PhD Applications Fall '17 Season

[Averroes MD]

15 minutes ago, Venya said:

I was told today that there is another meeting scheduled much later this month, i.e. for Harvard.  I didn't get a lot of specifics ... but the person expected notifications to be sent out late February/early March.  Hardly news but I thought I would pass it along anyway.  Additionally, I was told that some area committees have already ruled out all of their candidates.  Again, not surprising but that is where it stands now.  (Oh, and I wouldn't trust the calendar somebody posted earlier ... I know for a fact that some of their admissions meetings were not listed on that calendar).

Actually, this is very helpful. Thank you!

What do you mean by "  Additionally, I was told that some area committees have already ruled out all of their candidates. " ? Does this mean that they are not taking any student this year in those areas?

And, we are talking about Study of Religion right?

[Venya]

6 minutes ago, Averroes MD said:

Actually, this is very helpful. Thank you!

What do you mean by "  Additionally, I was told that some area committees have already ruled out all of their candidates. " ? Does this mean that they are not taking any student this year in those areas?

And, we are talking about Study of Religion right?

Yes, exactly ... Committee on the Study of Religion.  And from what I was told, certain area committees did not put forward any students to be admitted this year. 

[seung]

8 hours ago, Venya said:

I was told today that there is another meeting scheduled much later this month, i.e. for Harvard.  I didn't get a lot of specifics ... but the person expected notifications to be sent out late February/early March.  Hardly news but I thought I would pass it along anyway.  Additionally, I was told that some area committees have already ruled out all of their candidates.  Again, not surprising but that is where it stands now.  (Oh, and I wouldn't trust the calendar somebody posted earlier ... I know for a fact that some of their admissions meetings were not listed on that calendar).

Does anyone know what the process at Yale is now?  I had an interview a couple weeks ago and have been replaying it over and over and over and over in my mind.  It needs to stop!!

Yale has now made their recommendations for admission to the Graduate school. I get the impression, though, that the final decision by the Graduate school is not just a formality, and that their is a chance that a recommended applicant could get rejected.

[Marcion]

*gulp* FAS Will Cut Grad Student Admissions by 4.4 Percent
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/2/13/fas-reduces-graduate-admissions/

 

[rheya19]

54 minutes ago, Marcion said:

*gulp* FAS Will Cut Grad Student Admissions by 4.4 Percent
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/2/13/fas-reduces-graduate-admissions/

 

 

Why are you telling me these things???

[Marcion]

5 minutes ago, rheya19 said:

Why are you telling me these things???

Communal suffering I guess?

[rheya19]

4 minutes ago, Marcion said:

Communal suffering I guess?

[Marcion]

Got invited to a second interview with Stanford University on the 24th... wish me luck...

[seung]

When will Yale send out its decisions! Every day feels like an eternity.

[seung]

1 hour ago, Marcion said:

Got invited to a second interview with Stanford University on the 24th... wish me luck...

good luck

[rheya19]

1 hour ago, Marcion said:

Got invited to a second interview with Stanford University on the 24th... wish me luck...

Good luck!

[marXian]

For those wondering what it means for "The Graduate School" or whatever larger administrative body to approve candidates recommended by a department:

It's true that this does vary a bit school to school, but for the most part, that administrative body is usually just making sure that candidates meet the minimum requirements to receive funding. They have that approval process in the rare case that a department is trying to push through a prospective student who has a too-low GPA or GRE scores. That probably never, ever happens anymore.

When I got my call a few years ago from my then-DGS, she said something like, "Congratulations! You've been accepted to the program! We're so excited to have you! This is of course unofficial until The Graduate School makes final approvals and sends you your admittance letter. Okay, byeeeeeeeee!!!" I, of course, lost my mind and thought that there was a chance I could not be admitted after all. But there is honestly nothing to worry about. The bottom line is that if you meet the minimum requirements to receive funding, which are very likely low compared to the average stats of people admitted to programs, they're going to approve you. These kinds of administrative bodies are not reading SOPs and letters and then questioning the decisions made by faculty in departments.

