Let’s just TALK about it...

[senorbrightside]

@sprklinthe I sorta am counting on it myself...I mean, I know no rejection yet, it's still somewhat early for Spanish...but...this is not helping the anxiety and depression issues I already have! We gotta keep the hope alive!  

[haohaohao]

2 hours ago, sprklinthe said:

Anyone just mentally gave up despite hearing nothing back (so no rejection ?) I've litteraly been telling my family I didn't get it because I can just feel it

I am mentally giving up...after hear nothing about interviews (6 informal rejections) + 2 official rejections...I don't know what to do next.

[EvelynD]

I've just recieved my third rejection  Three down, five to go!

[pataka]

Literally the only thing keeping me sane(ish) while I wait for the decision post-interview is that everyone who is in the program, who is where I want to be, was once in my position. They went through this too. So I have to "do my time" and wait before I get rewarded (hopefully). Ugh.

[LibraryLivingJT]

AHHH! UC Irvine just emailed me saying they processed my financial information and will be in contact about my application soon.

Fingers crossed for good news, as I would LOVE an acceptance from there!

[Melville]

5 hours ago, haohaohao said:

I am mentally giving up...after hear nothing about interviews (6 informal rejections) + 2 official rejections...I don't know what to do next.

I am so sorry. 

[Melville]

8 hours ago, sprklinthe said:

Anyone just mentally gave up despite hearing nothing back (so no rejection ?) I've litteraly been telling my family I didn't get it because I can just feel it

Yes. This 2 year journey (including taking the GRE) was soooooooo difficult and stressful and now with this waiting game/not hearing I am feeling depressed. I don't have a good feeling either.

[ButWhy]

16 minutes ago, Melville said:

Yes. This 2 year journey (including taking the GRE) was soooooooo difficult and stressful and now with this waiting game/not hearing I am feeling depressed. I don't have a good feeling either.

Same here

[Want_PHD]

On 2/7/2018 at 3:59 PM, phyanth said:

I also now really hate weekends, mourn fridays, and can't wait until monday. 

I feel the same way.  Received my first rejection today--a Friday--and am almost more upset that I will have to wait for the other decisions than I am about the rejection.

[deleteaccount]

Anybody else feel sorta confused? I know I applied to competitive programs, but I thought I'd have heard more positive news. I've gotten 2 formal rejections. 2 of my other programs have sent out some acceptances (no rejections yet) and I haven't heard anything. 1 program rejected me for a PhD, but offered me a masters (with no guaranteed funding, but likely some once I get there). I am certainly not the most competitive candidate, but I feel like I am decently competitive at least. My GREs are in the 90th percentile, except AW (which nobody seems to care about, but who knows?). I have 3.67 GPA, which is decent, but made better by the fact that if you took out my sucky first semester, I'd have about a 3.8. I wasn't even studying computer science at that point. And this is at a top 20 US school both in general and in CS. I have 2 summers of research at one of the top schools in the field, one summer which resulted in a publication (though I only found out after I submitted my apps). One of my LORs is from a dean of CS at a top school. I also did some chiller research at my home school, chiller because there isn't much research relating to my interests here. Lastly, I'm severely underrepresented in terms of diversity in my field, specifically at all of these schools I applied to. I know I'm not a drop-dead competitive candidate (no paper at NIPS ) and certainly didn't expect to get in everywhere I applied, but I really thought that I would have heard at least one positive thing by this point. Other than the 2 schools that it seems like I might be unofficially rejected from, I have one other PhD decision. I applied to another masters as a backup, but PhD is the goal and the dream. I guess, I feel frustrated because if I had some part of my application that I felt was severely lacking, then I could try to patch that up in the next year and reapply with higher hopes. But it's hard when I feel like I don't really know what else to do, other than, I guess, keep adding on more research, which is harder to do now that I'm graduating.

The last program I have to hear from, the head of the department had contacted me last summer and encouraged me to apply. Unfortunately, he's no longer the head and just switched to another school, so I don't know how much impact that will have. I hope that it works out, but I have been making backup plans in the case that it doesn't.

I would have applied to more schools, but my interests are kinda specific and so I focused on schools with decent fit.

Edited February 10, 2018 by eighty8keys

[deleteaccount]

And I guess, what makes it harder is when everyone around you keeps telling you, when you worry about not getting in anywhere, is "you'll definitely get in somewhere." Even worse, I turned down a job offer so I could apply, and one of my friends started bragging "Oh, she turned down 'so and so company' for grad school". And I had to ask her not to say that because if I didn't get in anywhere, it just makes me look... well, dumb and foolish. Which, I mean, I didn't take the job because if I was going to take a year off, I wanted it to be doing something that would strengthen future graduate applications with research and it wasn't. So I don't really regret it. But I'd rather not have the fact that I turned it down paraded around if I don't get in anywhere.

Honestly, this is the first time I'm saying these feelings out loud because I haven't really felt like talking to anybody about them. Like, I told my friend about one of my rejections and made a sad face and said "Sorry." For some reason, this is just not what I want. I feel like my preferred response would have been "Okay" and then start talking about something else. I guess I just don't like feeling pitied. Like it's different when it's someone who's going through the same thing, like on here. But when it's not, it's just... I dunno. And I'm not actually mad at her (she obviously had good intentions), and I understand that people are different and some people want comfort in situations like that. But I guess because of #life, I am very independent when it comes to processing my emotions and just want to be on my own in cases like this.

