Venting Thread

[Yanaka]

26 minutes ago, anxiousgrad said:

Programs that accepted and waitlisted people weeks ago still have not bothered to reject me. They know they're rejecting me. I know they're rejecting me. But the tiny little 0.001% chance that they are not rejecting me is very painful. Please pull the plug already, UNC and UMD. 

Agreed! The 0.0001% chance that UCLA is actually trying to work out funding for me because they love me is the worst hope I could ever keep having  

[engphiledu]

35 minutes ago, anxiousgrad said:

Programs that accepted and waitlisted people weeks ago still have not bothered to reject me. They know they're rejecting me. I know they're rejecting me. But the tiny little 0.001% chance that they are not rejecting me is very painful. Please pull the plug already, UNC and UMD. 

Actually, I'm also waiting on UNC and UMD. We should be hearing from UMD next week, and they're still working through how far down the waitlist they need to go at UNC before sending out rejections. Just what I've heard!

Edit to add that Indiana-Bloomington is also in the same boat as UNC. 

Edited March 24, 2017 by engphiledu

[Dr. Old Bill]

8 hours ago, anxiousgrad said:

Programs that accepted and waitlisted people weeks ago still have not bothered to reject me. They know they're rejecting me. I know they're rejecting me. But the tiny little 0.001% chance that they are not rejecting me is very painful. Please pull the plug already, UNC and UMD. 

8 hours ago, JuniusBattius said:

I feel this so much re: UNC.

For what it's worth, I was at UNC's visit days yesterday and today (just got home twenty minutes ago, in fact), and chatted with the DGS about waitlist situations. He said that he should have a clear picture of the funding situation on Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

He also mentioned that prior to his stint in the DGS role, all waitlists at UNC were considered "acceptances"...but acceptances without guaranteed funding. So you could be "accepted" to the program, but they might not be able to pay you or offer tuition remission. Needless to say, the waitlist system is certainly a lot better! That said, it's obviously not perfect. Sorry to those of you who still haven't heard anything one way or another.

Incidentally, the way funding works at UNC is weird -- he said that around 70% of rejected offers simply "disappear." The funds don't get reallocated to other students, and funding has to come from elsewhere. Weird indeed...

 

[ThousandsHardships]

8 hours ago, Old Bill said:

For what it's worth, I was at UNC's visit days yesterday and today (just got home twenty minutes ago, in fact), and chatted with the DGS about waitlist situations. He said that he should have a clear picture of the funding situation on Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

He also mentioned that prior to his stint in the DGS role, all waitlists at UNC were considered "acceptances"...but acceptances without guaranteed funding. So you could be "accepted" to the program, but they might not be able to pay you or offer tuition remission. Needless to say, the waitlist system is certainly a lot better! That said, it's obviously not perfect. Sorry to those of you who still haven't heard anything one way or another.

Incidentally, the way funding works at UNC is weird -- he said that around 70% of rejected offers simply "disappear." The funds don't get reallocated to other students, and funding has to come from elsewhere. Weird indeed...

 

Are you kidding me?! I didn't even apply to that program and I'm outraged at that system just reading your comment. I really hope that my prospective program (where I still haven't heard back from with regards to funding) doesn't operate like that. From what the profs I've talked to said, I'm pretty sure the funding at my prospective program doesn't just disappear when someone declines, so that's good news. But I really fear that they may have accepted more students than they expect to be able to fund, so I'm really hoping that my acceptance isn't a waitlist in disguise like you said UNC's used to be.

[anxiousphd]

22 hours ago, JuniusBattius said:

I feel this so much re: UNC. I caved and emailed the head of the graduate program I had applied to and received this response:

"Apologies for our long silence.  The reason you haven’t heard from us yet, is that we are trying to sort out our funding issues.  We do not accept students into our PhD program without being able to fund them and because we are a state school it often takes us longer than we would like to hear about our budget for the upcoming year. This is the case this year.  We hope to have a sense of what we will be able to do in the next week or so.  I know you have other offers you are considering and decisions you must make, and I apologize that we are complicating this process.   I will let you know as soon as possible."

