Only two offers of admission

[OldGrad2012]

Hi all,

I just am curious about how many of you out there that only have two offers of admission for PhD programs when you applied to more than 10 programs. This is only 20% accepting rate for me, which is pretty pathetic assuming I wasted lots of money applying. So how many of you are left with only two offers out of over 10 schools that you applied to. Am I the only one that is not competitive enough?

[nari27]

Hey two acceptances isn't bad!! At least you got in. I was feeling pretty bad about my situation (one official acceptance and one verbal) until I read on here that people are applying for the third year in a row and have zero acceptances. A lot of the programs you applied to are SUPER competitive. Even with perfect grades, GRE scores, etc you never know what it is they are looking for. I only applied to 4 schools. I'm happy that I got accepted somewhere. Rather than concentrate on volume, I just picked the programs that I felt were the best fit based on my interests, and where I could really see myself living. I considered UCSF Tetrad but ended up applying for the Biomedical Sciences program. Found out later it was #1 program in the country!

[bellefast]

I applied to 9 only got 3 and I am content with that. If this is your first time (like me) and you got in consider yourself lucky. Because these programs are cut-throat. But, think of it this way, those schools that accepted you wanted you and other people didn't get in. It is way better to have some than none.

[CarlieE]

This is my first year applying and I applied to 5 schools including my UG uni. I got rejected in 3, accepted into my top choice and my UG uni withdrew me since they knew I was taking my top (and only) offer. I got a MA offer, but meh, it really wasn't what I was looking for.

It seems as though this is a really competitive year. I applied as a UG and got in, but several of my grad friends also applied but haven't got in anywhere. And we've come to find out that many of the schools we applied to had record numbers of applications this year and last year, yet the number of acceptances were less.... Shrinking budgets but growing unemployment, that'll do it.

[crazygirl2012]

I wouldn't think of it as pathetic. There's a reason we apply to so many schools. It's really really tough. Admissions decisions are based on many factors, most of which are out of our control and do not reflect on our caliber as people or students. Does my 10% acceptance rate hurt my feelings a bit? Yeah, of course. But everyone told me, "one acceptance is all you need," and they're right.

[Babar_Suleman]

I'm elated coz I'm 2 out of 3 so far. And one of my acceptances is from my dream school.

Not trying to rub this in. Just happy.

[snes]

Yep, grad admissions is wayyyy different from undergrad and more like a job search. For one, you're not just competing for a spot, you're competing for funded spot. And as others have said, there are a million factors out of the applicants' hands -- the amount of spots that year, the kind of cohort they want to make among you and the other applicants applying, which profs are leaving and coming in, yadda yadda yadda. It's not good enough to just be good enough; hell, it's not good enough to be stellar! You have to be qualitatively what they're looking for, in your interests, outlook, and background, and we often don't know precisely what that is for any given year in any given program. All it takes is 1 acceptance. Congratulations on 2!

[ladybug3]

I have yet to hear from any of the 3 programs I applied to for my Masters. However, these programs accept less than 20% of all applicants. If Masters programs accept so few applicants and PhD programs typically accept far less, then having a 20% acceptance rate is pretty good..

I did not get in anywhere last year, yet I reapplied. You're in a far better position right now than many people. You have to make a decision; some of us dream of having a choice of where to go..

[Marius]

I applied to seven and got two offers and I'm positively ecstatic.

[risingsun11801]

I know what you mean. My boyfriend and I both applied to 12 programs each. We both had 4 interviews, and I've had two acceptances so far and he's gotten 1 so far. (BTW, how long after your interviews did you get rejected? This month of waiting is driving me insane!) After spending so much time and energy and money on applications, I'd hoped to be in a better place than I am now, with more options. It might be because we have both been out of school for 6 yrs+ and adcoms are looking for 22 year old superstars. Who knows. Everyone says that you only need one acceptance, but we are trying to plan a life around this decision and have a lot to think about. It would be nice to have more options available at the moment.

[sansao]

You're in a far better position right now than many people. You have to make a decision; some of us dream of having a choice of where to go..

Some of us are still dreaming of being accepted at all. Two acceptances is great, you're very fortunate.

[spunkrag]

Hi all,

I just am curious about how many of you out there that only have two offers of admission for PhD programs when you applied to more than 10 programs. This is only 20% accepting rate for me, which is pretty pathetic assuming I wasted lots of money applying. So how many of you are left with only two offers out of over 10 schools that you applied to. Am I the only one that is not competitive enough?

Who the hell voted this post down? Jesus. You'd have to suffer from some sort of profound mental retardation to try and get over on someone merely venting about rejections on a board devoted to, you know, the difficulties of getting into grad school.

I hope you get into your programs, OldGrad. Sounds like there's many more you haven't heard from as of yet.

[ccarmona]

Who the hell voted this post down? Jesus. You'd have to suffer from some sort of profound mental retardation to try and get over on someone merely venting about rejections on a board devoted to, you know, the difficulties of getting into grad school.

I hope you get into your programs, OldGrad. Sounds like there's many more you haven't heard from as of yet.

I think people go around boards and start pushing buttons like they are 4 years old again. Maybe its the insanity of going though grad school and the brain cell count left behind. I have -3 for defending my original work on these boards and I just started. Lets see how interesting this gets.

[mirandaw]

Who the hell voted this post down? Jesus. You'd have to suffer from some sort of profound mental retardation to try and get over on someone merely venting about rejections on a board devoted to, you know, the difficulties of getting into grad school.

I hope you get into your programs, OldGrad. Sounds like there's many more you haven't heard from as of yet.

Yes, but could we not compare something we don't like to someone having a mental impairment. Not okay.

[imonedaful]

I could go for one acceptance right about now.