Rejection 2009.... Share your pain!

grae313 · Post by **grae313** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 10:29 pm

Sorry, couldn't help myself

.....

Gotta keep the balance, ya know?

meowful · Post by **meowful** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 11:01 pm

I think this is a great idea for a thread, but people need to post about proper pain.

Not acceptable: Alas, now I've been accepted into both MIT and Princeton; how can I possibly decide?

Acceptable: As I tore open the envelope from Georgia Tech, I received a paper cut so deep that I fainted and hit my head on the concrete floor of the university mailroom. I type this post from the hospital...

Acceptable: As I caught sight of the letterhead on my Berkeley acceptance, long-repressed memories of my mother being attacked by bears, which I witnessed at age three, rushed to my head, and I collapsed, sobbing...

snowfalcon · Post by **snowfalcon** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 8:30 am

grae313 wrote:As I caught sight of the letterhead on my Berkeley acceptance, long-repressed memories of my mother being attacked by bears, which I witnessed at age three, rushed to my head, and I collapsed, sobbing...

I burst out laughing. That is classic!

grae313 · Post by **grae313** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 7:58 pm

Silly me, this thread was supposed to be called, rejections 2009!

bosem · Post by **bosem** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 3:17 pm

Here comes the pain!!!....
Cornell has just rejected me.

aristotle · Post by **aristotle** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 3:25 pm

Well what do you know! I got a rejection email from Cornell this morning to, ouch

At least I'm already in at Wisconsin, which is a pretty good program, and I've got 9 more to hear from

I applied to too many

sirius · Post by **sirius** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:52 pm

I was rejected from cornell today.

karan · Post by **karan** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:44 am

I was rejected from cornell today too

Hypatia · Post by **Hypatia** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:03 am

Another disappointed from Cornell

" After careful consideration, we regret that we are unable to admit you to graduate study in the Field of Physics at Cornell University for the fall term of 2009. We have been forced to decline admission to a large number of good candidates, due to strict limitations on the number of students we can accept. We appreciate the interest you have shown in our graduate program and the effort and care with which you prepared your application."

happymonkey · Post by **happymonkey** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:43 pm

rejected from U. Indiana

evilclaw2321 · Post by **evilclaw2321** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 8:31 pm

if you dont mind me asking was it U indiana astronomy or physics? Did they contact you by email or snail mail?

happymonkey · Post by **happymonkey** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:24 pm

@evilclaw2321: It was via snail mail and physics - I updated my 2009 reply and profile before, but I gues redundancy isn't so undesirable. best.

I searched through last years rejections. It appears I may be the first rejected from a January 15th deadline grad. program if one sorts by day and month (of course not by year) as the post mark was January 29th. Well at least I can say I'm the first -

. This is pretty emotional for me, owell hopefully it will get me ready for the next rejections undeniably coming in my future. Right now I feel like Marvin in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

noojens · Post by **noojens** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:52 pm

To the rebuffed onetime Cornell aspirants:

It is nine degrees F outside my Ithaca apartment. You didn't really want to come here, anyway.

Cheers.

dlenmn · Post by **dlenmn** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 11:31 pm

noojens wrote:It is nine degrees F outside my Ithaca apartment. You didn't really want to come here, anyway.

That's positively tropical!

noojens · Post by **noojens** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 11:43 pm

You must be in Wisconsin (my home state).

nonick · Post by **nonick** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:38 pm

To the people rejected from Cornell:

Did you guys receive an email about it, or it came with the mail?
Cause I applied there, and so far I haven't gotten anything (I hope that's a good sign).

naseermk · Post by **naseermk** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:52 pm

nonick wrote: Cause I applied there, and so far I haven't gotten anything (I hope that's a good sign).

Same here nonick.

