Graduate School Admission Results

2 papers in top-tier conference and reasonably good grades. 6th reject :(

I am very sorry to inform you that we are unable to admit you into our graduate program for 2020. We have received many excellent applications from outstanding students such as yourself. Unfortunately, we have limited openings and the number of applications exceeds these openings quite significantly.

I also haven't heard back and I received the same email about transcripts. My assumption is that email was sent to everyone? Is that not the case?

It's heartbreaking, you know. It really is.

TPB: You are right. I think the email was sent to everyone as an "FYI". Perhaps it is sent out before the committee comes together to review applications.

This year the Operations Research Center received a large number of applications from outstanding candidates, and we are in the unfortunate situation of having many more qualified applicants than we have spaces in our program. Therefore, even though your credentials are very strong, we regret that we are unable to offer you admission to the interdepartmental graduate degree program in Operations Research. Thank you for your interest in the Operations Research Center and for the information you provided in support of your application. We wish you great success in pursuing your graduate education.

Rejected with a kind letter stating that the competition was "particularly keen this year". Was a long shot for me anyways.

Email at 12:20 AM. A little disappointed but it's fine. Good luck to everyone!

Is there anyone else who didn't even receive a rejection today? I've heard nothing from MIT. This is baffling.

TPB: Congrats on your Princeton admit though!!

Heartbreaking to see reject from MIT EECS Ph.D. program. I guess I shouldn't dream after all. 14 conference papers (9 first author, all good conference places) during the master's program from a top CS university. Hopefully had great LORs. Feel like committing suicide over this rejection. Not sure what more I could have done to get in the program. Congrats to those who got in. Better make use of the opportunity you have been granted.

Dear MIT, Thank you for reviewing our graduate applications. Unfortunately, due to the large number of rejections we received this year, we are sorry to inform you that we must reject your rejections. With best wishes to you, sincerely.

Alas ! I am a failure :(

TTPB: Do not worry about MIT rejecting you. I have two papers at top venues, one of which is a first author. But the biggest problem was I come from a place where my recommenders weren't well known. To the best of my knowledge, schools in top 10, including places like UT Austin are taking students if your recommenders are known to the admissions committee. I am bummed because all my recommenders gave me strong letters and still I got rejected. If this should be the case, I would rather suggest that you all don't worry. You will surely get in somewhere where only Academic Merit is valued and not networking. Sadly, we live in a world where it is very difficult for individuals to get admitted all by themselves if they can't find good connections with Professors elsewhere. What bums me even more is the simple fact that if even one of your Letter writer sends an email to a prof at a top uni anywhere (personally if they know each other), all the other tangibles are overlooked and you atleast get looked at very deeply in the application and guess what, have an excellent chance of making it even if your application is okay. never lose hope. sometimes life isn't just about making it to these places. its bigger :)

TTPB: I totally agree with you on the fact that there is no need to worry in the face of such sheer nepotism.