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Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 5:59 pm
by bamro
Hey!

What is wrong with Harvard and Stanford? Has anyone heard from them (I have physics in mind, I know applied physics and astro are done)?

At grad cafe it seems that Harvard sent decisions on 24 Feb in 2006 and 25 Feb in 2007. Isn't it weird that those days were Saturdays?

So, what do you think: have they decided that no one is good enough this year to be admitted there (conversely bad enough to be rejected) and they are waiting for all of us to withdraw our applications?

---
I am from the Old World, studying in the Old World and do not really want to post my profile until I hear from the two unis.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 7:27 pm
by grae313
bamro wrote:Hey!

What is wrong with Harvard and Stanford? Has anyone heard from them (I have physics in mind, I know applied physics and astro are done)?

At grad cafe it seems that Harvard sent decisions on 24 Feb in 2006 and 25 Feb in 2007. Isn't it weird that those days were Saturdays?

So, what do you think: have they decided that no one is good enough this year to be admitted there (conversely bad enough to be rejected) and they are waiting for all of us to withdraw our applications?

---
I am from the Old World, studying in the Old World and do not really want to post my profile until I hear from the two unis.
I bet we'll hear from them any day now. If not this week, then next week for sure.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 9:14 pm
by GranularMan
Hmmm...it looks like some folks here have already been accepted to Harvard this week, but I haven't heard from them :? Grad Cafe doesn't have any Harvard physics postings for this year yet (I'm talking about regular, not applied physics). Is it time to be worried?

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 6:02 am
by berkphys
A friend got into Harvard for applied physics, but I haven't heard of any letters yet for physics. My friend and I both got letters from Stanford physics yesterday.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 4:11 pm
by grae313
I wonder if there is any hope left for Harvard applied physics? Most schools tend to admit in waves, and so far it looks like everyone who was accepted was accepted on the 19th. I was hoping that was their first wave, and since I saw a few acceptances in years past from them on gradcafe in early March, I was hoping I still had a shot. But maybe the 19th was really the main wave, and the first wave just didn't include anyone in this board or gradcafe, and I'm really waitlisted or on the reject list :(

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 4:45 pm
by jdhooghe
Poor Grae ;)

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:06 pm
by rooibos
grae313 wrote:I wonder if there is any hope left for Harvard applied physics? Most schools tend to admit in waves, and so far it looks like everyone who was accepted was accepted on the 19th. I was hoping that was their first wave, and since I saw a few acceptances in years past from them on gradcafe in early March, I was hoping I still had a shot. But maybe the 19th was really the main wave, and the first wave just didn't include anyone in this board or gradcafe, and I'm really waitlisted or on the reject list :(
Well you better still have a chance to get in, because if you don't then I don't! :D

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:58 pm
by excel
grae is very keen to add Harvard SEAS' acceptance letter to her growing collection of acceptance letters, I see. :) So am I, for that matter.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:00 pm
by Ren
grae313 wrote:I wonder if there is any hope left for Harvard applied physics? Most schools tend to admit in waves, and so far it looks like everyone who was accepted was accepted on the 19th. I was hoping that was their first wave, and since I saw a few acceptances in years past from them on gradcafe in early March, I was hoping I still had a shot. But maybe the 19th was really the main wave, and the first wave just didn't include anyone in this board or gradcafe, and I'm really waitlisted or on the reject list :(
just out of curiosity, (and if you don't mind me asking), if you get accepted to Harvard, would it be on top of your list to consider going?

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:20 am
by grae313
Ren wrote:
grae313 wrote:just out of curiosity, (and if you don't mind me asking), if you get accepted to Harvard, would it be on top of your list to consider going?
The more I think about it the more difficult it is for me to rank my potential schools at this point. I think Berkeley and Cornell are tops right now, with Stanford a smidge behind, and UCSB another small smidge behind Stanford, but this changes every week. If I were accepted to Harvard it would join Berkeley and Cornell as one of my top options. Stanford is second only because there isn't anyone there doing research I am really crazy about, but maybe I'll see something when I visit that I missed from the website.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:20 am
by grae313
jdhooghe wrote:Poor Grae ;)
poor me :wink:

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:00 am
by VT
Let me add too:
Poor grae :wink:

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 2:13 am
by christopher3.14
By the way, Grae313, what is your area of specialization/research interests?

