Who have not heard back yet?

[porcorosso]

As the title suggests, I have not heard back from any schools I applied so far. All of my application status are either "Pending" or "In review". After hearing good news that some people already got multiple offers, I am very, very anxious. I try to be sane by telling myself that I have not been rejected at least.... Anyways, this strategy does not work well because the first round of the admission might be already over. 

 

Anyways, tell me about your stories. Also, let me (and other applicants who are waiting for responses!) know if hearing nothing at this stage is ok if you have any knowledge about it.

 

I start. Physics. Applied for 10 schools. An international male. 4 schools I applied already started sending offers to some students. Feeling very anxious.

[nightfarmer]

When I applied to MA programs 3 years ago, I was expecting the usual mid-February to mid-March timeline. I was very happily surprised to hear back from a program (to which I was accepted) in late January. I'm now in the second year of applying to doctoral programs, hoping that I get lucky and one of the programs I applied to gives me the early decision. Obviously that's not incredibly likely, so I almost wish I hadn't seen the promised land a few years ago with the MA, so that I had no reason to realistically expect to hear back so soon...

That said, don't worry that you haven't heard back. It's really the exception and not the rule that programs would notify part of the candidate pool so early. As a seasoned grad school applicant, let me tell you this is by far the most excruciating period in the process.

I'm applying for History PhD programs. I have a good MA but I'm nervous about a less than stellar undergrad GPA and a concentration that isn't considered sexy or whatever in 21st century America - I study Franco-German history. No decisions whatsoever yet, although it looks like one school did send out a few acceptances last week. I hope that was only the first few shoo-ins and not the whole number.

[jjustc]

If there is no news, it's good news.

[Pegah]

Hello,

I have applied to many universities  for Masters of computer science and have not heard back from ANY. The waiting process is exhausting when I have no idea what is happening with my application. I wish i hear back from them sooner and it'd be good news. 

[arshia1906]

I can imagine how nerve wracking the process is. I'm an international applicant myself. Applying for a PsyD/PhD in Clinical Psychology. I've applied to 6 programs, been rejected by 2. Expecting 2 more rejections :/ Pinning my hope on the remaining 2. The wait is excruciatingly slow. I'm so anxious these days that anxiety might as well be my middle name! 

[polarimetric]

4 hours ago, nightfarmer said:

It's really the exception and not the rule that programs would notify part of the candidate pool so early. As a seasoned grad school applicant, let me tell you this is by far the most excruciating period in the process.

I hear you! This is my first time applying to grad school (economics PhD programs) and based on gradcafe's results and other sources, I expected to hear back from most programs around mid-February, so I had prepared myself for that and wasn't thinking much about it before then. Totally out of the blue, I got a decision from one of my programs (Ohio State) a week ago, and it has seriously messed with my head. Now I'm checking every day obsessively even though most, if not all, of my other 12 applications will stick to that mid-February timetable.

For others who haven't heard anything: if you haven't already, one thing that helped me is searching through previous years of gradcafe results for particular programs and schools (e.g. searching for "ohio state economics"). That will give you an idea of their general timetable--each department within each school notifies at a different time, and looking at historical results will give you an idea of the first wave, second wave, waitlist, etc. It's no guarantee, but it looks like most schools are fairly consistent.

[GeographyOSU]

I've applied to 6 PhD programs in geography, and no news yet from any of them. As another poster mentioned, at this point, I consider no news to be good news, but I am expecting to have all of my decisions in by the end of February. It's so nerve-wracking!!! I just want to get some (preferable good) news!

[A blighted one]

I've applied to 10 schools and haven't heard back from any of them either. I think this is pretty common. Of course it's different in every discipline but from what I've gathered most decisions are made in February or March, with fellowship candidates being notified earlier. 

I'm anxious too, but I'm trying to stay calm until the end of February when I've likely heard from most of my programs.

[CornUltimatum]

I have applied to six schools and have yet to hear anything. I'm not too worried though. You should check out the results history for each school for your degree on here because they vary a lot - it should also give you a good idea if you've missed the first wave of decisions.

In general, Geology and Geoscience, for instance, start getting decisions in February - with UT sending some out in Jan. Very few offers in general are made in January, though. In fact, February is pretty norm, only schools with very early deadlines start sending out acceptances and rejections through January. 

I don't think you have anything to worry about yet. 

[TheHopefulGrad]

I've applied to 10 PhD programs in Political Science and Public Administration and have still not heard back. I'm anxiously checking my email every couple of hours with the hopes of just getting a decision in my inbox haha. Well, at least we're not alone Happy waiting guys!

[katpillow]

I applied to a heck of a lot of schools, and have only heard back from 4 so far. Several of them were Dec. 1st deadlines, though... so I'm a bit concerned to say the least when it comes to hearing back from them, especially since the survey has shown a fair amount of interview invites for some of them. I'm pretty much counting those out while holding onto the 'no news is good news' hope. Truth be told, I'm really just bracing myself for a wave of rejections. Undergrad GPA is no good, but was hoping what I've done in the years since then would be good enough to compensate. We'll all just have to see how these things go, I guess!

[Need Coffee in an IV]

I've applied to schools with jan 15th deadlines, So I'll be waiting for awhile! It sucks though ha. I've applied to masters with either nonprofit or museum studies focus.

[Psychologyandpizza]

I also applied to 7 clinical psychology programs and have not heard anything...although it sounds like most of the schools sent out rejections from the first wave of reviews earlier this month so I am attempting to be hopeful that I may be on some sort of wait list. Although my late night anxiety is beginning to get the best of me 

[GeographyOSU]

6 hours ago, 8bitsushi said:

hi from a fellow geographer! I applied to two PhD programs in Geography as well, kinda anxiously waiting on decisions. Ugh this is nerve-racking. 

