What is the time window over which most positive results are sent out?

[Pavi]

Please don't bother with program specific information. Just give me an approximate time range (maybe averaged over all existing doctoral programs, or people you know who applied in the past).

[yhakak]

I have found that most acceptances are sent between Jan 1st - Dec. 31st. Pavi, please don't bother to thank me with specific information.

 

Jeez, do your own work.

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

I have found that most acceptances are sent between Jan 1st - Dec. 31st. Pavi, please don't bother to thank me with specific information.

 

Jeez, do your own work.

Well, he did want an average for ALL programs, so you're probably about right. Considering the thousands of rolling admissions deadlines, the early winter deadlines, the later winter, early spring, I would say there's pretty much no way to answer the OP's question. 

[DSA]

I don't have data for all programs on average, but I can tell you what I did to try to figure this out for my own field (computer science):

 

I made an Excel spreadsheet with a row for each week, and counted up, for each of the schools I applied to, the number of acceptances/rejections to both MS and PhD programs in that week. I then divided each number by the total number of acceptances/rejections for that school -- so for each week I could see what percentage of a school's responses were sent out.

 

I found that there are two waves: one that ends around the end of February, and one that starts and ends from the middle of March until the middle of April. This second wave tends to be mostly acceptances to MS programs, "consolation" acceptances (giving a nonfunded MS acceptance to someone who applied to a PhD program), or just a flurry of rejections as afterthought.

 

Comparing the results and filtering out MS programs and then rejection responses, I feel relatively confident that if I haven't heard anything (interview or acceptance) from a school to which I applied to a CS PhD program by the end of February, I most likely will not be accepted there.

[ImpulsiveNixie]

I don't have data for all programs on average, but I can tell you what I did to try to figure this out for my own field (computer science):

I made an Excel spreadsheet with a row for each week, and counted up, for each of the schools I applied to, the number of acceptances/rejections to both MS and PhD programs in that week. I then divided each number by the total number of acceptances/rejections for that school -- so for each week I could see what percentage of a school's responses were sent out.

No offense intended: I am truly amazed that you made a spreadsheet!

[Pavi]

I made an Excel spreadsheet with a row for each week, and counted up, for each of the schools I applied to, the number of acceptances/rejections to both MS and PhD programs in that week. I then divided each number by the total number of acceptances/rejections for that school -- so for each week I could see what percentage of a school's responses were sent out.

 

I found that there are two waves: one that ends around the end of February, and one that starts and ends from the middle of March until the middle of April. This second wave tends to be mostly acceptances to MS programs, "consolation" acceptances (giving a nonfunded MS acceptance to someone who applied to a PhD program), or just a flurry of rejections as afterthought.

@@DanielAndersen, Thanks for the answer.