Any late Dec/early Jan applicants? Waiting is so difficult!

[Neist]

2 hours ago, med latte said:

When you figure out how to do that, let us know!!! 

I'm selling a bunch of old stuff on eBay to pass the time.  Occupies time. Makes money. 

I'm satisfied.

[wine-ing]

I know I should be focusing on my MA thesis/classes- but I've been obsessively checking the results page for my apps due mid-December to the 20th of January. Even though I won't get results until last week of January at the earliest... I'm so nervous.

[Foreveronward]

1 minute ago, wine-ing said:

I know I should be focusing on my MA thesis/classes- but I've been obsessively checking the results page for my apps due mid-December to the 20th of January. Even though I won't get results until last week of January at the earliest... I'm so nervous.

I'm in the same boat. Late Jan/Early Feb/Mid Feb is the soonest I'll hear back but it's next to impossible to get it off my mind. I met with my adviser today and talking to her helped a bit, but I suspect I'll be back to it tomorrow morning. 

I'll be here throughout the process to mope/whine/agonize with you!

[med latte]

Another morning. One day closer to knowing......

[EMJTeacher]

I applied starting 12/1. My last application is not due until 2/1, but I finished it this past weekend.  I spent two solid weeks around the holidays sweating it out and checking emails from the programs I applied to seeing if materials were missing, and seeing which programs would accept late materials.  Sadly, obnoxious UPenn deferred my application until next year because a rec letter was not in on time and they apparently make no exceptions...

Now I'm pretty sure all materials have been received (I squeezed my GRE in on 12/29- got a 168/162/5.5 split), and am checking emails incessantly and irrationally expecting early rejections already.  I applied to programs in 2008 and 2010.  Out of both rounds, I was wait-listed once and eventually rejected from all programs to which I applied.  Since then I improved my GRE, obtained  second M.A., spent three years working in the field I want to study, so I'm hoping this time around goes better.

...But, who knows really.  Let the next 2-5 months of agony commence.

[Need Coffee in an IV]

I'm the most impatient person ever, I hate waiting. My last reference hasn't submitted any of her letters and my deadline is the 15th....I asked her months ago so its not like I waited till the last min to ask.

[nikcav]

Three of my schools were due last week and two are due this Friday. Thankfully, most of them said I should start hearing about interviews after two weeks from the deadlines, but the anticipation is already killing me! Every time my phone rings or I get an email, I have a mini heart attack, and it's just killing me not knowing where I'm going to end up.

[weilongli1]

My first applications were due on Dec. 15, and my last ones are due in two days, although I submitted early. Previous survey results say that I won't get my first notifications until Feb 15 or so, so I'm gonna get drunk and not think about it until then! (Although I got an email from Northwestern today, and I freaked out. It was just an ad to apply to their MS Biotech program )

 

[Tug_on_my_]

I got an email this morning from a faculty member at a school I am applying to saying that they are going to do everything they can to help me get in to the program and that they are very supportive of transgender students getting into the program.

[vestigialtraits]

11 minutes ago, Tug_on_my_ said:

I got an email this morning from a faculty member at a school I am applying to saying that they are going to do everything they can to help me get in to the program and that they are very supportive of transgender students getting into the program.

That's interesting. What school and program?

[Tug_on_my_]

19 minutes ago, queerpsych2013 said:

That's interesting. What school and program?

For obvious reasons I cannot name the school, but it is a theology Ph.D. program.

[vestigialtraits]

21 minutes ago, Tug_on_my_ said:

For obvious reasons I cannot name the school, but it is a theology Ph.D. program.

Ah, okay. My mistake, wasn't trying to be offensive or anything. I'm just interested in schools that are lgbt friendly being transgender and wanting to work in student affairs.

[Foreveronward]

5 hours ago, nikcav said:

Three of my schools were due last week and two are due this Friday. Thankfully, most of them said I should start hearing about interviews after two weeks from the deadlines, but the anticipation is already killing me! Every time my phone rings or I get an email, I have a mini heart attack, and it's just killing me not knowing where I'm going to end up.

Two weeks? I wish I could hear back this quickly. I have a feeling most of us will be waiting for a month or more, but good for you! 

 

[A blighted one]

Same boat.  I've finished submitting all of my applications at this point.  The absolute earliest (based on the results board) I'll hear from one school is Feb. 1 (which would be amazing) but I'll be waiting it out until late March, I expect! 

The wait has been torturous, which I wasn't expecting, actually. So far, outside of work I am occupying myself with time-squandering internet browsing (a lot of Gradcafe lurking), less reading than I'd like, and trying to exercise more.  

