Should I Relax?

[khaled]

I was planning to apply to 15 schools ( I know this is a large number, but ECE is very competitive and my scholarship only permits me to go to top 20 programs, so I need to maximize my chances) and until now i applied to 8 programs. I was talking to one of the professors at my undergrad school (who is famous in my field but sadly he barely knows me and didn't taught me anything) and it seems that he is excited to help me getting in a top graduate school and turned out he knows one of my POI's and offered to talk to him regarding my application (he knows him, since they are all working on the same research topics).  

 

So, he told me to give him my application number once I submit my application. I submitted my application and sent him the application number. He then asked me to make sure I really want to go to that particular school, he told me something like this "make sure it is ur preferred school, because if i talk to him he will be happy to have you in their program, so please do not embarrass me and go there". I really got excited by how confident he was about his connections, and told him that I'm really interested in going to that school (actually I am). But now it has been a week and there is no reply from my POI yet (probably because of holidays), so he will send him another email on January if he didn't reply. 

 

So, what do you guys think? should I relax and wait until my POI reply? or should I forget about this and continue applying to other schools? 

 

[Quant_Liz_Lemon]

I had a similar situation. I knew that I was going to be a very very strong candidate at my top choice school. I applied to other programs, because I knew it wasn't a sure thing. I would suggest applying to those additional schools, just in case funding doesn't work out or the program offers to match any offer, like mine has.

[DarwinAG]

 

So, what do you guys think? should I relax and wait until my POI reply? or should I forget about this and continue applying to other schools? 

Yes. You should relax. You should also forget about this and continue applying to other schools. I have been advised that an important skill to learn as an academic is the ability to let go of something that you have already turned in. Just let go. The professor helping you has clearly said he will send a reminder email for you, so why worry about it? Spend your time, effort, and attention on something else.