Washington University in St. Louis (WashU/WUSTL) Graduate School Admission Results

Is this a formality or an actual interview?

I'm currently a WashU master's student and my subfield is astro. My current PI directly notified me via email that the admissions committee could not admit me into their PhD program due to the highly competitive applicant pool. I'm really disappointed with this result because I literally don't know why. I have been working with my current PI as soon as I was admitted to WashU since August 2023. I wish everyone applying to WashU this cycle the best of luck :( Personal background: Undergraduate: earned from a prestigious UK university, First-Class Honours Degree (GPA 3.85/4.00 after WES evaluation), 1 year of research experience (4 different projects in total, including 1 UROP summer internship at Imperial College London), 3 preprints on arXiv, 2 strong LoR from my undergraduate project advisors; Graduate: currently earning my master's at WashU, GPA 3.43/4.00 (physics major GPA 3.62/4.00), 1.5 years of research experience (master's thesis project), currently writing my first-author paper, 1 strong LoR from my current PI.

Preliminary Interview

20min interview. Intl student. No GRE. ielts waived. Approached by a faculty member (not the potential advisor mentioned in my SOP)

Checked the update on the portal!

Archaeology focus. Interviewed last week. Unofficial acceptance email from POI, official letter will follow. Incredibly excited - this was my first choice. 2a/0r/3p. Best of luck everyone!!

4.0 Grad GPA

Informal invite from prof for visit weekend. Official invite to come in the next few days.

PNP