Hypatia · Post by **Hypatia** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:07 pm

Cornell sent me an email to reject me about 2 days before

Helio · Post by **Helio** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 4:27 pm

Yale send me and email saying the decision has been reached and then rejected me via their online portal

G01 · Post by **G01** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:20 pm

naseermk wrote:
nonick wrote: Cause I applied there, and so far I haven't gotten anything (I hope that's a good sign).
Same here nonick.

Same here.

confused_p · Post by **confused_p** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:24 pm

Cornell, I have not heard from them.

Yale -- where the hell did you check your status? I checked the place where i have sent in my application. It just says your application is complete and nothing more. I am just crossing my fingers for too long.

I hate to wait and wait with no aye or ney. I wish one comes fast from 'em all.

Helio · Post by **Helio** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:36 pm

confused_p wrote:Cornell, I have not heard from them.

Yale -- where the hell did you check your status? I checked the place where i have sent in my application. It just says your application is complete and nothing more. I am just crossing my fingers for too long.

I hate to wait and wait with no aye or ney. I wish one comes fast from 'em all.

Yale is astronomy not physics

valentino · Post by **valentino** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:48 pm

Why is cornell a good school anyway? Why is it considered to be among the top (is it really?), even chosen by others over some of the more prestigious programs?

Sorry if this is not in spirit with the thread's title. The string of cornell posts got me wondering.

a13ean · Post by **a13ean** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 2:08 pm

blanked

coreycwgriffin · Post by **coreycwgriffin** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 3:26 pm

From what I know, Cornell is involved in some major projects, like the Areciebo Observatory, which could make it very desirable for the astro folks out there.

naseermk · Post by **naseermk** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 3:43 pm

valentino wrote:Why is cornell a good school anyway? Why is it considered to be among the top (is it really?), even chosen by others over some of the more prestigious programs?

Not that I have a choice, but, I would easily choose Cornell over MIT/Harvard for instance (for HEP Theory). You just need to take a look at the no. of faculty + research interests of the faculty members as opposed to MIT/Harvard and Cornell seems to be the best in HEP theory (Ann Arbor is probably as good).

It also seems to me that Harvard/MIT/Stanford is too 'stringy' as well in terms of faculty research interests.

grae313 · Post by **grae313** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 6:59 pm

I'll chime in as to why I chose Cornell over both Stanford and Berkeley. I'm interested in condensed matter experiment (playing with nanostructures in particular), and Cornell just destroys Stanford physics and Stanford applied physics in terms of interesting and high-profile CME/nanostructures research, and Cornell's facilities blow Stanford's out of the water. The CME rankings are absolute nonsense with regards to Stanford!! Berkeley is the only school that can try and compete with Cornell's facilities in terms of nanofabrication (maybe also UCSB once their new facility gets on its feet), but Berkeley's Molecular Foundry operates very differently than Cornell's CNF. CNF just blew my mind with all of the equipment available, and once you are trained and get a badge, you can go in there and use it any time of day or night, 24/7. At Berkeley, you have to submit an application to use the facilities, have it approved for funding, then schedule a very specific time during business hours. Yes, you don't have to work first-come-first-serve like you do at CNF, but CNF just seemed to have way more freedom and flexibility, and WAY more cool stuff!

I also found the environment at Cornell very friendly and the most active and encouraging towards interdisciplinary research. Everything about the department seems meant to foster collaborations.

Also, some of the most high-powered research groups in CME/nanostructures are located at Cornell. For nanotechnology, I think it is absolutely the best in the country.

Did I mention everyone is super friendly here?!

If you can't tell, I love Cornell and I'm having a great time here!

babazula · Post by **babazula** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:09 pm

There is no such thing as good school or bad school. It all depends on your field of interest. If you are inerested in Twistor Theory, or Loop Quantum Gravity than even Harvard is a bad school... Methinks, Cornell is one of the top places to do CMT, but definitely not String Theory, especially if you are interested in Mathematical Aspects of String Theory...

Ulquiorra · Post by **Ulquiorra** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:37 am

grae313 wrote: Did I mention everyone is super friendly here?!

