Contacting the Department?

[artmuse]

A month ago I was flown out to take part in an interview weekend for a PhD program where I met with professors and grad students. There was a small group and they were planning to take around half of us. After the interview I emailed my POI to thank him for taking the time to speak with me and elaborate on conversations we had over the weekend. I didn't hear anything back but since it was mostly a thank you I didn't expect to. I didn't ask about when decisions would be made and no one offered that information.

Now after a month of waiting I don't know what to do! With such a small group it seems insane that they haven't already made decisions. Is it asking for trouble to email the department to ask about when decisions will be sent out. I just can't figure out a way to phrase it that doesn't sound ridiculous. Any advice would be great.

Edited February 16, 2011 by artmuse

[Strangefox]

A month ago I was flown out to take part in an interview weekend for a PhD program where I met with professors and grad students. There was a small group and they were planning to take around half of us. After the interview I emailed my POI to thank him for taking the time to speak with me and elaborate on conversations we had over the weekend. I didn't hear anything back but since it was mostly a thank you I didn't expect to. I didn't ask about when decisions would be made and no one offered that information.

Now after a month of waiting I don't know what to do! With such a small group it seems insane that they haven't already made decisions. Is it asking for trouble to email the department to ask about when decisions will be sent out. I just can't figure out a way to phrase it that doesn't sound ridiculous. Any advice would be great.

I would contact the department. I think after a month of waiting you can do that.

Good luck!

[LJK]

I just did an interview where they are planning on accepting 6 out of 9 of the students they are considering in the first wave. The way that one of the professor's put it to me was that they may very well end up accepting all of us because some people will choose to go elsewhere. They ultimately want to end up with 4 or 5 students so once they receive 2 or 3 no's they will accept another person from those who didn't get an acceptance from the first round. He tried to emphasize that all of us were exciting applicants and if they had the money they would take all of us. It sounds to me like this department is running on a similar model. A month later, you probably didn't make the first round of admits but that doesn't mean that you are rejected. The silence might be because the first offers are still out there and your final admission status is still up in the air. I agree that it is totally acceptable to ask at this point about your status.

[Daniela]

Hi artmuse,

I would not hesitate to email your POI. I truly believe that they have not contacted you yet because (although you might not have been their "top" choice) you are still in the running! They are probably waiting to see if the people they offered acceptances to decide to attend. Either way, you definitely have every right to send a friendly/polite email inquiring about your status. Good luck & keep me posted!

So I finally emailed the graduate secretary a couple of weeks ago and she responded that decisions should go out by mid-march. However, sadly, a few days after that I know that the few acceptances went out to other people that were at the interview weekend.

At this point do I just sit and wait for my rejection letter or should I email my POI? He only met with a couple of people that weekend, there were less then ten of us in total, so is it unrealistic for me to expect a personalized email of some kind if I'm wait-listed or rejected?