Contacting Admissions

[offyerhst]

8 minutes ago, brush said:

thats the spirit

Thanks brush.

[502845824]

51 minutes ago, offyerhst said:

I am assuming a rejection because of the likelihood granted my stats/application. I meant to imply this by using assume rather than presume. 

Hang in there!

[MentalEngineer]

4 hours ago, offyerhst said:

I am assuming a rejection because of the likelihood granted my stats/application. I meant to imply this by using assume rather than presume. 

The Stoics would probably say that this is the only rational attitude for any of us to adopt about any of our applications. So good on you for carrying on a storied tradition!

[janeaude]

49 minutes ago, Abendstern said:

Did anyone else apply to the Oxford BPhil? I have no idea when I should expect to hear back on that, if at all...

Based on the posts on gradcafe in the previous years, results seem to be released quite reliably in the 2nd or 3rd week of March.

[samori]

9 hours ago, bravesball said:

@Nat_Foot do you think you could contact Missouri? So far there's just have the one person accepted with fellowship on feb 1. Seems pretty late for them.

Missouri seems to have pushed their non-fellowship application deadline to Feb 10 so it might be a while before we hear from them.

[oldmanPhDStudent]

13 hours ago, Abendstern said:

Did anyone else apply to the Oxford BPhil? I have no idea when I should expect to hear back on that, if at all...

I applied to Oxford, and expect to hear back around mid-March, based on their website.

[fiametta00]

hi there, i just contacted the stony brook DGS who said that decisions have not yet been finalized. 

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[MickeyRay]

11 minutes ago, fiametta00 said:

hi there, i just contacted the stony brook DGS who said that decisions have not yet been finalized. 

•  

That's a plot twist! 

[fiametta00]

a welcome and interesting one. haha! 

[MickeyRay]

1 minute ago, fiametta00 said:

a welcome and interesting one. haha! 

I mean it doesn't seem altogether like my position will change drastically, but I think that its fair to say that this season overall will be less "finalized" up until the end compared to past seasons. Just from looking at gradcafe, it seems like the overlap of top candidates getting accepted at all of the continental departments is pretty extensive. These departments all seem to want the same (and specific) things (phenomenologists, critical race, etc.). And each candidate can only go to one school! So I may be wrong, but I think that departments may be dipping further into their rejection pile then we've been expecting. 

[philstudent1991]

So, will there be any calling this week? 

[fiametta00]

3 minutes ago, MickeyRay said:

I mean it doesn't seem altogether like my position will change drastically, but I think that its fair to say that this season overall will be less "finalized" up until the end compared to past seasons. Just from looking at gradcafe, it seems like the overlap of top candidates getting accepted at all of the continental departments is pretty extensive. These departments all seem to want the same (and specific) things (phenomenologists, critical race, etc.). And each candidate can only go to one school! So I may be wrong, but I think that departments may be dipping further into their rejection pile then we've been expecting. 

we are indeed at the mercy of the changing tides, but, as you said, at least the tides seem to be in agreement this year. hopefully that does mean that good news will be spread around a little more generously. 

 

1 minute ago, philstudent1991 said:

So, will there be any calling this week? 

this is all i got: "the process has not been finalized yet." my guess is that we will hear back this week. last year people heard back this past week. 

[jacbarcan]

Again, and I don't want to be a downer, but it's very possible they're using that language because the school hasn't finalized the recommendations from the department. They may also use it because while everyone has been accepted they haven't sent out rejection. It could also, though is probably unlikely, still be accepting people. Finally, you could be right that they mean to potentially dip into the rejection pool given an offer of admission is denied by the applicant, but that may be a really low chance of actually sending out more acceptances. 

From what I understand, most schools keep their rejection list on hold because of the potential of needing to dip into it given more people than expected denied offers of admission. But based on the past trends, this rarely if ever happens for most schools. 

I think this is also why we keep hearing from Berkeley that they "aren't finalized until March" or "decisions will be made by March" etc etc because they may have to do some pulling from the initially rejected applicants. Yet in the past, I've never really seen that happen on the grad cafe.

Of course, I may be completely wrong in this case.  

[MickeyRay]

1 hour ago, jacbarcan said:

Again, and I don't want to be a downer, but it's very possible they're using that language because the school hasn't finalized the recommendations from the department. They may also use it because while everyone has been accepted they haven't sent out rejection. It could also, though is probably unlikely, still be accepting people. Finally, you could be right that they mean to potentially dip into the rejection pool given an offer of admission is denied by the applicant, but that may be a really low chance of actually sending out more acceptances. 

From what I understand, most schools keep their rejection list on hold because of the potential of needing to dip into it given more people than expected denied offers of admission. But based on the past trends, this rarely if ever happens for most schools. 

I think this is also why we keep hearing from Berkeley that they "aren't finalized until March" or "decisions will be made by March" etc etc because they may have to do some pulling from the initially rejected applicants. Yet in the past, I've never really seen that happen on the grad cafe.

Of course, I may be completely wrong in this case.  

I think that this is fair. I would definitely not expect another wave of acceptances, but maybe one or two straggler acceptances coming late in the season (which I think is usually expected). I do think though that it is useful to note that the stragglers might be compounded, because so many schools appear to be accepting the same few candidates. It looks like there are a handful of (rather than the typical one or two) exceptional candidates that really stand out this year , and for that reason I think that things will be a little bit more iffy for a longer period of time. 

 

Also, I'd like to point out that one of the terminal MA programs had an issue last year of working their way far down the list (of unusually strong candidates compared to previous years) and due to the fact that they weren't getting responses from people for such a long time they ended up taking people to whom they had previously sent official rejections. So start withdrawing applications or declining as soon as you begin to rule programs out please!!  

