Following up with a professor post-interview

[caprette]

Hi all,

 

Two weeks ago I had a Skype interview with a professor at one of my top-choice Ph.D. programs--he's a new hire fresh from a post-doc at my alma mater, so I hadn't gotten in touch with him previously or mentioned him in my SOP. He told me that I was a top candidate, but that other professors were looking at my application, too. He said that he would get back to me in "a week or two" after he talks to the other professors who are interested in me.  The optimist in me is thinking that he wants to see if any professors with more seniority want to "claim" me first, but the pessimist in me says that's perhaps wishful thinking. 

 

Since it's at the end of the two-week timeframe he gave me, part of me wants to send a polite email just checking in and asking where I am in the process. Should I wait another few days? Is it a terrible idea to send an email like that at all?

[Kazzar]

Was this PhD program, you interviewed for, the one of Caltech?