[surprise_quiche]

@eighty8keys  Thank you for sharing! I totally agree with you. When I found out about my rejection, my mom said "I didn't know it was that hard to get into grad school" (she went back for her masters after having ten plus years professional experience in nursing already) and that she was so sad for me, which made me feel so defensive, like of course it's difficult. When people just say, "well onto the next one" or "there's better programs out there" it's so much more productive. Sinking to my level of sadness only makes me feel justified in feeling rejected.

[Piggysaurus]

Grr. This wait is driving me nuts. Had a really good interview, the POI knows my PI at a research position and even reached out to them to gather more info, but now I'm being ghosted. Would just rather know from the get-go if they found a better candidate rather than hold on to hope.

[menalta17]

On 2/9/2018 at 12:16 PM, sprklinthe said:

Anyone just mentally gave up despite hearing nothing back (so no rejection ?) I've litteraly been telling my family I didn't get it because I can just feel it

SAME. I feel like once it hits February, chances of getting into a PhD program plummet drastically. Around mid-January(after being waitlisted by my #1 choice and passively rejected by 4), I literally told everyone the same as well. Like 'hey guys, don't hold your breathe because I'm not.'  

 

I'll recant my statement when pigs fly. 

[surprise_quiche]

1 hour ago, menalta17 said:

SAME. I feel like once it hits February, chances of getting into a PhD program plummet drastically. Around mid-January(after being waitlisted by my #1 choice and passively rejected by 4), I literally told everyone the same as well. Like 'hey guys, don't hold your breathe because I'm not.'  

 

I'll recant my statement when pigs fly. 

[haohaohao]

I got a rejection letter yesterday, I felt so sad and lonely today, didn't know who should I talk to or what I should start the conversation...then I saw this on Reddit: (it made me laugh, I hope it brings some joy in your heart too) 

"If you are lonely, dim all lights and put on a horror-movie. After a while it won't feel like you are alone anymore."

 

Edited February 11, 2018 by haohaohao

[Bayesian1701]

I created a decision version here.  Good luck to those still waiting.  

[menalta17]

20 hours ago, surprise_quiche said:

lmfao this is what I needed to see today haha

[ShewantsthePhD101]

I've only heard back from 3/10 applications, and I'm about to jump out of my skin I'm so antsy.

[LibraryLivingJT]

50 minutes ago, ShewantsthePhD101 said:

I've only heard back from 3/10 applications, and I'm about to jump out of my skin I'm so antsy.

I'm also quite antsy! Have only heard back from 1/9, so I am very nervous/antsy.

[LibraryLivingJT]

On 2/9/2018 at 8:57 PM, Melville said:

Yes. This 2 year journey (including taking the GRE) was soooooooo difficult and stressful and now with this waiting game/not hearing I am feeling depressed. I don't have a good feeling either.

It took me this, my third round, to get ONE positive response - It is so incredibly heartbreaking and difficult; I get this so hard. But, if you really want it, do not give up. 

My first round I applied to 10 I believe and got shut out.

Second round I applied to 8 and got shut out, but I didn't hear from USC until AFTER April 15th, so I assume I was waitlisted there and didn't make the cut.

Third round, this round, I applied to 9 and have heard back from 1 so far (luckily it was an acceptance).

[ShewantsthePhD101]

6 minutes ago, LibraryLivingJT said:

I'm also quite antsy! Have only heard back from 1/9, so I am very nervous/antsy.

Glad I'm not alone out here!

[LibraryLivingJT]

4 minutes ago, ShewantsthePhD101 said:

Glad I'm not alone out here!

SAME! Hey, but all we need is one acceptance, and we both have one so far 

[Melville]

38 minutes ago, LibraryLivingJT said:

It took me this, my third round, to get ONE positive response - It is so incredibly heartbreaking and difficult; I get this so hard. But, if you really want it, do not give up. 

My first round I applied to 10 I believe and got shut out.

Second round I applied to 8 and got shut out, but I didn't hear from USC until AFTER April 15th, so I assume I was waitlisted there and didn't make the cut.

Third round, this round, I applied to 9 and have heard back from 1 so far (luckily it was an acceptance).

I've been doing some thinking and there are 2 Master's programs I could apply to quickly, as in this week--not ones I would have wanted per se, but one of them has vast opportunities for TA, research, teaching classes, conferences, consortium, and a creative writing/lit combo. The other is an American Studies. Not sure I can do the first one since I have a Liberal Arts, English concentration already. But I can't imagine not doing something!! The VOID is so scary! Haha

And, congratulations again. It must have been very disheartening to apply 2X when no success. You have courage and it paid off!

Edited February 11, 2018 by Melville

[E-P]

On 2/6/2018 at 11:41 PM, sprklinthe said:

So I have just seen that all the schools I applied to have started sending out acceptance and/or invitations to visit.

So far I haven't heard back from anyone  (Phd  by the way)

Do we know if international students are being processed later ?

Have you checked the results page of this site?  Have other people been notified of acceptance?

If not, it's worth calling the university.  I called one of mine and asked, "Hi, do you know when decisions will be out, and when campus visits will be?  I want to make sure my schedule is open."  Given that you're an international student, I think it's a very reasonable request.

 

How many places are you applying to?