Got an email telling me to check the portal for an application status update.

Submitted a little over a month ago, and just got an email from the director of the graduate physics department stating that pending Graduate College acceptance (which from what I understand is just a formality) I have been admitted to the Physics PhD Program!

Nuclear physics. Been in contact with potential PI since August. He sent me this email this morning: "To give you as much information as possible, we have sent out the first offers for PhD admissions and are waiting to hear back from people. I must say that this year we have a very competitive set of applicants and so admissions are very tough. I don't know what will happen with our current offers but, if I'm being honest, I think you should probably operate on the assumption that we are unlikely to be able to offer you a place at graduate school. The process is done by committee and so I can't speak entirely for them but that's about the position that we're in right now." Very unfortunate.

CME, no GRE

CME, no GRE

hep-ex, email to check portal

hep-ex, email to check portal

Had an exact research fit , even had a positive informal conversation with prospective PI This one hurt really bad !

Got accepted into the QuICS Lanczos Fellowship as well! Really exited, as this is a top 5 school for my research interests (QIS). No interview, No GRE, 2 published papers, 1 on arXiV, 1 in prep. All the best to everyone else as well.

Email of rejection.

Got an email that they had more than 350 applicants and can not offer admission.