PSA: Please don't hold on to so many acceptances while you're making your choice.

[TenaciousBushLeaper]

Maybe the OP should amend the his/her first post to say "If you have acceptances from schools W, X , Y, and you've also applied to school Z, and you know your top choices are schools Y and Z, don't hold onto offers from schools W & X."

[Eigen]

The main reason I recommend waiting until close to the deadline is that many schools will expect you to. They may not have finalized your funding package, they may have extra university fellowships that won't be announced until a later date, etc. Part of the CGS resolution is in giving schools that extra time to put together admissions packages and schedule interviews and visits- it's mainly targeted towards allowing fair competition among schools, rather than allowing fair appraisal by students. It's there to let students wait until the middle of April to weigh the final offers from everywhere, and decide where they want to go. 

 

Similarly, I highly recommend visiting all of the schools you can that you have a significant interest in- visiting a school that might not have been your top choice can show characteristics of the school that might change your mind, as can meeting with professors and students in person. 

 

Personally, my bottom-ranked choice became my top-ranked choice, and one of my other options e-mailed me an offer for a hugely increased fellowship literally the day after I declined their offer and had accepted somewhere else. 

 

I'm of course working off of the assumption that you didn't apply to schools you would not want to attend, and accordingly, all of the schools who would accept you are valid choices. If you applied to schools that were really only there as safeties and you have no interest in attending, and no faculty you fit with, then you don't need to hold onto those, but if there was a reason you applied, or faculty you wanted to work with, I think you owe it to yourself (and them) to see if they really are the best fit. 

 

This of course goes hand-in-hand with Takeruk's very well written post, and obviously if you're 100% sure you don't want to attend somewhere, you shouldn't keep it on your list "just because".

[NSG-mdx]

I am also placed on a wait list but the admission chair told me that I would know the final decision during mid-March. Therefore, I think most students that are placed on a wait list would be notified during mid- or late-March.

 

Life is tough but life is real. We cannot force others but we can force ourselves to be strong and competitive.

Edited March 2, 2015 by NSG-mdx

[BiochemMom]

On a slightly related note, please excuse me to being naive - but is funding that variable? Is it not a set amount? I have limited understanding of the grad school admissions process, but in my field, it's $X dollar amount and if you're offered admission, you can rest assured you'll be getting that amount.

Some schools don't release it. For example I've gotten my official acceptance in the mail and everything for UGA but they haven't told me the stipend yet and it's not on their website.

Other schools, like UNC CH at $29,000, publish the info on their website. If UGA were to offer a super low stipend, it would be a heavy decision factor for me.

[ilovelab]

Some schools don't release it. For example I've gotten my official acceptance in the mail and everything for UGA but they haven't told me the stipend yet and it's not on their website.

Other schools, like UNC CH at $29,000, publish the info on their website. If UGA were to offer a super low stipend, it would be a heavy decision factor for me.

I'm procrastinating big time in lab, so I tried to find information for you.

Here is the link to the genetics Grad program at UGA and their stipend listed: http://www.genetics.uga.edu/graduate-students

 The genetics grad students get 25K. I don't know how far that goes in Georgia vs North Carolina. I would assume your biochem stipend would be very close to 25K.

[BiochemMom]

I'm procrastinating big time in lab, so I tried to find information for you.

Here is the link to the genetics Grad program at UGA and their stipend listed: http://www.genetics.uga.edu/graduate-students

The genetics grad students get 25K. I don't know how far that goes in Georgia vs North Carolina. I would assume your biochem stipend would be very close to 25K.

. UGA is chemistry. the rest are biochem programs. Considering ga tech and cost of living I'm expecting it to between 22k and 26k so it's good to know one dept is in that range!

And ga is LCOL more so than nc.

Edited March 2, 2015 by BiochemMom

[ilovelab]

. UGA is chemistry. the rest are biochem programs. Considering ga tech and cost of living I'm expecting it to between 22k and 26k so it's good to know one dept is in that range!

And ga is LCOL more so than nc.

 Then the ballpark of 25K a year isn't that bad. But your situation is different b/c you have a family (I'm assuming from your username). Honestly, just call the department when you have time. They should be pretty straight with you b/c you were accepted.

[BiochemMom]

Then the ballpark of 25K a year isn't that bad. But your situation is different b/c you have a family (I'm assuming from your username). Honestly, just call the department when you have time. They should be pretty straight with you b/c you were accepted.

I keep forgetting to ask, haha. They actually called me today and offered to nominate me for a summer stipend to start early if I wanted it (and accepting the nomination doesn't guarantee it bc the overall graduate school gives it to a handful of people regardless of major--I can also still turn down the acceptance even with the nomination).

