Admission Results Vs. Expectations

[khaled]

I was thinking that everyone shared his/her "expectations vs. reality" regarding the admission decisions, and what he/she learned out of them ... 

 

I'll start: 

 

Acceptances: University of Minnesota (Expected), UCLA & UMich (I was 60% confident), UIUC (surprised and thought of it as out of my league !!!) 

 

Rejections: MIT (expected), CalTech (expected), Purdue (i thought i'd make it), UPenn (not expected), Stanford (expected)

 

What I learned: there is a lot of randomness, and if you are an international student, your admission decision is affected by how much they know your school, here's why: 

• one of my undergrad school's alumni did his PhD at UCLA at the same department in the same area, and he did very well, so maybe because of that they have a good impression about my undergrad school 
• my undergrad's university rector did his BS and MS in the same university, and then went to UMich for his PhD, and he ranked first among 60+ students in the department
• I know that some professors at UIUC know about my undergrad school

Edited March 26, 2013 by khaled

[mrmolecularbiology]

Acceptances : UCSF (unexpected), UTSW (expected), Cornell (expected), Duke (expected)

Rejected: Stanford (totally expected) UC Berkeley (thought I had a shot)

 

I expected to be rejected from UCSF but thought I had a shot at UCB.  I have a former lab mate at UTSW and I have "better" credentials then he did so I assumed I would get in. I have another lab mate at JHU, same deal but have still not heard back from them post-interview (presumed rejection). 

 

Also pre-interview I was totally planning to go to UCSF but I felt like UTSW was a better fit for me.

[student12345]

Acceptances: UNC (unexpected), UF (unexpected and even got a four-year fellowship), UCSD (unexpected), and UConn (perhaps expected)

Rejections: Harvard (absolutely expected), Berkeley (not even a little bit surprised), Columbia (somewhat expected)

I was told by UNC that I was on their reserve list but the graduate admissions coordinator seemed to like me and was positive about my application so I was (perhaps dangerously) optimistic after that email. Luckily I did get in, but since it was my first and roughest application that I submitted I figured I didn't stand as good a chance there.

Have yet to hear from Cornell and CMU but as April 15 nears I'm becoming slightly more optimistic about my chances.

Edited March 27, 2013 by kimolas

[wabisabi]

Acceptances: UNC (unexpected), UF (unexpected and even got a four-year fellowship), UCSD (unexpected), and UConn (perhaps expected)

Rejections: Harvard (absolutely expected), Berkeley (not even a little bit surprised), Columbia (somewhat expected)

 

lol, Kimolas, it doesn't sound like you had high hopes of getting in anywhere!

 

I was too pessimistic about my chances (I was honestly worried that I wouldn't get in anywhere). Below is how I would have ranked my chances, from most- to least-likely acceptances. The schools are color-coded with acceptances and rejections (I withdrew my application from UC Irvine). 

 

UC Irvine          \

Colorado State  } somewhat confident

UC Davis          /

-------------------- 

CU Boulder      \

CMU                  } borderline

UCSD/Scripps  /

-------------------- 

MIT                   } tiny bit of hope

--------------------  

Harvard            } as soon as I clicked "submit application," I smacked myself for wasting all that money

--------------------

 

EDIT: I forgot about the "what you learned" part of the question. I need to think about that some more!

Edited March 27, 2013 by wabisabi

[student12345]

lol, Kimolas, it doesn't sound like you had high hopes of getting in anywhere!

 

Haha that is correct my academic background is a bit different and I was unsure of how schools would see it. I assumed it would be negative though, but apparently it wasn't!

 

If I learned anything from this process I'd have to say that you shouldn't underestimate the effect that very positive recommendations from well-connected personalities in your field can do for your application! And don't submit Columbia two days late because you forgot about the deadline...

[pears]

expectations: "i'll be overjoyed if i get in anywhere"

reality: 1 rejection, 4 acceptances (including my top 2 choices), 2 withdrawals (1 was after committing to my top choice; the other was after getting fed up with an endless load of hooey)

 

i had a very weak GPA and no concept of whether my LoRs, SoP, writing sample, GRE scores, etc. were strong at all. i felt good about them, but i didn't know what kinds of applicants i'd be up against. everything turned out better than expected!

[midnight]

I wasn't certain that I'd get in to either school, but I knew I probably had a better shot at UVA than Boulder.

 

I was absolutely ecstatic to be accepted to both.

[eaboo316]

My initial expectation was I would not get accepted anywhere.  Yes, I was very pessimistic, especially after not hearing from anyone the whole month January (because I know good news precedes bad news).  I applied to 10 schools, got accepted to 3, rejected to one after interview with an additional 5 rejections, and waitlisted at 1. 

 

What surprised me the most was my acceptance to Stanford!  I totally did not even put that in the equation in my head in which I decided which of the schools I applied to I would like to attend most (because I was so sure I would get rejected from it), so it was a very pleasant surprise (my first acceptance too)!  My interview was from a top Developmental Psych program (didn't work out in the end because PI decided not to accept any grad students foe next Fall), and the other program I got accepted, along with the one I got waitlisted, are one of the top in Developmental Psych/HDFS as well, and were the best ranked programs I applied to.

 

I definitely had very mediocore GPA and GRE scores, which is why I was so surprised at my results.  I could say that the schools that outright rejected me were those that just looked at those scores and said "no," but that's just me justifying myself.  I do really think some schools look at the whole application (or at least the parts that make the most sense to look at like the LORs and SOPs) and some don't even bother.  And I do agree that the process is so random, because I did not see myself as an ideal PhD student in the least.  But now, I have much more confidence going into [most likely] Stanford's program in the Fall.  Crazy how everything works out in the end!

[sarah-bellum]

Accepted (I somewhat expected all of these):

• Western University
• Queen's University
• University of Guelph

Declined interview:

• University of Waterloo (I didn't expect to get an interview with them, since I didn't hear anything for months. Surprisingly they contacted me a couple days ago asking for an interview - and apparently the delay was not because I was on a waitlist, but because of unforeseen issues on their end. I unfortunately had to decline the interview as I've already accepted another program). 

Rejected (thought I had a shot at both of these, but since I was an international applicant, wasn't really surprised):

• Cornell
• U Michigan

[hmurray]

Accepted: Oxford, UEA, Leeds, Nottingham

Rejected: Cambridge

 

It's different for arts and humanities in the UK, the competition is lower so as long as you meet the requirements and have a good fit you're pretty much in for a research degree. The real competition is over the very limited funding. I still have no clue if I'll get $$ at Leeds or Nottingham.

 

I wasn't sure about Oxford and Cambridge because the competition is stronger and the fit at these two wasn't as strong as UEA, Leeds and Nottingham. 

 

My Cambridge rejection was sort of expected because it was my first application, the personal statement had a really low 500-word limit and one of my referees submitted her letter three days after the deadline. Oh well, it wasn't my top choice!