Fall 2021 Sweat Thread

[kiramshorn]

Would it be rude of pushy if I ask the status for waitlist every two weeks? Thanks!

I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all answer to this. Some schools have been explicit to me that they probably won't be able to give me an update until April 15, in which case it'd probably be rude to keep prodding. On the other hand another school told me to ask again in two weeks.

[Chem_Whale2021]

Does anyone know if paying for a master's degree worth it even if it's in-state tuition cheap? I gotten accepted to a master's program that offers funding for master's students. They don't have a Ph.D. program just a master's. They said is very highly I will get the TA-Ship. Although, if I don't get it I got into a master's program unfunded at a state school. Should I pay or reapply next year?

UPDATED:
accepted to two masters:
One funded and the other not funded (in-state tuition)

[iliketopology]

I’ve seen some recent Tufts rejection, can anyone who received one tell me if they were waitlisted first?

[WithinEpsilon]

I’ve seen some recent Tufts rejection, can anyone who received one tell me if they were waitlisted first?

I was not waitlisted first. Best luck!

[lee_34]

Does anyone know if paying for a master's degree worth it even if it's in-state tuition cheap? I gotten accepted to a master's program that offers funding for master's students. They don't have a Ph.D. program just a master's. They said is very highly I will get the TA-Ship. Although, if I don't get it I got into a master's program unfunded at a state school. Should I pay or reapply next year?

UPDATED:
accepted to two masters:
One funded and the other not funded (in-state tuition)

If I were you, I would choose the funded program. But if you are willing to pay for tuition, you can go to the unfunded master’s program. Keep in mind that some master’s students got funding in their second year. But that really depends on schools and programs.

[Chem_Whale2021]

Does anyone know if paying for a master's degree worth it even if it's in-state tuition cheap? I gotten accepted to a master's program that offers funding for master's students. They don't have a Ph.D. program just a master's. They said is very highly I will get the TA-Ship. Although, if I don't get it I got into a master's program unfunded at a state school. Should I pay or reapply next year?

UPDATED:
accepted to two masters:
One funded and the other not funded (in-state tuition)

If I were you, I would choose the funded program. But if you are willing to pay for tuition, you can go to the unfunded master’s program. Keep in mind that some master’s students got funding in their second year. But that really depends on schools and programs.

I ended up getting the TA-ship! I am going to grad school!! So happy. It has been a long journey for me.

[Albert_Eisenstein]

Does anyone know if paying for a master's degree worth it even if it's in-state tuition cheap? I gotten accepted to a master's program that offers funding for master's students. They don't have a Ph.D. program just a master's. They said is very highly I will get the TA-Ship. Although, if I don't get it I got into a master's program unfunded at a state school. Should I pay or reapply next year?

UPDATED:
accepted to two masters:
One funded and the other not funded (in-state tuition)

If I were you, I would choose the funded program. But if you are willing to pay for tuition, you can go to the unfunded master’s program. Keep in mind that some master’s students got funding in their second year. But that really depends on schools and programs.

I ended up getting the TA-ship! I am going to grad school!! So happy. It has been a long journey for me.

Congrats my friend!

[yaskhn3]

There's a new wave of rejections from UCLA. Is anyone still waiting for an update? I'm yet to hear back.

[applicantt]

There's a new wave of rejections from UCLA. Is anyone still waiting for an update? I'm yet to hear back.

I'm still waiting too :/

[MadMax]

There's a new wave of rejections from UCLA. Is anyone still waiting for an update? I'm yet to hear back.

I'm still waiting too :/

Same. I'm applied math.

[Albert_Eisenstein]

There's a new wave of rejections from UCLA. Is anyone still waiting for an update? I'm yet to hear back.

I'm still waiting too :/

Me three!

[trivial_function]

There's a new wave of rejections from UCLA. Is anyone still waiting for an update? I'm yet to hear back.

I'm still waiting too :/

Me three!

Me four. How do you know there's a new wave of rejections?

[Albert_Eisenstein]

I'm still waiting too :/

Me three!

Me four. How do you know there's a new wave of rejections?

It’s up on grad cafe. A couple of guys got rejected through the portal on Thursday.

[trivial_function]

Me three!

Me four. How do you know there's a new wave of rejections?

It’s up on grad cafe. A couple of guys got rejected through the portal on Thursday.