Edited February 21, 2016 by MickeyRay

[jacbarcan]

1 minute ago, MickeyRay said:

I think that this is fair. I would definitely not expect another wave of acceptances, but maybe one or two straggler acceptances coming late in the season (which I think is usually expected). I do think though that it is useful to note that I think that this year especially the stragglers will be compounded, because so many schools seem to be accepting the same few candidates. It appears to me that there are handful of exceptional candidates that really stand out this year (while in other years its typical only to have one or two), and for that reason I think that things will be a little bit more iffy for a longer period of time. 

 

Also, I'd like to point out that Miami U (MA) had an issue last year of working their way far down the list (of unusually strong candidates compared to previous years) and due to the fact that they weren't getting responses from people for such a long time they ended up taking people to whom they had previously sent official rejections. So start withdrawing applications or declining as soon as you begin to rule programs out, please!!  

I would really like to second this last point. For any schools A and B that have sent you an offer of acceptance if you would choose A over B, immediately tell B that you are declining their offer even if you don't know if you want to go to A in the end. (As mentioned above, this goes for any schools you've applied to but wouldn't go to now that you're in another program. Just withdraw your application. Admission committees appreciate it, other applicants appreciate it, and it doesn't matter to you much more than just knowing someone else accepted you.) I know it's hard to tell someone you don't want to go to their department, but think of it as giving some other applicant a chance. 

[pecado]

On 19/2/2016 at 0:00 AM, Abendstern said:

Did anyone else apply to the Oxford BPhil? I have no idea when I should expect to hear back on that, if at all...

They said from the beginning that results were going to be published 8 to 10 weeks after the deadline.

[Siegfried42]

What do you guys think about contacting UCLA? I'd be interested to hear whether all offers and waitlists have been sent out yet or not and they have a terrible record with sending rejections (last year they came April 15th, apparently).

[AnotherKantFan]

Jac could we please contact Stanford, just to get an idea whether they are releasing soon or in March like last year? They have very nice admin people who will surely respond!

[philosophe]

8 hours ago, Siegfried42 said:

What do you guys think about contacting UCLA? I'd be interested to hear whether all offers and waitlists have been sent out yet or not and they have a terrible record with sending rejections (last year they came April 15th, apparently).

I second this.

[oldmanPhDStudent]

9 hours ago, Abendstern said:

Right, janeaude and oldmanphdstudent already pointed that out. But sometimes an official statement doesn't match the actual process. Also, there are definitely posts from the past where people discuss hearing back earlier because of things like the Ertegun Scholarship. Maybe I'm misreading your tone, but I don't think my question was as naive/oblivious to their statements as you're making it seem when you write "They said from the beginning."

I applied for the Ertegun (not sure if you did, Abendstern), to see how it goes. My interests are in metaphysics and philosophy of religion, and Oxford is a great place for both!

[pecado]

10 hours ago, Abendstern said:

Right, janeaude and oldmanphdstudent already pointed that out. But sometimes an official statement doesn't match the actual process. Also, there are definitely posts from the past where people discuss hearing back earlier because of things like the Ertegun Scholarship. Maybe I'm misreading your tone, but I don't think my question was as naive/oblivious to their statements as you're making it seem when you write "They said from the beginning."

Please do not let me be misunderstood. I did not have any particularly mocking or complaining tone, I kindly ask you to forgive me if it read like that. I am not a native English speaker and, while I had to study it extensively to approve those evil examinations, I have not developed enough sophistication to express myself with very detailed and subtle nuances.

[pecado]

10 hours ago, Abendstern said:

Right, janeaude and oldmanphdstudent already pointed that out. But sometimes an official statement doesn't match the actual process. Also, there are definitely posts from the past where people discuss hearing back earlier because of things like the Ertegun Scholarship. Maybe I'm misreading your tone, but I don't think my question was as naive/oblivious to their statements as you're making it seem when you write "They said from the beginning."

 

1 hour ago, oldmanPhDStudent said:

I applied for the Ertegun (not sure if you did, Abendstern), to see how it goes. My interests are in metaphysics and philosophy of religion, and Oxford is a great place for both!

By the way, I remember that I read somewhere -it might have been at the little comments of the gradcafe's report of results- that they tell you if they accepted you first, in march, and then they tell you about the scholarships one month later, in april.

[Hadeel]

@Nat_Foot Could you call Notre Dame too please?

[oldmanPhDStudent]

19 minutes ago, pecado said:

 

By the way, I remember that I read somewhere -it might have been at the little comments of the gradcafe's report of results- that they tell you if they accepted you first, in march, and then they tell you about the scholarships one month later, in april.

I thought I had read that somewhere, also. All I know is, I need money to attend Oxford lol!

[Nat_Foot]

Sorry all, the past few days have been busier than expected. 

Tomorrow's list:

1. Stanford
2. UCLA
3. Notre Dame 

It's early enough PST that I might be able to get in touch with Stanford & UCLA tonight. I'll let you all know. 

EDIT: Couldn't get in touch with Stanford via phone. Will try email now. Talked to someone at UCLA and was told to email the grad advisor, which I did. Will get back to you as soon as I hear something.

Uninformative update from McGill: Offers of admission start going out in mid to late March. Graduate students are selected for admission by the graduate committee based off of the strength of their application file.

(The second sentence was presumably in response to my question as to whether they admit internationals.)

If there are other schools you want me to contact tomorrow, let me know. (And hopefully, MIT contacts us tomorrow!)

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Nat_Foot