Fall 2017 Acceptances/Interviews/Rejections Thread

[THS]

So if patterns hold from years past I should hear from 6 of the programs I am still waiting on before Friday...some of them I should have heard from last week...but in this world no news isn't bad news.  Best of luck to everyone and here's to hoping for good news this week

[csot]

Congratulations to the applicant admitted to Stanford! That's great news.

[mcpphu]

Does anyone know why some schools, like UCLA for example, seem to be sending out acceptances every few days rather than in rounds? I haven't heard back and have no clue what to think about this. It sounds like quite a few people have been accepted already though. 

[theorynetworkculture]

3 hours ago, sociologicalnewbie said:

Hi! anyone out there applying to Stanford?

I did! Radio silence so far.

[HighlyCaffeinated]

Does anyone have any tips for visitation days and open houses?  Even though I was given an itinerary for one of them, I'm not quite sure what to expect or how to prepare.

[AmityDuPeuple]

18 minutes ago, HighlyCaffeinated said:

Does anyone have any tips for visitation days and open houses?  Even though I was given an itinerary for one of them, I'm not quite sure what to expect or how to prepare.

I think it depends on the visit. If you are already accepted then it will most likely be pretty relaxed and it is really just a chance for them to sell you on the school and the program and for you to make a good impression on your (potential) advisor(s). If you haven't been accepted (like myself) then the visit may feel a little more formal. Despite what ND says, I still can't help but feel like the visit can deeply impact the decision they make. On Thursday I am speaking with a professor who earned his PhD at ND to see if I can't glean a bit more information about what these visits are like and hopefully receive insights and reflections on the program now that he is a few years out. If you'd like, I can post what he says about the visit. 

[royalbench]

Has anyone applied to (or attended) the UMASS Boston Sociology PhD program? I've been searching and have not encountered anyone that has applied to the program. I know it is new. I'm wondering how competitive it is and how many students they admit a year.

[socionerdette]

Has anyone heard anything from Indiana? Someone posted here earlier that they were hoping to start getting decisions out on the 27th and it doesn't look like anyone has heard from them yet. I am so antsy waiting to hear from them!

[jeffreylongbootom]

Will someone claim the Texas rejection and what you mean by, "rest of the admission decisions is coming soon?" I didn't receive an acceptance, but I haven't been rejected either. Makes me think the grad school just hasn't sent out the rejections yet. 

[ndrun]

1 hour ago, AmityDuPeuple said:

I think it depends on the visit. If you are already accepted then it will most likely be pretty relaxed and it is really just a chance for them to sell you on the school and the program and for you to make a good impression on your (potential) advisor(s). If you haven't been accepted (like myself) then the visit may feel a little more formal. Despite what ND says, I still can't help but feel like the visit can deeply impact the decision they make. On Thursday I am speaking with a professor who earned his PhD at ND to see if I can't glean a bit more information about what these visits are like and hopefully receive insights and reflections on the program now that he is a few years out. If you'd like, I can post what he says about the visit. 

While I was an undergraduate at Notre Dame I took a Ph.D. level sociology course and the class right after the visitation weekend, the grad students asked what our professor thought of the prospective students and he said that were extending offers to everyone who had attended (they would be the fall 2015 cohort). I'm not sure how typical that is but I think they use the interviews to confirm you're a good fit for their somewhat specific program. I think the only reason an offer wouldn't be extended after the visit is if they don't think your interests align well enough. I'm sure they will spend some time trying to sell themselves to you too. So relax, have fun (ND is a beautiful campus but COLD this time of year), and just as the faculty is gauging if you're a good fit for them, use the trip to make sure ND is a good fit for you too  

[shaodiao]

15 minutes ago, jeffreylongbootom said:

Will someone claim the Texas rejection and what you mean by, "rest of the admission decisions is coming soon?" I didn't receive an acceptance, but I haven't been rejected either. Makes me think the grad school just hasn't sent out the rejections yet. 

I claim that sad rejection. Based the email I received, all admission decisions are already made and they will notify you soon. Good luck!

[jeffreylongbootom]

3 minutes ago, shaodiao said:

I claim that sad rejection. Based the email I received, all admission decisions are already made and they will notify you soon. Good luck!

Did it seem like an automated email coming from the application system or was it personalized? It's my top choice and I was really disappointed when I wasn't in the initial wave of acceptances. Also, condolences on the rejection. I've had my share of them as well! 

[shaodiao]

2 minutes ago, jeffreylongbootom said:

Did it seem like an automated email coming from the application system or was it personalized? It's my top choice and I was really disappointed when I wasn't in the initial wave of acceptances. Also, condolences on the rejection. I've had my share of them as well! 

It was personal originated from a email I sent to ask about the overall admission process and result. The coordinator told me the bad news along with the status of other applications. I already know that I'm not the perfect fit so I'm not taking it too hard.

[jeffreylongbootom]

2 minutes ago, shaodiao said:

It was personal originated from a email I sent to ask about the overall admission process and result. The coordinator told me the bad news along with the status of other applications. I already know that I'm not the perfect fit so I'm not taking it too hard.

