Competitive application cycle

[Tambourinefan]

So… crazy story! Last night, at a family wedding, I was introduced to a seriously well respected math prof who works at a very reputable school on the east coast.

Anyway he told me that, despite what some people think, the application pool this year has been enormous because of the backlog from covid, and the uncertainty in funding that was still hanging over a lot of places.

Personally, I’ve still not got an offer from anywhere so that was good to hear. Better still, he said he was very confident that next year it will have calmed down a lot more- so if you didn’t get into your dream school this time, you’ll have a better shot at it next time around if you can be patient!

Just thought I’d share this information as encouragement to anyone else in my position, where it looks like we’re not getting in anywhere. Keep your heads up!!

[ohdear]

Professors are generally not a reliable source of information when it comes to personal development, because they've left the job market for too long. Besides reapplying next year, I would also suggest hunting for long-term jobs and getting ready to settle on a career outside academia. When there is a surplus of PhDs or PhD applicants, you can't "wait it out". Those who now compete with you for graduate schools will continue to compete with you for postDoc positions, teaching positions, and tenure track jobs (if these still exist) in the future. I have seen this happening in my parents' generation, and it's brutal. Some highly intelligent people mistakenly got into an overpopulated field ended up throwing their lives into depression (both mentally and economically). That being said, I genuinely wish you all the best for whatever choices you make.

[MadMax]

Don’t trust professors’ judgment when it comes to the PhD application, especially the old seriously well respected ones… They tend to be overoptimistic. My advisor basically said the same words to me last year.

[Tambourinefan]

I appreciate your advice, but to be clear this guy was speaking from his experiences of being on the admissions committees in recent years - I think there’s likely to be some truth in what he says

[fakeName]

I appreciate your advice, but to be clear this guy was speaking from his experiences of being on the admissions committees in recent years - I think there’s likely to be some truth in what he says

One of the professors at my university said that they received nearly double the normal amount of applicants (where the normal level was not defined). Perhaps this is unique to my university so make of that what you will, but it seems plausible to me that many schools received MORE applications due to COVID and had either the same number of spots as usual or less depending on funding.