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:20 pm
by grae313
christopher3.14 wrote:By the way, Grae313, what is your area of specialization/research interests?
Experimental condensed matter physics, broadly. Nanotechnology, broadly.

More specifically I'm interested in NEMS. For example, the research of Dr. McEuen at Cornell and Dr. Zettl at Berkeley. They build cute little contraptions and sensors out of nanoscale building blocks and study them.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:16 pm
by grae313
I just saw on Harvard's applied physics admissions FAQs that they do not give admission decisions by phone, email, or fax. Postal only. Can anyone confirm or deny this, because I thought I read reports of people calling in to find out if they have been rejected or not. I want to call in and get my rejection so I can stop waiting.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:40 pm
by excel
I want to call in and get my rejection so I can stop waiting.
I did call them (SEAS grad admissions) a few days back, and the lady who answered the phone gave me an idea of when I can expect a decision. She sounded nice and polite.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:20 pm
by samoa
@ grae

I received an email from Harvard Applied Physics that said I was being recommended for admission, so even though officially they only let people know by post, I found out through email. The same might happen for you. Hope this helps.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:49 pm
by grae313
excel wrote:
I want to call in and get my rejection so I can stop waiting.
I did call them (SEAS grad admissions) a few days back, and the lady who answered the phone gave me an idea of when I can expect a decision. She sounded nice and polite.
...aaaaand? When did she say the next round was going out?!?

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:50 pm
by grae313
samoa wrote:@ grae

I received an email from Harvard Applied Physics that said I was being recommended for admission, so even though officially they only let people know by post, I found out through email. The same might happen for you. Hope this helps.
cool, at least I know that if I am accepted I won't have to wait forever for the postal service!

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:21 pm
by excel
"The admission committee will meet on March 4" (tomorrow :mrgreen: ). However, pls keep in mind that I asked specifically about applied math. I hope this applies to applied physics too, but I do not know for sure. if you do not hear something in a couple of days, maybe you can call and find out. Good luck!

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 7:09 am
by jburkart
i'm waiting on harvard... i figure i'm probably relegated to the waitlist, at this point?

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:31 pm
by LucasWillis
I don't know, I think I've lost hope for Harvard Physics. If you look on thegradcafe.com the rejection letters seemed to slowly trickle in after all of the acceptance letters were sent, with few exceptions.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 6:14 pm
by jburkart
ah, feel free to email Sheila Ferguson [ferguson@physics.harvard.edu] if you want your rejection letter at this point. they like to take their time rejecting you, but if you inquire they'd be more than happy to speed up the process. sigh.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 7:37 pm
by LucasWillis
Thanks for the tip, j. --Rejected! I am glad to know for sure.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:28 pm
by grae313
jburkart wrote:ah, feel free to email Sheila Ferguson [ferguson@physics.harvard.edu] if you want your rejection letter at this point. they like to take their time rejecting you, but if you inquire they'd be more than happy to speed up the process. sigh.
Oh man, I was about to email her until I realised that was for physics and not applied physics. That could have been funny.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:26 am
by jburkart
is admission for applied physics significantly different from physics, in general? i was kinda wondering that

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:04 pm
by grae313
jburkart wrote:is admission for applied physics significantly different from physics, in general? i was kinda wondering that
well it is an entirely different "school"--the school of engineering and applied sciences (for harvard).

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 3:19 pm
by grae313
Is anyone else still waiting on Harvard Applied Physics?

