dontpanic

So, my season is now over... I got a waiting list from a top 15 school, a waiting list from a top 30 school, and an admit from a top 60 school. And rejections all the way between top 10 and top 50. I guess I have a very noisy profile.

Kind of off-topic, but I am getting tired of reading all these "Rejected from top30 school, but admitted by a top5 school...LOL, losers!" posts on GC. I mean, what's the purpose?

Well, you know, 15 years ago Pixar came up with this movie called Monsters, Inc. in which they show monsters need little children's screams and fear to use as sources of power... I heard they are now working on a movie called Economics, in which they will show how top econ departments feed on the despair and crushed dreams of applicants... I sincerely don't see any other reason, specially if that GC post saying they had 900 applications and only 18 spots is true. Just put everyone not admitted out of their misery already.

That does make sense for Northwestern... But didn't NYU already send out waitlists as well? I mean, what's the point of not rejecting everybody else if you already have a batch of students to choose from in case some of the admitted students don't accept the offers?

Agreed. I mean, as per GC, there are a few people who haven't received anything yet... which could lead one to believe that he or she might be on "pending" status, or "unofficial waitlist", whatever you want to call it. But it would be just outright mean if that is not the case.

Does anybody here have an informed guess/opinion on Northwestern's modus operandi? I mean, they seem to have sent all the acceptances already (since at least 3 or 4 weeks ago), and they even started sending out some rejections... why not send all of them at once? it seems unnecessarily cruel...

What do you mean "good" waitlist? and how do you know whether or not you were on it?

LOL; same here... woke up briefly to use the toilet, saw the rejection. Hard to have sweet dreams after that.

From the GC posts of all the admitted people who are apparently declining, that seems like a reasonable assumption. Although, it's tough to know for certain without inside information.

I certainly hope not, but that seems to be the case...

Since NYU did send waitlists, I'd say it's most likely a rejection. UCLA seems to have send only a handful of admits, so there still could be some chance there.

I mean, if it's true, then it is quite likely that the acceptances are done, given that they take about 4-6 students per year... If any at all. So, if they admitted 3 or 4 students, it could be the case that only one of them decided to post to GC. But I cannot say for sure, to be honest.

Yeah, it's hard to come up with a pattern. I guess it depends on the perception of you each school had. If your reach school thinks they are among the highest-ranked programs that will make you an offer, then they are trying to "lure you in" with the funded offer. Conversely, if the safety school knows you'll get better offers, then they don't want to waste a funded place on you, but would probably fund you if you decide to go there. Who knows. It could also be a matter of fit, or a thousand different factors. It's weird, I have seen people with stellar credentials get rejected and people with ok credentials admitted at top departments.

I know CUNY started giving out interviews. However, if you haven't heard anything, you shouldn't read too much into this, as I've heard they interview all the candidates.

I'm also on the same no-news-from-Princeton boat... implicit rejections suck big time, it would be better if schools notified everyone at the same time... or gave rejections first. I bet an implicit acceptance sucks less than an implicit rejection. Oh well...