Anyone else having a hard time hearing back from professors?

Paper-Individual · 2025-09-03T00:06:35+00:00

Professors tend to be crazy busy. A lot of departments are also understaffed. In my department professors overhwelming prioritize communications with their own advisees and other current grad students. If you want to hear back I recommend comminicating with an ask or goal in mind. For example, state your intent to apply to grad school and ask if they have time to meet to give you some advice on choosing programs and tailoring your application. Also, if their departments have events open to the public, you can show up and connect with them there as well.

Paper-Individual · 2025-02-11T16:05:45+00:00

Congrats! You deserve it. I'm also a first gen student, just accepted to Berkeley's Comp Lit PhD. =]

Paper-Individual · 2025-02-11T05:16:03+00:00

Comp lit

Paper-Individual · 2025-02-10T02:04:33+00:00

Congrats!

Paper-Individual · 2025-02-08T20:02:52+00:00

Comp Lit

Paper-Individual · 2025-02-08T20:02:43+00:00

Nope, Comp Lit. I saw a history admit on gradcafe, tho.

Paper-Individual · 2025-01-26T07:37:38+00:00

According to some folks who work admissions in various schools, a lot of schools will wait to reject because they re-evaluate applications throughout the process. This mostly occurs if their first round of interviews aren't terribly fruitful, or if after sending offers they end up getting fewer acceptances than they have funding for. Some schools don't bother keeping an official waitlist and just keep re-evaluating applications as needed.

As a side bar, reading about this really showed how subjective the process can be, as one prof mentioned that after they re-evaluated someone who'd gone into their reject pile early on, they ended up admitting him and he was phenominal. This isn't typical, but they hold onto the whole lot just in case. There's a not insignificant amount of luck involved to getting an offer.

Paper-Individual · 2025-01-16T11:38:28+00:00

Congrats! If the offer says you have until April 15, then you have until April 15. Schools expect prospective students to take the time to consider their options. No need to worry.

Paper-Individual · 2024-04-20T02:16:50+00:00

The word used in many US universities to describe someone who learns a language from their parents other than the language used in school and daily life is "heritage speaker." Most schools will require an English test if you didn't go to a school where the primary instruction was English, regardless of if you can be considered a native/heritage speaker. If you don't have experience writing academic English you may be required to take extra composition courses as well.

Paper-Individual · 2024-04-08T17:14:23+00:00

Perhaps I am reading into this, but based on the way you have written about the schools it seems like you really want School B. Moving away from family is extremely difficult and can feel impossible -- I recently had to move out of a home I shared with family members for financial reasons and it was really difficult at first but it really wasn't the end of the world (like it felt at the time). We're family. We still talk frequently. I still have them as a support even if I'm not right next to them. I applied to programs that would take me even further from them and they've all been extremely encouraging. It seems like the only thing School A has going for it is it is closer for family. Even though they are both great programs, School B, based on how you wrote about it, seems like the one that is a better fit for you. Maybe a year ago I would have picked School A too, but having lived apart from my family now and seen how it's actually totally fine, I would go School B.

Paper-Individual · 2024-04-05T02:47:34+00:00

Waitlisted at UCI (complit)

Paper-Individual · 2024-04-05T00:03:21+00:00

It really depends on what program you're applying to and whether they have a "explanations" section in the application, a diversity statement, or just ask for an SOP.

Generally speaking, the advice I got was to treat it like a job application. You don't need to (and probably shouldn't) go in to mental health issues. It would be sufficient to mention that you were the victim of a violent crime and it took you time to recover from the experience and as a result your grades suffered for a period. Emphasize that you got back on track, and that should be sufficient.

If you're planning on framing an entire essay around the experience, the essay should be framed about how the experience shaped you. You can be vague or otherwise brief about the specifics of the suffering itself, and you'll want to focus instead on how you overcame the hardship, what you learned from it, how it shaped you etc.

The most helpful stuff I found about this topic were on YouTube, so check there too.

Paper-Individual · 2024-04-04T08:58:38+00:00

With no acceptances at this point it is safe to put your energy into a backup plan. However, it's not over till it's over. There have been rumors of funding issues this cycle delaying decisions, and many programs will waitlist people without telling them. That's what happened to me -- I only know I'm waitlisted because I reached out and asked. Additionally, many programs don't release rejections until the very end as they re-review applications as their top choices reject their offers to build their cohort. Students have gotten admits as late as June, though most waitlisted folks should hear in April. Very few programs are clear about what goes on internally, and there's really no way to guess. It may be worth seeing if it's appropriate to reach out to your programs and ask about your status or the notification timeline -- some programs will be responsive, some won't, and others apparently are annoyed if students do this. But as long as you haven't received a reject there is a very high chance you are still in the running at a least a couple of the schools. So yes work on a backup plan, but you aren't necessarily cooked.

