Needle in the Hay Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Hi all, just a quick question to anyone who might have any answers. Most people who haven't heard back from places seem, like me, to be speculating non stop. I've been rejected from two schools (UVA (which, for those wondering, is on their website) and London School of Economics). I have yet to hear anything from UCSD (which seems to have sent out a good deal of acceptance, wait lists, and rejection letters), Tufts, Brandeis, or UCLA. Those are the four I am waiting on. A little about myself: interests in philosophy of science, mind, language, and pragmatism. I went to a top liberal arts school, had a good overall GPA and a very good major gpa (in philosophy). I did well (V: 84th percentile, M: 88th percentile, Writing: 5.5-98th percentile) but not outstanding on my GREs, and I presume my LORs are excellent. A little wild card on my end is that I wrote the paper I submitted completely on my own, from scratch, using readings I had never discussed in a classroom setting or with a teacher. Any thoughts at all would help mitigate the anxiety I'm currently feeling. For what it's worth, one of my UNC professors (who has sat on admissions boards for a very long time) told me that it is very common for schools to decide upon and release acceptances in rounds, so not all at the same time. He didn't say what the spacing between those rounds normally was, and I really don't if there is a point at which enough time has passed since an initial acceptance (or set of acceptances) at which one can certainly conclude that they have not been accepted. However, it would not surprise me if that time frame was large if existent at all (of course, if April 15 comes and you haven't heard back then that is bad news, but that is another matter). You seem to me to be right- there is A LOT of speculating on this forum. I wouldn't let that scare you too much. At any rate, if you are not successful this time around, that needn't be the end of the road for you. If you still want to pursue this goal, take the year off, re- work your sample or write another one, and this time try to get help from faculty. It is also not too late to apply to some MA programs (GSU, for instance) and that may be of help for you.
philoguy Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Hi Philoguy, I'm sorry to hear about your applications anxiety. I have not heard back from anywhere so I understand your position. One of my professors told me today to stay positive because schools are waiting to hear back from the people they sent acceptances to who may choose another program. Also, did you find out about the UVA rejection by logging on to your application? Just wanted to clarify what you mean that it is "on their website." Hey Phenofun, UVA gave me a link on the first page after logging into the applciation. It says: your application status is now available online". Maybe that isn't on yours? As always, best of luck.
ianfaircloud Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) UC Santa Barbara is sending notifications now (again), after sending some six days ago. Edited February 24, 2015 by ianfaircloud
philoguy Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 For what it's worth, one of my UNC professors (who has sat on admissions boards for a very long time) told me that it is very common for schools to decide upon and release acceptances in rounds, so not all at the same time. He didn't say what the spacing between those rounds normally was, and I really don't if there is a point at which enough time has passed since an initial acceptance (or set of acceptances) at which one can certainly conclude that they have not been accepted. However, it would not surprise me if that time frame was large if existent at all (of course, if April 15 comes and you haven't heard back then that is bad news, but that is another matter). You seem to me to be right- there is A LOT of speculating on this forum. I wouldn't let that scare you too much. At any rate, if you are not successful this time around, that needn't be the end of the road for you. If you still want to pursue this goal, take the year off, re- work your sample or write another one, and this time try to get help from faculty. It is also not too late to apply to some MA programs (GSU, for instance) and that may be of help for you. Thanks so much theoldpond, I may just take a look at GSU.
riverstyx Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 For what it's worth, one of my UNC professors (who has sat on admissions boards for a very long time) told me that it is very common for schools to decide upon and release acceptances in rounds, so not all at the same time. He didn't say what the spacing between those rounds normally was, and I really don't if there is a point at which enough time has passed since an initial acceptance (or set of acceptances) at which one can certainly conclude that they have not been accepted. However, it would not surprise me if that time frame was large if existent at all (of course, if April 15 comes and you haven't heard back then that is bad news, but that is another matter). You seem to me to be right- there is A LOT of speculating on this forum. I wouldn't let that scare you too much. At any rate, if you are not successful this time around, that needn't be the end of the road for you. If you still want to pursue this goal, take the year off, re- work your sample or write another one, and this time try to get help from faculty. It is also not too late to apply to some MA programs (GSU, for instance) and that may be of help for you. So does it follow that among the schools that release acceptances in rounds, they might release the first batch of acceptances, then waitlists, then rejections, and then somewhere in between or after all of that release their subsequent rounds of acceptances?
PreciselyTerrified Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 MIT? I don't know what to believe anymore.
