hailmary Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 (edited) I had reached out to a POI a couple of weeks ago under the assumption things wouldn't work out this year and asked for advice regarding types of research positions/jobs to accept this upcoming year. They responded last weekend saying my GRE scores were below the cut off, but they would talk to the committee. Any thoughts on what that means? Do you think there's a possibility I could still be accepted this year? I thanked them, and reiterated my commitment to the program. But I haven't heard anything back yet. If it doesn't work out, I'm going to reapply next year and only apply to this school as we are planning on moving to the area regardless and I think it's the best research fit. I made that known in my initial email. I'm just antsy for a decision one way or the other because it would be preferable to move sooner rather than later. My husband is having difficulty applying to jobs across country. I have some remote work / freelance opportunities that would allow us to move now - but most would prefer a more long-term commitment and I can't really commit until I have a better idea of whether or not I'll be starting school in the fall. So, I'm feeling the pressure, but don't want to bother the POI by emailing them again. Living in limbo is difficult! I'm learning that I'm not a very patient person! Edited March 2, 2014 by hailmary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StayStrong Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 I had reached out to a POI a couple of weeks ago under the assumption things wouldn't work out this year and asked for advice regarding types of research positions/jobs to accept this upcoming year. They responded last weekend saying my GRE scores were below the cut off, but they would talk to the committee. Any thoughts on what that means? Do you think there's a possibility I could still be accepted this year? I thanked them, and reiterated my commitment to the program. But I haven't heard anything back yet. If it doesn't work out, I'm going to reapply next year and only apply to this school as we are planning on moving to the area regardless and I think it's the best research fit. I made that known in my initial email. I'm just antsy for a decision one way or the other because it would be preferable to move sooner rather than later. My husband is having difficulty applying to jobs across country. I have some remote work / freelance opportunities that would allow us to move now - but most would prefer a more long-term commitment and I can't really commit until I have a better idea of whether or not I'll be starting school in the fall. So, I'm feeling the pressure, but don't want to bother the POI by emailing them again. Living in limbo is difficult! I'm learning that I'm not a very patient person! I feel the pain...Yup, we are all learning how impatient we are, so you're not alone! I would say given that you are planning on moving there anyways, may be you should word your email in such a way that you are both asking for an update, as well as expressing interest in working with her on a project irrespective of the outcome of this cycle. I believe this will go a long way to helping you gain admission next cycle, should things not work out. Depending on how intensive the research role is, you may even want to consider forgoing the extra income for the sake of gaining a more comprehensive research experience within the next couple of months. You could also, through this, be introduced to other faculty at the school...So, there are many advantages to giving up employment, if it is financially feasible - only you are able to make that decision. I am personally considering doing something similar should I not match this cycle. But in my case I would have to resign from my job and relocate to do this, so sacrifices, sacrifices... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackKitty Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Living in limbo is difficult! I'm learning that I'm not a very patient person! Same here. The only school I haven't heard anything from is Chicago Harris. According to the past results on GC, Chicago is known to leave people in limbo well beyond April! There are people who got wait-listed in late March and still didn't received anything final well into June (it's doubtful whether they eventually received a final decision at all). I also didn't see any admits last year, and from how things looked last year, either you were rejected around March 8 or you were left to rot in limbo indefinitely. How cruel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmktg Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 is anyone else blown away by the fact that many programs have still not sent out rejections despite having already admitted candidates? i know several programs that have already flown out all their admits, did interviews months ago, and still no rejection letters. surely they aren't going to admit people who they never interviewed, so why not spare hundreds of people months of anxiety and just send out the rejections already?? it's baffling :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phdacc2014 Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 is anyone else blown away by the fact that many programs have still not sent out rejections despite having already admitted candidates? i know several programs that have already flown out all their admits, did interviews months ago, and still no rejection letters. surely they aren't going to admit people who they never interviewed, so why not spare hundreds of people months of anxiety and just send out the rejections already?? it's baffling :( I totally agree. If you know you're gonna end up rejecting a group of people, do it sooner rather than later. The wait is painful. Some schools reject a bunch of people and then have the rest on a waitlist. I know I was on a couple of those this year. They rejected everyone else except say 10 - 15 applicants, offered a few seats, and