Welcome to the 2015-2016 Cycle!

[Hopeful57]

Yeah it was 100% an acceptance, I emailed with the professor a few times last night. We're in.

[HardPromises]

@Straightoutta @Hopeful57 are you both in American politics?

[Hopeful57]

I am

[HardPromises]

Wish we could give reputation points for results postings...

[flatwhite]

I still have yet to hear anything from Duke or Columbia. As it seems that admittances have already been announced I'm assuming it's rejection, but it would be nice to know for sure one way or another. Would it be bad form to just email them at this point?

[aspiringivyleaguer]

Hi to all of you!!

Has anyone heard anything from Brown? 

Good luck to everyone!!

[Jak220]

3 minutes ago, aspiringivyleaguer said:

Hi to all of you!!

Has anyone heard anything from Brown? 

Good luck to everyone!!

I have not heard anything either way from them.

[aspiringivyleaguer]

Hi Jak220!

I suppose you have applied to Brown.

What are your stats? Have you had any acceptances till now? 

I wish you the best!

[VMcJ]

2 hours ago, IndEnth said:

Just got an acceptance from UCR. Worst notification ever, dry, standardized email by graduate school with official funding offer attached (worst offer too, only 3 years), without anyone from the department reaching out first.

I would love to receive this letter:

"Hey, twerp.
We are somewhat sadistic and every ten years we accept the utmost loser. Congratulations, you are the loser of this decade. We will fund you only if you keep scoring A's in every discipline -- one B and you are out. You are the worst piece of junk we ever admitted, so consider yourself lucky.
We plan to keep insulting you like that -- and worse, until the end of your Ph.D. That is, if a dumb person as you can complete it.
Yours sincerely,
Ivy League School"



Seriously now, it appears that only a minority of schools do not place great care in how they address their admitted students. That is nice, but I wonder how much it really increases likelihood of attracting students -- I'd take a better financial offer or a better school over kindness almost always.

[finalsenator]

So are these people(or person) trolls or just entitled jerks?

[HardPromises]

@finalsenator I thought the first one (on the bottom) was authentic, although I could be wrong, and the second (on top) was making fun of the first one. That latest one really killed me. I thought it was hysterical after reading that first post.

[finalsenator]

@HardPromisesHahaha okay my sarcasm detector was clearly down. 

[aspiringivyleaguer]

30 minutes ago, VMcJ said:

I would love to receive this letter:

"Hey, twerp.
We are somewhat sadistic and every ten years we accept the utmost loser. Congratulations, you are the loser of this decade. We will fund you only if you keep scoring A's in every discipline -- one B and you are out. You are the worst piece of junk we ever admitted, so consider yourself lucky.
We plan to keep insulting you like that -- and worse, until the end of your Ph.D. That is, if a dumb person as you can complete it.
Yours sincerely,
Ivy League School"



Seriously now, it appears that only a minority of schools do not place great care in how they address their admitted students. That is nice, but I wonder how much it really increases likelihood of attracting students -- I'd take a better financial offer or a better school over kindness almost always.

Actually, i wouldn't care a bit about the letter. I would take any offer from any ivy league school with my eyes closed.

[Erpeno]

Just got the formal rejection from MIT.

[VMcJ]

8 minutes ago, Erpeno said:

Just got the formal rejection from MIT.

Same here. 4cr-2pr-2ny

*CR - confirmed rejection
 PR - probable rejection
 NY - nothing yet

[IndEnth]

35 minutes ago, VMcJ said:

I would love to receive this letter:

"Hey, twerp.
We are somewhat sadistic and every ten years we accept the utmost loser. Congratulations, you are the loser of this decade. We will fund you only if you keep scoring A's in every discipline -- one B and you are out. You are the worst piece of junk we ever admitted, so consider yourself lucky.
We plan to keep insulting you like that -- and worse, until the end of your Ph.D. That is, if a dumb person as you can complete it.
Yours sincerely,
Ivy League School"



Seriously now, it appears that only a minority of schools do not place great care in how they address their admitted students. That is nice, but I wonder how much it really increases likelihood of attracting students -- I'd take a better financial offer or a better school over kindness almost always.

Hahaha! Yes, I would totally love that letter too!

 

So far, all the unis have been very friendly and pleasant in their communication, actually. And as a rule of thumb, the lower in the ranking, the more of a fuzz they've made about reaching out and trying to get candidates interested (at least that's the experience I've made so far).

Which I think makes sense: I was only considering UCSB despite my other options because they made such an effort, and I felt that I would really be welcomed and looked after there. I guess it has something to do with the vibe I got. With NYU, I'd consider the offer one way or the other, even if I got an email saying "hey derp, here's your offer."

 

Anyways, considering that they are only guaranteeing three years of funding (two of them through mandatory TAships), UCR is not really an option at this point, regardless of the communication.

[Khaari]

Any of you gonna be attending the UPenn campus day event?

[IndEnth]

1 minute ago, Khaari said:

Any of you gonna be attending the UPenn campus day event?

Yes, I sure will Have to rearrange my travel schedule, didn't expect it to be so late, but I'll fit it in. I assume you'll be there too?

[Khaari]

Yup, I'll be there. I'm trying to figure out flights too, it is kinda late and I was planning to go back to my family in India in April so this is just complicating things...

[Determinedandnervous]

Is anyone going to the Penn State campus weekend event?

[CarefreeWritingsontheWall]

Urgh. UPenn's admit day is on a Friday which is difficult for me to arrange. Anything that is Saturday through Wednesday is fine, but I have inflexible teaching commitments Thursday and Friday. Having already re-scheduled Friday sessions once this term...I'm not sure what I can swing. It's really going to depend on their offer letter and what contact I have with POIs leading up to the day.

[IRtheorist]

Anyone claiming University of Washington? If so, was it a generic or personalized email?

[IndEnth]

Was gonna ask the same thing!

[ultraultra]

4 hours ago, Straightoutta said:

Did anybody who received word from to Vanderbilt find the acceptance email a bit odd? Also, did anybody get an acceptance email without receiving an interview?

 

My email said something along the lines of I'm on a short list of admits and they would appreciate if I told them if I was still interested in Vanderbilt or my interests were elsewhere. It said positive things about my application, but seemed really unclear. No funding info or anything. Anybody receive similar?

I got the same e-mail! I also found it odd, did not interview, and was in American politics. I assumed it was written that way to screen out people like me (I think Vanderbilt is a great program but am not really considering it now, given my other choices) before spending time/money/etc trying to convince us.

As much as I would have loved to visit and/or meet my POIs there, I let them know they should focus their resources elsewhere... hopefully this helps another prospective student!

1 hour ago, Khaari said:

Any of you gonna be attending the UPenn campus day event?

I really want to but it unfortunately overlaps with the Michigan visit. 

[CarefreeWritingsontheWall]

Admitted to UWashington - I got an informal email with an offer letter and letter of acceptance.