Fall 2017 Applicants

[dw3000]

So, I just received an email from Florida University inviting me to a campus visit and that "We are excited that you have been admitted to our program, and we hope you can join us for this weekend". Prior to this, I have had no official acceptance or rejection letter. I checked the results board and it seems that 2 acceptances were given out early in February. They did ask me for my official transcripts to be sent a few weeks ago. I am extremely confused. I have already emailed them but it is 10pm at night in the states??!! Did anyone else receive a similar email from Florida University without an acceptance beforehand?

[hantoo]

On 3/17/2017 at 10:19 PM, dw3000 said:

So, I just received an email from Florida University inviting me to a campus visit and that "We are excited that you have been admitted to our program, and we hope you can join us for this weekend". Prior to this, I have had no official acceptance or rejection letter. I checked the results board and it seems that 2 acceptances were given out early in February. They did ask me for my official transcripts to be sent a few weeks ago. I am extremely confused. I have already emailed them but it is 10pm at night in the states??!! Did anyone else receive a similar email from Florida University without an acceptance beforehand?

I received a formal acceptance from UF back in February and several follow-up emails about TA applications, etc. I also received the email you are talking about. First, I would suggest certainly calling or emailing DGS (the woman in charge there is extremely nice and would be happy to answer your questions I'm sure). It's definitely possible it's a mistake that they sent you this email and did not send the formal acceptance. Second, to my understanding of reading that email, this event is a "Recruitment Weekend" rather than an accepted students day, but the fact that they also sent it to you along with other accepted students makes me think that you most likely got in, but there was maybe some issue with sending your acceptance letter in the first round if they did not have all of your application materials yet (i.e. your application may have been reviewed later than the others by the adcom). Another possibility may be that you are on a waitlist.

Definitely call today to get it sorted out though!

[ironshieldmaiden]

So I'm having a conundrum with Columbia and it's stressing me out. I guess I should explain. Back when I submitted my application I had a professor who decided to do all of his recommendation letter submissions for me at once in a hurry. He forgot to submit the one to Columbia and I didn't catch it until around early March. He submitted it immediately and I contacted admissions asking if a decision had been reported and when I could expect to hear a decision. They told me that as far as they could see the department hadn't recorded a decision and that I should hear something in late March. I emailed the director of graduate studies to apologize for the issue and to gently ask if a decision had been made back on March 10th. I haven't heard back. I just emailed the department chair to see if I could find out more information. It seems to me like the department decided to hold off on deciding until my file was complete and they're now making a decision. I don't know though. I understand that the admitted students were already notified as well as those who were waitlisted, but I think I should have received a rejection by now. I also really don't know what to think anymore. Has anyone had something like this happen to them before?

[runningwithquills]

@ironshieldmaiden Hmm, I think the rule is that if your application is incomplete, they don't look at it. Did anyone specifically tell you that they're currently deciding now? Because it would be rather surprising, considering how offers and rejections have already been sent out. I doubt any department would be as kind as to seriously look at it now when the 2017 cycle is pretty much done at this point. From what I know, Columbia doesn't have a small committee (unlike Stanford) to make decisions, but instead gathers their faculty together, making it even more difficult logistically. It is possible that the reason why a decision hasn't been recorded is because the app was incomplete in the first place. The admin honestly should've contacted you earlier to say that the letter was missing. (MIT sent me an email a few days before Christmas warning me that they wouldn't look at my app until the last letter arrived). Definitely a shitty situation; I'm sorry.

Edited March 21, 2017 by runningwithquills

[ramblerouser]

So....Yeah anyone get any new from Northwestern as far as rejections go?
I have an offer from a different school but I don't want to accept until I get that official notice (haven't had an interview at NU so I'm assuming it's a rejection)

>.< it's really holding everything up

Edited March 21, 2017 by ramblerouser

[DancinFool]

16 hours ago, ramblerouser said:

So....Yeah anyone get any new from Northwestern as far as rejections go?
I have an offer from a different school but I don't want to accept until I get that official notice (haven't had an interview at NU so I'm assuming it's a rejection)

>.< it's really holding everything up

I haven't heard anything from them either. I see acceptances going out as late as March in past years so I think it's possible to still be admitted off the waitlist. That said, I'm not holding my breath.

[Mugi Mila]

I've seen two rejections for the forensic anthropology program at Mercyhurst. Did anyone get accepted? I'm sure as hell know I've been rejected. But I haven't received any postal letter, email, or call from them. I kinda need an answer just so I can move on and plan for my second round. ?

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

Guys, stuff is finally happening at Irvine.

For those who remember, my Irvine tracker said "waiting for supplemental documents" for (basically) forever. Contacting the school didn't change it and neither did contacting the program DGS. I was resigned to my fate that it would say this (despite knowing I sent them everything) until it finally said I was rejected (acceptances already went out). Well, my status changed this morning and I'm officially "being reviewed". I'm not holding out hope of an acceptance or anything, but this at least means something's happening, haha.

[ramblerouser]

On 3/22/2017 at 9:15 AM, DancinFool said:

I haven't heard anything from them either. I see acceptances going out as late as March in past years so I think it's possible to still be admitted off the waitlist. That said, I'm not holding my breath.

I'm not either, I mean it'd be nice but still....I didn't receive an e-mail stating I was on the waitlist. In most cases that would be an indication in itself, but the results board doesn't seem to place anyone on a waitlist for them. Oh well, Best of luck to both of us ^.^

[AnthropologyNRT]

12 hours ago, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

Guys, stuff is finally happening at Irvine.

