Can I change their minds?

[namul]

Things are looking pretty bad so far. I got rejected by my safety school and still waiting to hear back from six others, most of which are way out of my league, even though I feel they are great fits for me. According to the gradcafe boards, five of those six have already sent out a ton of acceptances... so yeah, not looking good at all.

There is one program that I feel is a perfect fit for me - Princeton - and I recently started to consider e-mailing the department head there just to let him know how serious I am about my future with that program - sort of begging I guess, in a dignified way. I feel like I'm gonna get a rejection letter from them pretty soon, so I just wanted to make one last-ditch attempt to move them. Any thoughts? Has this ever worked in the history of PhD admissions?

[jergensultrahealing]

I've thought about doing the same thing as well, and my line of reasoning is exactly the same as yours.

If it's going to end up being a rejection anyway, there's really no harm done by sending in an e-mail conveying my "seriousness" about the program.

I've also considered sending in a couple stacks of benjamins, but that'd inevitably require going to the bank to apply for yet another loan...

[wtncffts]

Things are looking pretty bad so far. I got rejected by my safety school and still waiting to hear back from six others, most of which are way out of my league, even though I feel they are great fits for me. According to the gradcafe boards, five of those six have already sent out a ton of acceptances... so yeah, not looking good at all.

There is one program that I feel is a perfect fit for me - Princeton - and I recently started to consider e-mailing the department head there just to let him know how serious I am about my future with that program - sort of begging I guess, in a dignified way. I feel like I'm gonna get a rejection letter from them pretty soon, so I just wanted to make one last-ditch attempt to move them. Any thoughts? Has this ever worked in the history of PhD admissions?

If you haven't received any decision yet, I suppose you could reiterate your desire to get into that program, but it would be a very difficult balance so as not to come off as whiny or entitled. You have to know that they've already considered your application as thoroughly as they can, and may not be receptive to you essentially saying they've made a mistake.

Assuming, from the boards, that they have already made and sent out decisions, I don't think they really can accept you, since that would actually mean reneging on an acceptance offer already made to someone else, or else miraculously finding more funding. I don't know, perhaps you could argue your way onto the waitlist, but I doubt it.

[fingers_toes_X]

Things are looking pretty bad so far. I got rejected by my safety school and still waiting to hear back from six others, most of which are way out of my league, even though I feel they are great fits for me. According to the gradcafe boards, five of those six have already sent out a ton of acceptances... so yeah, not looking good at all.

There is one program that I feel is a perfect fit for me - Princeton - and I recently started to consider e-mailing the department head there just to let him know how serious I am about my future with that program - sort of begging I guess, in a dignified way. I feel like I'm gonna get a rejection letter from them pretty soon, so I just wanted to make one last-ditch attempt to move them. Any thoughts? Has this ever worked in the history of PhD admissions?

I am in a similar situation - I'm more than likely to have been rejected by all more dream schools. I am thinking to email the POI in my safety school to express how dearly I'd like to work in her projects. The program has a late application deadline, so I am not sure if they have finished reviewing the applications. However, I am worried that whether the email would portrait a negative image - like I have rejected by everywhere else and you're my last hope. Someone has suggested me to email, but I'm still hesitating.. Dilemma, dilemma..

[newms]

I would really hesitate to do this. In fact I would suggest that you don't do it, unless you had a real reason to do so - like new information, such as getting a paper accepted. Once you've confirmed that they've received all parts of your application, then the best thing to do is to just wait. It's hard, but otherwise you do run the risk of annoying the POI or coming across as begging. Perhaps if you had been in previous contact with the POI, you could let them know that you had sent in your application, but other than that, I wouldn't contact them after application.

If you do find out that you're on a wait-list of some sort, then it would be perfectly acceptable at that time to let them know that you're still very interested in their program.

Edited February 21, 2011 by newms

[TheDude]

Don't do this... and stop freaking out. I read through this quickly, but if I read correct you were only rejected from one program.

I was accepted/had interview offers at a few really great schools last week, one almost Ivy, and the others were really great programs. I was rejected from a much lower rank program too.

You don't know what goes on in departments, the politicking of who is going to get money to take students, etc. Two weeks ago I felt dejected. Things change fast.

Edited February 21, 2011 by TheDude

[namul]

Don't do this... and stop freaking out. I read through this quickly, but if I read correct you were only rejected from one program.

I was accepted/had interview offers at a few really great schools last week, one almost Ivy, and the others were really great programs. I was rejected from a much lower rank program too.

You don't know what goes on in departments, the politicking of who is going to get money to take students, etc. Two weeks ago I felt dejected. Things change fast.

Thanks, Dude

I'll hold my horses for a couple more weeks.

[UFGator]

I would really hesitate to do this. In fact I would suggest that you don't do it, unless you had a real reason to do so - like new information, such as getting a paper accepted. Once you've confirmed that they've received all parts of your application, then the best thing to do is to just wait. It's hard, but otherwise you do run the risk of annoying the POI or coming across as begging. Perhaps if you had been in previous contact with the POI, you could let them know that you had sent in your application, but other than that, I wouldn't contact them after application.

If you do find out that you're on a wait-list of some sort, then it would be perfectly acceptable at that time to let them know that you're still very interested in their program.

Quoted for truth.

[diber]

You should also think towards the future. These professors could potentially become future colleagues. Even if it feels like there's no way you could have any kind of connection with these people now, you never know what the future holds.