My husband works and is a disabled veteran (ied blast in Afghanistan 2010) so we get enough from both his sources of income that mine just goes to my daughters private school tuition--my current stipend is 14k for my ms so anything will be a raise! (However chapel hill is not in anyway affordable for a house rental instead of an apartment rental and we own our home here so we can't buy until this one is out of our responsibility so I'd have to commute there)

Pretty much as long as UGA pays enough to cover her schooling I'd be okay with it. And they were my last ditch back up school--I put in an app after rejection from Emory, on the deadline date. They've been wooing me pretty hard and with the new incoming POI, I might just be accepting their offer this weekend when I go visit. Ahhh.

[MidwesternAloha]

I keep forgetting to ask, haha. They actually called me today and offered to nominate me for a summer stipend to start early if I wanted it (and accepting the nomination doesn't guarantee it bc the overall graduate school gives it to a handful of people regardless of major--I can also still turn down the acceptance even with the nomination).

My husband works and is a disabled veteran (ied blast in Afghanistan 2010) so we get enough from both his sources of income that mine just goes to my daughters private school tuition--my current stipend is 14k for my ms so anything will be a raise! (However chapel hill is not in anyway affordable for a house rental instead of an apartment rental and we own our home here so we can't buy until this one is out of our responsibility so I'd have to commute there)

Pretty much as long as UGA pays enough to cover her schooling I'd be okay with it. And they were my last ditch back up school--I put in an app after rejection from Emory, on the deadline date. They've been wooing me pretty hard and with the new incoming POI, I might just be accepting their offer this weekend when I go visit. Ahhh.

I'm starting to believe there's good reason to go the schools who fight for you. My "safety"/"don't really want to go there" school has done nothing short of wine and dine me since they accepted me lol. It's eased the pain of being waitlisted at my #1. Personal phone calls to ask me how I am, if I'd like to visit with my husband, etc. I'm tempted just to accept. Good luck to you in Georgia!!

[BiochemMom]

I'm starting to believe there's good reason to go the schools who fight for you. My "safety"/"don't really want to go there" school has done nothing short of wine and dine me since they accepted me lol. It's eased the pain of being waitlisted at my #1. Personal phone calls to ask me how I am, if I'd like to visit with my husband, etc. I'm tempted just to accept. Good luck to you in Georgia!!

seriously--it's like they know. I secretly suspect the real reason for asking for other schools you applied at is to know how hard they have to fight for you!

My mom would be ecstatic. I'm from the Athens area (though moved out of state 12 years ago) and she still lives in the same house where I grew up. My husband's family lives in chapel hill area. I geographically confined myself because we want more children and between his brain injury and grad school, I want family around for the next one. But now I'm starting to feel guilt tripped by each family--if I pick one school over another they're acting like we chose one family over another and now I'm slightly regretting my decision for where I applied (though love all the schools I chose)

[BiochemMom]

I'm starting to believe there's good reason to go the schools who fight for you. My "safety"/"don't really want to go there" school has done nothing short of wine and dine me since they accepted me lol. It's eased the pain of being waitlisted at my #1. Personal phone calls to ask me how I am, if I'd like to visit with my husband, etc. I'm tempted just to accept. Good luck to you in Georgia!!

ahh I'm sorry my fat finger hit down vote on my phone trying to up vote.

[MidwesternAloha]

ahh I'm sorry my fat finger hit down vote on my phone trying to up vote.

It's good to have the family support. Women tend to lead their families back home (we like being closer to our moms! What can I say?) and my husband is starting to accept that lol. We are stationed closer to his family now (he's career military) so I'm glad I can at least use that as justification for moving to Ohio when he retires and I finish grad school LOL. We're holding off on kids til my mom is closer, too, because there's just too much to juggle right now. She's been considering moving South because my youngest sister is off on her own now/done with college. I can definitely sympathize with your story! And yes, that's totally why the adcoms ask... If you're a competitive applicant at a bunch of other top tier schools, they know what they must do to keep you lol

[poweredbycoldfusion]

This is a comment by someone who works in admissions. Full thing here, but here's pertinent quote:

 

We would send out our first round of offers in early to mid-February, asking for a definite reply by April 15. The people we were turning down in the second round got letters now also (the first round of cuts got theirs a couple of weeks earlier). We didn't tell the waiting list people anything at this stage.

By late March I was phoning the ones who still hadn't decided. If somebody wanted to push it to the bitter end (probably because they were also wait-listed at their top choice), they had the right--April 15 really does mean April 15.

 

 

[Eigen]

The benefits to being at a (smaller) school that really wants you don't stop after admission, TBH. The kind of care and attention you're seeing now frequently continues through the PhD, as well as mentoring post-graduation.

 

Exact timelines can be very school specific, and depend on the public/private divide, and how much the department has to wait on the school. 

 

For example, we still haven't done all of our campus visits for prospective students, and in fact they're just starting. The offers probably will roll out from now until late march, so we wouldn't expect someone to decide until April. 

