Watching from the sidelines - ds applying to grad school

[lewelma]

5 hours ago, Hoggirl said:

Congratulations to your ds @lewelma!! 

May I ask - does acceptance equate to full funding?  Or is that an additional step in the process?

I’m asking because I have a friend whose ds is applying to PhD programs (albeit in a far different field - botany).  I don’t want to ply her with too many questions, and I just don’t know how the process works.  I’m not certain she does either. Perhaps it varies among disciplines.  Cornell has shown strong interest in him, but he has more steps to take.  So, I guess that means he does not yet have an, “acceptance.”  

This acceptance was with a fully funded research assistantship for a top 10 physics school which is a public institution.  No extra steps required. In the science world, these are harder to get than a teaching assistantship, so they must have thought that he was ready to add value to a professor's research the moment he stepped on campus. 

This was not the school he interviewed at, we are still waiting on news from that one.

Edited January 15, 2022 by lewelma

[GoodGrief3]

9 hours ago, Hoggirl said:

Congratulations to your ds @lewelma!! 

May I ask - does acceptance equate to full funding?  Or is that an additional step in the process?

I’m asking because I have a friend whose ds is applying to PhD programs (albeit in a far different field - botany).  I don’t want to ply her with too many questions, and I just don’t know how the process works.  I’m not certain she does either. Perhaps it varies among disciplines.  Cornell has shown strong interest in him, but he has more steps to take.  So, I guess that means he does not yet have an, “acceptance.”  

My daughter was applying to PhD engineering programs last year, and in her case, acceptance did mean full funding. No extra steps to apply for scholarships.

[Frances]

On 1/15/2022 at 3:21 PM, GoodGrief3 said:

My daughter was applying to PhD engineering programs last year, and in her case, acceptance did mean full funding. No extra steps to apply for scholarships.

I think it’s pretty common in most science and social science PhD programs. The ones I’m most familiar with are chemistry, psychology, and economics. For most programs worth attending it is automatic and there is no separate application unless you are applying for something outside like an NSF fellowship. Even some of those are through the schools. My husband got an NSF teaching fellowship, notified by the school at the time of acceptance, which ironically meant he only taught one semester instead of the normal four before switching to a research assistantship. For his first three semesters, he just got fellowship money and didn’t have to do anything extra for it.

Edited January 17, 2022 by Frances

[lewelma]

In continuing good news, ds found out today through some sleuthing that he was accepted early into this first school (the one discussed above) because he has been put forward for the university's fellowship award. This award stacks on top of any others he earns (like NSF) and is just free money without any research or teaching requirements. Apparently, the physics department could only put forward 3 candidates for consideration for this university fellowship, and ds was chosen out of the 800 physics grad school applications they received this year. They had to put his name forward before ds was even officially accepted into the university (which happens end of February for all the schools), which is why he got this very early letter saying the physics department had accepted him and university acceptance would follow in February.

So even if he does not win this fellowship, it is a very good sign that he is way more competitive than he was starting to believe and worry about (and one night panic about). I think we just blew this first one off because the email went to spam and was written in a very understated way.  

Edited January 27, 2022 by lewelma

[Eos]

11 hours ago, lewelma said:

In continuing good news, ds found out today through some sleuthing that he was accepted early into this first school (the one discussed above) because he has been put forward for the university's fellowship award. This award stacks on top of any others he earns (like NSF) and is just free money without any research or teaching requirements. Apparently, the physics department could only put forward 3 candidates for consideration for this university fellowship, and ds was chosen out of the 800 physics grad school applications they received this year. They had to put his name forward before ds was even officially accepted into the university (which happens end of February for all the schools), which is why he got this very early letter saying the physics department had accepted him and university acceptance would follow in February.

So even if he does not win this fellowship, it is a very good sign that he is way more competitive than he was starting to believe and worry about (and one night panic about). I think we just blew this first one off because the email went to spam and was written in a very understated way.  

Oh my word, that is amazing!

[Hoggirl]

Hello, all!  OP here!

I can FINALLY report that ds will be returning to The Farm this autumn to attend the Stanford Graduate School of Business for an MBA!

He received his admission on December 7th, so my waiting for him to make a final decision has seemed reeaaaallly long!  When he was here visiting us over the holidays, he had said he was 95% sure he was going to go, but he wanted to attend their Admit Weekend first. He called us with his decision while driving back home from that this afternoon.

His ding was from Harvard Business School.  I think it really stung that he was not at least invited to interview.  He’s clearly not an Ivy League type.  His only undergraduate rejection was from Princeton - lol. 

I do think I, “behaved,” well through this process and did a good job of letting him take the lead as to when and to what extent he wanted to talk to me (and dh) about his decision.  So, while it was hard waiting, I’m kinda glad he forced me to, as I think I grew in my parenting-an-adult skills.  

Thanks for coming along for the grad school admission ride!

[Hoggirl]

Edit - double post - sorry! 

Edited January 31, 2022 by Hoggirl

[lewelma]

12 minutes ago, Hoggirl said:

Hello, all!  OP here!

I can FINALLY report that ds will be returning to The Farm this autumn to attend the Stanford Graduate School of Business for an MBA!

