For those who want to know what is happening with graduate admissions, there is a site on which applicants post their stats and outcomes. You can search by university and field. I believe that it violates the rules to post the URL here, but searching for grad cafe acceptances will get you close.
D’s 7 applications resulted in 5 interviews and (so far) 2 waitlists. She was somewhat heartened to learn that she had been the first alternate for her top choice school, but their first choice candidate accepted the offer. Has decided to stay in her current research job (which she likes) another year. Is disappointed but knows that the acceptance rate in these programs is in the single digits – feels she will be a stronger applicant with another year of research experience (and hopefully another publication) under her belt. From what I’ve read on the site @coase refers to, it is not unusual for applicants to go through multiple application cycles before getting an offer. D’s concern now is what happens this year if she should move off the waitlist at a school but turns them down – thinks it is likely to sink her chances at that school next year if she were to reapply. So is hoping (rather perversely) NOT to get off the waitlist!
I don’t understand: if she gets off the wait list at a school where she might apply next year, why wouldn’t she take the spot? Just not clear, sorry : ) Perhaps she has committed/signed something that means she has to continue the research for another year rather than still having the choice to attend grad school?
@compmom, she’s not committed to a time frame at her current lab, but they have indicated that they would be glad to have her work on the project for another year.
One of the WL schools is in an undesirable geographic location; D said she didn’t realize how important location would be to her when she made up her initial (and I think too short, but what do I know?) list and would not reapply there. The other program (to which she would possibly reapply) does not use the traditional mentor model she decided she prefers (and has much less funding available), so she wants to take another run at programs with better funding and more opportunities for publication.
Going through the process has given her a much better idea of how it works and what is important to her so fingers crossed that helps next time.
My kid’s top choice after visits is in an undesirable location. But after visiting several schools, she realized that the research and atmosphere suited her far better than her other choices. They also do publish a lot. The location and gender ratio aren’t great (13 interviews, and nary a woman among them). It is a respected program in her specific area of interest, and she liked everyone she met. So barring some last minute snag, she will be accepting their offer. At least the cost of living is pretty low. 
My son’s been going back and forth across the country since October for visits/interviews. He felt one of the programs were more in line with his interest’s and career wise would be the best choice, and then they offered him a fellowship right after his visit/interview! He accepted and is very happy with his decision.
He applied to 7, accepted at 5, rejected at one and still hasn’t heard back from one (although we know they sent out acceptances in January based on postings on Grad Cafe).
DS is a first year PhD student in chemistry. During this visiting season he has enjoyed being on the other side of the fence, and interacting with the prospective new students for his department.
His advice is to pay a great deal of attention to your peer group at each school. Yes, it’s important to have a good fit with a PI, but the vast majority of your time will be spent around your fellow grad students. Your visit weekends will usually include a meet and mingle event with faculty, staff and students. Take advantage of this time to get the real story from these students. They will be happy to tell you what life in the program is like.
@intparent, I think your kid has the right attitude (and congrats to her!). Grad students will be working too hard to have much free time anyway, so I didn’t think location was a deal-breaker if the program was strong. But D looked at it as “I’m going to have so little free time, when I can take the rare break, it’s important to me to be somewhere with good restaurants/museums/outdoor activities.” I suspect her perspective may well be influenced by having spent her undergrad years in a small LAC town followed by two years in big cities.
Okay. I have not been naming names at other schools, but I have had it with one of them. University of Connecticut has the most ridiculous reimbursement process for travel to an accepted student event ever. I have been helping D for over two hours with it this afternoon. They require her to “register as a vendor” in their accounts payable system. So she had to set up an account, then wait for an email validating it. Then go in and fill out a lot of detailed info as if she were a business to complete the setup. Meaning she has to fill out and scan a W9, provided a voided check for an ACH transaction, etc. Now the system says her SSN does not match her name (got news… I just checked spelling of her name, middle name, and SSN against her card – it does match). So she has sent an email to the department person to see if they can help. Every other school (all also public universities, so it is not that) either did all the travel arrangements, or they had a simple process to provide receipts and get a check sent. This is stupid. Glad she is not planning to attend there. I bet a lot of people just give up and don’t even seek reimbursement. (Oh… and the visit cost more than they will pay, too). X(
So frustrating! Two people, two hours’ each: I’ll bet you wish you could charge for labor, too.
I have worked with schools who require those vendor accounts and they are crazy. One was just do they could send in a $50 payment to attend a college fair.
Sorry to hear there was so much red tape!
I had to set up a vendor account for DS at NYU in order for him to get some prize money. His HS had to also become a “vendor” to get some of the prize that was for the HS. It’s a pain, but maybe not so uncommon.
Just curious-how many schools did your kids apply to? My student applied to 10 schools. Is that an average number, or do grad school applicants typically apply to more? (As undergrads are beginning to do because of the crazy competitiveness)
Very helpful thread, btw.
I think mine applied to 6, but perhaps I’m forgetting one or two. There was one he had to eliminate cuz the interview weekend clashed with other schools.
Sbjdorlo, are you writing about your oldest son?
Mine applied to 10 PhD programs and one funded masters program. That is a few more schools that she applied to for undergrad (8 in that pool).
My son applied to 7 PhD programs.
My daughter applied to too many PhD programs.
My son applied to I believe 12 schools for physics, and there were only certain schools that had programs in his area of interest.
One stat I read about PSU was they had 900 applicants for < 100 spots. I am curious if other disciplines are as competitive?
No, I’m actually inquiring about a student I’m working with. I work part time as an independent college consultant, working for myself and a company that works with intl students applying to American colleges. Lots of experience with u/g, but this is the first PhD candidate I’ve worked with, TBH, so it’s been a steep learning curve.
My student applied to several different related disciplines. He has only heard back from one school (rejection from UCB/UCSF combined program), and, as I said, is still interviewing with at least one school. He had to interview with two different faculty members, and hasn’t had the second interview yet. (Coming up this week)
My daughter applied for economics Ph.D. programs. According to a poster on the Grad Cafe, one of the schools to which she was admitted made offers to 23 of 789 applicants…