Hello! What programs did you apply to?? Haha, I'm hoping with the new month to start getting more concrete news!!

[kseeful]

No news is good news? Is that a thing? I kind of assumed that no news meant they're putting my application in an "ehhhhhh... if we must" pile........

I've also heard back from none of my programs. The only one that I'm aware has even looked at my application is Scripps and that's just because they asked me for verification of tribal enrollment.

[GeographyOSU]

3 hours ago, 8bitsushi said:

looks like we both applied to UBC! The only other program to which I applied was UCLA. Just felt they were the best for me in terms of 'fit'. Best of luck with your apps. What are you hoping to work on?

I'm hoping to conduct research on indigenous interaction and resistance to settler colonial forms of governance and policy. So, I've been in touch with Karen Bakker and Sarah Hunt up there. Yourself? My adviser's PhD adviser is actually at UCLA!

[rising_star]

2 hours ago, kseeful said:

No news is good news? Is that a thing? I kind of assumed that no news meant they're putting my application in an "ehhhhhh... if we must" pile........

Think of it this way: If you haven't heard directly from the program that you've been rejected, then your application is still under consideration. So in that sense, not hearing anything is good news.

[8bitsushi]

2 hours ago, geographyumd said:

I'm hoping to conduct research on indigenous interaction and resistance to settler colonial forms of governance and policy. So, I've been in touch with Karen Bakker and Sarah Hunt up there. Yourself? My adviser's PhD adviser is actually at UCLA!

I'll pm you!

[wazza]

While the waiting is stressful, I'm secretly enjoying it. it's like waiting to open a Christmas present (which could be empty).

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

On 1/28/2016 at 10:22 PM, rosso0125 said:

As the title suggests, I have not heard back from any schools I applied so far. All of my application status are either "Pending" or "In review". After hearing good news that some people already got multiple offers, I am very, very anxious. I try to be sane by telling myself that I have not been rejected at least.... Anyways, this strategy does not work well because the first round of the admission might be already over. 

 

Anyways, tell me about your stories. Also, let me (and other applicants who are waiting for responses!) know if hearing nothing at this stage is ok if you have any knowledge about it.

 

I start. Physics. Applied for 10 schools. An international male. 4 schools I applied already started sending offers to some students. Feeling very anxious.

I also applied for Physics. But I literally don't know of any programs that are finished sending out acceptances yet. It's not time to get disheartened quite yet! 

[porcorosso]

A prof at my home institution told me that interviews are uncommon for top-tier schools in Physics. I do not know how true this is because the prof is about 60 yrs old, and his knowledge about grad school admission has not been updated for a while. 

[med latte]

I'm now ready for the decision. I bought champagne for good news, and chocolate Haagen-Dazs for bad. Bases covered.

 

 

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

2 hours ago, rosso0125 said:

A prof at my home institution told me that interviews are uncommon for top-tier schools in Physics. I do not know how true this is because the prof is about 60 yrs old, and his knowledge about grad school admission has not been updated for a while. 

I think that interviews in physics are uncommon in general, with two exceptions:

1) international students from a non-English speaking country

2) really exceptional students who they want to give a fellowship to

[estrella]

On 1/28/2016 at 10:43 PM, arshia1906 said:

I can imagine how nerve wracking the process is. I'm an international applicant myself. Applying for a PsyD/PhD in Clinical Psychology. I've applied to 6 programs, been rejected by 2. Expecting 2 more rejections :/ Pinning my hope on the remaining 2. The wait is excruciatingly slow. I'm so anxious these days that anxiety might as well be my middle name! 

If you are an international student I would tread carefully.  Most clinical programs do not admit international students as there is just so much competition from local students. I applied a few years ago for Clinical programs and was told categorically that they almost never accept international students ( unless you are exceptional) . If you want to study psych in the US, I would suggest aiming for a research PhD. This is what I did. Also make sure you can afford the tuition fees for five years for the PsyD programs. More than half of all psych students are more than $50,000 in debt by the end of 5 years.

If you do get into a program with funding, let me know! you will be my hero!

Edited February 2, 2016 by estrella

[skinnyolive]

On 1/28/2016 at 6:56 PM, nightfarmer said:

When I applied to MA programs 3 years ago, I was expecting the usual mid-February to mid-March timeline. I was very happily surprised to hear back from a program (to which I was accepted) in late January. I'm now in the second year of applying to doctoral programs, hoping that I get lucky and one of the programs I applied to gives me the early decision. Obviously that's not incredibly likely, so I almost wish I hadn't seen the promised land a few years ago with the MA, so that I had no reason to realistically expect to hear back so soon...

That said, don't worry that you haven't heard back. It's really the exception and not the rule that programs would notify part of the candidate pool so early. As a seasoned grad school applicant, let me tell you this is by far the most excruciating period in the process.

I'm applying for History PhD programs. I have a good MA but I'm nervous about a less than stellar undergrad GPA and a concentration that isn't considered sexy or whatever in 21st century America - I study Franco-German history. No decisions whatsoever yet, although it looks like one school did send out a few acceptances last week. I hope that was only the first few shoo-ins and not the whole number.

Hi, I applied to about seven universities for PhD program in history too. One university rejected me. Three POI interviewed on Skype out of which one waitlisted me, and as for the other two-  I am clueless about. They did say that results should be out by second week of Feb. The remaining three places have not communicated at all, but I checked the gradcafe results page, and it seems they do not have a tradition of holding interviews anyway. This is my first grad application, and you are right, it's all kind of weird and excruciating! 

But all the best, folks. Something will surely figure out, and clearly we are not alone!