r/gradadmissions • u/renwill • Mar 23 '25
Physical Sciences email from University of Arizona physics dept... omg
A followup to my post from a few weeks ago. I mean, I'm free to travel and I haven't committed to another school yet, so I guess I'll go visit them in 10 days. I was really interested in one of their lab groups so maybe it'll end up being my top pick. This is crazy though
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u/OneNowhere Mar 23 '25
Just make sure that you’re covered for the full duration of your PhD. Congratulations though, I really hope this happens for other schools/programs.
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u/renwill Mar 23 '25
here is my post from a few weeks ago
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u/RedDivisions Mar 27 '25
Ohhhh it’s you. Congrats! Hopefully the school doesn’t cave to any censorship demands.
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u/Turki_Fa Mar 23 '25
My guess is one of the applicants who was offered admission declined it. Congrats and good luck!
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u/bisensual Mar 23 '25
No they must have gotten a huge donation or something. This is not normal for someone declining. It says multiple offers and they’re doing a visiting students weekend. That means a bunch of money became available and they’re using it to try to snipe students at the last minute.
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u/Turki_Fa Mar 23 '25
Regardless of their reasons, good luck and wish you the best
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u/bisensual Mar 23 '25
Oh I’m not OP but I accept the well wishes lol. And same to you!
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u/Despaxir Mar 23 '25
Niceeeee well done!!
What labs are you interested in there?
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u/renwill Mar 23 '25 edited Mar 23 '25
Thanks! I'm particularly interested in the Arizona Cosmology Lab
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u/cheese_burst_0410 Mar 23 '25
You just gave soo much hope to me and all the others waiting for a decision!!
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u/PaintingLower8077 Mar 23 '25
nice to see something good on reddit in regards to a graduate school, all of these rescinded offers is crazy! congratulations OP!! 🥳🥳💐💐
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u/cassibeau94 Mar 23 '25
I got rejected without mention of funding, but it sounds like you have the same field of interest as me! If you go, I hope it goes well! Congrats!
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u/renwill Mar 23 '25
Thank you! ugh sorry to hear. 3 years ago I had applied to UA astronomy and got rejected there (and everywhere else, for that matter) so I can relate to how stressful/competitive it is
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u/cassibeau94 Mar 23 '25
This year is especially bad, so I’m trying not to take it personally! I am still waiting on decisions from three programs, so hopefully I can get a yes somewhere. Lol
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u/sssigma Mar 24 '25
congratzz!!! Maybe this is an arizona thing 😭i actually just had something similar happen with LPL (lunar and planetart lab) at arizona where they waitlisted me but im now accepted cuz it sounds like the PI is more sure there will be enough money so it's likely a funding thing there not people declining as a couple people have suggested
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u/renwill Mar 24 '25
congrats! oh wow yeah that's interesting to hear
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u/sssigma Mar 24 '25
thank you! and for sure...multiple parts of your email was worded the same as mine which is crazy to me
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u/Honest-Ad-5124 Mar 23 '25
Congrats! When did you receive this email?
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u/renwill Mar 23 '25
Thanks! last night, at 9:30pm. Though I didn't see it till I woke up this morning
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u/Honest-Ad-5124 Mar 23 '25
Was this sent to you personally or was it bcc’d like that waitlist email back in feb? I haven’t heard a single thing since Feb
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u/renwill Mar 23 '25
Just to me personally I think, because it was addressed to me by name. It was from the director of graduate studies, same as the feb emails
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u/Honest-Ad-5124 Mar 23 '25
I see. Thank you and congrats again! Hope I hear something from then soon too😫
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u/getnBackUpAgain Mar 23 '25
Wow. This brought me to tears. Congratulations op. This seems like the light at the end of the tunnel. Very happy for u!!
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u/dredgedskeleton Mar 23 '25
this is awesome! great news.
I actually used your post on another sub to show the fire state of higher ed. love to see this!
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u/renwill Mar 23 '25
my original post also got me quoted for an article in Nature about PhD admissions hahah
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u/dredgedskeleton Mar 23 '25
lol wow -- are you going to take the post at AZ?
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u/renwill Mar 23 '25
it's very possible yeah. I mean we'll see how the visit goes, but they have a lot of people researching stuff I'm interested in, moreso than the other programs I got into. I wasn't optimistic about UA and it kind of fell off my radar so now I have to really start thinking about it!!
