Some concerns about Phd applications

  • This has become our largest and most active forum because the physics GRE is just one aspect of getting accepted into a graduate physics program.
  • There are applications, personal statements, letters of recommendation, visiting schools, anxiety of waiting for acceptances, deciding between schools, finding out where others are going, etc.

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Aragorn
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2012 12:43 pm

Some concerns about Phd applications

Post by Aragorn » Sat Feb 23, 2013 5:36 pm

Hi all,

I applied Carnegie Mellon and Purdue universities but I did not hear anything from them so far. I can see from gradcafe that there are persons who get an acceptance from these universities. And I sent an email to purdue to ask my status of application. they said graduate committe have not got any decisions for me yet. What I would like to ask is that is this a good or bad thing, according to your experiences?

Thank you!

Lavabug
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:19 pm

Re: Some concerns about Phd applications

Post by Lavabug » Sat Feb 23, 2013 6:02 pm

Aragorn wrote:Hi all,

I applied Carnegie Mellon and Purdue universities but I did not hear anything from them so far. I can see from gradcafe that there are persons who get an acceptance from these universities. And I sent an email to purdue to ask my status of application. they said graduate committe have not got any decisions for me yet. What I would like to ask is that is this a good or bad thing, according to your experiences?

Thank you!
Some universities send out applications in waves. Ohio state is doing the same this year, sending about 3-4 (reported) admissions out every 3-5 days. When I asked them about my status they said they'll need another ~2 weeks to finish reviewing all applications.

Looks like it's fairly common for big departments aiming to admit +20 students.

bfollinprm
Posts: 1203
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:44 am

Re: Some concerns about Phd applications

Post by bfollinprm » Sat Feb 23, 2013 10:07 pm

Aragorn wrote:Hi all,

I applied Carnegie Mellon and Purdue universities but I did not hear anything from them so far. I can see from gradcafe that there are persons who get an acceptance from these universities. And I sent an email to purdue to ask my status of application. they said graduate committe have not got any decisions for me yet. What I would like to ask is that is this a good or bad thing, according to your experiences?

Thank you!
It means it's not immediately obvious that they should accept you, but conversely it's not immediately obvious that they'd reject you. Hold yer horses, gents!

bschroe
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2013 9:33 pm

Re: Some concerns about Phd applications

Post by bschroe » Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:44 pm

bfollinprm wrote:It means it's not immediately obvious that they should accept you, but conversely it's not immediately obvious that they'd reject you. Hold yer horses, gents!
Exactly. There's really nothing to read into here.

Aragorn
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2012 12:43 pm

Re: Some concerns about Phd applications

Post by Aragorn » Sun Feb 24, 2013 6:24 pm

Hi,

Thank you guys. And I think it also means that I should be waiting just like everyone else :)

MaFFGeeK
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 3:51 pm

Re: Some concerns about Phd applications

Post by MaFFGeeK » Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:28 pm

I have a related question: Does inquiring about your application lower your chances of getting accepted at all? I applied to 10 places, and I've only heard back from 2 so far, so I'm beginning to get worried..

SSM
Posts: 87
Joined: Mon Nov 01, 2010 10:57 pm

Re: Some concerns about Phd applications

Post by SSM » Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:20 pm

Of course it would not negatively affect your application. Whether it would have a positive effect...not sure, probably not.



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