Does a phone or email from a POI mean you're a shoe in?

[mightymouse]

Ok so maybe not a shoe in, but it must mean you're ahead of the pack right? I have not been one of those lucky people, unfortunately. I see several schools whose mass interview invites tend to or officially go out in January/February but there are a hand full of people in the Results page who were called or emailed by a POI as early as December.

I mean seriously, if a professor is calling you to talk that's more than just a subtle hint.

So my question is, given how few people are accepted, when there are possibly 5 or more people being contacted by POI's weeks before the rest of us get a generic invite... What chances do the rest of us have? Don't the ones with early contact have a leg up?

[Quant_Liz_Lemon]

It depends on numerous factors. Some POIs may contact all the students that will be interviewing for the lab, while some POIs may not contact any of the students ahead of time. 

 

It could also be that those students, who were contacted early, had already been in communication with said POI, but did not contact those who hadn't already been in communication.

[lypiphera]

Similar to what Quant_Liz_Lemon said, it really depends on the professor.  I've done a few phone interviews, and they ranged greatly.  One wanted a clarification on my research interests, meaning I may not have said enough in my SOP about it.  Another made it clear that he would really like me to come to the school.  Another told me he was deciding between me and a few other candidates on who to invite to the interview.  Another was interviewing all likely candidates.

 

So it could be that you aren't in the first wave of candidates, or it could mean that they didn't need to know anything else yet. I would give it another month before assuming that no contact yet is a bad thing.

[psych77]

In my situation, a p.o.i I had been in touch with didn't get to see my application (last year) as it goes through the grad school before it goes to the department and "as I wasn't in the bottom half, but not quite in the top 12% either",...this year, we've continued to be in touch and he said he was going to go ask about it now, before it went through the grad school. I have no idea what that means... I don't think he's on the admissions committee or anything, so it might not make any difference at all, but I was excited to be in touch with him all the same.