Still heard nothing although someone was rejected

[allamerican]

Someone got rejected from U Penn two weeks ago i guess. I applied to the same dept and still have heard nothing. What does that mean ? which decisions usually got sent to students first? admitted or rejected?

[HisRoyalHighness]

Maybe they're notifying people alphabetically? Sometimes it seems there's no rhyme or reason to how notifications go out.

[ElusiveMuse]

This is my take on it, from reading between the lines and asking around. Please note that I am in no way an expert, it's just my analysis of the process.

A bunch of applicants will be outright rejected almost immediately. A few will be outright accepted immediately. Maybe these notifications start to trickle out. Then you have the rest. Negotiations continue to fill the rest of the outright acceptances, a waitlist is established, some more are rejected, and then there are some outliers who don't have a strong chance of even getting on the waitlist but aren't completely ridiculous possibilities either. You never know how many of your offers will be accepted, they want to make sure they have options.

So if I see a lot of acceptances and rejections and I am not hearing either way, I assume I'm in that purgatory of "snowball's chance in hell but hey, it's snowed in Texas before" category.

[chicagocat]

Aren't waitlisted people usually notified the same time as admits, though? I feel like that happens a lot of times on the boards, in which case if you're not on that waitlist, then you're relying on the original acceptances to bail, then the waitlisted people to fall through, then you might get offered admission. Probably unlikely right, if you see both admits and waitlisted people notified at the same time?

I mean, there is some logic to being a graduate department and "holding on" to some people without dealing with the hassle of telling them they are on a waitlist, because meanwhile those candidates won't take offers from other schools or give up unless they've heard. But I don't know if that's me being just optimistic (I'm waiting for two schools still, but admits went out two weeks ago)....

[ElusiveMuse]

It is definitely a long shot to not be officially waitlisted but still held onto, so to speak. For me at least, I get some comfort knowing I made it pretty far, if not to the "semi-finals" (expressed waitlist) at some of these top schools who have already sent out a slew of rejections.

[frankdux]

advice: email the department and ask! the worst thing that will happen is that you wont get a response. the best thing that will happen is that you are given a straight answer, or at the very least that a decision hasn't yet been made.

i emailed 9 programs on thursday. on friday i was told of 1 rejection, and 4 other responses were a mix of "1st round admits went out, but you are still in the running for the 2nd round" or "decisions havent yet been made but you should hear in the next few weeks". 4 schools didnt respond.

its not that big of a deal to email your schools ONCE at this point in time.