2013 Applicants (Philosophy)

[Narziss]

@lovephil

Don't blame the department; it is seriously not their fault. There is nothing wrong with taking a post-15th offer. If you've accepted another, you can still change your mind pending the release from the program you originally accepted.

The reason why programs make such late offers is because admits wait to make last minute decisions (perhaps because they're undecided or because they were waiting on a waitlist which didn't move). Once those admits decide, then finally other spots open up, shifting up waitlistees and thereby releasing whatever offers those waitlistees might've been holding onto. These latter spots don't become available until very late on April 15th/early 16th. Once they become available, I assume the program struggles to find someone to fill them on April 16th, as they finally get to make what are sometimes just their first admission offers to their own waitlistees.

Edited April 16, 2013 by Narziss

[MKEPhil]

So still no word (at all) from Uconn... Wonder what went wrong.

 

 

 

I'm going to express my frustration because my boyfriend is way too easy going. He's on a wait list and received a VERY strange email last night from the grad coordinator saying they won't know until today. It's 11:24 where we are, and still nothing. Isn't there an April 15th deadline? Is the department to blame, or their FGS? 

The deadline for April 15th is the earliest date that the original offers can expire.  Many schools have later dates.

Edited April 16, 2013 by MKEPhil

[LeftInLimbo]

For the advocates of the "shame campaign," how do you know that these schools are directly responsible for increasing the April 15th chaos?  On one hand, perhaps schools are indeed harboring malice aforethought, delighting in their sorry treatment of applicants who paid them good money.  On the other hand, perhaps schools are themselves waiting on their first-round offers to accept or decline, in order to then extend further offers to those on an official or unofficial waitlist.  Any DGS knows that it is in his or her best interest to get offers out as soon as possible, but of course they can extend only a certain amount of offers at a given time.  Extending additional offers requires that first-round admits decline.  Since many of those first-round admits are also waiting on other schools, a cycle of indecision results.

 

I really don't think it's as simple as departments just dragging their feet because they can.

 

No, I think that in some cases (like Vanderbilt) it is as simple as departments just dragging their feet because they can / because it is in their interests to do so.  As I understand it, Vanderbilt did not send out ANY rejections until April 13th.  And for those who solicited a response prior to that date, those people were informed that they were not accepted, not on an official waitlist, but also not rejected.  In essence, the department sent out a round of acceptances, then perhaps informed some folks that were on their official waitlist, and then they sort of "unofficially waitlisted" the remainder of the applicants.

 

Let's say a typical school gets 100 applicants, chooses 10 to offer admittance, and then waitlists 20 more students whom they might also contact.  They then notify the 70 other folks that they are rejected (ie. that there is no chance the department will get desperate enough to accept them).  In the case of Vanderbilt, they chose not to notify the remaining 70 that they were rejected, either due to dragging their feet or because they felt it was in their best interests to keep their entire pool of applicants hanging on in case they ended up exhausting their official waitlist.

 

I think Vanderbilt is a great program and has great faculty (that is why I applied there), and I don't want to single out Vanderbilt as the only school handling their admissions in this way (I'm sure there are others, but this is the only school that I applied to who seemed to do so).  But I think departments should have the courtesy to make the same effort as many other departments who notify those who have no chance of admittance, and to do so a reasonable amount of time before the national deadline (weeks, not days, prior). 

Edited April 16, 2013 by LeftInLimbo

[ἠφανισμένος]

If the first Vanderbilt rejections really did go out on April 13th, then yeah, that seems ridiculous.  I don't recall anyone stating the situation in those terms before.

[exacerbate_inthe_dark]

So how does this April 15th business work? I've already emailed CUNY a few times saying "hey I got another offer, should I stick around on the list" and they've said yes, but sometime today I have e-mail him to say that I have to have a decision in on my Indiana offer by noon tomorrow. Should I expect him to reply to me in a timely fashion before noon? Should I call him?

Plenty of people get offers of acceptance after April the 15th and my understanding is that plenty of schools know this. If CUNY sends a funded offer to you in the next few days, I'm sure a lengthy apology to Indy will ease things over. If they do get upset, they would have CUNY to be upset at and not you; you're only doing what anyone else would do in your position.  

[BernardJOrtcutt]

MKE, you're out at UConn. Someone at my program was #1 on the waitlist, and he didn't get in.

Edited April 17, 2013 by BernardJOrtcutt

[MKEPhil]

MKE, you're out at UConn. Someone at my program was #1 on the waitlist, and he didn't get in.

I wasn't actually waiting on it. I just never heard a peep from them.

[exacerbate_inthe_dark]

To whoever just posted a rejection to UC Irvine and their stats, 

 

Ouch. That's a pretty rough season. While I can't see your entire application packet, the quantitative aspects are pretty solid. Work up your application a little bit this year if you don't get into riverside, and good luck next season! 

[Narziss]

To that same person who posted the UCI rejection; you should inquire your status with UCR and express interest. I believe they may still be trying to fill a spot that opened up last minute.

[PerpetualApplicant No More]

Plenty of people get offers of acceptance after April the 15th and my understanding is that plenty of schools know this. If CUNY sends a funded offer to you in the next few days, I'm sure a lengthy apology to Indy will ease things over. If they do get upset, they would have CUNY to be upset at and not you; you're only doing what anyone else would do in your position.  

So when is it "over"? I got shut out except for a wait-list (also at CUNY, where apparently I was fairly high). The DGA emailed me late last week telling me "Hang in there ... I'll be in touch again soon." and then nothing. I sent him an email April 15 saying I was still interested, and I'd love to go if offered a spot (my AOS is phil psych).

 

Should i just assume everything is done and I'm out, or is there actually a possibility that they're still making offers?

[exacerbate_inthe_dark]

So when is it "over"? I got shut out except for a wait-list (also at CUNY, where apparently I was fairly high). The DGA emailed me late last week telling me "Hang in there ... I'll be in touch again soon." and then nothing. I sent him an email April 15 saying I was still interested, and I'd love to go if offered a spot (my AOS is phil psych).

 

Should i just assume everything is done and I'm out, or is there actually a possibility that they're still making offers?

 

I'm not sure when it's all over. I'm only pointing out that each year I've paid attention to the process, there have been multiple offers of acceptance and some movement after April 15th. 

I would give CUNY a call. That seems to be the most effective way to get information at this point.