Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Hi guys...i was just browsing through the forums and saw that quite a few people have already got their admits (congrats to them )...I was wondering if any of these guys is an international student

Hello Karan,

I don't hear anything yet. Nor several of my classmates who are also applying to US grad schools in physics.

Many admissions committees concentrate on domestic applicants first because they have to make arrangements to visit the campus, whereas foreign applicants do not. Usually a couple of weeks difference.

Ohh got it...thx admissionprof

Hi there. Helio was accepted at UT Austin, he's an international student.

metric wrote:Hi there. Helio was accepted at UT Austin, he's an international student.

and you got to UWisc and you are not what I call US citizen

I think I got my notification so early cause I am technically counted as a domestic student because of where i did my undergrad

Also you have to understand that most admissions commitees have WAY more international than domestic applicants... i.e. 100 to 150 chinese versus everybody else, so they will focus on domestic first and tackle the rest later.... I also remember admissionprof saying that in her case they even split up the committee into two groups because of the sheer amount of chinese grad students

@ helio. I know I'm not a US citizen! (thank God! ) the US embassy told me that way before you. I meant that you're one of the few with an official mail from the committee, they kind of handed me a closed envelope underneath a coffee table. I'll have to wait until the first week of February to see if it's all true.

metric wrote:@ helio. I know I'm not a US citizen! (thank God! ) the US embassy told me that way before you. I meant that you're one of the few with an official mail from the committee, they kind of handed me a closed envelope underneath a coffee table. I'll have to wait until the first week of February to see if it's all true.

i am waiting for that letter from UT as well to make sure this is true because i sort of still can't believe it because UT is one of my top 4 choices.

I know i am not either, esp. when i have give 10 finger prints when i immigrate

admissionprof wrote:Many admissions committees concentrate on domestic applicants first because they have to make arrangements to visit the campus, whereas foreign applicants do not. Usually a couple of weeks difference.

but I think its not fair. most of the Universities set an earlier deadline for International students than domestic. if committee wants to process domestics first why they don't change the deadlines???

emperial wrote:

admissionprof wrote:Many admissions committees concentrate on domestic applicants first because they have to make arrangements to visit the campus, whereas foreign applicants do not. Usually a couple of weeks difference.

but I think its not fair. most of the Universities set an earlier deadline for International students than domestic. if committee wants to process domestics first why they don't change the deadlines???

tell me about it... the earlier deadline has to do with getting your application material in, i.e. a transcript send on dec. 15 from india will take longer than one from the US, simple as that

I don't think it takes that much of time i mean if people use fedex or dhl...i am from india and all of my packets reeached within 4 days to places ranging from east coast to west coast

karan wrote:I don't think it takes that much of time i mean if people use fedex or dhl...i am from india and all of my packets reeached within 4 days to places ranging from east coast to west coast

some schools do not think that way and there are other countries were it takes more than 4 days. Trust me on this, I have had things take 6 weeks to arrive from Germany because US Customs thought they were contaminated with something

Congrats Helio. I am int. stu. and I also got one from UT Austin two days ago. Do you have any idea about other schools timing?

congrats to alistar...way to go man

I think earlier deadlines are also used as a 'weeding out' mechanism.

Look at Cornell's Dec. 15th deadline for example (for everyone). I am pretty sure that they do not review apps over Christmas/New year, yet, they have an early deadline. By beginning Dec., they know that most students are finishing up their Fall semester, yet they want us to get the apps in at that time. Fodder for thought, I say. I hope it doesn't sound too much like a conspiracy theory

naseermk wrote:I think earlier deadlines are also used as a 'weeding out' mechanism.

Look at Cornell's Dec. 15th deadline for example (for everyone). I am pretty sure that they do not review apps over Christmas/New year, yet, they have an early deadline. By beginning Dec., they know that most students are finishing up their Fall semester, yet they want us to get the apps in at that time. Fodder for thought, I say. I hope it doesn't sound too much like a conspiracy theory

I think cornell is an expecting in the case of the dec. 15th and before schools because they actually tell you by around jan 20th (see last years profile) and that by snail mail. the absurd ones NYU (Dec. 12th) and Stanford (Dec. 15th) are just annoying to be honest, for example, where NYU takes till late feb to early march to make up their mind about admissions, while the monetary aspects are not clear till early april, while Stanford will make their decisions around March 1st, but from I gather their admissions process is very complicated, as they form sub-discipline committees and then weed out the first ones and then go into a general committee to make the decisions,