About how long do I wait for a response?

[jaaaayciee]

I'm sure this is such an old question, but my earliest application deadline is December 1, and now that I am patiently waiting a response, about how long usually do the responses take?

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

This can depend on program and field. If your school has rolling deadlines, you might hear sooner. If, however, it's one deadline for the program and they state they do not look at apps early, expect to wait. Typically, what I've seen in the past is December deadlines will normally begin yielding results in Jan and Feb or early March (though sometimes as early as late December and sometimes as late as late March and April). Basically, try and find something to do to get your mind off of things. It'll probably be a while before you hear back.

If any people in History have better insight as towards the field's typical response time, they may be a better source of info for your particular case.

[jaaaayciee]

1 hour ago, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

This can depend on program and field. If your school has rolling deadlines, you might hear sooner. If, however, it's one deadline for the program and they state they do not look at apps early, expect to wait. Typically, what I've seen in the past is December deadlines will normally begin yielding results in Jan and Feb or early March (though sometimes as early as late December and sometimes as late as late March and April). Basically, try and find something to do to get your mind off of things. It'll probably be a while before you hear back.

If any people in History have better insight as towards the field's typical response time, they may be a better source of info for your particular case.

Thank you so much! Luckily, that's the earliest deadline date, so I still can prepare for other applications. it is just extremely nerve-wracking to have to wait, haha.

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

One of my programs had an internal deadline for additional funding so I submitted all my apps early. I'm definitely in the "find something else to do" camp right now, haha.

[TakeruK]

You can also see if the Results database hosted on this site has information. Usually helpful to search for school name and your field name. For example, a search for "Berkeley astronomy" tells me that this dept often sends out acceptances around the end of January and rejections around mid-Feb based on the last 3 years of data. You can try this to get an **estimate** of when you might hear back. However, schools are known to change policies from year to year so I wouldn't make any decisions based on these estimates.

You can access the database with the "results" link on top of the page, or here: http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php