u/Independent_Pair3032

things that made me go “what the hell, sure” this season as a first-time applier:

1. columbia’s new msai program, which spawned out of nowhere
2. ucla not giving out results yet like, not even rejects (waiting till today)
3. so many people waiting for the mythical ucsd second wave
4. cmu having like a hundred gazillion programs
5. someone from neu having their visa accepted in one question, while someone from columbia got rejected after five
6. people debating usc and nyu
7. the whole “this program is a cash cow vs. actually selective” debate with zero transparency
8. gradcafe threads turning into detective agencies trying to decode decision patterns from, like, three data points
9. usc admitting people with a 7 gpa this year
10. finally, portal astrology