[MidwesternAloha]

This is a comment by someone who works in admissions. Full thing here, but here's pertinent quote:

This was an interesting read, thanks for the link. Kind of bold to ask a school what your actual chances of admission are, I don't think I'd have the guts to do that. Edited March 2, 2015 by MidwesternAloha

[Vene]

FYI, on the topic of stipends, the fine print matters. Stipends can be eaten up by fees (a tuition waiver may or may not include course fees) or by health insurance. One of the things I like about my program is that I don't have to pay either of those. I'm not saying that you shouldn't accept an offer if you have to pay fees, but you should be mindful of it and keep in mind that's money you're supposedly being paid that isn't actually going towards your living expenses.

[neuropanic]

 (However chapel hill is not in anyway affordable for a house rental instead of an apartment rental and we own our home here so we can't buy until this one is out of our responsibility so I'd have to commute there)

 

Weird, Chapel Hill is on my radar because it's affordable for 1 person to rent a house (I have dogs). I thought Athens was pretty close and that GA was more expensive than NC. Guess I was wrong.

 

Probably depends on how many rooms you need in CH too since you have a family.

Edited March 3, 2015 by neuropanic

[BiochemMom]

Weird, Chapel Hill is on my radar because it's affordable for 1 person to rent a house (I have dogs). I thought Athens was pretty close and that GA was more expensive than NC. Guess I was wrong.

Probably depends on how many rooms you need in CH too since you have a family.

Small rentals are very affordable in CH. 4 bedroom homes are $2800+ versus $800-1200 in GA.

[neuropanic]

Small rentals are very affordable in CH. 4 bedroom homes are $2800+ versus $800-1200 in GA.

 

Ah, that must be it then. I thankfully don't need 4 bedrooms.

[babybird]

This is a comment by someone who works in admissions. Full thing here, but here's pertinent quote:

 

Huh. That was a nice insight into the wait list process.

 

That "hey we want YOU, but if you don't want us please let us know" email? One of my schools sent me an email of that variety in mid-Feb, just two weeks after I visited the school! They've then proceeded to contact me about once every 5 days. It's a little off-putting. (I don't plan on going there and am emailing shortly to let them know.)

Edited March 3, 2015 by babybird

[BiochemMom]

Since we were chatting about it, UGA sent the financial offer. It's lower than genetics but in my guesstimate. It does not include health insurance but they contribute like an employer and it's deducted from your paycheck instead of due upfront and it's a very low cost per year (and adding my family onto it is lower than our insurance here).

And since we talked about ga vs chapel hill--preschool and after school care in chapel hill is astronomical so we'd have to put her in Durham or Raleigh to keep her in Montessori. That's mine and my husbands one non negotiable--she thrives in that program and we want her to stay in Montessori until high school with no breaks. The house size can be dealt with at 2 but 3 is our preferred minimum because we own a house now and own too much stuff--3 bedrooms of furniture etc and want a second child while I'm in phd program (which is also a heavy weight on decision).

Can it please just be April? Anyone else?

[peachypie]

Some schools don't release it. For example I've gotten my official acceptance in the mail and everything for UGA but they haven't told me the stipend yet and it's not on their website.

Other schools, like UNC CH at $29,000, publish the info on their website. If UGA were to offer a super low stipend, it would be a heavy decision factor for me.

UGA (from my recollection) pretty much gave you that information at your visit, you should know your stipend minimum at that time with only more being on top of that if you get additional funding.  From what i recall UGA was about 25 or 26k/year?

[floatingmolecule]

I just got waitlisted and don't have even a single acceptance, so I know how it feels to be left out during this application cycle.
I did not even know that people saw waitlists as a serious option for possible admission. I was under the impression that most offer refusals are filled by the ~ 40% extra offers universities send out to meet their "yield".  From what I have gathered, waitlists are convenience cushions just in case all goes wrong.
That said, I see being waitlisted as a rejection; I would rather figure out a way to improve my chances for next year than hope for that needle in a haystack.  I have never concerned myself with how long others take to deliberate their offers, since I never saw these offers as potentially belonging to me.
Am I totally wrong in seeing it that way?

Edited March 4, 2015 by floatingmolecule

[MidwesternAloha]

I just got waitlisted and don't have even a single acceptance, so I know how it feels to be left out during this application cycle.

I did not even know that people saw waitlists as a serious option for possible admission. I was under the impression that most offer refusals are filled by the ~ 40% extra offers universities send out to meet their "yield".  From what I have gathered, waitlists are convenience cushions just in case all goes wrong.

That said, I see being waitlisted as a rejection; I would rather figure out a way to improve my chances for next year than hope for that needle in a haystack.  I have never concerned myself with how long others take to deliberate their offers, since I never saw these offers as potentially belonging to me.

Am I totally wrong in seeing it that way?

No, that's basically the truth.

[Eigen]

It's pretty much the truth. We'd have to have somewhere in the ballpark of 50% of our offers be declined before we'd start sending out more.