Doctoral Admissions?

[Anonymous]

I am not sure if any of you have supported a child who was applying for their PhD...but I was not sure where else to post this.

The process is a lot of work (much more so than undergrad, if you can picture that). My kid was a strong candidate but besides grades, recommendations, etc in grad school (for STEM) you also need to identify a like-minded scientist who has an opening in their lab and funding to support you for ~ five years. So, it is a tall order.

Anyway, my kid applied for the first time this year (I guess multiple admission "cycles" is a common path to success, over years ). He got some interviews, but at this point has not been accepted into any program. What annoys me is that several programs (almost half) have not responded one way or another. And April 15 was the deadline for students to accept offers. Does anyone know if the assumption is, he was rejected at the remaining schools? After all of this effort, it seems highly unprofessional that they can't be bother to notify him either way. His advisor (at college) said he may be on "informal waitlists", which is why he has not heard. I would love to hear back from anyone who has been through the process, and can help us interpret the silence.

[Anonymous]

DD applied and was admitted to a PhD program. She is assigned to a lab with a highly regarded scientist and feels very fortunate. She sent declines to the other schools she was admitted to well before 4/15 as she knows that will open it up for other deserving students. But like your student, she never heard from a couple universities.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations to your daughter PP!

I think it is pretty galling for schools to react this way, since they charge $70 on average for the privilege of applying.

[Anonymous]

No help here other than good luck to your kid. My son did engineering PhD at Berkeley and they were pretty responsive. Matter fact, if I remember correctly, all schools were pretty responsive. Try not to read too much into it though.

[Anonymous]

Maybe COVID is playing into the mix. So many office staff seem to be teleworking...it is hard to get anyone on the phone. I wonder generally, not just at colleges, if customer service has kind of fallen off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After all of this effort, it seems highly unprofessional that they can't be bother to notify him either way.

Just wait til he's applying for academic jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After all of this effort, it seems highly unprofessional that they can't be bother to notify him either way.

Just wait til he's applying for academic jobs.

Perhaps we should just keep the parents of high school seniors who are happy about getting into the school they will be attending in the Fall in the dark about what lies ahead.

[Anonymous]

I know someone who applied again the next year and had much better results. No extra job experience inbetween or classes. Said they changed nothing about their application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know someone who applied again the next year and had much better results. No extra job experience inbetween or classes. Said they changed nothing about their application.

Since there are so few slots, it seems like timing is key (and maybe luck). That is assuming of course that you have the basic ingredients all schools seek.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know someone who applied again the next year and had much better results. No extra job experience inbetween or classes. Said they changed nothing about their application.

Do you know if they applied to the same schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know someone who applied again the next year and had much better results. No extra job experience inbetween or classes. Said they changed nothing about their application.

Since there are so few slots, it seems like timing is key (and maybe luck). That is assuming of course that you have the basic ingredients all schools seek.

Professor at R1/AAU institution here - This varies school-to-school but your child should go to academic conferences and make connections with potential advisors or ask faculty at the current university to introduce him/her to colleagues at other universities who might take them on. I have never admitted/taken-on a student I hadn’t already interacted with professionally or had a trusted colleague recommend to me. Again, this varies a bit by field and school but is my suggestion for next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know someone who applied again the next year and had much better results. No extra job experience inbetween or classes. Said they changed nothing about their application.

Since there are so few slots, it seems like timing is key (and maybe luck). That is assuming of course that you have the basic ingredients all schools seek.

Professor at R1/AAU institution here - This varies school-to-school but your child should go to academic conferences and make connections with potential advisors or ask faculty at the current university to introduce him/her to colleagues at other universities who might take them on. I have never admitted/taken-on a student I hadn’t already interacted with professionally or had a trusted colleague recommend to me. Again, this varies a bit by field and school but is my suggestion for next year.

Are conferences back on now? DD presented at an online conference last summer. Are you recommending students who graduated and aren't yet in a master's/PhD program to pay for and attend conferences in order to meet people even though they're not presenting etc?

[Anonymous]

Yes they applied to the same schools. Got into what had always been their 1st choice, in their 2nd round

[Anonymous]

Doctoral admissions sound crazy to me. So if a student gets a high GPA in a STEM degree but couldn’t get research experience at their school, that’s it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doctoral admissions sound crazy to me. So if a student gets a high GPA in a STEM degree but couldn’t get research experience at their school, that’s it?

That scenario is relatively fixable, just get a research job upon graduation, to fill the gap.

My kid is being told "she did everything right," but they just don't have funding. (Some programs are accepting NO new students this year...which they should figure out before the had people apply, IMHO).