Does that implies silence from them = we are on the waitlist? They're the only school I'm waiting to hear back from in order to make a decision as to where I'm going.

[Ahmadreza]

Should I assume I will get a rejection if I haven't heard back from U Minnesota?

[scaredmaths]

Should I assume I will get a rejection if I haven't heard back from U Minnesota?

No you shouldn't. Email them to check, you might be waitlisted.

[Ahmadreza]

Should I assume I will get a rejection if I haven't heard back from U Minnesota?

No you shouldn't. Email them to check, you might be waitlisted.

They don't respond to emails. I don't know why universities don't send out rejections soon. If they inform us sooner, at least we can apply to other universities.

[sollux]

Should I assume I will get a rejection if I haven't heard back from U Minnesota?

No you shouldn't. Email them to check, you might be waitlisted.

They don't respond to emails. I don't know why universities don't send out rejections soon. If they inform us sooner, at least we can apply to other universities.

Minnesota does. I emailed them and they said I'm on the waitlist. On the other hand, I'm in the boat that hasn't been rejected form UCLA, but no responses to any emails I've sent, so no clue what's going on there.

[iliketopology]

Has anyone heard anything about when the NSF-GRFP results will be out? I know the website says early April, but I'm eager lol.

[Ahmadreza]

No you shouldn't. Email them to check, you might be waitlisted.

They don't respond to emails. I don't know why universities don't send out rejections soon. If they inform us sooner, at least we can apply to other universities.

Minnesota does. I emailed them and they said I'm on the waitlist. On the other hand, I'm in the boat that hasn't been rejected form UCLA, but no responses to any emails I've sent, so no clue what's going on there.

Could you please tell me with whom in Minnesota did you contact?

[sollux]

They don't respond to emails. I don't know why universities don't send out rejections soon. If they inform us sooner, at least we can apply to other universities.

Minnesota does. I emailed them and they said I'm on the waitlist. On the other hand, I'm in the boat that hasn't been rejected form UCLA, but no responses to any emails I've sent, so no clue what's going on there.

Could you please tell me with whom in Minnesota did you contact?

I emailed gradprog@math.umn.edu and got a response from the DGS

[bannanagamma]

Has anyone heard anything about when the NSF-GRFP results will be out? I know the website says early April, but I'm eager lol.

I don’t know either, but I do know that in the past GRFP has been announced on either a Tuesday or a Friday and the day prior the website is down. So we will get a good heads up.

[Ahmadreza]

Minnesota does. I emailed them and they said I'm on the waitlist. On the other hand, I'm in the boat that hasn't been rejected form UCLA, but no responses to any emails I've sent, so no clue what's going on there.

Could you please tell me with whom in Minnesota did you contact?

I emailed gradprog@math.umn.edu and got a response from the DGS

Thank you very much.

[Albert_Eisenstein]

Me four. How do you know there's a new wave of rejections?

It’s up on grad cafe. A couple of guys got rejected through the portal on Thursday.

Does that implies silence from them = we are on the waitlist? They're the only school I'm waiting to hear back from in order to make a decision as to where I'm going.

Might be. I’m not too sure, since there are quite a few people who haven’t received decisions from them yet. Also, it doesn’t help that UCLA refuses to respond to emails from applicants. I have been trying since November with no luck.

[Ali Guo]

Hey Bro, if you are not going to the program of George Washington University, could you please decline it? I am currently on the waitlist! Thank you so much!

Sure! I'm just waiting for an official letter from UH with TA info (should be coming in a day or two) before I decline GWU's offer. But will definitely do so right after. Hope you get in!

Hi there, may I ask if you have already decline the GWU offer? If not, could you please decline it recently? Many thanks!

[IdeallyRingless]

Has anyone heard anything about when the NSF-GRFP results will be out? I know the website says early April, but I'm eager lol.

I know somebody else replied to your comment already, but this is just for more details. Based on trends over the past 11 years approximately, NSF-GRFP results will be announced and posted on either

Tuesday March 30
Friday April 2
Tuesday April 6
Friday April 9

Furthermore, based on GRFP trends over the last 6 years, it seems quite likely that GRFP will be announced on one of the first two dates listed above (March 30th or April 2nd). So hopefully we will all be hearing back regarding GRFP by the end of next week

[iliketopology]

Has anyone heard anything about when the NSF-GRFP results will be out? I know the website says early April, but I'm eager lol.

