Hey everybody, first post. I am very curious about the status of my application and was wondering if any users here may have encountered a similiar situation.
I applied to my program in early January, and heard nothing back until the beginning of this month. I received a form e-mail from the grad director (dear applicant...) saying that although the program is willing to consider students with GPAs below 3.0, they need a GRE score to justify my admission to administration. The e-mail had a positive tone, and taking the GRE was presented as a "solution" to that shortcoming in my application. I had actually already taken the GRE, and e-mailing the grad director confirmed that it was sent to me to encourage me to retake the GRE and shoot for a higher score. They want scores by the end of the month so they can reconsider applications.
I'm definitely going to retake because I really want to get in, but has this ever happened to anyone else? Should I be optimistic about getting in? I suspect a number of other applicants got a form e-mail that was an outright rejection at the same time I did. They may also be biding their time to see who commits or not after the first round of acceptances...I don't know, it just seemed unusual to be asked to go through such a time-consuming process this late in the game.