Chai tea Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 If you don't mind my asking, are you in at MIT, or just questioning the legitimacy of the MIT posts? If it's the former, congratulations! isostheneia 1
psm1580b Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Every day I wake up with no emails, I hear the executioner from Men in Tights in my head, "Well, no noose is good noose!" Keep your heads up everyone! Hcarp, ineedwine, kant_get_in and 3 others 6
kant_get_in Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Every day I wake up with no emails, I hear the executioner from Men in Tights in my head, "Well, no noose is good noose!" Keep your heads up everyone! Every time I see that you've posted in this thread I think "man, I hope he/she got in somewhere" (that goes for a lot of you folks!). a_for_aporia and Cecinestpasunphilosophe 2
overoverover Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Every day I wake up with no emails, I hear the executioner from Men in Tights in my head, "Well, no noose is good noose!" Keep your heads up everyone! I laughed, but damn this is getting difficult. I can infer rejection from 6. That leaves me with 5 more, and 2 of those felt like longshots even before this whole process. a_for_aporia 1
reixis Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Hoping that there are more MIT offers to come today...
ineedwine Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Every day I wake up with no emails, I hear the executioner from Men in Tights in my head, "Well, no noose is good noose!" Keep your heads up everyone! Thank you for that, this waiting thing is getting seriously difficult. I keep having dreams about checking my email and even in those there's no news! philstudent1991 1
TheNaturalist Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) I laughed, but damn this is getting difficult. I can infer rejection from 6. That leaves me with 5 more, and 2 of those felt like longshots even before this whole process. Try to keep your head up, man. As someone who's gone through this process twice (because I'm transferring programs now), I can tell you that it's just a total crapshoot. I have inferred rejections from both my "safties" but got a fully funded offer from somewhere much better--makes no sense, really, at least not from the applicants perspective. It's best not to try to play theory of mind with the admissions committees, because it's just impossible to know what they are looking for. I really hope everyone lands somewhere; no question that this whole process is rough. Edited February 24, 2015 by TheNaturalist Hcarp, a_for_aporia, Nastasya_Filippovna and 1 other 4
riverstyx Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 I just received word of my rejection from UVA. This is really so very depressing. I had a mediocre application last year, and I was waitlisted. This year, I have a much better application, and I was flat-out rejected. This is not a good sign. I've applied and been rejected at all the schools I applied to a few times before, and I don't think I have the stamina to go through this ever again. Realistically I have five schools I am waiting on, and two of those already started sending out acceptances: University of British Columbia and University of Western Ontario. My application credentials arrived a little late due to customs inspection in Canada, but they were very forgiving. I saw that UBC released an acceptance the other day about 10 days after releasing its first few, so I'm keeping my hopes up. The graduate secretary there was very insistent that I get my official transcripts in to her, so who knows, maybe they're interested in my application. She said I would hear my decision when it's available and that that would likely be before the end of March (the UBC philosophy website says decisions go out by the end of March, too). I have a waitlist from Miami, and the person who emailed it to me said my application was "very strong" and that I am one of the ones they would "love" to admit. He said they've gone to the waitlist every year for the past several years and anticipate doing so again this year. Sounds like I'm near the top of the waitlist, right? But the other day someone posted an acceptance to Miami off of the waitlist. I emailed the admissions contact to see if there was any movement on my application, and he said that these things go until close to April 15th because most people decide last minute. I'm not an overly anxious person and so this is hardly consuming my life. But I do get discouraged easily. And this is very discouraging. The fact that I didn't get into UVA is a bad sign. I don't know why they rejected me, but if this is indicative of the way things are going to go, it will be a very hard application season for me. Hcarp, a_for_aporia, isostheneia and 2 others 5
NathanKellen Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 Riverstyx: don't worry too much yet. A lot of the admissions process for many schools has to do with the AOS of the students, not just the perceived quality. Some of the smartest graduates I have met from any school got rejected at plenty of places, just because the departments "didn't need another student working on x". philstudent1991 and GWFHegelFTW 2
philstudent1991 Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 But I do get discouraged easily. And this is very discouraging. The fact that I didn't get into UVA is a bad sign. I don't know why they rejected me, but if this is indicative of the way things are going to go, it will be a very hard application season for me. Don't get discouraged! You knew coming in that this was going to be a shitty ordeal, and that rejections don't mean anything about you as a student, an applicant, a person, etc. There are two reasons that immediately come to mind as to why UVA passed on you. One, of course, is fit. Even if you are very very good, if you aren't interested in something that they want to do, or if someone very very VERY good already got an offer from them in your AOS, then maybe you just were screwed out of it by unfortunate chance. Alternatively, maybe Virginia realised that you were such a good applicant that you would undoubtedly get offers from top schools and ultimately reject their offer, so they decided to save themselves the heartbreak of thinking you might go there just to have you go somewhere else. So, a rejection DOES NOT mean you are bad, or worse, or any such rubbish as that. Be confident and don't give up! ianfaircloud 1
