Fall 2014 Applicants

[Loric]

Magical Thinking: One of the first things they look for when weeding out applicants.

[kdavid]

Magical Thinking

 

 

I prefer to think of it as cautious optimism.

 

Hell, I applied to 12 programs. At least one of them has to like me, right?

[catsandscarves]

I prefer to think of it as cautious optimism.

 

Hell, I applied to 12 programs. At least one of them has to like me, right?

Haha that is how I feel about my 17....

[djp2]

Haha that is how I feel about my 17....

I only applied to four, so I'm feeling pretty hopeless. I'm trying to convince myself that there's basically no chance. That way I can (theoretically) avoid disappointment.

[kdavid]

I started with 20 and whittled it down to 12. The MAs are all back-ups.

 

If I really had to crunch, I'd say there are only five on the list which I'm really interested in, and with which I feel I'm a good fit.

[poofysheep]

I'm starting to despair about NYU... lol

[New England Nat]

I'm just really glad NYU seems to have changed procedures.   It makes me feel like someone is thinking about this process instead of just doing what has always been done in their department.

[levoyous]

An NYU professor described the process to me about 6 months ago and it included the interview weekend, but it seems like they may have changed it. I hope so; every attending grad student I've told about it has been horrified.

[poofysheep]

Yeah honestly that does sound pretty horrible!

[NorthernLights]

So can someone explain this to me a little better? I applied to programs at Santa Barbara, Berkeley, UoM, and a few others, and I see that some people have already posted results (Accepted and Declined) for those schools, but I'm reading in this thread that there are a number of people (like myself) who have not heard anything yet. Does this mean we've all collectively been waitlisted, or is there something else at work here? I'm seeing comments about 'waves' - how do those work? Why would they accept/decline certain people outright, early on, and leave what seems like the majority hovering?

Edited February 1, 2014 by NorthernLights

[tenguru]

For some of the schools you listed, official decisions have not been sent out, people heard from POI's. And, from what I understand, that is not a lock on admission. The "waves" of admission seem to be based on separate types of funding. I imagine they decline people who are obviously not a fit before comparing other more qualified applicants.

[Brisingamen]

Northern Lights, my understanding is that the earliest acceptances are often linked to deadlines for fellowship nominations. So departments pick those students out first, and inform them first, because they want extra materials/ agree it would be nice to put them outof their misery quickly/want to get a psychological foot in the door because those are the students they are very keen on getting, for one reason or another. They might then finalise lists a little later and send out all formal offers at more or less the same time. Early rejection probably means they didn't see a fit at all. So if you've heard nothing, it's still good!

More seasoned hands may want to weigh in...

[RevolutionBlues]

Fear not. We can panic together.

Ain't no party like a panic party cuz a panic party don't stop....until April 15th.

[Professor Plum]

You haven't necessarily been waitlisted. At my (exceedingly middle-of-the-road) program, we divide the applicant pool into tranches. Last year, out of about 100 applicants, there were 70 or so who were not getting in under any circumstances--we do not admit PhD students without funding. Those letters go out immediately. Of the remainder, we select our top eight--for six funded slots--and usually make offers to those pretty quickly. Becuae we are not a top program (see above), many of those students will have accepted better offers elsewhere. A few will keep us hanging, using our offer to get a little additional consideration from their top choice (and more power to them!) We don't begin to move down the food chain to our second tier of candidates until we have heard a definitive "no" from the top choices. That can take four to six weeks--and our committee meets later than any other I'm aware of. We don't give anyone we might otherwise conceivably take a firm "no" until it's clear that we won't be making an offer because our class is made.

 

An unsolicited piece of advice, and one that I would have been constitutionally unable to take when I was in the throes of the admissions process: Don't let this be a hellish weekend. Try not to log on and check the results page every twenty minutes. If you're going to make this a career, acceptance to a PhD program is just the first, and the most low-stakes, version of a hundred weekends you'll spend. If you let it define your life, there will be agonzing time waiting for responses from comps, fellowships, grants, referees' reports, dissertation committees, hiring committees, editors' reports, promotion and tenure committees, book reviewers... it will make you insane if you allow it to. If you have done the best you can do with your application, try and let it go... the results will work themselves out. Read something. Pick up a hobby, preferably one that involves saving money.

 

This is easier advice to give than to take--I'm in the middle of a decent career here, and it is still hard to turn off the anxiety switch some days. But you will be much happier, and much more productive, if you can develop a sense of detachment on things that are out of your hands. You will be fine even if you don't get in to a doctoral program. Trust me on that.

[hdunlop]

I failed last year and have had the best year of my life in the meantime. Professor Plum's advise to chill out cannot be understated. I'm still incredibly impatient this cycle, but it's different. Patience is impossible, all things considered, but there's lots to be said for working on the anxiety.

[NorthernLights]

Thank you Professor Plum, that is a most reassuring statement. It's good to have an idea of the process, or at least the kinds of different processes various schools may be going through. I was afraid that with this last week, it was all over, said and done.

[Sknma]

Hey,

I also applied to NYU History, got an "unofficial" interview with DGS on 8 Jan but no official or unofficial notifications about admissions. I don't know how the process works, but in the department's web page, it says that 30 Jan 12.30- admissions meeting. Does anyone know what happens after the department makes the decisions, do the applications of the nominated applicants go to GSAS for final decisions?

And all the three students who got the good news, is it officially declared somewhere like web page (apply embark) or did your future advisors send you an email? I am happy for you, I hope I will be happy for myself soon, too. =\

[levoyous]

Here, because I'm a little nuts and like stats, is a more readable spreadsheet of the results so far, which I hope to be updating daily (last update date will appear at the top in the document title).

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqGB4iJQWjWbdC03WThhczY0aVdfeWdUYkZBa2xnb0E&usp=sharing

 

It incorporates all the info from the results board and the forum, though I'm sure there are oversights. Please post any corrections or omissions you see.

 

Hopefully it'll encourage people to post further info, like things they were told about potential cohort sizes.

 

EDIT: Jumped the gun a bit there - gotta work out some privacy settings, then will post a new link. Wanted to make sure people's Gmail accounts remained anonymous when viewing.

Edited February 1, 2014 by levoyous

[levoyous]

Sorry about that - here's a new link:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqGB4iJQWjWbdC03WThhczY0aVdfeWdUYkZBa2xnb0E&usp=sharing

[Abetheh]

Hey,

I also applied to NYU History, got an "unofficial" interview with DGS on 8 Jan but no official or unofficial notifications about admissions. I don't know how the process works, but in the department's web page, it says that 30 Jan 12.30- admissions meeting. Does anyone know what happens after the department makes the decisions, do the applications of the nominated applicants go to GSAS for final decisions?

And all the three students who got the good news, is it officially declared somewhere like web page (apply embark) or did your future advisors send you an email? I am happy for you, I hope I will be happy for myself soon, too. =\

Ditto for me. I had an interview with my POI at NYU on Jan 20th. I haven't heard anything since then, either positive or negative, about admissions. So any information would be nice.

[levoyous]

Sknma and Abetheh, did you post those on the results board, or no?

[Abetheh]

Sknma and Abetheh, did you post those on the results board, or no?

I did, but I posted it well after the interview actually happened.

[eriatarka]

Just want to say I'm loving the comments in the Results about Walter White and the Sooners fan who got rejected from Austin. LOL

 

Sorry about the rejection though

[Sknma]

Sknma and Abetheh, did you post those on the results board, or no?

Yes i posted it also. We both are here then. It would be great to hear something from those who actually got an email with the good news.

[levoyous]

Good luck this week, everybody.