Waiting for Masters Program Decision

[sevenish]

Hello all,

 

So I applied to both PhD and Masters programs. I haven't heard from ANY of the 8 masters programs I've applied to, but it seems that they've sent out some offers for PhD. Is it typical for schools to tell masters students their results later than PhD students, or should I take this as a rejection?

[peachypie]

It all depends on the program, but most programs will notify Phd applicants prior to masters; however, a good way to get a feel is to look at the application deadlines.  If the master deadline is later than the notification is probably later too. If they are really close or the same then it might not be a difference.

[dhg12]

Yeah, it really is something that depends on deadlines more so than titles more often than not.

[Gov2School]

It also seems that Master's programs have a fixed deadline for notifying applicants, whereas with Phd programs, they notify people on a more rolling basis.  I know the Harvard Health Policy PhD for example, notifies accepted students weeks or even months before they notify rejected students.  On the other hand, most of the Master's programs I know operate more like undergraduate notification systems, where they release rejections and acceptances on or about the same day.  I wouldn't assume it's a no until you hear about it directly. 

[CarefreeWritingsontheWall]

As a candidate who's only applied to MA programs this year, I get the sense that PhD candidates hear back first (for all the schools I've applied to, they've heard back already). It might be worthwhile to investigate their websites, but I do have firm dates that I will hear back by, though the window opened for responses as of March 1st because my deadlines were all in and around January 15th.

[starofdawn]

MS candidate here too. I get the feeling that PhD students hear before MS/MA students - could be because our deadlines are later. My UCLA deadline was the same as PhD applicants' deadline, and I heard around the same time as everyone else.  Waiting to hear back from most of my other schools (and had later deadlines). There's not a lot of information from previous years on the results page, but acceptances/rejections are scattered all over the place... acceptances as early as February 16th and as late as April 30th, rejections as early as February 22nd and as late as April 17th...

[impatientWaiting]

I've applied to 4 MS programs and one M.Eng program with deadlines in early January (one deadline was last weekend), haven't heard back from any of them. One of the programs is running on a rolling admin basis, while the other programs have no set dates for when they will release decisions. I've noticed that most decisions will be released end of March through out April. I received an e-mail yesterday from a POI at one of the schools informing me that he saw my application/is interested in me (or something), so my assumption is that the review committees are just starting to go through the applications.

I'm also noticing more Masters results trickling through and PhD results slowly fading away.

Don't fret, there's still time!

[Gov2School]

For the MA programs I applied to with deadlines in December or first week of January (most of them), I'm expecting to hear back next week sometime.  For the ones that were in later in January, I think I'm more likely to hear the week of March 17th.  One way to gauge when you're likely to get a reply is to search The Grad Cafe results search page for your specific school/program and see when people have heard back in prior years.  It can't tell you 100% when you should hear, but with most schools, there's usually a consistent window, unless admission is rolling.  Another good resource is reading the Admissions blogs for the programs you're applying to (if they have admissions blogs), though for most of mine they're just saying "March" or "mid-March" for now.  But many are posting interesting articles about the review process or what the various admissions categories mean.  I think Harvard Kennedy School has the best admissions blog among MPP programs, and their blog is full of useful info. We're definitely getting close now for Master's announcements, which is good because I'm chewing on the furniture out of nervousness. 

[starofdawn]

 We're definitely getting close now for Master's announcements, which is good because I'm chewing on the furniture out of nervousness. 

 

I'm chewing the furniture too, and I don't have a dog to blame for that!