If you can't tell, I love Cornell and I'm having a great time here!

Glad to hear that!!! ^o^
I've also applied to Cornell but I'm still hearing nothing from them, too.

tshafer · Post by **tshafer** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:00 pm

No go on Duke... I expected it, but still pretty bummed.

I'm sorry, but the committee has decided to deny your acceptance to our
Physics graduate program at Duke. Your application was good, but not up
to the same standards as many of the other 211 applications we received.
We were only given 14 - 16 positions for new graduate students which
limited the committee's decision to only a few acceptances.

Helio · Post by **Helio** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:40 pm

tshafer wrote:No go on Duke... I expected it, but still pretty bummed.

I'm sorry, but the committee has decided to deny your acceptance to our
Physics graduate program at Duke. Your application was good, but not up
to the same standards as many of the other 211 applications we received.
We were only given 14 - 16 positions for new graduate students which
limited the committee's decision to only a few acceptances.

that seems cheerier than my Yale rejection

tshafer · Post by **tshafer** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:45 pm

Lame... but hey; can't be TOO bummed... I got into a really good NC school with decent funding (which is what I needed for my fiancee).

nonick · Post by **nonick** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:16 pm

Got rejected from Yale

Now at least I won't have to chose between Cornell and Yale for which open house to go to on March 27-28.

swepi · Post by **swepi** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:25 pm

I just go the "regret notice" from Rice Applied Physics... Oh well

WhatCanYouDoFermi? · Post by **WhatCanYouDoFermi?** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:37 pm

Tally one more for the Yale rejections!

pd · Post by pd » Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:48 pm

WhatCanYouDoFermi? wrote:Tally one more for the Yale rejections!

Same.

bosem · Post by **bosem** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:02 pm

Me too.... Yale said NO

Helio · Post by **Helio** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:14 pm

I am guessing that Yale has very little money this year for graduate studies this year

tmc · Post by **tmc** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 9:31 pm

Yeah, this is a lot of Nos...

WhatCanYouDoFermi? · Post by **WhatCanYouDoFermi?** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 9:55 pm

This is completely unrelated to Physics, but it helped cheer me up after being rejected.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1897842/

confused_p · Post by **confused_p** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:39 am

One more rejection from Yale.

I have not seen a single acceptance from yale this yea. Is Yale bankrupt?

naroays · Post by **naroays** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 11:15 am

I got a reject from Yale today.

Although, I also got admits to a couple of excellent programs in my field of engineering with a fellowship.

A bittersweet day.

PoincareSection · Post by **PoincareSection** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 11:17 am

It's going to be really interesting to see Yale's profile in gradschoolshopper next year. That sucks you guys. Sorry

Theoretischer · Post by **Theoretischer** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 12:14 pm

bosem · Post by **bosem** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:25 pm

Theoretischer wrote:In the rejection it said over 9500 applicants to the Arts and Sciences? They probably accept 500 a year at most? There has to be a lot of rejections with a ratio like that.

yes but yale has good arts programs! They should have told us how many of them was physics app. Yale is good but not that good.

confused_p · Post by **confused_p** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:26 pm

Has anyone seen or met anyone being accepted to Yale? -- I mean anywhere. It seems to me that they just send there wave of rejections -- no acceptances yet!

tmc · Post by **tmc** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:36 pm

thegradcafe has a few Yale acceptances

naseermk · Post by **naseermk** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 4:28 pm

In Arts, probably there is no better school. But, Yale Physics seems to be popular on account of the 'Ivy' status it has.

US News ranks it as No.11 in Physics which I do not know why.

confused_p · Post by **confused_p** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:45 pm

tmc wrote:thegradcafe has a few Yale acceptances

Thanks for letting me know that. I was thinking Yale was my level school all this time. Not so much - I guess.

xudis149 · Post by **xudis149** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 4:53 am

Got rejection from Virginia Tech..