Waitlisted - waiting for your school AND everyone else's

[MadScience]

Waitlisted today to my top choice...oh, the agony!! But, at least grumpy cat is also feeling the pain.

 

 

Hang in there everyone!

[Goobah]

Oh Grumpy Cat!   I think you should send that meme to your POI!  If I were a POI, I'd kick someone else to let you in... hahahahaha.

[daw0518]

After getting several rejections right off the bat, & then getting one random program that was REALLY interested in me & ultimately accepted me - I was certain the rest of my schools [really competitive schools that I probably shouldn't even have applied to] would reject me. So when I got waitlisted for a pretty decent program after all that, I was overjoyed, mostly because YAY, at least TWO of my ten schools thought I was worth something, right? But I would imagine getting a waitlist feels a lot different after you've already been accepted to at least one program you really like & are willing to go to if you get no other offers. So, long story short, I feel for those of you who have been waitlisted for your top programs, especially when those waitlists are all you've gotten so far. :[ Best of luck!

[MadScience]

Oh Grumpy Cat!   I think you should send that meme to your POI!  If I were a POI, I'd kick someone else to let you in... hahahahaha.

 

Haha! Love it! I totally should. My excellent sense of cat related humor should result in immediate acceptance, right?

[kyjin]

Joining you guys in waitlist land.  I have an acceptance to a really good program, but not knowing for sure yet where I'm going sucks. :/ I just want to be done with this process already!

[Guest HEPhD13]

Adding to the pile... I was waitlisted to my top choice program and was told that there was a good chance that I would be accepted but they gave their acceptances until mid-March to respond to their offers. I was also waitlisted to a program I'm not feeling anymore because of their funding package and lack of communication.  

 

Now it is just another waiting game with slightly more hope but also a greater chance of disappointment!

 

Good luck to all!!

[RubyBright]

Another week begins... May all the accepted people at my waitlist school receive other offers. 

[sweetpearl16]

That's what I keep thinking as well. It is so hard being waitlisted at your top choice.

[RubyBright]

The longer it goes on, the more I think that maybe I should just accept my second choice... assuming they come up with funding, of course.

Edited March 4, 2013 by RubyBright

[sweetpearl16]

I feel the same way sometimes. But then I end up wondering if the people ahead of me on the waitlist are feeling the same way as well, especially if they have good offers. That thought just makes me want to stay on the waitlist even more.

[sweetpearl16]

I just wanted to bump this up because I feel like it is getting progressively harder being waitlisted at my top choice. This was the place I have wanted to go for years, and I keep thinking off all the things I could have done to make my application a little better. And I can't stop comparing the schools I have gotten into to this school, in terms of both the funding and the variety of courses and training offered. For some reason this waiting is making me less content with my acceptances, and wishing that I had applied to more reach schools. 

[NightGallery]

 For some reason this waiting is making me less content with my acceptances, and wishing that I had applied to more reach schools. 

 

Oh, I feel your pain on this issue. After no offers and just one waitlist spot, I now wish I'd bitten the bullet and applied to 10 programs(which my advisor assured me was very excessive)  instead of only 6.  

[RubyBright]

I felt better about my waitlist until I found out that my one accepted school probably wasn't going to fund me. I'm also thinking I should have applied to more schools... but there aren't a lot of HF programs to go around.

[dunkeaters]

Does anyone have any tips on if/when to ask for status updates? There haven't been any acceptances to the school I'm waitlisted at (at least not on gradcafe), so I'm not sure exactly what progress has been made. 

[sweetpearl16]

I felt better about my waitlist until I found out that my one accepted school probably wasn't going to fund me. I'm also thinking I should have applied to more schools... but there aren't a lot of HF programs to go around.

I have one school that accepted me. I fit in well with the program, but it is new and the funding isn't that great (as in hard to live off of, let alone do research). But they really want me and have nominated me for a fellowship. The other one doesn't fit me as well, although I could make it work. They are probably going to offer me funding, but funding is competitive and there is no guarantee that I will be funded the entire time I am there. Of course the school I am waitlisted at provides five years of guaranteed funding I am regretting not considering funding more when I applied as I really don't want to go into debt in order to get a PhD.

[sweetpearl16]

Is it worth it to write an email of continued interest to my POI if I am on a ranked waitlist? I emailed him a few weeks ago letting him know that I remained interested in the program and that I had two offers from other schools. Not much has changed since then. Should I email again? Also should I let him know that this is my top choice school? I hate being waitlisted at my top choice

[RubyBright]

Does anyone have any tips on if/when to ask for status updates? There haven't been any acceptances to the school I'm waitlisted at (at least not on gradcafe), so I'm not sure exactly what progress has been made. 

