ridgey Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I'd do it myself, but I have the attention span of a goldfish. Someone should collate the results page from previous years so we have acceptance rates. Obviously, these rates won't reflect the entire applicant population, but they should be reflective of rates in thegradcafe.com population. For two of my programmes, I'm 100% (2/2 in both cases). One 75%. One 0%, but I can live with that. Ok, so I know noone is really going to do it. But if you check the results for your programme this way, I bet your chances are better than what you thought :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohheygradschool Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Neat idea. I'm pretty sure they do that automatically on yuster.com, but the results page there is not nearly as comprehensive as here. 25% for one of my programs, 33% for another, 100% (ha, I wish - just one entry though) for another, 0% for yet another (2, maybe one entry -- can't tell if it's a duplicate or not). I need a hobby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linden Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 This website allows you to search for different programs at a variety of universities: https://www.petersons.com/gradchannel/c ... sponsor=13 More importantly, for some of the programs to which I applied, it also lists the percentage of students accepted. (Look under the Students/Outcomes or Admissions info.) Hopefully info for your programs will be available too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 most of my programs aren't there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 hey linden, to pass some of the time I'm reading a thread you started on the chronicles site, lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankdux Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 This website allows you to search for different programs at a variety of universities: https://www.petersons.com/gradchannel/c ... sponsor=13 More importantly, for some of the programs to which I applied, it also lists the percentage of students accepted. (Look under the Students/Outcomes or Admissions info.) Hopefully info for your programs will be available too. their info regarding acceptance rates is usually pretty spotty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 hmmm...based on that formula posted on this thread: http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/t ... 544.0.html I have a 703 (averaging my undergrad and grad GPAs, 695 just undergrad). Anyone else want to share theirs? Her hypothetical good candidate w/1350 and 3.7 has a 701. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAN Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Based on that formula I have a score of 678.4. In case there are lazy people who don't want to go to the order forum, the formula is as follows: GRE Verbal * 0.3 + GRE Quantitative * 0.3 + GPA * 200 * .40 The poster of this formula says it is the first cut his/her school (a R1 school) takes in thinning down the applications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astaroth Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 To be quite honest that formula sounds like bullshit to me. The GPA bit makes no sense, why would you need to multiply it twice? If it was a legit formula then it would have been simply GPA * 80. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridgey Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 To be quite honest that formula sounds like bullshit to me. The GPA bit makes no sense, why would you need to multiply it twice? If it was a legit formula then it would have been simply GPA * 80. Yes, GPA*200*0.4 is the same as GPA*80. But doing the mulitplication twice makes it obvious WHY it is done, where *80 would look arbitrary. *200 is to convert a GPA on a 4.0 scalt to the same scale as the components of the GRE, and *0.4 is to weight it. I get 680 with one GPA and 720 with another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linden Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Ha, ha, t_ruth, I see you have discovered my other life on the Chronicles forum. I thought those answers were interesting. I've always kinda suspected that most programs had to use some system to pare down applicants. There is simply no way that they are reading all of our files. In any case, that formula was certainly interesting; it, unfortunately, shows that the GRE-GPA cutoff matrices (or formulas) are not an urban legend. I come in with a 754, but I went to a large, state school. So, I wonder how much my numbers are really worth. Linden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mraig Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 hmmm...based on that formula posted on this thread: http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/t ... 544.0.html I have a 703 (averaging my undergrad and grad GPAs, 695 just undergrad). Anyone else want to share theirs? Her hypothetical good candidate w/1350 and 3.7 has a 701. That thread goes on to say they never use grad GPA, due to inflation. I'd have a 754.8 (764.4 if I combined in my grad school scores!), but I'm applying for an MFA program this time round, and I doubt they use any such formula. Most of them either don't use GREs at all, or, if they do, only use them for funding. I am really curious how MFA programs do their initial cull. The programs I am applying to (for creative writing) generally get anywhere from 200 to 1000 applications, and the best ones usually accept 1-5%. I imagine the selection is based primarily on the writing sample. So how in the world do they read that many? To take as an example Iowa's program (which many consider the most prestigious): In 2007, they received 1285 applications, and accepted 55 students (3.9%). They ask for a writing sample of "under 100 pages". Assuming that the writing sample is the primary thing they base their judgment on, how could they possibly read 120,000 pages of samples? Obviously many are bad enough that they can toss them after a page or two, but they must have some way of narrowing it down a *lot* more before they start taking a serious look at people's samples. Anyone here