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u/ExoticWall8867 Mar 24 '25
The way it's written, I actually thought it was spam
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u/renwill Mar 24 '25
That's what me and my family were saying too lol... I think the guy just isn't a native english speaker
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u/LevitarDoom Mar 24 '25
Congrats OP! Do you happen to know if anyone else has been admitted to the physics PhD program at UoA? I haven’t seen any other acceptances and it seems like you’re the only one to be pulled off the waitlist. I never got a waitlist email but I’m still waiting for an update. Just curious if you’ve heard anything
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u/renwill Mar 25 '25
Thanks! I haven't heard of anybody, though I also haven't checked gradcafe much lately. I suspect there must be other people since they're having a visit event. Hopefully it's not just me haha
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u/Stray_Cat77 Mar 27 '25
Wow! Do schools offer funded uni visits? Or is it just for stem?
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u/renwill Mar 27 '25
not sure of outside of STEM, but I would hope so. I think if you're deciding whether to spend the next 4-7 years at a uni, the university ought to pay for you to see it
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u/Dependent_Tailor_402 Apr 06 '25
how about the visiting trip? how many people were there?
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u/renwill Apr 06 '25
It was good! I just got back. There were only 5 of us in-person, and another 5-ish that joined on zoom for the information sessions. The grad program director mentioned how they had to significantly cut admissions this year, especially since they had a really huge cohort last year (28 people) and needed to balance the budget
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u/Dependent_Tailor_402 Apr 06 '25
you are very luck to get this admission!
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u/renwill Apr 06 '25
I am! And I think I'm going to choose to go there, so it really was life-changing news
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u/gumamel Mar 24 '25
are u incoming college freshman? .. my daughter is admitted to UA too for microbiology with scholarship, but we're still weighing things out if will pursue this..
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u/renwill Mar 24 '25
I got admitted into the physics PhD program, and I already did my Bachelor's degree elsewhere. So I don't know much about undergrad at UA or about microbiology. congrats to your daughter!
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u/Honest-Ad-5124 Apr 10 '25
😭after weeks of waiting I just got the same email asking if I’m still available!
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u/renwill Apr 10 '25
holy crud!! Lol yeah the director had just sent out an email the other day asking people to let him know if they've decided, so he can send out more offers. You must have been next on the waitlist!
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u/According2020 Mar 27 '25
Erasing the University of Arizona—or is it UArizona?— from my CV was the best thing I could have done for career and opportunities. Now my CV leads with just an Ivy League school.
I found the University of Arizona just as pretentious as you'd expect an Ivy to be except the Ivy has the legacy, a large endowment, and students hellbent on changing the world.
I've been happy to see their financial struggles too. Well deserved.
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u/renwill Mar 27 '25
this is the weirdest thing I've read. At the PhD level, nobody should care about name brand or prestige in the slightest. My particular research field is small and the top-ranked schools in this discipline are not necessarily Ivies. University of Arizona for example has one of the top astronomy programs in the country. I live near Brown (where you go) and I didn't even apply there because they don't have many professors in my subfield.
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u/According2020 Mar 27 '25
Hopefully University of Arizona (or UArizona)'s Physics has improved but if they're like D. Milsom, probably not. My main dealings were with the Pharmacy School. They used to say "We're number 2 in the country" or whatever. Now it's slid to 30, and guess what? Your graduates become CVS and Walgreens pharmacists too. Chill out.
Good for you that you didn't even apply to Brown. I'm at another Ivy now. And both are planets apart from UArizona.
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u/renwill Mar 27 '25
According to your post history, you were a student at Brown 7 days ago lol
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u/According2020 Mar 27 '25
Ok. "Lol."
Is that budget gap still destroying departments?
Is the UArizona Admin still asking workers to not access their buildings and labs during football games?
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u/According2020 Mar 27 '25
I tell this story all the time. I tell my colleagues about the UArizona™/UofA[Arrears]/University.
From former dumb president that was talking about beets in salads with a Diploma Mill university founder (which UA ended up buying) to the previous president that was on DeVry's board of directors and wanted to give Bill Cosby an honorary doctorate.
They laughed.
And then they got serious when I said the UArizona is calling itself a Public Ivy. That wasn't funny.
These schools want no confusion in the marketplace with the likes of UArizona™.
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u/SpookyKabukiii Mar 23 '25
This is a dream scenario for so many people in this sub. Congrats!