I will read it over once and feel a little hope, and then re-read it and feel absolutely heartbroken.
 

 

14 hours ago, Old Bill said:

For what it's worth, I was at UNC's visit days yesterday and today (just got home twenty minutes ago, in fact), and chatted with the DGS about waitlist situations. He said that he should have a clear picture of the funding situation on Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

He also mentioned that prior to his stint in the DGS role, all waitlists at UNC were considered "acceptances"...but acceptances without guaranteed funding. So you could be "accepted" to the program, but they might not be able to pay you or offer tuition remission. Needless to say, the waitlist system is certainly a lot better! That said, it's obviously not perfect. Sorry to those of you who still haven't heard anything one way or another.

Incidentally, the way funding works at UNC is weird -- he said that around 70% of rejected offers simply "disappear." The funds don't get reallocated to other students, and funding has to come from elsewhere. Weird indeed...

 

 

Thank you both for the information! It's good to know that the uncertainty is probably almost over. 

[acciodoctorate]

To those of you waiting to hear from UNC (and I say this as both an undergrad alumni and a PhD reject) I'm sorry to say you might have to keep waiting.  I didn't hear from UNC until decision day last year.  I accepted an offer from my current program and assumed it was a rejection before that, but it was difficult considering I still love the school and the city from my time there as an undergrad.

[ThousandsHardships]

@acciodoctorate Just wanted to say, I love your username! 

Now if we could all just accio our acceptances and funding packages that would be uh-mazing.

Oh, and go early modernists!! 

[rld07]

Thank you so much, all of you, for clarifying what's going on with UMD an UNC. I, like many of you, haven't heard back from either of them. It's good to know that I'll be put out of my misery in knowing yea or nay soon.

Applying is such a lonely thing, and it makes me feel a little less depressed knowing there are you intelligent, sexy people going through the same shit I am.

[steve3020]

15 hours ago, rld07 said:

Applying is such a lonely thing, and it makes me feel a little less depressed knowing there are you intelligent, sexy people going through the same shit I am.

Yeh, who knew that faceless strangers on the web could be more comforting than your partner or family. My gf has got into a master's programme back in January or something and hasn't ceased to take the piss out of me since then. 

U of Toronto said they would notify by the end of March. It seems like they are gonna stick to their words literally..

[rld07]

7 hours ago, steve3020 said:

My gf has got into a master's programme back in January or something and hasn't ceased to take the piss out of me since then.

Whoa, whoa. GF needs to take some humility vitamins.  I feel you, though. My fiancee is in his dream program at an Ivy League school, and this is my second round of applications. I can't help but be a bit jealous of him -- he gets to live his dream and do good work, and here I am, waiting. Still, there's no difference between you and your gf. She could be you right now.

Anyway, I hope you hear back positively from Toronto. And if you don't, I hope you don't feel like it's the end of the world. It's so difficult not to take these rejections to heart.

[steve3020]

40 minutes ago, rld07 said:

Whoa, whoa. GF needs to take some humility vitamins.  I feel you, though. My fiancee is in his dream program at an Ivy League school, and this is my second round of applications. I can't help but be a bit jealous of him -- he gets to live his dream and do good work, and here I am, waiting. Still, there's no difference between you and your gf. She could be you right now.

Anyway, I hope you hear back positively from Toronto. And if you don't, I hope you don't feel like it's the end of the world. It's so difficult not to take these rejections to heart.

Thanks for the kind words. Actually hers isn't funded (but in the UK you can take out a student loan for masters now) so I tell her back that I would have easily got in an unfunded programme too haha. 

This is my second year too! It's really horrible to imagine that I might have to go through this yet once more and I guess you feel the same way. I hope you hear back good news soon too!

[JuniusBattius]

Has anyone gotten any updates from UNC this week? 

