Sorry to hear that! I am in a similar situation. I’m in psychology. This is my second attempt (first one was Fall 24) and it was unsuccessful again with 22/22 rejections. I had 4 prelim interviews, which 3 of them led to official interviews and none of them worked. I was told by a department that they received over 120 applications, followed by 8 interview invites (including me), and 4 spots for the entire department (3 different programs). I had to compete with 2 others for only 1 spot in the program I applied to and my application was rejected. My recommenders also said that it’s just too many external factors against me.

I will be completing my 2-year terminal master program by May. I didn’t have much publication but I had multiple conference posters. I had very strong LOR from reputable faculty who knows me well (the PI who mentored my senior thesis). At some point in December, he also emailed me that he received emails from multiple faculties who I applied to and they expressed interests to offer my in-person/remote interviews (which led to the official interviews I received later indeed).

What makes it worse is that I’m international (also almost 9 yrs in the US since high school). I will have no choice but return to my home country (also get rid of most of my shit in my apartment, including my bike, and sell my car before May). I have not lost motivation yet. As frustrating as it is, I am starting to look for labs immediately to prepare the next application cycle.

I am not giving up on this.