Accepted after three ~30 min interviews.

TTPB: Thank you! I didn't think my interviews went particularly well so I'm very surprised and grateful. I got a call from one of the professors I interviewed with! He said that they'll be sending emails soon but he just wanted to give me a call. I don't think they're assigning POI's when you get accepted like other schools. When I interviewed, they mentioned that since this is the first year for the direct-to-PhD program, all admitted PhD students might do mini "rotations" in a few labs before officially selecting an advisor.

TTPB: Congrats!! Did you also get an email? Who called you? Your POI?

Just got the call today! High GPA, 4 years research experience from a top undergrad uni, a few research awards but no pubs. 4 years work experience at a top aerospace company (not related to my research area of interest). I had 4 interviews (the 3 scheduled ones and then an additional professor reached out)

So happy to get in...

Finally! Waiting for more details about the funding amount

Kind of expected this - not likely to get in according to the students they admitted in the past, but still!

Acceptance received 3:55PM PST. Area: robotics/control/learning.

Submitted my application by Jan 3 deadline

lol

Congrats to those who got admitted!