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UT Austin

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:55 am
by tamasir
I got this email from UT Austin this morning:


Hello Prospective students:

I am emailing to let you know that our Graduate Recruitment committee
is currently reviewing applications. We expect to admit about half of
you receiving this email (approximately 75 of 140 U.S. applicants).
By February 6 you will hear from me by email again if you have been
accepted.

I will also notify you about our Recruitment Weekend which will take
place Saturday, March 1. We will provide you with up to $400 to travel
expenses if you are coming in from outside Austin. You should plan to
arrive Friday, February 29 and depart March 2. We will provide you
with the hotel also.

I know other Universities have these preview weekends and I want you
to save the date for ours in your plans.


I'm applying for physics PhD, anyone else got this email? Anyone know if $400 is average for schools covering travel expenses?

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:01 am
by hchemist
I was also told that I could spend up to 400$ for travel from UCLA. So I guess that's normal.

But seriously, this e-mail of yours kinda scary. It's basically saying that now you're on 1:1 ratio acceptance level stage.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:04 pm
by tamasir
Ya, its a coin flip now. I would have actually preferred not getting this email, cause now if I don't get through, it'll hurt more. Damn sadists!

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:59 pm
by vicente
Hmm they only admitted 60 U.S. students last year. I wonder if it's because they have less funding this year for internationals or because they didn't admit enough students last year.

I'm hoping it's the latter because I'm international. :lol:

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:08 pm
by VT
vicente, how much did they give you to travel to all those places u have been accepted to? Is it $ 400!

i have this question to every one on this forum-
Do we only get $ 400 for travel and expenses to visit all those places we get accepted to? Is this the std rate?

This means, I will never see California, I guess.

I wish I had some deep interest in BIOLOGY.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:18 pm
by vicente
About UT Austin, since their website says that international decisions are made in March, but their visiting weekend is March 2, they probably aren't going to be paying at all for internationals to come visit them.

EDIT: Yay, this is my 100th post!

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:33 pm
by scrap_iron
I also received this email from UT.

What is the typical attire for one of these "recruitment weekends" or even for a formal interview for that matter? Formal suit and tie, business casual (whatever that means...), casual...?

This may sound like a silly question, but I've been in the military for 5 years and my wardrobe has been khaki, khaki, khaki, and sometimes white or blue.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:21 pm
by randn(1)
Has anyone heard back from UT Austin yet? I also received the email that "we will let you know by Feb 6 if you have been admitted" but I haven't heard anything and no one seems to have posted anything about an acceptance. Tomorrow is Feb 6 and I'm getting quite nervous...

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:50 pm
by agonizomai
No, I applied and I haven't heard either. It is possible the lady who sent the e-mail will be sending out one mass list tomorrow. I certainly hope so. Yikes!

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:55 pm
by randn(1)
That's exactly what I'm hoping as well. Nice of them to wait until the last day, huh? I guess we will know by this time tomorrow.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:58 pm
by agonizomai
Haha, yeah. I somehow thought the 6th was Friday, so I didn't realize it was tomorrow until your post. My heart rate is probably at a steady 170 bpm right now. I've not received any offers to date.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:14 pm
by agonizomai
That also makes some sense, since it was sent by the grad admissions coordinator. I doubt she's going to send out those ~75 acceptance e-mails one by one.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:22 pm
by randn(1)
That's true, or at least let's convince ourselves it is until tomorrow. I'm in the same boat as you, haven't heard back from anywhere yet so I'm really nervous about the first one. I thought UT Austin would be a place I had a good chance of getting in to, so I hope it works out. What fields did you apply to / are interested in?

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:24 pm
by randn(1)
Wow, after I posted that I just got an acceptance email!!!
Good luck with yours!

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:27 pm
by etano
Yeah, I have been checking this thread all week. Just wanted to let you know they sent out the acceptances. Thank god I don't need a backup plan yet.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:35 pm
by agonizomai
@etano - Do you know if they have been sending them out all week? I.e., is there any hope I will still receive one tonight/tomorrow?

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:36 pm
by etano
I literally got it like 5 minutes ago, so I really have no clue. Sorry.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:38 pm
by agonizomai
No worries. Congrats to both of you guys!

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:48 pm
by agonizomai
@randn(1) - To answer your question about which field, I applied for chaos theory/nonlinear dynamics. In fact, I picked all of my schools based on the strength of their programs in that field. How about you?

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:54 pm
by randn(1)
@agonizomai
I applied to particle theory and nonlinear dynamics. All of my research as an undergrad has been in nonlinear dynamics also. I have a feeling we applied to a lot of the same places for that reason, haha.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:57 pm
by agonizomai
haha, yeah. Maybe we'll see each other at some of the open houses. Although from the looks of it, I won't be at the Austin one.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:42 pm
by randn(1)
You never know, you may hear a reply tomorrow. Where else did you apply?
I applied to UT Austin, U Maryland, U Michigan, UCSD, Duke, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, and Cornell.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:49 pm
by agonizomai
It would be very nice if I hear tomorrow. I'm expecting not though.

I applied to UT Austin, U Maryland, UCSD, Duke, Cornell, and Boston U. Are you going for theory or experiment? Also, what types of nonlinear research?

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:59 pm
by randn(1)
Definitely theory. As far as what types of research, I actually think that I want to get into QFT and particle physics rather than straight chaos theory. I like both and would be happy working on either, I guess I'll just see what happens. So far my work has been in computational fluid dynamics and theory of dynamical systems.

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 12:14 am
by agonizomai
Quantum chaos is a very neat field (understatement, perhaps). I think UT Austin is an awesome place to do CFD, though. Swinney is there. I want to do theory as well, but all my work so far has been in nonlinear dynamics in networks. I think I want to keep in that direction or some similar interdisciplinary problem.

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 12:31 am
by randn(1)
I would absolutely agree with that. Thanks to Gutzwiller and the like, Quantum Chaos allows us to discern which uncertainties are due to measurement error and which are attributable to nature herself. It's a very philosophical subject.
Good luck with the rest of your applications, I will post here whenever I get accepted or rejected from anywhere.

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:56 pm
by otto
{snip}

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:57 pm
by grae313
For those of you that haven't yet, consider adding your profile to the 2008 profiles and decisions thread. It will be a huge help to future students.