by phone the next day at exactly 6 a.m. in the morning (there's a 12 hours difference) when I was still in Ubud. Thankfully I was already awake, and I was still processing the good news from the day before. I was sipping my coffee, gazing the picturesque sunrise (true story!) when the phone rang - a U.S. number! The graduate director called in person to tell me the good news. It was surreal.

The third acceptance came in about a week by email. I was excited, but it was less dramatic.

 

[russianblue]

I was playing Overwatch with friends on a Friday night! I actually received an email to create an account on the University's website and I hastily did so, hoping that maybe admission decisions were posted. I left my friends hanging in the middle of a game to do that, but couldn't find anything--I just assumed it was the same kind of fake out I had had a week prior with a different school. Later on, I was messing with my headset and mic because they weren't working properly and I was on my computer looking for possible answers when the acceptance email popped up! 

[avflinsch]

On the phone with my wife yesterday afternoon while I was checking the status website. I just said I got admitted, it took a few tries to convince her because I had previously said that I probably not hear until the middle of next week.