[Averroes MD]

39 minutes ago, marXian said:

For those wondering what it means for "The Graduate School" or whatever larger administrative body to approve candidates recommended by a department:

It's true that this does vary a bit school to school, but for the most part, that administrative body is usually just making sure that candidates meet the minimum requirements to receive funding. They have that approval process in the rare case that a department is trying to push through a prospective student who has a too-low GPA or GRE scores. That probably never, ever happens anymore.

When I got my call a few years ago from my then-DGS, she said something like, "Congratulations! You've been accepted to the program! We're so excited to have you! This is of course unofficial until The Graduate School makes final approvals and sends you your admittance letter. Okay, byeeeeeeeee!!!" I, of course, lost my mind and thought that there was a chance I could not be admitted after all. But there is honestly nothing to worry about. The bottom line is that if you meet the minimum requirements to receive funding, which are very likely low compared to the average stats of people admitted to programs, they're going to approve you. These kinds of administrative bodies are not reading SOPs and letters and then questioning the decisions made by faculty in departments.

I'd like a call like this please. Thank you.

[MarthUser]

Duke rejections just got sent out for those who are waiting (and hoping) for Duke

[seung]

58 minutes ago, marXian said:

For those wondering what it means for "The Graduate School" or whatever larger administrative body to approve candidates recommended by a department:

It's true that this does vary a bit school to school, but for the most part, that administrative body is usually just making sure that candidates meet the minimum requirements to receive funding. They have that approval process in the rare case that a department is trying to push through a prospective student who has a too-low GPA or GRE scores. That probably never, ever happens anymore.

When I got my call a few years ago from my then-DGS, she said something like, "Congratulations! You've been accepted to the program! We're so excited to have you! This is of course unofficial until The Graduate School makes final approvals and sends you your admittance letter. Okay, byeeeeeeeee!!!" I, of course, lost my mind and thought that there was a chance I could not be admitted after all. But there is honestly nothing to worry about. The bottom line is that if you meet the minimum requirements to receive funding, which are very likely low compared to the average stats of people admitted to programs, they're going to approve you. These kinds of administrative bodies are not reading SOPs and letters and then questioning the decisions made by faculty in departments.

Thanks. This is probably the most informative remark I have read about this. a question.  I received a call telling me that I have been recommended for admission  to one of my top choices. I, like you, freaked out when they told me that there was this one last contingency of the graduate school making the final decision. I emailed my POI  asking if I should be worried. His response was not very encouraging. He said that it is unpredictable   What will happen. He noted that they could take all of the recommendations, a portion of them, or none of them, and that there was no way to tell.

 Could this have  been him nearly trying to avoid saying anything with finality and certainty before it is official? Or is it actually possible that this particular school, which by the way is a top-tier institution, be the exception to the rule?

[turktheman]

22 minutes ago, seung said:

Thanks. This is probably the most informative remark I have read about this. a question.  I received a call telling me that I have been recommended for admission  to one of my top choices. I, like you, freaked out when they told me that there was this one last contingency of the graduate school making the final decision. I emailed my POI  asking if I should be worried. His response was not very encouraging. He said that it is unpredictable   What will happen. He noted that they could take all of the recommendations, a portion of them, or none of them, and that there was no way to tell.

 Could this have  been him nearly trying to avoid saying anything with finality and certainty before it is official? Or is it actually possible that this particular school, which by the way is a top-tier institution, be the exception to the rule?

MarXian is right that most schools have a rubber stamp stage where the will of the department is heeded at the GSAS level. There are also exceptions to this where a GSAS committee has agency in the decision, like Yale. If your contact you've emailed told you it is currently up in the air while in the hands of admissions (or what have you), then that's cause not to assume acceptance at this point.

