Deadline extended, what should I do?

[alexbing]

I am an international student and I have submitted an application to a PhD program in Germany. The professor replied and asked me to submit my thesis and sample paper. I've sent my thesis and paper, but no further reply was given.

It has been a week past the deadline and I just noticed that the application deadline is extended for another week. 

Does it mean I am rejected and the professor is trying to find another applicant? Should I move on to another program or should I wait it out? 

 Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[fuzzylogician]

There is a good chance the deadline was extended because the professor didn't receive enough applications. The fact that they want a bigger pool to choose from doesn't mean that you aren't the favorite. With the extension, I understand that the deadline has just passed. Even if it's been a week, that is not very long to wait (though I am not experienced with the German system). You may follow up at some point if you don't hear back, but right now it seems premature, but also premature to worry.

[TakeruK]

There are also many other reasons for deadline extensions that don't have anything to do with you / the quality of your application. In addition to fuzzy's example, others could be: 1) the University system was buggy and they wanted to give people more time to apply, 2) some applicants asked for an extension and they wanted to be fair and offer the extension to everyone, 3) the people who will process and evaluate the applications will be away for another week and won't be able to look at them in the upcoming week anyways, so why not just extend it? or 4) the deadline is tied to some other university-side system and some policy change means that the deadline needs to be changed as well (i.e. it might be an issue for a completely separate department on campus and not related to your department at all).