I know somebody else replied to your comment already, but this is just for more details. Based on trends over the past 11 years approximately, NSF-GRFP results will be announced and posted on either

Tuesday March 30
Friday April 2
Tuesday April 6
Friday April 9

Furthermore, based on GRFP trends over the last 6 years, it seems quite likely that GRFP will be announced on one of the first two dates listed above (March 30th or April 2nd). So hopefully we will all be hearing back regarding GRFP by the end of next week

Okay, awesome, thanks for the info! I wasn't really aware of the Tuesday/Friday pattern, so that's good info! Fingers crossed, and best of luck to you!

[reflectionprinciple]

Does anyone have thoughts on the U Michigan funding package? It seems pretty low for a lot of teaching...

[anynonymous_ferret]

Does anyone have thoughts on the U Michigan funding package? It seems pretty low for a lot of teaching...

I think in Ann Arbor it will go a long way. Also once you advance to candidacy odds are you won't have to teach anymore (at least it's what they implied in the open day). I agree that the teaching load seems quite high.

[eulersburneraccount]

anyone know anything about caltech CMS phd programs? It's the last place I haven't heard from, emailed and got no response

[5IsTheLargestInteger]

I just got my NSF GRFP results. Not recommended, 3x very good, 2x good, 1x excellent. Do you need mostly very good/excellent to be recommended for it? And congratulations to everyone who received the fellowship.

[bannanagamma]

I got VG/E, VG/VG, VG/VG and I didn’t get even honorable mention. My reviewer two said it was because I didn’t publish.

Honestly I’m just glad that it’s all over tbh. I was waiting for GRFP to see if the schools that ghosted me would accept me (I haven’t heard anything from Northwestern, for example) but now that I know I didn’t get it, I can just decide where to commit and spend the rest of my time looking for apartments

Edit: looks like on Reddit even if you get mostly excellent, you get honorable mention. I think you probably need all excellent to get the award. Idk tho because my data set is obviously small.

[iliketopology]

Also not recommend here and no honorable mention here. For Intellectual Merits/BroaderImpacts I had VG/G, E/G, VG/VG. Best of luck to everyone!

[IdeallyRingless]

I just got my NSF GRFP results. Not recommended, 3x very good, 2x good, 1x excellent. Do you need mostly very good/excellent to be recommended for it? And congratulations to everyone who received the fellowship.

I also got 3 very good, 2 good, and 1 excellent and did not receive the award. The rating levels you need to get in order to be awarded the fellowship vary depending on who your reviewers are. In forum posts in past years on grad cafe, I’ve seen a lot of people get 5 excellent ratings and one very good rating and still not get the fellowship. On the other hand, I’ve also seen people with 3 excellent, 2 very good, and 1 good receive the fellowship.

Basically the process for GRFP review accounts for variance in the general leniency and generosity of ratings for different professors by normalizing ratings and curving people’s scores. If you get all very good ratings from a professor who gave everyone else only good ratings, then your application gets a very high score. Alternatively, if you get all very good ratings from a professor who gave everyone else excellent ratings, then your application will get a lower score. Because of this, there really isn’t a universal “what ratings do you need to get” minimum. I’ve even read cases of people getting all excellent ratings and only receiving honorable mention with no award which indicates that their reviewers were extremely generous with the ratings they gave out.

A lot of these very competitive application processes are based somewhat on luck. At the end of the day, the important thing to remember is that GRFP does not determine your quality as an academic and a person. Just because someone gets GRFP doesn’t mean that they’re a genius or that they’re going to be the next Euler. Similarly, just because someone doesn’t get GRFP that doesn’t mean that they aren’t intelligent or hard working etc.

To all those who won the fellowship, congratulations. To all those who didn’t, keep your spirits up

[homotopysphere]

I had E/E, E/G, VG/VG and honorable mention. At least the reviewers were nice.

[pahethon]

Waitlisted at Boston College, geometry/topology track. I'd greatly appreciate it if you who have been admitted could contact me, whether you tend to accept or decline it. Your information will help me move on and make in-time preparations either way. Thanks!

