Physics GRE Discussion Forums

I want to take the opportunity to remind everyone that is applying for grad school this year to take a minute and e-mail the admissions directors of schools you are certain you will not attend. This makes everyone's life easier, particularly the admissions people and your peers on the waiting list.

YES! YES! A thousand times yes!

There is nothing more frustrating than having many people on a waiting list, eager to know their fate, and yet knowing of many that you've admitted who have a large number of offers. If you know you won't go somewhere, please, please decline now. You don't need to tell them where you are going, you don't need to even have decided where you are going. Just say no . It won't insult us, it'll just make life easier for everyone.

For the record, I've notified all the schools I'm sure I will not be attending.

-J

Just did, but it's only one school. Still two more to hear from but there's a chance I'll go.

Accepted to: UFlorida, UTexas Austin (via website, unofficial)
Waiting on: UC Davis, UMaryland

mdrake wrote:Just did, but it's only one school. Still two more to hear from but there's a chance I'll go.

Accepted to: UFlorida, UTexas Austin (via website, unofficial)
Waiting on: UC Davis, UMaryland

Hehe. I've been accepted to Davis and Maryland but am waiting on Austin. I wasn't invited to their open house though so I'm not too optimistic.

matonski wrote:

mdrake wrote:Just did, but it's only one school. Still two more to hear from but there's a chance I'll go.

Accepted to: UFlorida, UTexas Austin (via website, unofficial)
Waiting on: UC Davis, UMaryland

Hehe. I've been accepted to Davis and Maryland but am waiting on Austin. I wasn't invited to their open house though so I'm not too optimistic.

Don't give up hope! I didn't get invited to the open house either. Keep an eye on the status website.

As an International student who is wait listed in his desired schools I modestly ask anybody to answer their offers as soon as possible. Especially from UMass.
Please, please do not wait till the last moments to decide.
Your response to schools that you wont attend will build new ways for us.

this doesn't really apply to me, but i would think the line of thinking is this:

Some schools take their sweet time on figuring out who to accept. So I am going to take my sweet time to make a decision. Good practice for about to becoming a government employee (work slow).

chewy wrote:this doesn't really apply to me, but i would think the line of thinking is this:

Some schools take their sweet time on figuring out who to accept. So I am going to take my sweet time to make a decision. Good practice for about to becoming a government employee (work slow).

Good logic if you were only sticking it to the schools by doing this, but you're also sticking it to other students less fortunate than yourself (and I mean "you" in the general sense, not you specifically). I guess it's a personal decision everyone has to make.

Okay, I definitely won't be going to U Chicago, hopefully declining them now would make someone's day... good luck to whoever on the waitlist...

I was wait listed my one of my top choices a few weeks ago, with a 'strong chance' of being accepted, is it ok to contact them again and ask them where I stand? I haven't heard anything of late, and I guess it takes time for folks to decide and decline, but would it come across to them as annoying if I email and ask them about my current status? I have received an acceptance from my safety, and if I get into my top option, I would naturally immediately decline my safety! I hope enough people decline at my top option to make my day, and I can make someone else's day by declining my safety (which some other people on this forum have not yet heard from).

P.S: I'm hoping admissionprof has something to say here.

I think contacting them is absolutely appropriate here. You've waited a few weeks so it's not like you're hounding them. You might consider a phone call, as they are probably still dealing with a massive number of emails and calling would take less time for everyone involved.

grae313 wrote:I think contacting them is absolutely appropriate here. You've waited a few weeks so it's not like you're hounding them. You might consider a phone call, as they are probably still dealing with a massive number of emails and calling would take less time for everyone involved.

Thanks for that. I've been looking at the previous year profile threads - and most accept off wait list decisions happen on or around April 15th. That's painful, I hope I don't have to wait until April 16th or 17th.

Withdrew Syracuse Application today, in response to an email from a professor asking whether I am interested to be considered for wait list. I am pretty sure I won't be going there.

So I know this sounds really, really desperate, but if you have to choose between something like Harvard, MIT, Caltech and Stanford, please, please choose as soon as possible and not wait until April 15th! I know it's a tough choice and everything but please spare a thought for others who've been wait-listed at these places. My point here is that it's important to not only decline a tier-2 university if you've been accepted into a tier-1, but also try and decide between the tier-1's ASAP.

jones wrote:I was wait listed my one of my top choices a few weeks ago, with a 'strong chance' of being accepted, is it ok to contact them again and ask them where I stand? I haven't heard anything of late, and I guess it takes time for folks to decide and decline, but would it come across to them as annoying if I email and ask them about my current status? I have received an acceptance from my safety, and if I get into my top option, I would naturally immediately decline my safety! I hope enough people decline at my top option to make my day, and I can make someone else's day by declining my safety (which some other people on this forum have not yet heard from).

P.S: I'm hoping admissionprof has something to say here.

Absolutely you should contact them. It isn't annoying unless you start asking every other day (although every other day is ok in April).

admissionprof wrote:

jones wrote:I was wait listed my one of my top choices a few weeks ago, with a 'strong chance' of being accepted, is it ok to contact them again and ask them where I stand? I haven't heard anything of late, and I guess it takes time for folks to decide and decline, but would it come across to them as annoying if I email and ask them about my current status? I have received an acceptance from my safety, and if I get into my top option, I would naturally immediately decline my safety! I hope enough people decline at my top option to make my day, and I can make someone else's day by declining my safety (which some other people on this forum have not yet heard from).

P.S: I'm hoping admissionprof has something to say here.

Absolutely you should contact them. It isn't annoying unless you start asking every other day (although every other day is ok in April).

Thanks! A hypothetical situation: Suppose A has been accepted into B and C and decides (on the toss of a coin?) to go B on April 15th (I've seen that happen on this forum), but does not decline/inform C. In that case, will C start contacting its wait-listed people on April 16th, automatically assuming that A is not going to go there?