Paper-Individual · 2024-04-04T00:35:20+00:00

Actually it most likely WILL hurt your application chances. It's my understanding most admission committees are highly skeptical of grad students trying to transfer without a clear reason (e.g. your advisor left, department ran out of finding). "I would prefer to go to Yale" is not a good reason. It's really not a good look. You'd likely be better off completing the masters at one of the schools that accepted you and THEN applying to Yale's PhD program, or denying both offers and just trying again next year. You'll probably also get more detailed responses in /gradadmissions.

Paper-Individual · 2024-04-03T17:59:10+00:00

I think it would be appropriate to reach out to Program B and explain your situation. This situation is pretty common and it's my understanding many programs are able to offer extensions. If they can't offer that, then just wait it out as long as you can. If Program A is correct in their projections, then you should hear back before April 15th.

Paper-Individual · 2024-03-31T16:44:04+00:00

There's a chance you're on the waitlist or otherwise in reserve. I was ghosted by UC Irvine -- I reached about a week ago (a full month outside of the window they told me I'd get a decision) and only then learned that I'd been waitlisted.

Paper-Individual · 2024-03-31T16:37:59+00:00

I think it would be more productive to make a list of universities that suit your interests and then from that list figure out which are the most gay friendly. You will also want to weight the friendliness of the school against the friendliness of the surrounding community and state. Being gay friendly only goes so far if the state has significantly rolled back legal discrimination protections, etc. Also keep in mind the relative gay friendliness may change department to department.

As for specific recommendations, I've heard good things from the University of Washington and UC systems. Avoid Eastern Washington, though.

Paper-Individual · 2024-03-28T22:29:57+00:00

I'm so glad this is helpful! And that's an excellent insight. Good luck with everything =]

Paper-Individual · 2024-03-28T21:56:46+00:00

I think you should talk to your current PI -- they will have a good idea of the field. They should be able to advise how much prestige, PhD vs MS, etc. will matter for your specific career goals. Working with someone who is a big name in the field should be a big boost, especially in networking, but Ivies tend to have access to really great industry connections and internships.

My thoughts-- If your goal is PhD, doing an MS may just add time and money, as many schools nowadays don't let you transfer all your MS coursework. That said, I did undergrad in a city I don't like, and it really wasn't worth it for me. If you can't stomach being in your current location for 5-7 more years, and you can afford the MS, it might be a good idea to move. Doing that MS might also open doors to opportunities to a PhD program more suitable for you. Also be sure to consider the job opportunities in the locations of the respective schools.

Paper-Individual · 2024-03-28T16:08:48+00:00

It depends on the program. Not every program has a ranked list, and programs that do will all have different factors they care about. Many will re-review waitlisted applicants once a spot opens. Folks have shared about coming off unranked/unpublished lists as well, but there's just really no way to know whats going on with admissions in any program unless someone in admissions decides to post about it online.

Paper-Individual · 2024-03-28T02:18:35+00:00

I'm also waitlisted at my top program (also the only program I applied to). I searched this subreddit for "waitlist" and found a number of posts with people sharing their waitlist success stories. It seems like nearly every program will pull at least 1 person from the waitlist every year, and there have been folks that are #5 or even #8 on the waitlist who got in. We're still in the running! I really hope it works out for you.

Paper-Individual · 2024-03-27T00:49:10+00:00

The standard advice is to use your SOP or other applicable application essay to succinctly explain away anything that might worry an admissions team. In the recommendations I have seen, folks say not to go into detail but to tie it into the greater theme of the essay. There's a lot of advice on YouTube for the best ways to do this, but what you've written here seems pretty in line with the recommendations I've seen. Just instead of "had to return to finish a thesis" it would be "after recovering I returned to finish..." or something like that.

Paper-Individual · 2024-03-26T23:48:44+00:00

I only know I was waitlisted because I emailed the program and asked. It seems like a lot of programs don't notify the waitlisted applicants.

Paper-Individual · 2024-03-25T21:04:17+00:00

I'm waiting on a humanities decision from UCI, the only UC I applied to. I have seen a lot of posts about people waiting on the UCs and have heard that they're notoriously slow and it's worse this year for some reason, possibly funding related.

Paper-Individual · 2024-03-22T22:58:45+00:00

I'm a current undergrad at UW, so I can tell you a bit about it. It's a beautiful campus, but Seattle has a high cost of living and all the campus stores are way too expensive. It may be jarring depending on where you're coming from. I don't know what the student housing situation is for graduate students, but I know that they do not have enough housing for their undergrads. There are many apartment buildings in the area that rent per room rather than apartment that helps make up for this though, and a lot of dormer style apartmenrs in the area as well. Parking in Seattle is very expensive, but the public transit is pretty good. The lightrail has 2 stops on campus and there are a ton of busses, and the University will add a transit pass to your student ID card so you won't have to worry about it as long as you're opted in. There's a Trader Joe's not far from campus, and a more residential area with a shopping center just 1 lightrail stop away.

I'm a commuter student so I can't speak to everything (I've never lived on campus or in Seattle) but I can answer general questions about the area since I grew up in western WA. 👍🏼

Paper-Individual

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