For those who remember, my Irvine tracker said "waiting for supplemental documents" for (basically) forever. Contacting the school didn't change it and neither did contacting the program DGS. I was resigned to my fate that it would say this (despite knowing I sent them everything) until it finally said I was rejected (acceptances already went out). Well, my status changed this morning and I'm officially "being reviewed". I'm not holding out hope of an acceptance or anything, but this at least means something's happening, haha.

That's wonderful news! I accepted at Irvine and am pulling up stakes for California in the fall! Hope you get in!

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

@AnthropologyNRT Didn't get in this year (tracker updated again in the afternoon). At least it's all done and I can focus on finishing my MA, attending conferences, writing articles, and getting a job.  

[AnthropologyNRT]

On 3/24/2017 at 9:42 AM, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

@AnthropologyNRT Didn't get in this year (tracker updated again in the afternoon). At least it's all done and I can focus on finishing my MA, attending conferences, writing articles, and getting a job.  

Well keep in touch with me and I can maybe be a resource next cycle! Good luck friend!

[schlechtdurchdacht]

Any CUNY sociocultural admits planning on declining? I'm on the waitlist and curious if I have a chance...

[museum_geek]

Does anyone have any thoughts on accepting a PhD offer without visiting campus?  I'm seriously considering accepting my offer from UW Madison and I feel comfortable with my POIs there, but I won't be able to do a visit before April 15.

[ramblerouser]

Northwestern Update:

I also added my result to board. I e-mailed the admin lady and she informed me of my status but assured that the other notices will be going out "very soon". I didn't anticipate much because I did not receive an invitation to interview, but at least now I can move forward. Good Luck to everyone else waiting for Northwestern!

[hantoo]

16 minutes ago, museum_geek said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on accepting a PhD offer without visiting campus?  I'm seriously considering accepting my offer from UW Madison and I feel comfortable with my POIs there, but I won't be able to do a visit before April 15.

I'm in this same situation. To be honest I think it's fairly common to accept before visiting campus--I have a few friends currently in Masters and PhD programs who did not visit prior to accepting their offer. In fact, I have one friend who moved halfway across the country to work with a POI she had never met, move into an apartment she had never seen, in a city she had never been to, and she is perfectly fine and loves her program.

I wasn't able to attend accepted students weekend at the program I'll likely be committing to, but I have talked to my POI's quite a bit and have discussed what the school/campus is like to get a better idea of what to expect. Assuming I accept the offer, I'm also planning on making a trip down sometime during the summer to check out campus and look at apartments. It might be a good idea for you to contact current grad students in the program to ask about campus life, where they live, etc. to feel more sure of your decision before you commit to the program. Based on what I've head from current grad students, location is somewhat important in terms of how you make your decision, but overall program fit is the most important, so if UW Madison is your dream program, I say go for it!

[museum_geek]

@hantoo That makes sense.  I accepted an offer from my current MA school without visiting beforehand and it turned out well, but two years isn't quite the same level of commitment as 5-7 years!  

[MollyBee]

On 3/27/2017 at 11:17 AM, schlechtdurchdacht said:

Any CUNY sociocultural admits planning on declining? I'm on the waitlist and curious if I have a chance...

Have you been communicating with the DGS regularly? I am currently in the same situation you are (Sociocultural - waitlisted). I've been speaking to people there for the last few weeks, waiting for updates and trying to get as much information as I can. You may be able to get a sense of your position on the waitlist if you directly ask. I was told that I am "very near the top," (though what that means, I cannot be sure). I was told that given my position on the list, and the typical number of first round acceptances, an offer is more likely than not, but it is of course not guaranteed. For all they know, this might be the year that most of their first round offers will be accepted.  Additionally, I know people who have been waitlisted there in previous years, and apparently it typically comes down to the very last moment - as in April 15th. It is definitely frustrating but if you are really hoping to attend CUNY, I'd recommend just keeping the lines of communication open and asking if they can give you any more specific information. 

[rkstahl]

On 3/27/2017 at 8:17 AM, schlechtdurchdacht said:

Any CUNY sociocultural admits planning on declining? I'm on the waitlist and curious if I have a chance...

Just notified CUNY (sociocultural) that I will be accepting an offer elsewhere - was a tough choice, to say the least.

I hope that helps folks on the waitlist, and best of luck!

[MollyBee]

1 hour ago, rkstahl said:

Just notified CUNY (sociocultural) that I will be accepting an offer elsewhere - was a tough choice, to say the least.

I hope that helps folks on the waitlist, and best of luck!

Thanks for the update! Good luck with your future endeavors in the program you chose - and congratulations! 

[mountaintear]

Greetings all,

Has anyone heard anything from Vanderbilt recently? The anticipation is absolutely killing me; I've not recieved a rejection, acceptance, or notification of being waitlisted.

Thanks for reading and the best of luck to everyone who is still waiting or deciding!

[sierra918]

4 hours ago, mountaintear said:

Greetings all,

Has anyone heard anything from Vanderbilt recently? The anticipation is absolutely killing me; I've not recieved a rejection, acceptance, or notification of being waitlisted.

Thanks for reading and the best of luck to everyone who is still waiting or deciding!

I'll pm you.

[transmodalnut]

12 hours ago, museum_geek said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on accepting a PhD offer without visiting campus?  I'm seriously considering accepting my offer from UW Madison and I feel comfortable with my POIs there, but I won't be able to do a visit before April 15.

I accepted my offer at UCSD without visiting. I had a similar situation. I talked on the phone with my POI, his mentees, and messaged other faculty, so I felt pretty good in my decision, plus I couldn't get out of work commitments.

[Chaos11]

Anything from Vanderbilt?

[sjpotter12]

I'm trying to decide between Ole Miss and George Mason's Masters programs. I'm archaeology track, specifically zooarch. Does anyone have any insights to one or either of these schools?