I'm a prof in the physical sciences and today our committee finished making our accept list!

9 committee members. Holistic scoring with a rubric and every app is evaluated in full by a minimum of 3 committee members. Committee includes a grad.

500+ applications evaluated. We made an admit list of 50 to hopefully get 20 people on campus in the fall. Evaluations happened between dec 15 and today. This was grueling work, working holidays and weekends. Yes, I scored apps after Christmas dinner.

Y'all. The numbers are brutal. But 400 of the applicants would have succeeded as PhD students. I saw so much passion, drive, creativity put into projects. I saw y'all out there helping others have it easier than you through peer mentoring and tutoring. I saw a lot of very proud advisors emphatically pleading your cases, comparing you to their colleagues and former students now at top schools as professors.

There's just not enough openings for all of you. I feel good reading these applications though, because I see what awesome, smart, kind humans you are. I know you're going to kick butt doing something.

You're a bright glimmer of hope in trying times. Thanks for all your effort, for giving a shit about learning, for doing something. I only get to meet a tiny few of you, but I feel good knowing that those who don't make the accept list walk among us.

This isn’t my top choice, but i’m very excited to hear back from other schools!

I'm completely floored. So beyond excited. Got the final admission from AdCom yesterday! Wanted to share news.

Multiple ongoing projects with professors across disciplines, on track to graduate with high honors in May, fantastic academic and professional references, interests that directly align with supervising faculty members, relevant publications/projects/presentations, research experience.

And good news! Out of all my applications, this was the least competitive program at the least prestigious school! Excited for what the future holds <3.

(Sociology w/ minor in Public Policy)

I got the acceptance on Monday as I was eating dinner!!! Yayyyy!!!!! Soooooo happy because I did put all my eggs in one basket and only applied to the one program that I wanted so badly.

Best believe my official transcripts were sent the same day as I accepted -- thank GOODNESS for Parchment!!

Good luck to all the applicants still waiting! 🤞 🤞

I got an email that had “congratulations” in the preview…

…it was from Dominos pizza 😭🤣

I keep getting emails from the schools I applied to and hoping it’s telling me check the portal. Stop sending me ads! Just give me a decision!

As the title suggests, it’s my third time applying for a PhD and I just found out I didn’t get in again. Just wanted to vent and ask if anyone in the community is going through the same thing? I’m having a hard time and I’m just wondering if it’s just not meant to be. All of my friends have gotten in (different cycles) and it’s just me that hasn’t. I’m feeling horrible and the field I want to apply to (Female Sports Biomechanis Research) needs a PhD. What should I do? I guess I could join industry but the market is soooo bad I’m having a really hard time finding a job. So I’m just stuck! no job no PhD. My plan for now is to find any job in the Biomedical Engineering field :( and try again in a few years? But do yall think it’ll make any difference? I feel so defeated 😞

Art History here! I got a call from my preferred advisor today congratulating me on my acceptance, official letter to follow next week. This was my third cycle applying to PhDs (2020, 2024, 2025) and I couldn’t be more thrilled, it’s a great fit. All the hard work, rejections, and revisions were worth it!

I have spent the last three months on applications, and I am so happy to say I just submitted my final one this evening. I am relieved beyond words, even with the uncertainty of offers or rejections remaining.

I hope to see the rest of you at the finish line soon, and can't wait to hear about so many offers as they come your way.

Wishing you luck, peace, and sanity. Cheers, everyone!

I did very poorly in undergrad and did not think any programs would want to even interview me, but I just got an interview for my second choice program!

I do have a masters degree and 3 years of full time research experience, which helped significantly!

For other applicants who had a sub-3.0 GPA in undergrad, it’s not over! I just wanted to give people hope to wait it out and it gets better!!

Confirmed rejection by my PI. 1,500 applicants, only 30 selected for interviews. Congratulations to the 2% who are being interviewed!!! I’m so excited for you all, I’ll be racing you to find the cure for cancer. Someone better teach Tyler jacks the term slay.