riverstyx Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 (edited) Riverstyx: don't worry too much yet. A lot of the admissions process for many schools has to do with the AOS of the students, not just the perceived quality. Some of the smartest graduates I have met from any school got rejected at plenty of places, just because the departments "didn't need another student working on x". Don't get discouraged! You knew coming in that this was going to be a shitty ordeal, and that rejections don't mean anything about you as a student, an applicant, a person, etc. There are two reasons that immediately come to mind as to why UVA passed on you. One, of course, is fit. Even if you are very very good, if you aren't interested in something that they want to do, or if someone very very VERY good already got an offer from them in your AOS, then maybe you just were screwed out of it by unfortunate chance. Alternatively, maybe Virginia realised that you were such a good applicant that you would undoubtedly get offers from top schools and ultimately reject their offer, so they decided to save themselves the heartbreak of thinking you might go there just to have you go somewhere else. So, a rejection DOES NOT mean you are bad, or worse, or any such rubbish as that. Be confident and don't give up! I will try to keep a positive or at least realistic spin on things. But everything is just either neutral or disappointing news. Miami made it sounds like I was at or near the very top of the waitlist there. But then they admit somebody off of the waitlist a few days ago. So obviously some of the admittances at Miami must be turning down their offers already. Either the Miami waitlist admittance was a fake, or I'm not as high on the waitlist as I first thought. Either way, it is confusing and extremely disappointing. Has anybody been rejected from lesser-ranked schools and got in at more top-tier schools? What do you make of that? Edited February 25, 2015 by riverstyx
NathanKellen Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 (edited) Well personally (and this was years ago now) I got rejected by 3 or 4 schools in the 40-50 range, and got two acceptances, one in the 20-25 range, and another into the bottom ranked school at the time (UConn). Edited February 25, 2015 by NathanKellen
Griswald Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 I will try to keep a positive or at least realistic spin on things. But everything is just either neutral or disappointing news. Miami made it sounds like I was at or near the very top of the waitlist there. But then they admit somebody off of the waitlist a few days ago. So obviously some of the admittances at Miami must be turning down their offers already. I email the graduate admissions contact I have, and they just give me the same old canned line about how "we don't have any news yet" and will "have to wait until the 15th of April." So it sounds like something is not right there, but I don't know what. Either the Miami waitlist admittance was a fake, or I'm not as high on the waitlist as the admissions person initially made it sound. Either way, it is confusing and extremely disappointing. Has anybody been rejected from lesser-ranked schools and got in at more top-tier schools? What do you make of that? The story so far is consistent with you being number 2 on the wait list, which would make your chances pretty good. Don't despair! Also, I really doubt that the department is trying to mislead you by telling you that you might have to wait until the 15th. This is just how wait lists work: your fate depends on the decisions of those already admitted, and those decisions often happen on or around the 15th. It's absolutely common to get rejected from schools ranked lower than the schools that admit you. The explanation is simple (I assume by rankings your referring to the PGR). Your chance of being admitted depends on many factors, most or all of which don't correlate with faculty reputation, which is what the rankings track. ianfaircloud and NathanKellen 2
philstudent1991 Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 The story so far is consistent with you being number 2 on the wait list, which would make your chances pretty good. Don't despair! Also, I really doubt that the department is trying to mislead you by telling you that you might have to wait until the 15th. This is just how wait lists work: your fate depends on the decisions of those already admitted, and those decisions often happen on or around the 15th. It's absolutely common to get rejected from schools ranked lower than the schools that admit you. The explanation is simple (I assume by rankings your referring to the PGR). Your chance of being admitted depends on many factors, most or all of which don't correlate with faculty reputation, which is what the rankings track. Yes this is exactly right. They aren't giving you the run around they are just telling you the truth. They have to give their admits until 4/15 to decide and their hands are tied until then. And just because one person got in off the waitlist doesn't mean you are in trouble. Could have been a fake, but idk why someone would fake a Miami waitlist acceptance. The fakes are generally Harvard and NYU direct acceptances. And anyway yes, the information is perfectly consistent with you being as high as number 2 on the list, or number 1 in your AOS. who knows. but don't get discouraged! ianfaircloud 1
riverstyx Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 Thanks everyone, I feel somewhat better now. I will keep my hopes up about Miami and also hope for the best with the remaining schools. Good luck to everyone!
a_for_aporia Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 My application season thus far can be accurately summed up as follows: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/The_Scream.jpg Cecinestpasunphilosophe, Nastasya_Filippovna and CNK 80Q3 3
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