The after interview wait

[peachypie]

For those of you who have already gone through this process or those that are early enough in the application season, how long did you expect or did it take before schools were contacting you regarding your admission following your interview?  I have started my interviews recently and am already a nervous wreck as I wait to hear the results.  Some schools have been able to tell me a general time period but others only said they'd be meeting after the interviews.  When did you get nervous and what is a normal time to have to wait?  

[MadtownJacket]

Waiting time varies, but I'm pretty sure most people find out by April 15th.  I had an interview at the beginning of January and heard back from them in mid-January.  I also just had another interview today and they said they'll let us know within a week for sure, so once again it depends on the program.

[AmandaLemon]

Had an interview yesterday. Already nervous.......

[omegamarkxii]

I also had an interview a week ago, haven't heard anything from them yet, super duper nervous... 

I know that people ask "what are my chances after interviews" all the time, and then the answer would always be: "It varies by the departments"..

But could anybody tell us your personal experience? Accepted after interviews? Rejected after interviews? And how long did it take to hear from them?

Thanks! 

[galaxstar]

I know that for one of the schools I interviewed at already, the acceptance rate of interviewees from the first weekend was only 20%. I think these were "first round" picks though, as there are three interview weekends, and I expect they will make more offers at the end.

[microarray]

I heard back in roughly 2 weeks after my first interview.  I expect about the same on this second interview based on the data in the results search. I suggest you do the same to help calm your nerves.  

 

Results Search -> look up school and department you're interested in. Look at when the interviews were (hopefully they will be listed) and see when the acceptances (and rejections) were. While I imagine every year is slightly different, this should give you a pretty good estimate of when to expect to hear back.

[peachypie]

I heard back in roughly 2 weeks after my first interview.  I expect about the same on this second interview based on the data in the results search. I suggest you do the same to help calm your nerves.  

 

Results Search -> look up school and department you're interested in. Look at when the interviews were (hopefully they will be listed) and see when the acceptances (and rejections) were. While I imagine every year is slightly different, this should give you a pretty good estimate of when to expect to hear back.

Yeah I tried this but the program is small enough that I can't find any results actually going back.  I was the only one who even posted an interview this year, so the n is very small on this one.  Trying to keep distracted for now.

[microarray]

Yeah I tried this but the program is small enough that I can't find any results actually going back.  I was the only one who even posted an interview this year, so the n is very small on this one.  Trying to keep distracted for now.

 

Aw darn that sucks.  What school is it?

[scottdickson86]

I know that for one of the schools I interviewed at already, the acceptance rate of interviewees from the first weekend was only 20%. I think these were "first round" picks though, as there are three interview weekends, and I expect they will make more offers at the end.

 

I got interviewed this week and was told that the final decision will come out Monday or Tuesday next week. Sleep is definitely eluding me. 

[AxonAxoff]

My two post-interview admissions came 1) one week and 2) two days after the final visiting days.

 

In most cases, departmental admissions committees are permitted to notify applicants of their admission (or, more accurately, their recommendation for admission) to a program before official notice of admission is issued by the graduate school itself. There are, however, a handful of schools that don't permit this, and it's these schools that tend to have the >1 week notification time.

 

But in other instances, it might simply be the case that a professor on the admissions committee can't immediately sit for the post-interview "decision" meeting, usually owing to some prior obligation. For example, this was the case for Harvard's neuroscience Ph.D. admissions committee this year; though they typically render decisions a week after interviews, the unavailability of a single member has delayed notification by at least one additional week.  

[seeingeyeduck]

Two interviews within four days of each other. One I interviewed on a Friday, they called on Sun. Still waiting on the other one but they said one week for decisions to be made and "you'll hear soon after that."

[BioBum]

I had my interview last Friday we were told that they would be making their decisions *definitely* before March 1st, but, there would be two rounds of committee meetings to go over applications. One this week and one next week. Every morning I've gotten up and thought, "Is today the day?" Nope. Sigh. 

[HockeyNerd]

I interviewed somewhere in mid January and was told I would hear back on March 1st

[I am not sure yet]

I asked the professor when I should expect to hear back from the program, he told me around 3 weeks, so 2 more weeks to go! I don't know if I can handle waiting for any longer!

[DantheMan]

I had an interview in mid January after being told that they were impressed by my application and that I was being actively considered. Since then I haven't heard anything! Should I send a mail to ask what the situation is, or wait it out some more?

[caaats]

for one of my schools it took 3 weeks, but for another it was only 1.

[KDLS]

I interviewed March 5 - still haven't heard back... and interviewed March 20 for another - still nothing. It's killing me!!!!!

[Veet Voojagig]

Had an interview 2/20-2/21 and still haven't heard anything back. I get the impression they might be trying to hold out for NSF GRFP results before sending out their last round of offers/rejections. Glad I already accepted a fully funded offer elsewhere, otherwise I'd be a wreck.

[aphdapplicant]

Whew! Go me! Interview at the beginning of February! Stil nothing...at least have the courtesy to reject me.

[AmandaLemon]

Whew! Go me! Interview at the beginning of February! Stil nothing...at least have the courtesy to reject me.

haha! Same here!

Isn't it UCF you are waiting for?

Because I was interviewed there on the 3d of Feb and still, I mean STILL nothing! 

It's the 26th of March now by the way!

Dear UCF, you are killing me!

 

I also have another one from George Mason - interviewed on the 4th of March. They said that decision would be in several weeks... Apparently it's more than several weeks by now.

Edited March 26, 2014 by AmandaLemon

[Kleene]

One course that only interviews international students when they are as good as in came back to me two days later.

[Munashi]

I had a large range when it came to interview response times.  Examples: One place informally told me their decision while I was still at my visit.  Another place took a few days before letting me know.  A third school took 3.5 weeks.

 

All of those were acceptances.

[aphdapplicant]

haha! Same here!

Isn't it UCF you are waiting for?

Because I was interviewed there on the 3d of Feb and still, I mean STILL nothing! 

It's the 26th of March now by the way!

Dear UCF, you are killing me!

 

I also have another one from George Mason - interviewed on the 4th of March. They said that decision would be in several weeks... Apparently it's more than several weeks by now.

No mine wasn't at UCF but I saw tons of postings about their speedy post-interview notifications lol! Btw...still waiting on mine, too. This must obviously mean very good news!!!! lol jk