 

If your deadline was sometime in January, I don't think it hurts to send a polite email. Just let them know you've been hearing from other schools, and you're wondering what your status is.

 

Is it worth it to write an email of continued interest to my POI if I am on a ranked waitlist? I emailed him a few weeks ago letting him know that I remained interested in the program and that I had two offers from other schools. Not much has changed since then. Should I email again? Also should I let him know that this is my top choice school? I hate being waitlisted at my top choice

 

As much as it's nice to feel like you're doing something, I don't think it would help much. Since their waitlist is already ranked, it probably won't help. Sorry. We're all here waiting with you. 

[somerset]

i got waitlisted at my top program while I am accepted into another one that i am not so excited about with full funding....and the school that has waitlisted me has not responded to my emails asking them what rank am i on the list or what were the shortcomings on my application.....its killing me....the director of the phd program in the super generic waitlist email said that they had 5 spots....seems really unlikely but i beginning to lose it....i just with they would tell me what spot i hold on the waitlist...like if i am number 5 i know i have no chance in helll and then i can move on!!!!

[RubyBright]

How long has it been since you emailed them asking for information? Could they be on Spring Break right now?

[somerset]

I emailed them on monday and they just sent out acceptances so they cant be on break possibly! its terrible....and now I cant even send an email until its been at least a week since then i dont want to be thought of as pushy

[Grace187]

I feel you guys. I'm pretty much committed to a small geographic region for career reasons, so I only applied to two programs. Rejected from one school that was a bit of a reach, and accepted but waitlisted for funding at my top choice--through their preferred source of funding anyway. Verdict is still out on another potential funding option that won't be considered until they hear back from other students on funding option #1. I won't go for a phd without funding, so I'm at the mercy of other's decisions too. I'm a little bit paranoid that everyone's funding is going to take a hit with this whole sequester thing, and that my fellow students will jump on funding opportunities where they can. Here's hoping they're accepted to bigger and better things.  

 

General feedback from department and POI is that they want me in the program, they're hopeful, and they have their fingers crossed for me, with undercurrent of "patience, grasshopper". (Anyone else bummed by the "we want you!....but not enough to fund/accept you first round" sentiments, btw?)

[Nerd_For_Life]

Found out today that I am not getting into the school that waitlisted me. I was surprised because I wasn't expecting to hear anything, positive or negative, until April. My guess is it wasn't a ranked wait list but supervisor availability based and the supervisor(s) (Need two of them to be able to take me, three ideally for a committee) I needed had their first round students accept. A bummer, but I did get into another PhD program, just waiting on the funding info for that one, so at least I won't be without a home in Sept.

[sweetpearl16]

Being waitlisted is so painful and sometimes feels as if you are slowly dying. In some ways it is worse than an outright rejection because you are dragged along for so long and you want to remain hopeful but at the same time you are afraid of getting your hopes up too high only to be crushed later. I got a letter from the DGS from the at my top choice school, the place I have hoped to attend for years and where I'm currently waitlisted. He just wanted to go over the waitlist process again and asked me to let the school know if I remained interested in attending and if I had accepted any other offers. I'm very curious as to why this email was sent on a Saturday and keep trying to tell myself it means nothing and is just a formality sent to everyone on the waitlist. Gah! I hate being waitlisted.

 

[somerset]

Being waitlisted is so painful and sometimes feels as if you are slowly dying. In some ways it is worse than an outright rejection because you are dragged along for so long and you want to remain hopeful but at the same time you are afraid of getting your hopes up too high only to be crushed later. I got a letter from the DGS from the at my top choice school, the place I have hoped to attend for years and where I'm currently waitlisted. He just wanted to go over the waitlist process again and asked me to let the school know if I remained interested in attending and if I had accepted any other offers. I'm very curious as to why this email was sent on a Saturday and keep trying to tell myself it means nothing and is just a formality sent to everyone on the waitlist. Gah! I hate being waitlisted.

 

 

Hey maybe there is hope for you if they reached out to you? But then this might just be the case of one waitlisted person desperately seeking signs as well! the DGS responded to my email asking what rank i hold on the waitlist saying that there were 4 people and shes not sure what will happen and the usual we appreciate your patience crap-its so killing....i keep finding myself dreaming about getting off the waitlist and then i curse myself for letting go inside my head like this coz then when you dont it just hurts more.....and i hate all those people who say dont think so much-its really hard to stop!

[sweetpearl16]

Hey maybe there is hope for you if they reached out to you? But then this might just be the case of one waitlisted person desperately seeking signs as well!

 

That's the problem. I don't know which one it is and if anything this further uncertainty just makes the entire process more painful.