Ever get the feeling that they never looked at your application?

[Golden Monkey]

My quest is over, and the end result is that I got one PhD acceptance, which I am completely over-the-moon ecstatic about (would have probably picked them even with more acceptances,) and three rejections. I get the distinct feeling, though, that the adcomms from the other three programs never even looked at my application, never read my carefully-crafted SOPs written and re-written for each program, and never looked at my CV, portfolio, or LORs. It makes me realize that there isn't just the matter of whether or not you're interested in the program, or whether or not you get in, but whether or not the adcomms are even going to look at you as an applicant in the first place. From the first program, I heard absolutely nothing for months, until I got my form rejection letter. The same thing from the second program. From the third program, I received a form letter that said "sorry in advance, we're really screwed up this year," then absolutely no feedback, and then I found out they had lost my transcript, but no one there would answer my question how to fix this. Then I finally got a rejection from them, which was, of course, another form letter. But overall, it gives me the feeling that those three programs didn't even looked at my application. I mean, no contact whatsoever from application to rejection, and no indication from them that they had even looked at my application, such as, "despite your impressive work background," or "despite your glowing letter from Well Known Professor Zizzmore," or anything like that.

Kinda makes me realize (for anyone applying to PhDs next year,) that you should cast the net wide, even if the program isn't geographically desirable, or doesn't mention funding, or doesn't 100% match your interests. You just never really know.

[Owlie]

While I know two of the programs have actually looked at my application materials (interviews!), I'm not so sure about the one that rejected me. Part of the application was a SurveyMonkey questionnaire, which asked for POIs, GPA, GRE and essentially duplicated a lot of the information that would have been in other parts of the application. I'm pretty sure they looked only at that for most of their applicants.

[KreacherKeeper]

The only time I am sure it is actually read is if you interview and are in their faces. Otherwise, I think you are just 'a person on a pile'. But I can believe that all apps do not get a fair shake for whatever reason, maybe even the fact that the person reading them was having a bad day. I learned from this cycle that you need to cast far and wide...

[anthropologygeek]

They sometimes don't. Some have a secretary dismiss some that don't meet the requirements.

[wtncffts]

I think there's no reason to believe they didn't give your application the same consideration as every other. It's pretty common that you don't hear anything between applying and a rejection or acceptance; I don't know what you were expecting. They're not going to personalize every rejection; I got form letters from most of the schools I applied to.

[Golden Monkey]

I think there's no reason to believe they didn't give your application the same consideration as every other. It's pretty common that you don't hear anything between applying and a rejection or acceptance; I don't know what you were expecting. They're not going to personalize every rejection; I got form letters from most of the schools I applied to.

Oh, I didn't really expect anything, but it was pretty enlightening wrt the admissions process. It makes me realize that there is not only the factor of how difficult the program is to get into, but what will get them to look at ones qualifications (or lack of) in the first place, the quirks of each individual adcomm, etc.

I had never thought of it as being so similar to a job search before, but it really is. If you blindly send your resume to a posting on monster.com, you'll get a form rejection, whereas if you contact the company ahead of time before you apply, it increases your chances of them looking at your resume in the first place among thousands of others.

[stanzi]

100 application least they could do is sign in ink rather than a photocopied signature. sheesh.

[everygirl]

I think it's worse thinking that they did look at my application...

[neuropsych76]

The whole process is odd.

Applying to grad school for the student is an immensely important/exciting/stressful time.

But for the adcom member, they are completely desensitized and it's just their job to get through this large stack of papers. Who knows how many applications were briefly looked over or completely skipped because an adcom member was lazy or only gave a superficial look.

It's just like anything else in life though. Just another hurdle we have to overcome.

[Golden Monkey]

The whole process is odd.

Applying to grad school for the student is an immensely important/exciting/stressful time.

But for the adcom member, they are completely desensitized and it's just their job to get through this large stack of papers. Who knows how many applications were briefly looked over or completely skipped because an adcom member was lazy or only gave a superficial look.

It's just like anything else in life though. Just another hurdle we have to overcome.

Yeah, I know, and I kind of wonder if applicants might benefit from the same kind of constantly-evolving strategies that emerge when looking for a job. The biggest struggle for job-hunters in this incredibly competitive market is getting their resume seen in the first place, regardless of whether or not it's a good resume. Throwing your resume and a cover letter at an HR department and just expecting them to recognize how qualified you are is futile, because they'll never look at it. The way to get hired (as detailed in books like "Don't Send a Resume" and "Guerilla Marketing for Job Hunters,") is to bypass HR (or in this case the adcomm,) and go directly to the person who is in charge. The idea is that when it comes time to admit/reject, they might remember your name (hopefully in a positive way) and then actually consider your qualifications, (read your SOP, visit your home page for 30 seconds, read your LORs, read your CV) instead of just looking at the first thing they see (low GPA, crappy GREs, transcripts from no-name schools, whatever it is) and immediately throw you into the reject pile.

Just a thought, anyway.

[wtncffts]

The whole process is odd.

Applying to grad school for the student is an immensely important/exciting/stressful time.

But for the adcom member, they are completely desensitized and it's just their job to get through this large stack of papers. Who knows how many applications were briefly looked over or completely skipped because an adcom member was lazy or only gave a superficial look.

It's just like anything else in life though. Just another hurdle we have to overcome.

I think you guys are short-shrifting the effort adcomm members put in. Doubtless, there are lazy or preoccupied ones who won't give due attention to the applications, but I think the vast majority treat it seriously and give every application the consideration its due. That means looking at all parts. That's not to say, though, that they read every sentence of, especially, a writing sample. If you've ever graded papers, you'll know that it's pretty easy to get a rough estimation of quality just from glancing through. I'm sure this is what happens at the early 'first cut' stages of the process. The adcomm member looks at an application, scans through the SoP, looks at the LoRs, glances at the transcript and GRE (after all, it doesn't take all that long to take in such information), and can pretty quickly form a pretty accurate overall picture of the applicant. The obvious rejects are dismissed, and the others are given a closer look. If there's any faculty around, correct me if I'm wrong. Believe me, I had my fair share of rejects this season, but I never felt and don't feel now that my applications were ever given anything but a fair review.