Why do many people want to know if universities are interviewing or accepting students?

[andrestoga]

Hi,

 

I just want to ask this question to the thegradcafe.com community: Why do many students want to know if universities are interviewing or accepting students? If you are being rejected you just wait for the official email of rejection and that's it. Why so many concern in those events? Is it useful to know beforehand that you are going to be rejected from a particular university? can you reverse that decision sending emails or making a call to POI or graduate advisor or doing something else?

 

I just don't know. Sorry for my ignorance.

 

Best,

[2015hopeful]

Hi andrestoga! Well, speaking for myself, it's my first time applying so I don't know if it has proved useful for others, but for me, it isn't useful at all. I still do it all the time any way. A friend of mine who was applying last year told me about checking the GradCafe results page many times a day and I thought that was a pretty bad idea, as it made her even more stressed out and I couldn't see what good it could possibly do. Yet here I am checking the results page several times a day, even though I know the schools I'm applying to won't even send out admission replies until March. I look at the students' comments on the results page, their GPA, etc. Maybe part of why I do it is to try to predict what's gonna happen, maybe to gain some sense of control in a process which I don't control at all anymore since my applications are already submitted. It's irrational, I know. Maybe I think if I know in advance I'll be rejected it'll soften the blow a little bit. Another part of it I think is feeling all these other applicants are pretty much going through the same feelings I am, and there's a sense of community.

 

What about you? Are you completely zen in waiting for your reply and not trying to predict the unpredictable?

[braindump]

Everyone is anxious; the waiting game is pretty nerve-wracking, because you're just sitting around waiting for emails that tell you your future. Some people can wait it out blissfully, others (like me) survive by having at least some indication of what's going on. It helps to know what to expect, I think. If a school already made some decisions, you can typically know what to expect based on that, and it helps to plan. Knowing if a school interviews can help you prepare so you don't get caught off guard with just a week to prepare. It also helps if you're trying to plan visits or something: if I know a school already sent out interview offers, I'm not going to worry about taking them into account when planning a visit with another school, because my lack of invitation probably means I'm rejected. 

 

The bottom line: most people prefer not to be in limbo where everything is unknown. If you have no issues with this, then I envy your resolve! 

[AnxiousRaisin]

What's fun in being so rational

[Munashi]

When I applied, I used it to "rule out" schools.  It was useful (to me) to know which places I could let go of/no longer be concerned with.  True - anything can happen and you might get an interview later.  But for me, once I knew invites and/or offers were out, it was helpful to know I could stop being concerned with that program.

 

So that might be part of it.

[andrestoga]

Hi andrestoga! Well, speaking for myself, it's my first time applying so I don't know if it has proved useful for others, but for me, it isn't useful at all. I still do it all the time any way. A friend of mine who was applying last year told me about checking the GradCafe results page many times a day and I thought that was a pretty bad idea, as it made her even more stressed out and I couldn't see what good it could possibly do. Yet here I am checking the results page several times a day, even though I know the schools I'm applying to won't even send out admission replies until March. I look at the students' comments on the results page, their GPA, etc. Maybe part of why I do it is to try to predict what's gonna happen, maybe to gain some sense of control in a process which I don't control at all anymore since my applications are already submitted. It's irrational, I know. Maybe I think if I know in advance I'll be rejected it'll soften the blow a little bit. Another part of it I think is feeling all these other applicants are pretty much going through the same feelings I am, and there's a sense of community.

 

What about you? Are you completely zen in waiting for your reply and not trying to predict the unpredictable?

 

Hi 2015hopeful,

 

It's also the first time I'm applying to . I share those feelings too. One of these emails can change your life completely. I try not to think in that and focus on my immediate goals. I do that by assuming that all the universities I'm applying to are going to reject me. It's like the typical question for a graduate interview: "What will you do if you are not accepted into our program?" So, I'm doing other activities based on my life plan, without grad school, and preparing a better application, by correcting all my mistakes in this, for next application year. 

 

Everyone is anxious; the waiting game is pretty nerve-wracking, because you're just sitting around waiting for emails that tell you your future. Some people can wait it out blissfully, others (like me) survive by having at least some indication of what's going on. It helps to know what to expect, I think. If a school already made some decisions, you can typically know what to expect based on that, and it helps to plan. Knowing if a school interviews can help you prepare so you don't get caught off guard with just a week to prepare. It also helps if you're trying to plan visits or something: if I know a school already sent out interview offers, I'm not going to worry about taking them into account when planning a visit with another school, because my lack of invitation probably means I'm rejected. 

 

The bottom line: most people prefer not to be in limbo where everything is unknown. If you have no issues with this, then I envy your resolve! 

 

That's true! You can get prepare for what is coming! but If you are applying to a PhD degree you normally have interviews so, for me, it is not useful to know if someone with the same program as I has an interview in one of my target schools. Of course, if you can know beforehand the questions that they are going to ask you in the interview it will be very useful to prepare it. I've just thought of another reason: You can make school decisions if you know that certain schools are going to reject you.

 

Best,

Edited January 24, 2015 by andrestoga