Questions for the admission (I have no news from universities)

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physicist91
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed May 04, 2016 12:34 am

Questions for the admission (I have no news from universities)

Post by physicist91 » Fri Jan 27, 2017 1:04 am

Hi, I am from S.Korea. My TOEFL score is 96 eith r25 l23 w26 s22. My GREs are p950 w4 v150 q167. c
I applied to several universities such as Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, Austin, and others.

Some of applicants have received admissions or rejections from Northsestern university yesterday. Moreover, other universities have started to notify their shortlist. For me, I have not heard any news from the universities that I applied, since the deadline for each university.

Q1. Not inviting interview for international physics or astrophysics applicants is common?? I am seriously worried about why I have not heard any news, including inviting interview.

Q2. Yesterday, Northwestern University has announced the applicants in their shortlist. I did not get any e-mail. The announcement for admission ordinarly has notified step by step??
If I did not get news from the univ, it does not mean that I will be failed to get an admission?? (I applied to astronomy program)

Thanks

TakeruK
Posts: 941
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2012 3:05 pm

Re: Questions for the admission (I have no news from universities)

Post by TakeruK » Fri Jan 27, 2017 12:07 pm

Q1: Yes, it is common for schools to not invite international applicants to visit the campus for an interview (or a recruitment visit), because it is expensive to travel that far. Instead, they might phone or Skype with you. However, not every school has interviews, so not hearing about an interview could mean
i) you did not get pass the interview stage,
ii) they have not yet decided to interview you, or
iii) they do not need interview for admission.

Q2: Every school does things differently. Yes, some schools will notify applicants step by step, which has at least two meanings:
i) they send acceptances first, notify about waitlist second, and then rejection don't come until much later, and/or
ii) they decide on a small shortlist first, notify them, then make more offers in small batches until they get the number of students they want

Here is how I would interpret results: you are not rejected until you get a rejection notice (which could not be until April or maybe even the summer or maybe they never tell you). The exception is if you are certain that a school has sent out all its offers, then not hearing anything is likely a rejection.

ndrach
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2016 7:27 pm

Re: Questions for the admission (I have no news from universities)

Post by ndrach » Fri Jan 27, 2017 1:18 pm

Looking through the 2017 Applicant Profiles, as of 12pm EST on Jan. 27th, only abut 35% of applicants have heard anything back from any universities they have applied to. I would say its a bit too early to start worrying. I have not heard anything back from any of my schools either.

HydrogenAndTime
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2017 11:55 pm

Re: Questions for the admission (I have no news from universities)

Post by HydrogenAndTime » Fri Jan 27, 2017 6:09 pm

Q1. Not inviting interview for international physics or astrophysics applicants is common?? I am seriously worried about why I have not heard any news, including inviting interview.

Yes. I applied for 10 programs in physics & astronomy and heard back from only one place. I did no interviews at all (at least so far). I am an international student from South Korea as well.

Q2. Yesterday, Northwestern University has announced the applicants in their shortlist. I did not get any e-mail. The announcement for admission ordinarly has notified step by step??
If I did not get news from the univ, it does not mean that I will be failed to get an admission?? (I applied to astronomy program)

The schools will send out results in few separate batches. For most programs, people hearing back now implies that they are some of the earlier/earliest acceptances. (It does seem to me that the astronomy programs generally do make decisions a little faster than physics programs, but this is based on my personal observation on a small sample size.)

No need to panic yet. It is not uncommon for people to not hear back from anywhere until mid-February.

ckitc
Posts: 24
Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2017 4:52 pm

Re: Questions for the admission (I have no news from universities)

Post by ckitc » Fri Jan 27, 2017 6:16 pm

HydrogenAndTime wrote:Q1. Not inviting interview for international physics or astrophysics applicants is common?? I am seriously worried about why I have not heard any news, including inviting interview.
I am an American applicant from a domestic undergrad institution applying in astronomy. I have gotten four admissions so far (to good schools, mind you!) and had exactly zero contact with every one of those schools before being admitted. Obviously things are different for internationals, but many places simply don't interview at all. I concur with this (and the other) posts.

physicist91
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed May 04, 2016 12:34 am

Re: Questions for the admission (I have no news from universities)

Post by physicist91 » Tue Jan 31, 2017 10:00 am

Thanks for respondents :D
February is comming and I hope that many of us can get admissions.
Happy new year everyone in asian clock (this is my reference frame) :D



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