The head of the program I'd applied to had said that they hoped to have things straightened out "within the next week or so" last week, but I have still seen no application movement. This noncommittal behavior is making me lose faith in the institution as a whole, not just my application. 

I am wondering when it would be acceptable for me to reach out to her again.

Edited March 30, 2017 by JuniusBattius

[ThousandsHardships]

17 minutes ago, JuniusBattius said:

Has anyone gotten any updates from UNC this week? 

The head of the program I'd applied to had said that they hoped to have things straightened out "within the next week or so" last week, but I have still seen no application movement. This noncommittal behavior is making me lose faith in the institution as a whole, not just my application. 

I am wondering when it would be acceptable for me to reach out to her again.

Tell me about it! It's been several "we hope to know more in a couple of weeks" already from my prospective school where I'm waiting on a funding offer. I'm planning to reach out again if I don't hear back by April 10th or so.

[anxiousphd]

5 hours ago, JuniusBattius said:

Has anyone gotten any updates from UNC this week? 

The head of the program I'd applied to had said that they hoped to have things straightened out "within the next week or so" last week, but I have still seen no application movement. This noncommittal behavior is making me lose faith in the institution as a whole, not just my application. 

I am wondering when it would be acceptable for me to reach out to her again.

I have been similarly frustrated. My advisors think I should reach out to UNC and see what's up (and not-so-subtly emphaisize that I'm still interested in the program), but my instinct is to wait in agony until they tell me. 

I know I'm almost certainly not getting in, but the possibility really hurts. I would do anything to go there and it feels like they're taunting me. I know they aren't, of course, but it just feels that way. 

[Dr. Old Bill]

Minor, half-hearted vent here, but I dislike it when you either take yourself off of a waiting list, or turn down your offer of admission, only to receive an email several days or weeks later telling you that you have been rejected! I want to respond like Coriolanus to Rome, shouting "I banish you!"

I know it's just an administrative blurp, but it's a point of pride, dammit!

[positivitize]

1 hour ago, Old Bill said:

Minor, half-hearted vent here, but I dislike it when you either take yourself off of a waiting list, or turn down your offer of admission, only to receive an email several days or weeks later telling you that you have been rejected! I want to respond like Coriolanus to Rome, shouting "I banish you!"

I know it's just an administrative blurp, but it's a point of pride, dammit!

 

I've been expecting this to happen for a week or so now. If I'm being honest, half the reason I sent them out was so that I wouldn't receive more rejections... 

[ThousandsHardships]

2 hours ago, Old Bill said:

Minor, half-hearted vent here, but I dislike it when you either take yourself off of a waiting list, or turn down your offer of admission, only to receive an email several days or weeks later telling you that you have been rejected! I want to respond like Coriolanus to Rome, shouting "I banish you!"

I know it's just an administrative blurp, but it's a point of pride, dammit!

Sounds like my old host mom from my study-abroad program...who made it a point to correct me when I announced I was going to leave, claiming she was the one who didn't want me. Because of course I should be begging to stay in the house of the ex-daughter-in-law of some famous person I haven't heard of and the mother of a twenty-two-year-old PhD student who is such a genius that the only reason she doesn't need sunglasses to hide herself from fame is because she was raised by a humble mother who taught her daughter to be humble so no one would know she's important (she literally said this).

Edited April 12, 2017 by ThousandsHardships

[gnossienne n.3]

Sort of a half-hearted vent, as I'm feeling more discouraged than angry. Yesterday after following up at my top choice PhD program I was informed, very kindly and with sincere compliments on the strength of my application, that the two students who had been offered places had accepted them and there wouldn't be a place for me off of the waitlist. I applied to a very small number of PhD programs and more MA programs. I have three acceptances for MA programs in the UK, and I'm waiting to hear back from one more, but I won't find out about financial aid until the end of July. July! The last month has been agony. I've applied to all of the scholarships, grants, and fellowships available, but I keep searching for more. I'm terrified that I won't be awarded sufficient funding to be able to attend.