Delayed decisions (longer wait) for international applicants

[jetlag]

Any international applicants here with experience in applying know how much later we should expect to receive decisions compared to domestic students? I have friends who are international grad students in the physical sciences and they both told me they didn't get interview invites until late in march or april when they were applying a few years back. For schools that rejected them they received the decisions pretty early, in january or february though. So I was just curious if this is a pretty common trend in the physical sciences, if not across the nation. The two friends I have got their interviews and acceptance in California and Arizona. I've noticed a few exceptions to this rule just from looking at the results page, so I'm interested in hearing from more people.

It kinda sucks if it's true because some schools enforce earlier deadlines with their international applicants (eg. late Nov or Dec, as opposed to January for domestic applicants in my field), so I dont understand why we shouldnt be hearing around the same time if not earlier than the domestic applicants. Do you think it could be that the department can only offer us the spaces left from American students turning down their acceptance?

I dont mean to scare other intl students, but from being tortured by the wait I feel like the sooner I know about the truth the better I can come to grips with reality (ie. not going to grad school)......or not, i dont know...

[Highlife]

I can just say that I think i was one of the first people accepted at yale and harvard (at least judging from the posts that followed mine) in PolSci/Government.

I received emails from the department and did not in any way feel that I, as an international student was given less priority.

I do not know where you heard that from. I guess some people may get postal letters later due to snail mail.

[Minnesotan]

Keep in mind Yale and Hahvahd are private institutions, who can set their own quotas for int'l students. Public universities are going to differ somewhat.

[jetlag]

Yes, Minnesotan is right.

I guess I should mention that the schools I am interested in are mostly public institutions.

Like I said, I got this information from international grad students who attended public universities (late postal mail arrival isnt an issue since notifications are sent by emails nowadays), so it's pretty accurate. I've also recently confirmed this with the grad counselor at UCLA, who personally told me decisions for internationals wont be finalized until some time in march. Meanwhile I'm very well aware that the American students who got in have already been notified since late Jan - early Feb and the school is holding rounds of recruitment weekends right now.

One exception though, UC Irvine has notified their international admits and rejects as of Feb 24 (for my program of course).