[contingent]

Finally bit the bullet and emailed all 6 of my remaining schools about my admissions status: Austin, UCSB, Cornell, Syracuse, Utah, NCSU. Immediately heard back from UCSB. My application is still under review but they cannot make any further offers until they hear back from their outstanding offers. PLEASE if you were admitted and do not plan to attend decline ASAP this is my top choice.

[Ahmadreza]

I got waitlisted at the University of Utah in the Algebraic Geometry track. I would appreciate it if people who don't want to attend decline their offer as soon as possible.

[Albert_Eisenstein]

Anyone heard anything from Rice? I emailed them on two different email id's a week ago, and still haven't received any updates on my application.

[pahethon]

Anyone heard anything from Rice? I emailed them on two different email id's a week ago, and still haven't received any updates on my application.

FYI, I contacted Prof. Alan Reid and the departmental email address in mid February; 2 days later they told me they were still processing via the departmental email, then 3 days later Prof. Reid emailed back saying they had done with first round offers. Then in March Prof. Gregory Chambers emailed me, mentioning that I contacted Prof. Reid, and saying that I was not on their shortlist. Strangest ever school I've met, regarding the rumors on this forum still wondering if they really tend to recruit any student this year.

[reluctantforumuser]

Anyone heard anything from Rice? I emailed them on two different email id's a week ago, and still haven't received any updates on my application.

I got an email from Prof Chambers today. He said congrats on NSF (I didn't inform Rice I'd been awarded), and then said "We're reviewing you file, and
will have a decision for you in a couple of days."

[Albert_Eisenstein]

Anyone heard anything from Rice? I emailed them on two different email id's a week ago, and still haven't received any updates on my application.

FYI, I contacted Prof. Alan Reid and the departmental email address in mid February; 2 days later they told me they were still processing via the departmental email, then 3 days later Prof. Reid emailed back saying they had done with first round offers. Then in March Prof. Gregory Chambers emailed me, mentioning that I contacted Prof. Reid, and saying that I was not on their shortlist. Strangest ever school I've met, regarding the rumors on this forum still wondering if they really tend to recruit any student this year.

Thanks for the update. This is really strange. I feel cheated having paid application fees, and being in touch with a couple of Professors there. Very poor communication from Rice.

[Albert_Eisenstein]

Anyone heard anything from Rice? I emailed them on two different email id's a week ago, and still haven't received any updates on my application.

I got an email from Prof Chambers today. He said congrats on NSF (I didn't inform Rice I'd been awarded), and then said "We're reviewing you file, and
will have a decision for you in a couple of days."

Congrats on getting the NSF! I'm sure you will make it into Rice and several other great schools. I just hope to get some news from them quickly.

[Cyclicduck]

Edit: looks like on Reddit even if you get mostly excellent, you get honorable mention. I think you probably need all excellent to get the award. Idk tho because my data set is obviously small.

All the (pure) math candidates I know of have never gotten any excellents for broader impacts, despite many of them winning the award. Maybe there are different degrees to excellent? Or applications are only compared to those in the same area? idk.

[homotopysphere]

Edit: looks like on Reddit even if you get mostly excellent, you get honorable mention. I think you probably need all excellent to get the award. Idk tho because my data set is obviously small.

All the (pure) math candidates I know of have never gotten any excellents for broader impacts, despite many of them winning the award. Maybe there are different degrees to excellent? Or applications are only compared to those in the same area? idk.

In Broader Impact, I got E/VG/G, and got honorable mention. I was surprised by that range.

[ivl]

I know about opportunities to change start date from this fall to the next in some universities. What should I do for it? Is it good idea?

[homotopysphere]

I have heard from someone that Northwestern is admitting a class of 6, and from someone else that they are admitting a class of 20. Anyone able to corroborate either?

[blue_math]

I have heard from someone that Northwestern is admitting a class of 6, and from someone else that they are admitting a class of 20. Anyone able to corroborate either?

Do you know when they're planning on sending out the rest of (or any) offers?

[homotopysphere]

I have heard from someone that Northwestern is admitting a class of 6, and from someone else that they are admitting a class of 20. Anyone able to corroborate either?

Do you know when they're planning on sending out the rest of (or any) offers?

I heard (indirectly) that they have been sending out offers very slowly, and one by one, first contacting people who are interested to make sure before sending an offer out. That said, I have no firsthand knowledge.

[Ahmadreza]

Does anyone know what is going on in UT Austin?