UW CS PhD - Contacting POIs

[raggy]

I applied to UW's systems and networks group and I have yet to hear back at this point. I have an internship offer from Google, and I can only accept the offer if I get into UW. The timeframe of the internship is such that I could only pursue it if I attend a school that is in the quarter system(UW is the only quarter system school I applied to). Would it be alright if I contacted the POI regarding the status of my application (I have to respond to the internship offer by Feb 7th)? Or can I assume that since I haven't been contacted by anyone till now, that my chances of acceptance are slim to none?   

 

Also, is there anyone else that has applied to their systems group(POI - Tom Anderson, Steve Gribble, Arvind K.)? Have you heard back from the department? 

Edited February 1, 2015 by raggy

[thissiteispoison]

1. UW is pretty much the friendliest university ever, so you have nothing to worry about when it comes to contacting professors. Worst case scenario, they won't answer. 
2. With that said, your question might be better suited for admissions, not for a POI.
3. AFAIK, UW accepts you to the program as a whole, not to a particular POI, or even to a particular subject within computer science.
4. Also AFAIK, the only acceptances so far have been departmental fellowships. The rest should be out in the next two weeks.
5. UW doesn't interview (although a few specific professors might), so you're fine. You just didn't receive a departmental fellowship (so if you're in you'll be funded through an RAship or TAship instead).

Source: No idea if I'm in yet, but I live in Seattle and have chatted extensively with professors and students in the program.

[raggy]

Thank you for the depth of information! So, are you saying the people who recommend you for admission are not the ones that you mention in the SOP, but is rather random to see extent and someone from the admission committee?

[thissiteispoison]

Thank you for the depth of information! So, are you saying the people who recommend you for admission are not the ones that you mention in the SOP, but is rather random to see extent and someone from the admission committee?

 

Pretty much, to the best of my knowledge. 

 

Also, as someone who's been in industry for almost three years now, your Google deadline is probably a lot more flexible than they told you. So your best bet might be contacting Google and saying that you have another offer and need an extra week to decide, or something along those lines. Delay until February 15th so you definitely have your UW decision by then.