I told myself that when I finished all of my applications I'd quit smoking.  I have thus far been successful but have realized that the midst of a waiting game was an awful time to decide to quit. 

Edited January 14, 2016 by A blighted one
submitted before finished typing

[sjoh197]

My only application isn't even due until tomorrow. I finished my app months ago, and my last letter went in about a month ago. 

The waiting is terrible... and then I have to remind myself that they haven't even started looking yet.

[alwaysnervous]

Do schools send out results based on when you sent your application in? 

[TakeruK]

1 minute ago, alwaysnervous said:

Do schools send out results based on when you sent your application in? 

Usually no, unless the policies say otherwise or if it's "rolling admissions".

[alwaysnervous]

3 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

Usually no, unless the policies say otherwise or if it's "rolling admissions".

hm okay, because I've seen that some people have gotten interviews from places very deceivingly early and I haven't heard anything (whereas other people have gotten rejection emails from the same place in the past)

[BooksCoffeeBeards]

I have only had one school send me their decision, and it was kind of in the middle of my due dates (Dec. 15-Jan. 15). So, I'm just going to keep waiting.

[nikcav]

15 hours ago, Foreveronward said:

Two weeks? I wish I could hear back this quickly. I have a feeling most of us will be waiting for a month or more, but good for you! 

 

Jeez, that sucks. I guess it probably helps that for studio art, it takes less time to look at pieces of art and read short statements than to read the long pieces of writing that I assume other subjects require.

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

I wish that there were some kind of standard to know when to expect an offer. For one of my schools, the application is not due until January 31. Yet I got invited for an interview/visit on December 17, and got an offer today (January 14). Yet I have not heard back from some "safety" schools whose applications were due back in November! Who knows?! 

[Neist]

55 minutes ago, alwaysnervous said:

hm okay, because I've seen that some people have gotten interviews from places very deceivingly early and I haven't heard anything (whereas other people have gotten rejection emails from the same place in the past)

I have to suppose that if you turned in an app two months early people have already looked at your app. If people have looked at your app, and are interested, I can further suppose that they might immediately offer an interview once the deadline passes.

Pure conjecture on my parts, but it sort of makes sense.

34 minutes ago, nikcav said:

Jeez, that sucks. I guess it probably helps that for studio art, it takes less time to look at pieces of art and read short statements than to read the long pieces of writing that I assume other subjects require.

I imagine it has something to do with the size of applicant pools, too. If you get 200 applicants for 5 slots, it's probably a little more difficult (and subjective) to determine who is the best fit in those slots. Also depends on how large the previous graduating class is. I've already got accepted into Drexel, but if their alumni page is remotely accurate, the graduating 2015 class was pretty large. Twice the size or more than previous years, so there could be a push to fill the program back out.

That's one reason I'm not stressing out applications too much. If I don't get into programs, there's probably a reasonable chance that it has nothing to do with my qualifications. Maybe a department only opened up 1/5 the slots normally available. Maybe there's just a lot of other brilliant people applying. Maybe they just received an abnormally large amount of applications.

Who knows. 

[Foreveronward]

5 hours ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

I wish that there were some kind of standard to know when to expect an offer. For one of my schools, the application is not due until January 31. Yet I got invited for an interview/visit on December 17, and got an offer today (January 14). Yet I have not heard back from some "safety" schools whose applications were due back in November! Who knows?! 

I remember reading somewhere that 'safety schools'/programs that aren't super highly ranked tend to wait a bit on sending out acceptances. It makes sense, as all the people that got into the programs publishing really high impact factor work will have already accepted the better offers. 

Still, I totally agree, I wish there was a better system. I know it's the nature of the beast and a bit greedy to expect a reply within two months, but I find myself being greedy nonetheless. I've had friends in my Master's program that are shocked at the wildly varying wait times and departmental policies on decision notifications. I just feel like that a 100$ application fee should at least guarantee 1) An email when all your application components are received and 2) Website updates if any delays occur in the decision process.

The advantage of emailing applicants when their package is complete is that (ideally) students wouldn't need to call everyday to verify the receipt of transcripts and scores. 

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

Ah... that makes sense @Foreveronward. And I also think that a $100 application fee should guarantee a lot of things that apparently aren't guaranteed; for instance, a nice notification when you've been rejected instead of pure silence. 

[Need Coffee in an IV]

I looked up past results and it seems like decisions start to go out in mid-February. I'm hoping they do that this year as well!