sat on an MFA admissions committee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mraig Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 By the way: does it seem a bit dishonest to anyone else that programs withhold information about their cutoffs to give applicants false hope? Certainly schools get plenty of applications that they can toss immediately, that they can instantly tell don't have a prayer of getting accepted; many applicants who spent a good deal of time, effort, and money putting together their submission aren't even looked at. Obviously the schools want as many of these as possible, as they make thousands of dollars off of these poor saps' application fees. Maybe the money schools make from this is the only way they have the resources to process the rest of the applications, and you could argue that many of these applicants should have known better anyway (if they have low scores or bad references). Still, it all seems a bit cruel to me, that such a large part of the system is taking money from people without giving them any serious consideration. If the schools were more honest about their standards, it could save a lot of people a lot of heartache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miratrix Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 They do make it much less transparent and much more difficult to predict than undergrad applications. I think it's unfortunate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 That thread goes on to say they never use grad GPA, due to inflation. You can tell who I am over there on the chronicles site by my comments my 'grad' grades are from my J.D., which I believe is not (as) inflated (for example, a 3.4 was top third or higher, which is a lot lower than most grad programs from what I've seen). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linden Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I don't think that schools keep the admissions process or criteria a secret just for the money. (Although, those application fees can pay at least for the salary of a program or admissions coordinator. For example, 1100 applicants at $65 per applicant: $71,500.) More importantly, by keeping applicants' hopes alive--and getting a large number of applications--they also inflate the program's prestige. After all, the more applications you receive for a certain number of spots, the more selective you can say you are. And, if the programs don't even look at most applications, they are getting the benefits of a large applicant pool (more money and more prestige) without the cost (having to read of all our boring SOPs). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridgey Posted January 10, 2009 Author Share Posted January 10, 2009 You can tell who I am over there on the chronicles site by my comments my 'grad' grades are from my J.D., which I believe is not (as) inflated (for example, a 3.4 was top third or higher, which is a lot lower than most grad programs from what I've seen). It's funny how you can "recognise" people from different forums. Between here, applyingtograd at livejournal, and the Chronicle forums there seems to be a significant overlap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAPoliSciPhD Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Yeah, I read those other ones but don't post on them....so I laughed when you guys started talking about posts I recognized.... I thought maybe there were a lot of neurotic applicants, but now I see it's just the same few of us over and over again ha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
storiaitaliana Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I read the Chronicle forum a lot, but rarely post! And the applyingtograd community helped me a lot with my SOP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I've been reading that huge "favorite" student email thread on the chronicle site when I need a distraction. It's pretty funny (and enlightening!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychology Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I've been reading that huge "favorite" student email thread on the chronicle site when I need a distraction. It's pretty funny (and enlightening!). I've heard of this thread from a few people and can't find it... can you post the link? (I would PM you but I have NO clue how....). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/t ... 894.0.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uberskooper Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 How do you folks extract any useful information out of applyingtograd? The Livejournal format makes it hard to navigate. I'm primarily interested finding people in my field (I/O Psychology), and preferably those applying to the same schools as me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohheygradschool Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 How do you folks extract any useful information out of applyingtograd? The Livejournal format makes it hard to navigate. I'm primarily interested finding people in my field (I/O Psychology), and preferably those applying to the same schools as me. The tag feature is sometimes helpful. You could try your luck with that. Also, you should check out http://community.livejournal.com/who_got_in/. There's a psychology post there, but so far no one has replied. I suspect the activity will pick up there soon, though... as I remember from my obsessive lurking last year, it was quite a busy community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohheygradschool Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 It's funny how you can "recognise" people from different forums. Between here, applyingtograd at livejournal, and the Chronicle forums there seems to be a significant overlap. Haha, the only overlap I've noticed so far is linden on here and the Chronicle forums. Oh god, I feel like such a huge geek admitting that. I'm another obsessed applicant who checks all three of those sites pretty much every day.... I only lurk in the Chronicle forums, no posting. That doesn't make it any better though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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