The Endless Wait...

Had the phone discussion with the Prof a few hours ago. The conversation lasted 30 mins, and we spent half the time talking about our research interests. We also talked about the application, funding and assistantship process, as well as the research culture in the school.

Overall, I think the discussion went on quite ok.

sounds good and promising.... i know you don't tell us which school is it... but is it one of the schools you desire most or a "safety" one (or somewhere in between...?

anyway.... seems that you did more than halfway to an admit there.... congrats.

All the schools that I have applied to fall in the "desired" category. This particular school is well-ranked in the field that I'm doing, and it gives quite a good stipend too. To be honest, this school started in the "Tier B" group among the schools that I'm applying to. However, after the discussion with the prof, it has moved up the tier - I find that the research fit is much closer than I initially thought.

I received an email from a university that i applied to with the subject line "Congratulations from ____" including my first and last name. obviously i was extremely excited, so i opened the email and this is what it said:

Dear _______,

On behalf of the University, and in
particular, the Office of ________,
congratulations on [b]completing your application for graduate
study to the University! You have taken an important step in
continuing your higher education.

ARE THEY KIDDING???? DO THEY NOT REALIZE HOW AN EMAIL LIKE THIS SOUNDS!!?? I WAS CRUSHED. They make it seem like you've been accepted and you read further and find out they are really just congratulating you for applying.

ahh the waiting is killing me

Now that's quite a stupid email.

Got an e-mail ding from Mich State Univ. Quite well written - says they had record number of competitive applicants and wishes me luck.
( that means I am not even on the waitlist ! )
I had applied to Mgmt area.

Am off course quite disappointed.

Best wishes
J.

don't worry about it john. best of luck on your other schools.

i'm sorry to hear that, john... i hope your other applications would turn out more successful.

i haven't heard a thing yet....

Hehe, yeah I got the same! Kinda gets your hopes high!

I am sorry, hope things work out for the other schools.

some news at last....(and good ones i think...)

a faculty from XYZ (one that i specifically mentioned in my SOP) surprisingly (i.e. not scheduled) called me today for a brief chat over the phone. we talked about the regular stuff... why phd, why OB, why now,why XYZ + i had to explain my unique and unconventional career path and choices. she was very familiar with my application material.

couple of hours (and one football match) later i got an email from an adcom from XYZ wanting to schedule a phone call... not sure if this is the "same call" or this is a further call.... (i hope the latter)...

anyway... seems that my applications where not total crap after all

Congrats! If I remember correctly, you have applied to top ranking schools. You must be delighted.

John - sorry to hear that. All the best for your other apps.

well... i thought about this a lot in since my last post... that is... why did i put XYZ instead of the real name of school... well i did that because other did, but it bothered me.
while i completely respect other people's decision not to reveal which schools they applied/interviewed etc... I see no reason that i should withold this. i can't see how it can harm my chances despite the fierce competition. so here it is:

i was "informally" interviewed by 2 different wharton faculty on two different phone calls. these were short, relatively informal chats, to verify some of my application details and probably get some "sense" of my personality and attitude. they told me that they interview about 20 (out of about 150) applicants to the management department. don't know how many they actually admit at the end. decisions are expected in 1-2 weeks, so they say.

i am, as you may expect, quite happy with this and am now very optimistic... although, who knows... they might ding me at the end as well.

i haven't heard anything from other schools yet.

would love to hear more from people, how their apps are going...

b.t.w. i am not the one who put the "interviewed to management" entry in thegradcafe.com sight. so there is at least another one out there...

i wish all of us good luck.

For me, the main reason why I choose not to publicly reveal the schools at this stage has nothing to do with the competition among the applicants. (Privately, I revealed the schools that I applied to as well as the interview that I had when I was contacted via PM.) To cut the long story short, it has to do with my username. I have long decided that I would only publicly reveal the schools name as I get my acceptance or rejection.

Anyway, it has been quite on my side since my interview last week (was it only last week? It seems so long ago...). Thankfully there are some distractions during the next few weeks to take my mind off the process.

tkkoh.... i didn't at all mean to make you or anybody else uncomfortable with your decision. as i said, but probably not clear enough, i absolutely respect your decision... in fact, i very much respect the honesty and directness when you just say something like: "guys, please respect my privacy and don't ask". (it is much better than those who asking you questions but never share theirs...)

anyway, you made me curious... i always wondered about your username... and now i understand there is a story behind it

anyway... i guess it would probably be over (for good or bad) for all of us in few weeks....

i wish all of us good luck...(and keep us all informed in this long wait )

I'm still waiting too... I got no sign from any school yet (Finance PhD).

That might mean that... there are loads of applicants. And, consequently, a thougher competition...