[marXian]

35 minutes ago, seung said:

Thanks. This is probably the most informative remark I have read about this. a question.  I received a call telling me that I have been recommended for admission  to one of my top choices. I, like you, freaked out when they told me that there was this one last contingency of the graduate school making the final decision. I emailed my POI  asking if I should be worried. His response was not very encouraging. He said that it is unpredictable   What will happen. He noted that they could take all of the recommendations, a portion of them, or none of them, and that there was no way to tell.

 Could this have  been him nearly trying to avoid saying anything with finality and certainty before it is official? Or is it actually possible that this particular school, which by the way is a top-tier institution, be the exception to the rule?

Wow. I'm assuming this is an American school? I have never, ever heard of an administrative body regularly turning away admitted students, let alone a whole group of students, recommended for admittance into a department. I have seen, on this board (for other disciplines, not RS) horror stories of people who were promised admission and then rejected at a higher administrative level--so I don't mean to suggest that it is impossible for this to happen. But these stories are, as I say, horror stories. And there is usually something fishy about them--like the person who has been rejected isn't telling the whole story or something.

If there is a reason to reject someone after a department has recommended them for admission, it's going to have to do with funding, which is to say either the technical details of your application (your transcripts, GPAs, GRE scores) or the funding a department actually has available. Regarding the first, unless you have exceedingly below-normal GPA and GRE scores for grad school acceptance, your BA/MA are from unaccredited institutions, or your transcripts turn out to be fake or something, you probably don't have anything to worry about. Degrees from unaccredited institutions and low scores probably raise a flag at the administrative level that require more investigation, and it's entirely possible that those kinds of red flags could slip past an adcom if they thought an SOP and letters were really exciting. Regarding the second, it's also possible that a department offers more spots in its program than it actually has funding for. This is a regular practice of some departments, usually lower tier schools, because they know they're chasing after some of their admits who will likely also have offers from top tier schools. For top tier schools though...I'm not sure. My institution is an elite school (though maybe not considered a top tier RS department, idk) and I know my department does not do this. They always make sure they'll have enough money to fund anyone to whom they extend an offer. If they make ten offers and all ten accept, they're likely not going to make that many offers the following year because they won't have the money. But there's no rule or law that says they couldn't take a gamble in the hopes some people would turn down their offers.

But the second thing doesn't sound like what your POI is saying. I honestly have no idea what he could be talking about. From my experience in multiple graduate programs, I've never heard of an administration arbitrarily deciding not to take some or all of the students recommended by a department. Though if anyone else has more concrete information than I do, I would be very interested to hear.

 

Edited February 15, 2017 by marXian

[seung]

38 minutes ago, turktheman said:

MarXian is right that most schools have a rubber stamp stage where the will of the department is heeded at the GSAS level. There are also exceptions to this where a GSAS committee has agency in the decision, like Yale. If your contact you've emailed told you it is currently up in the air while in the hands of admissions (or what have you), then that's cause not to assume acceptance at this point.

my fears have been confirmed. alas, Yale is the school I'm referring to.

[Kuriakos]

7 hours ago, Marcion said:

Got invited to a second interview with Stanford University on the 24th... wish me luck...

Strength and Honor, D.

[Calvin S]

What does it mean if you haven't heard from schools at this point?

Edited February 15, 2017 by Calvin S

[seung]

From the results page, looks like they are making calls to people who've been admitted to Yale.  Guess that counts me out =[

[axiomness]

Can anyone here claim that Yale acceptance? Area?

[xypathos]

1 hour ago, Calvin S said:

What does it mean if you haven't heard from schools at this point?

Without knowing what schools you've applied to, we can't offer much in the way of an answer. Some schools haven't sent out any notifications whatsoever whereas some are already done deciding for the year and have notified.

[seung]

2 minutes ago, axiomness said:

Can anyone here claim that Yale acceptance? Area?

I second that request.

[turktheman]

This isn't helpful to hopeful Yalies, but Loyola Chicago emailed me today. I'm NT, so I'm assuming that subfield has been notified. No idea on others. Email did come from the chair, not NT.