POI says she needs to get Permission from Committee

[Elle0501]

Last Friday I had a good phone talk with POI, and later she sent me a follow up email asking research questions that I'd like to explore for graduate work. 

 

I sent back a loooong answer...and today i received her reply saying that she wants to invite me to the Interview Weekend in February but she needs to get permission from Committee, which may or may not happen. 

 

I would really like to ask this: how possible is that Committee refuses her request??

 

Fingers crossed for myself...

 

 

[Quantum Buckyball]

very low because the request is for invitation to an interview weekend. However, I'm not sure about the final decision regarding acceptance letter though....

Edited January 7, 2014 by Quantum Buckyball

[lewin]

It really depends on the institution so we can't say. Sometimes committees just rubber stamp, other times the department has a limited number of invites and this prof might not get all the invites she wants (e.g., let's say she accepted a few students last year already and it's someone else's turn).

[iphi]

Gotta agree with the above poster. Last year I had an interview with a POI that went great. She said she would have me, but had to get it past the committee (she had very divergent research interests from the rest of the department). I never met with the rest of the department and in the end I was rejected.

 

Not saying that it will happen to you, but it is a possibility. If you get invited to interview weekend I would make sure to really connect with the other faculty! Make a real effort to show them why you would be a good student for the department overall. That being said, if things don't end up going well, it might be for the best. The prof I met with warned me that I would have to fight for funding after my first year and might end up miserable.