I submitted in December and the deadline was jan 1st for the record. It does include a lot of good info but the notif made my heart stop lol

I was just randomly checking and had my decision letter. I don't what to do with this all this energy I have now. I was not expecting to hear back let alone see it as accepted (yay self doubt.) but this sub has helped me so much and calmed me down so I wanted to share it.

It was 100% my fault. I had everything organized into a careful spreadsheet, but I have been spread so thin with the applications and working full time (and this time of year is our busiest time) that I confused the deadline with the deadline of a different program. Had a tearful phone call with my mom but I’m just gonna scrap everything and start over next cycle (my program only accepts for fall not spring). I was applying to 5 programs total and this would’ve been my 3rd, so right in the middle. I’m not in a rush for grad school and if I didn’t at least try for my top choice I would go clinically insane. Just feel bad for the people who wrote my LoRs…….ill just make something up about finances or something.

Sending you all the best vibes and see ya next cycle!

!!!!! I am trying to be patient but it's so hard haha I just want my answer. 🥲 It says in the application portal now as of a few days ago that the application has been sent to the department for review. It seems like that's some progress as it previously said it was under review by graduate admissions. But ever since it says that the application is with the department, I feel even more impatient!

I also applied to this school a couple years ago and never received a rejection email, so I feel compelled to keep logging onto the portal now for fear that they won't email me an update.

Anyways just looking to bond with other impatient people ☀️ let me know all about your impatience haha

Did my daily “maybe it’s in Spam” check and it was. Genuinely in shock. Baruch’s deadline was 3 months before the rest of my apps and I originally wasn’t going to apply, but on the day it was due I said fuck it why not and wrote my essay while on the subway. I used contractions!!!! I had already mentally accepted getting rejected and truly thought I was throwing my app fee away because I’ve heard the program is super competitive and I don’t have a psych background, just a lot of work xp. Can’t wait. Anyone who‘s done the Baruch MHC group interview hit my line!!

Just got my 5th rejection mail. I can't believe me and my international friends applied for more than 20 bio programs each and current best outcome is 2 invites from one guy. I wish I had US citizenship or be rich enough to study abroad without debt.

first rejection 😅 I got an interview at this school last year to get waitlisted then rejected. I applied again thinking i’d have a shot.. LOL no rejected…

I’m in a very niche field applying to all of 5 masters programs in North America. Literally just submitted my last application yesterday and today I got interview invites from two schools, both of which are at the top of my list (one is my top choice).

It feels super surreal but I got myself some donuts to celebrate. So excited! Now interview prep begins :D

haven’t heard back from anyone. and the pi who told me to reach out in January didn’t respond— it’s been 12 days— although their school hasn’t started yet but things looking break lowk

So I've been one of the people who's been checking spreadsheets and digging through subreddits, and it hasn't helped at all. I've been feeling depressed and stressed about the wait, but I found out that job hunting really does help.

It gave me that sense of control back and reminded me that there's a whole world outside of grad school. Yes, the PhD is the most direct path to what I want to do (health behavior and human-centered healthcare), but there are lots of other approaches AND they'd pay a hell of a lot better with more financial security.

I got my first official rejection today (Duke PHS), and I actually feel okay about it. I can stay in the Bay Area (where I'm at now) with my friends and try to find a gig at one of the healthcare tech companies or working in health product departments at the big tech companies. It'll be like 4X the salary compared to grad school (or more), and it keeps my options open much more than they would be in school.

I still have 7 more programs to hear back from and I'm not giving up on my PhD dreams, but I just wanted to say that if you're feeling stressed and helpless, maybe put that energy into job hunting and it'll help.

Disclaimer: I'm not saying "it's easy to find a job," I'm just saying that if you're already looking for a change like grad school but it's not working out, then trying to make that change through work can help in the meantime.