He received his admission on December 7th, so my waiting for him to make a final decision has seemed reeaaaallly long!  When he was here visiting us over the holidays, he had said he was 95% sure he was going to go, but he wanted to attend their Admit Weekend first. He called us with his decision while driving back home from that this afternoon.

His ding was from Harvard Business School.  I think it really stung that he was not at least invited to interview.  He’s clearly not an Ivy League type.  His only undergraduate rejection was from Princeton - lol. 

I do think I, “behaved,” well through this process and did a good job of letting him take the lead as to when and to what extent he wanted to talk to me (and dh) about his decision.  So, while it was hard waiting, I’m kinda glad he forced me to, as I think I grew in my parenting-an-adult skills.  

Thanks for coming along for the grad school admission ride!

Hurray!

[fourisenough]

9 hours ago, Hoggirl said:

Hello, all!  OP here!

I can FINALLY report that ds will be returning to The Farm this autumn to attend the Stanford Graduate School of Business for an MBA!

He received his admission on December 7th, so my waiting for him to make a final decision has seemed reeaaaallly long!  When he was here visiting us over the holidays, he had said he was 95% sure he was going to go, but he wanted to attend their Admit Weekend first. He called us with his decision while driving back home from that this afternoon.

His ding was from Harvard Business School.  I think it really stung that he was not at least invited to interview.  He’s clearly not an Ivy League type.  His only undergraduate rejection was from Princeton - lol. 

I do think I, “behaved,” well through this process and did a good job of letting him take the lead as to when and to what extent he wanted to talk to me (and dh) about his decision.  So, while it was hard waiting, I’m kinda glad he forced me to, as I think I grew in my parenting-an-adult skills.  

Thanks for coming along for the grad school admission ride!

Wow! Congratulations to him!

[Starr]

It's exhausting. Congrats to you and your ds for making it through decision time.

[lewelma]

Two rejections. One new acceptance with a fellowship worth lots of money! 

One rejection stated that there were 1700 applications for a PhD in physics and they accepted 40 people. An acceptance rate half of previous years because they had double the applications.

Edited February 12, 2022 by lewelma

[rbk mama]

Watching DS apply to grad schools this past fall was such an encouraging experience - seeing him handle everything and seek out advice as needed. I offered to read his main essay, but he knew as I did that I don't really know what they're looking for, and don't understand his research experience either. I got to read it after he sent it in. He relied on a few different professors he worked with as well as some grad students for every step involved in the process, and is now getting advice on choosing between schools he has been accepted to. I feel pretty strongly about being available for assistance at any stage in my kid's lives, and I would have been happy to help him more if he asked, but thankfully he had the help he needed already.

I haven't been on these forums in ages, but wanted to share that this homeschooled-through-high-school kid graduated summa cum laude at Cornell and has been accepted into all of his top choices so far for grad school in physics. Every homeschool parent I meet who is considering homeschooling through high school (which sadly isn't that many), I send to this forum for advice!

[fourisenough]

8 hours ago, rbk mama said:

Watching DS apply to grad schools this past fall was such an encouraging experience - seeing him handle everything and seek out advice as needed. I offered to read his main essay, but he knew as I did that I don't really know what they're looking for, and don't understand his research experience either. I got to read it after he sent it in. He relied on a few different professors he worked with as well as some grad students for every step involved in the process, and is now getting advice on choosing between schools he has been accepted to. I feel pretty strongly about being available for assistance at any stage in my kid's lives, and I would have been happy to help him more if he asked, but thankfully he had the help he needed already.

I haven't been on these forums in ages, but wanted to share that this homeschooled-through-high-school kid graduated summa cum laude at Cornell and has been accepted into all of his top choices so far for grad school in physics. Every homeschool parent I meet who is considering homeschooling through high school (which sadly isn't that many), I send to this forum for advice!

Congratulations to him. Keep us posted where he decides to attend!

[Hoggirl]

@lewelma - any updates on where your ds will be headed for his doctorate?

[Frances]

She posted on a different thread that he chose Cornell.

[lewelma]

4 hours ago, Hoggirl said:

@lewelma - any updates on where your ds will be headed for his doctorate?

Yup. It's Cornell! It all came down to the professor he wanted to work with. DS is going into Condensed Matter Theory on the hard side (not soft which is Bio based). This is a smallish sub-field of physics, and Cornell has 3 professor focusing on this kind of work, all of which he had met and really felt like he could work with (and they are each taking 1 student this year). He got a really good vibe when he visited the campus for open day that it was a collaborative department with theory and experiment people working together, and professors and grad students interacting in a not very hierarchical manner. The professor he wants to work with has told him he can start research with him in the fall (which is apparently unusual in theory because of the math background required), and this guy has a great lab that really connects, has meals out, etc. Also, Ithaca is beautiful -- very different from Cambridge, and ds is ready for some hills and greenery. He got a fellowship for one of his years, and guaranteed RA for the other years. He is feeling very positive and excited, and he just got his apartment rented 2 hours ago. Thunderbirds are go!

Edited April 25, 2022 by lewelma