Ahh makes sense. Sounds like everyone who didn't get accepted initially will soon be rejected then as there's no indication based on past years that Texas has any sort of waitlist or acceptance "waves."

[shaodiao]

4 minutes ago, jeffreylongbootom said:

Ahh makes sense. Sounds like everyone who didn't get accepted initially will soon be rejected then as there's no indication based on past years that Texas has any sort of waitlist or acceptance "waves."

I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet. Not hearing is still not bad.

[jeffreylongbootom]

3 minutes ago, shaodiao said:

I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet. Not hearing is still not bad.

Ha, I'm not the optimistic type. I know the "no news is good news" slogan seems to be the popular one around here, but for admissions, it's not really based in any reality unless the school is known to do things in "waves," which most aren't. As someone who's worked for a department and helped out with admissions in the past, the departments normally personally send out acceptances and relegate the rejections to the graduate school itself. The graduate school, because it's dealing with every department on campus, normally takes a few days/weeks to getting around to changing the application statuses to rejected as they're obviously not a top priority. 

[parisick]

3 hours ago, theorynetworkculture said:

I did! Radio silence so far.

I did but no news so far 

[THS]

23 minutes ago, shaodiao said:

It was personal originated from a email I sent to ask about the overall admission process and result. The coordinator told me the bad news along with the status of other applications. I already know that I'm not the perfect fit so I'm not taking it too hard.

 

 

 

Thanks for the update.  Sorry for the bad news...I am still hoping no news is not bad news.  We have to rememer, afterall, that not everyone posts their results AND that programs don't do things the same every year (Stanford's phone acceptances today are a recent example of that).  

Edited January 31, 2017 by montanem

[shaodiao]

12 minutes ago, jeffreylongbootom said:

Ha, I'm not the optimistic type. I know the "no news is good news" slogan seems to be the popular one around here, but for admissions, it's not really based in any reality unless the school is known to do things in "waves," which most aren't. As someone who's worked for a department and helped out with admissions in the past, the departments normally personally send out acceptances and relegate the rejections to the graduate school itself. The graduate school, because it's dealing with every department on campus, normally takes a few days/weeks to getting around to changing the application statuses to rejected as they're obviously not a top priority. 

Life is hard. We can't expect anyone but ourselves to give us hope.

[shaodiao]

3 minutes ago, montanem said:

Thanks for the update.  Sorry for the bad news...I am still hoping no news is not bad news.  We have to rememer, afterall, that not everyone posts their results AND that programs don't do things the same every year (Stanford's phone acceptances today are a recent example of that).  

That could be professors leaking decisions to their top applicants personally.

[AmityDuPeuple]

1 hour ago, ndrun said:

While I was an undergraduate at Notre Dame I took a Ph.D. level sociology course and the class right after the visitation weekend, the grad students asked what our professor thought of the prospective students and he said that were extending offers to everyone who had attended (they would be the fall 2015 cohort). I'm not sure how typical that is but I think they use the interviews to confirm you're a good fit for their somewhat specific program. I think the only reason an offer wouldn't be extended after the visit is if they don't think your interests align well enough. I'm sure they will spend some time trying to sell themselves to you too. So relax, have fun (ND is a beautiful campus but COLD this time of year), and just as the faculty is gauging if you're a good fit for them, use the trip to make sure ND is a good fit for you too  

Thanks for the info! I am trying not to get my hopes up, just in case. That being said, when I spoke with Terry McDonnell about the visit he seemed confident that my interests aligned with those of the department, including soc of food (used as a vehicle for exploring deservingness and issues related to inequality). My interests are a bit different from the other ND grads whose dissertations focused on food, but they align in so many other ways too. I think ND would be a great fit. Not to mention I grew up in NE Indiana so I already know about the cold winters and the weird weather, so hopefully I won't have to spend too much time reacclimate if I do get offered a spot. 

[ndrun]

4 minutes ago, AmityDuPeuple said:

Thanks for the info! I am trying not to get my hopes up, just in case. That being said, when I spoke with Terry McDonnell about the visit he seemed confident that my interests aligned with those of the department, including soc of food (used as a vehicle for exploring deservingness and issues related to inequality). My interests are a bit different from the other ND grads whose dissertations focused on food, but they align in so many other ways too. I think ND would be a great fit. Not to mention I grew up in NE Indiana so I already know about the cold winters and the weird weather, so hopefully I won't have to spend too much time reacclimate if I do get offered a spot. 

I totally understand, it's best not to get too excited before an official offer. But it sounds like you've got a great chance and will be prepared for the truly awful wind chill.

[a little-stitious]

8 hours ago, royalbench said:

Has anyone applied to (or attended) the UMASS Boston Sociology PhD program? I've been searching and have not encountered anyone that has applied to the program. I know it is new. I'm wondering how competitive it is and how many students they admit a year.

I applied! I have absolutely no idea how competitive it'll be though. 

[JPEK]

Anyone have any updates from UW-Madison?

[csot]

I was invited to attend prospective student weekend at Vanderbilt later this month, and I'm really grateful to wake up to good news. However, I already asked my supervisor to take a few days off for recruitment days at other schools, so I don't know if I'll be able to attend this one. I have to let Vanderbilt know by this Friday.