<p>I would agree with Mollie. I recently had an interview where the woman interviewing at first kept saying things to the effect of "Oh! I really hope you come here" then when finding out where else I applied changed to "So you should have a lot of good options, pick what is best for you, but we'd love to have you" and specifically when finding out I applied to a rival school said "Oh, well, we're better than they are...but they probably said that too...that's really tacky of me to say...go where is best for you."</p>
<p>So it was flattering that she seemed really keen on me coming to her school, but in the end she seemed to truly want me to go to the best school possible for me.</p>
<p>Ok, I was wait listed @ MSSM in mid-January. @ the interview, they stressed the fact that their "wait list" isn't just a fancy name for the "reject later" pile, but they do, in fact, let several students in off the wait list each year. They also said you were more likely to be wait listed if you interviewed early, cuz they still needed a chance to meet other candidates. So, when is it appropriate for me to contact them for more concrete information? I've been invited to the grad school retreat (along with the other wait listed and admitted candidates) and I think i'll go (hey, it's free). They contacted me again on March 1 asking if I was still interested, and I replied a hearty yes... but I'm just so tired of being in limbo!!!! Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Is MSSM your top choice? When is the retreat? I would probably ask then. And if you have no word, I would definitely ask for a final response by April 1st (so you have two weeks to decide).</p>
<p>Are there any other schools that alreasy accepted you?</p>
<p>@Sydneya - Yes, both the addresses are the same..or are they?? The zip codes are diff! Figure this out -</p>
<p>Accept address -
Deborah R. Evalds
U.T. Southwestern Medical Center @ Dallas
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Division of Basic Science
5323 Harry Hines Blvd. L2.214a
Dallas, TX 75390-9042</p>
<p>Prior to that, reject address-
Nancy E. Street, PhD
Associate Dean
Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
5323 Harry Hines Blvd
Dallas, TX 75390-9004</p>
<p>@xenoi87-
You r right abt UCSD, but even if they accept me, I dont think i ll change my mind abt going to UMass. I like what i hear abt the place and although i m not v sure abt the housing scene in Worcester, the RNAi work there looks too good to give up! They even scooped up Victor Ambros last Fall! They told me to get back to them by April 15, but i think by march-end i should be mailing in my yes. My girl's got in too, so its all good! I hope you ll be coming there too - when i catch up with you there, a round of tequila shooters is on me. :)</p>
<p>Oh and btw, got 2 rejects - UPenn and Scripps :(</p>
<p>The retreat is April 10-12... dont really wanna wait til then (also not sure if i'll wanna go if i dont get in! seems silly to "revisit" if there's 0% chance of going there...). Is hard to say if they're #1 but they're definately 1 or 2, and I have an acceptance at the other #1/2 school.</p>
<p>souravrc- i got rejected from UPenn too! I'm pretty upset about it because they really grabbed me during interviews and I thought it was the place for me. They also said that they accept 90% of the people they interview. However, today, they said they are accepting a lot less because of funding (I emailed and asked). I don't know if this is true, but I really wasn't expecting a reject. I mean, during one of the dinners with faculty, one of the admissions committee members asked me straight out "So, are you going to go here?" And then they reject me. Wt ef</p>
<p>So now I'm stuck and need advice from everyone. I really don't know how this works. I'm the only one in my family to ever go to college, and none of my friends are applying to graduate school. I applied to 6 (Columbia, Princeton, Yale, Einstein, NYU, Penn) schools, got interviews at 4, and was accepted to 2 (Columbia and Einstein) and waitlisted by 1 (NYU). Is this a normal number to be accepted to, or is it a bad sign? Interviews have been a little intimidating for me since 75% of the other applicants I meet have already worked for years before applying for a PhD and I'm applying straight out of undergrad. I feel as if this is the reason for receiving so many rejections since I "only" have 2 years of research experience. Am I going to be at a huge disadvantage? I'm so confused right now. Thanks.</p>
<p>I don't think that you need to worry at all. You got into two great schools and I would just concentrate on choosing one of them. I would probably pick Columbia unless you REALLY liked Einstein significantly better. Columbia is probably a better school, with better funding and a better name.</p>
<p>I am in a similar situation as you. I got into two out of 6 schools. I got into Weill Cornell and Einstein. I already chose Weill because I felt that for me it was better in every aspect. But Einstein was definitely a good place as well.</p>
<p>I would not really worry about the fact that you went straight from undergrad. If you are good enough to get in straight out of undergrad (and you are since you got into two schools) it just shows that you are smart enough to go to grad school and you should not be worried about succeeding there.</p>
<p>sure we can do the tequila shots. i had visited worcester and the housing situation seems ok. rent usually varies between $400-700 per month for a room. This is decent considering that the stipend is $28000/year. I got a list of indian students who got accepted at umass med so i am sending out an email to all of them. may be we can work together on something. you will probably get my email.</p>
<p>maco: thank you so much. That really helped. And congratulations on Weill. I hear its a great school, especially in cancer research, and it's in a really nice area right?. I really liked Einstein, and I thought that the people were extremely nice, but having nice people isn't enough of a reason to pick a school. It looks like we will both be walking the streets fo Manhattan next fall! I would have been choosing b/w Penn and Columbia anyway I think, so I guess this makes my decision much easier.</p>
<p>this is the response from the committee member regarding my position on the waitlist...</p>
<p>"We made 9 offers. We hope to get 7 students. We have gotten back 3
positive responses and no withdrawals at this point, which means we have
4 more spaces still open. You are number 2 on the wait list. I don't know how likely it is that you will get an offer."</p>
<p>What would you guys say my chance to get in this school? Don't know much about how the waitlist and all these stuffs work... Response appreciated!</p>
<p>did you talk to the applicants during your interview? This matters because if a lot of them sat there and said "oh, I got into Harvard, MIT, and a billion other top schools", and your schools is not one of those top schools, your chances of getting bumped up are much higher (since they'd most likely go to the other schools). </p>
<p>but really, there's nothing you can do or change by driving yourself crazy. All you can do is just wait. Just don't reject your other schools until you hear back regarding your admit situation.</p>
<p>at this point in time, it is a bad sign if you still haven't heard back from schools? i went to 2 interviews, and i still haven't heard back yet. i'm so worried because they're my top choices! =(</p>
<p>i also received a rejection email from UPenn today. and i clearly remember them telling us 'we'll accept 90% of the applicants'... </p>
<p>i guess i can tell my juniors that admissions people do bul****. lol.</p>
<p>and i begin to doubt a promise made by another school. they said:'we will accept all the interviewees unless you get arrested.' and i havent heard back from that school either. some of you might recognise this story and know which school i'm talking about. haha. im so cynical.</p>
<p>souravrc, I got my acceptance e-mail from Deborah Evalds as well. If you didn't interview there, maybe it was a mistake. I would check back with them to make sure it's correct. My acceptance e-mail included a .pdf file with my name on it, if that helps any.</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone for acceptances! It feels like every step of this whole process is gradually getting harder. I thought handling applications, recs, and personal statements were hard, then the waiting period got harder, and now choosing a school is the hardest yet.</p>