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:06 pm
by rooibos
grae313 wrote:Is anyone else still waiting on Harvard Applied Physics?
Me! I eagerly await my rejection letter :D

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:42 pm
by myass
So it became my first rejection,,, Harvard high energy physics experiment.... I guess talking a lot about Nova experiment was not good compared to those who talked about ATLAS since Nova has a funding issue in this year.... Anyways! now I can schedule my travel to east coast open houses!

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:48 pm
by QuantumP7
myass wrote:So it became my first rejection,,, Harvard high energy physics experiment.... I guess talking a lot about Nova experiment was not good compared to those who talked about ATLAS since Nova has a funding issue in this year.... Anyways! now I can schedule my travel to east coast open houses!

I hope not too many people are interested in ATLAS. That's the group I want to study with in 2009.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:22 pm
by myass
I bet there a lot of undergrads done research in ATLAS or CMS already, and talked about them in their personal statement. My idea could have been biased since my school has one of the biggest ATLAS group in U.S. so that I see many of my friends working for it. Besides, there are institutions looking for more students to join ATLAS/CMS in spite of increasing difficulty of having original thesis topic for each student. But, yeah, I bet there would be a hard competition for thesis topics among those who do ATLAS/CMS research...

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:43 pm
by QuantumP7
myass wrote:I bet there a lot of undergrads done research in ATLAS or CMS already, and talked about them in their personal statement. My idea could have been biased since my school has one of the biggest ATLAS group in U.S. so that I see many of my friends working for it. Besides, there are institutions looking for more students to join ATLAS/CMS in spite of increasing difficulty of having original thesis topic for each student. But, yeah, I bet there would be a hard competition for thesis topics among those who do ATLAS/CMS research...
Edit: Actually, I got the names wrong. ATRAP is what I want to work on, not ATLAS.

I should pay better attention. lol.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:10 pm
by grae313
I've officially given up hope on Harvard SEAS. VT, it looks like you'll have to take back your comments :wink:

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:52 am
by myass
Harvard released my rejection AND social security number. Cheers.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=4443803

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:46 am
by kwxl
Did anyone get an individual financial offer from Stanford yet? Or any word on the Stanford Graduate Fellowships in Science and Engineering?

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:36 am
by geomar
Actually kwxl, I just heard today that I was nominated and given one of the the Stanford Graduate Fellowships in Science and Engineering. They never notified me upon nomination (that I can find in my inbox).

Never knew they existed, but they sure are a sweet deal! For the record, this is in the Applied Physics Department.
Previously, the email from the department just mentioned a monthly RA stipend which looked like a standard rate.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:27 am
by kwxl
I got one as well!

This definitely makes Stanford much more competitive in my mind. Freedom to work with whoever you want, without your money tied to a TA or RA, thats huge!

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:34 pm
by excel
geomar wrote:Actually kwxl, I just heard today that I was nominated and given one of the the Stanford Graduate Fellowships in Science and Engineering. They never notified me upon nomination (that I can find in my inbox).

Never knew they existed, but they sure are a sweet deal! For the record, this is in the Applied Physics Department.
Previously, the email from the department just mentioned a monthly RA stipend which looked like a standard rate.
Congrats! Is yours a 3-year fellowship, followed by a RA?

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:17 pm
by geomar
It is a 3-year fellowship and they mention that I would still be expected to join a research group just as with the RA (like someone would opt to not do any research for 3 years? ;)). They don't mention an RAship afterward, but from what I know about the department, I would assume that's how you would be supported for the rest of your graduate school. Very very few applied physics students TA classes.

Re: Harvard and Stanford

Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:53 pm
by excel
in my case (different dept.), they have not promised that the fellowship would be followed by a RA support, though the profs told me that is what usually happens...do you think this is something to be worried about...i mean: what will happen if the prof runs out of funding on the project that we are working on when we actually need the RA support?

The flexibility that Stanford's fellowships give is awesome though! We can pretty much join any prof's lab because they dont have to worry about having to pay us... do rotations or not, as we like...start our own project...a lot of freedom! :D