Wahasky Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 I saw that UMD posted a note on their department page that they will have fewer spots for admissions in fall 2021 due to students deferring offers from fall 2020 because of covid. I expect admissions to be more competitive this year, because of students deferring and also more people applying in a bad economy, but does anyone have a sense of the scale of the effect? Do we think twice as many people will apply for half as many spots? Better? Worse? I applied in fall 2018 and got some offers I liked, but went to work instead for personal reasons. Based on last time and my work experience since I think I'm a medium competitive candidate for schools in the 20's (Maryland, Austin) but am trying to decide whether what's going on right now should effect my decision making on applying now vs. waiting one more year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahasky Posted September 16, 2020 Author Share Posted September 16, 2020 Some context: I posted the same question on reddit and someone pointed me towards U Penn's announcement that they will not accept any PhD students this year. Certainly suggests a tough admissions cycle, not just this year but next year as well, possible several times more competitive than normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp9290 Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 I'm extremely concerned about this too but I'm not so sure if it'll be several times more competitive. Yes, there will probably be fewer spots and other universities might follow in Penn's footsteps. But I think a lot of people are going to defer applying this cycle because of that. Impossible to say how much of that will make up for the decrease in the intake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahasky Posted September 16, 2020 Author Share Posted September 16, 2020 I think you're right, there's going to be channels running in both directions. My guess is overall it balances towards a much tougher cycle, but it's really impossible to say and hopefully several times more competitive was an exaggeration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gentvenus Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 Some context: I posted the same question on reddit and someone pointed me towards U Penn's announcement that they will not accept any PhD students this year. Certainly suggests a tough admissions cycle, not just this year but next year as well, possible several times more competitive than normal. Yikes COVID really has wide ranging impacts, even on PhD students Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.