were waiting for those students to accept their offers before sending out rejections to the rest of us. I'm guessing that might be the case with a lot of schools as well, which is understandable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phdman Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Which schools have sent out all offers for strategy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc98835 Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 is anyone else blown away by the fact that many programs have still not sent out rejections despite having already admitted candidates? i know several programs that have already flown out all their admits, did interviews months ago, and still no rejection letters. surely they aren't going to admit people who they never interviewed, so why not spare hundreds of people months of anxiety and just send out the rejections already?? it's baffling :( Well if you think from the perspective of the schools, then sending rejection letters is the last item on their priority list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XanthusARES Posted March 3, 2014 Author Share Posted March 3, 2014 I totally agree. If you know you're gonna end up rejecting a group of people, do it sooner rather than later. The wait is painful. Some schools reject a bunch of people and then have the rest on a waitlist. I know I was on a couple of those this year. They rejected everyone else except say 10 - 15 applicants, offered a few seats, and were waiting for those students to accept their offers before sending out rejections to the rest of us. I'm guessing that might be the case with a lot of schools as well, which is understandable. I actually think that they do it that way so that the first people to hear anything from the schools are those people who are accepted. It's less about the rejections and more about the acceptances. There is also the element of "If everyone of the 15 people we want rejects our offer, it doesn't hurt to keep the door open for others" mentality, although some schools would probably just wait for the next batch of applicants in the following year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XanthusARES Posted March 3, 2014 Author Share Posted March 3, 2014 Well if you think from the perspective of the schools, then sending rejection letters is the last item on their priority list. Also 100% this. If they aren't going to accept you, they would much rather spend their energies on accepting students and new professors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc98835 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 nice read: There is a culture of acceptance around mental health issues in academia | Higher Education Network | Guardian Professional Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myndfood Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 nice read: There is a culture of acceptance around mental health issues in academia | Higher Education Network | Guardian Professional That's interesting--and thought-provoking. I also found it surprising, though. I think it's clear that "getting a PhD" is hard work, and requires a lot of time, etc... But I've never thought of it as particularly horrid (the author paints a pretty bleak picture). For what it's worth, I did a quick Google search of suicide rates by profession. Only one research profession made the list (Natural scientists: 19th). Business academia didn't make the list. On the other hand, Precision Woodworkers, Farm Managers, Lathe Operators, Real Estate Salespeople, Urban Planners, Chiropractors, Finance Workers (no surprise there), Veterinarians, Dentists and Physicians all did make the list. The 19 Jobs Where You're Most Likely To Kill Yourself - Business Insider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amiry Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Anyone could recommend on what would you wear on a dinner before a campus visit. What do you wear on the interview day? I already had an interview with them. I wore suits and tie and all my interviewers were in casual attire and one of them told me that I do not get to wear suits so often there. P.S. I do not have multiple set of suits and not really into buying a dozen for a Ph.D. interview Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phdacc2014 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Anyone could recommend on what would you wear on a dinner before a campus visit. What do you wear on the interview day? I already had an interview with them. I wore suits and tie and all my interviewers were in casual attire and one of them told me that I do not get to wear suits so often there. P.S. I do not have multiple set of suits and not really into buying a dozen for a Ph.D. interview If they explicitly said they don't wear suits, then I would just do business casual. Maybe khakis and a blazer, or dress pants, button-down shirt, and a nice sweater. I wouldn't wear casual attire for anything before getting admitted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hailmary Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 nice read: There is a culture of acceptance around mental health issues in academia | Higher Education Network | Guardian Professional I think some of those disorders come with perfectionism, and academia tends to be an area where you find driven, successful, perfectionist people. But I think there's similar rates of those disorders in most high stress jobs that tend to hire people that performed exceedingly well in school (finance, medicine, etc.). Also, there were definitely times when my husband was down/semi depressed throughout his PhD program. But it was never clinical and always fleeting. It happens more because - at least in life sciences - most of the time you have nothing to show for your work. It all comes together at the very end when you finally publish as a first-author and graduate. So it's easy to feel worthless/not productive. But it all works out in the end. Actually, maybe I shouldn't say that until after he finds a job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctoraldreams Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Hi! Has anyone heard anything from Columbia Business School for the Management department (Interview/admit) ? I am really anxious :( Any info would be most appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zwqt Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 It is weird that I have heard nothing from Northwestern U and Cornell, but on thegradcafe there are interviews, offers and rejections...what happened? they lost my application package? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindrew Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 It is weird that I have heard nothing from Northwestern U and Cornell, but on thegradcafe there are interviews, offers and rejections...what happened? they lost my application package? Not weird at all. I would think you made the first round of cuts, but didn't make it to the list of top prospects. So your application is in limbo till they get around to updating you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phdacc2014 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 It is weird that I have heard nothing from Northwestern U and Cornell, but on thegradcafe there are interviews, offers and rejections...what happened? they lost my application package? What mindrew said. I just mentioned a few posts ago that I'm on some sort of waitlist with two schools this year. They gave a few offers, rejected most people, and there are around 10 applicants or so that haven't heard anything. Basically, if the other students reject their offer, they'll move on to us. I just emailed them to find out what's going on with my application and they were pretty straightforward about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XanthusARES Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 What mindrew said. I just mentioned a few posts ago that I'm on some sort of waitlist with two schools this year. They gave a few offers, rejected most people, and there are around 10 applicants or so that haven't heard anything. Basically, if the other students reject their offer, they'll move on to us. I just emailed them to find out what's going on with my application and they were pretty straightforward about it. This seems to be the way schools work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhDPlease Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Anyone could recommend on what would you wear on a dinner before a campus visit. What do you wear on the interview day? I already had an interview with them. I wore suits and tie and all my interviewers were in casual attire and one of them told me that I do not get to wear suits so often there. P.S. I do not have multiple set of suits and not really into buying a dozen for a Ph.D. interview I think it is fine to wear the same suit to multiple interviews. I would do either business casual or business. In general it doesn't hurt to be a bit over-dressed (unless you are explicitly told not to dress up in advance). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XanthusARES Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 I think it is fine to wear the same suit to multiple interviews. I would do either business casual or business. In general it doesn't hurt to be a bit over-dressed (unless you are explicitly told not to dress up in advance). This. Personally I go with slacks, button down and tie for dinner (no jacket) and then suit it up for interviews. I worked a job where suits were required so I have a bunch of suits readily available. A cheaper way to get this similar effect is to have one black suit and one blue suit. Go somewhere cheap and buy 5 different colored button down shirts that could go with either blue or black and 5 different ties that would each work with each of the shirts. All of the sudden you have a bunch of different suits (I always forget the shortcut to do this math, I think it has factorials and exponents or something in it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmktg Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 nice read: There is a culture of acceptance around mental health issues in academia | Higher Education Network | Guardian Professional I've heard from some current students in top marketing programs that 80 hour work weeks are normal... has anyone else heard anything that confirms or denies this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phdacc2014 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 I've heard from some current students in top marketing programs that 80 hour work weeks are normal... has anyone else heard anything that confirms or denies this? It really depends on the program. I know a person at a Top 15 accounting program and works around 50 - 60 hours a week and he's doing fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phdacc2014 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 It really depends on the program. I know a person at a Top 15 accounting program and works around 50 - 60 hours a week and he's doing fine. ..and the student, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc98835 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 I've heard from some current students in top marketing programs that 80 hour work weeks are normal... has anyone else heard anything that confirms or denies this? The good thing about our field is that our work (which is mainly reading, brainstorming and/or building models) never goes waste, everything we do will help us in our development. However contrast this to the hard sciences, where they put in all nighters doing mechanical work for their experiments (setting up the equipment, taking readings etc.) and if it doesn't work out then they have to start from scratch. Overall I think our workload is probably better (or at worse equal) than many traditional professions like banking or consulting etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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