Another Promising Wait List

I just received virtually the same email from North Carolina-Chapel Hill as I received from Michigan. An excerpt:

[Y]ou are high on our waiting list – the Admissions Committee was very impressed by your application. We have made our initial offers, but the admissions process still has a way to go. I’ll be sure to inform you immediately of any developments...

Again, this is not yet an acceptance. But both the UNC and Michigan offers are promising because of the nature of the Ph.D. admissions process and the stature of these two schools. Both of these schools are competing with Harvard, Princeton, NYU, Stanford, etc., for the same students. Since a student can only go to one school, that means that they will have to turn down their other initial offers. Two of the schools some of them will turn down will be Michigan and UNC, which means spots will open up for those (like me) who are high on the waiting list.

At the moment, I would probably put UNC ahead of Michigan. Although the money is a bit better at Michigan, I've heard much better things about the departmental culture at UNC, and UNC's job placement record is better than Michigan's, replicating that of an Ivy League school rather than a prestigious public school.

Anyway, at this point, neither of them is a firm offer, but the chances are high that they could turn into offers. I'll let you know.