Decisions released later than previous years?

[casey825]

I have been checking the decisions posted in previous years for the schools I applied to, to try to determine when I might receive my responses. For several of my schools, in 2010 there have not been nearly as many responses posted (either acceptances or rejections) as there were by this date (Feb 2) in 2009 or 2008. Does anyone else notice this? Or is it useless to compare the decision timelines from year to year, since the "sample size" (number of responses for any single school and department) might be too small to be statistically significant?

[origin415]

Depends entirely on the department. It seems that many schools in my field are notifying much earlier than last year (unfortunately none of mine), and perhaps many others will notify later.

[Dr._Robotnik's_Shadow]

For me some are notifying earlier and some later.

[astroturf]

Compared to last year, it seems that some people in my discipline are hearing much earlier. I was expecting to not hear anything until late Feb/early March, and some people on this forum already have 1-2 acceptances! So, it does seem to vary by department.