LIS Hopeful

Hi mr.potato! Check out the GradCafe Results Search: http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/ Search for library & once your results come up, you can sort your results based on institution. Be sure to check around though, if your looking for UNC stats, you could find them under "The University of North Carolina" or just "University of North Carolina". (LIS prospects should be better at metadata input). If you look next to their "Accepted" or "Rejected" decision result & see a little red diamond, they have included their stats (GPA & GRE). And of course, be sure to include your results once you receive your decision letters. Good luck!

I strongly second everything jordtas7 wrote regarding personal statements. Make sure you clearly state which courses sound most appealing to you & why, as well as what track, specialization or certifications you are interested in. I also mentioned what the location of the program offered, in my case, the ability to volunteer & intern at leading cultural heritage institutions in DC & NYC. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

Hi Belljar- The grad school application process is nerve-wracking, I know, having just gone through it myself. From what I have read on these forums, a lot of applicants get into most, if not all, of the programs they apply to. Since you are applying to 5, I'm confident that you'll get in somewhere. I'm not sure about the admission rates of the programs you're applying to, but UMD only accepts 1/3 of their applicants & I was in that top third. To share, my stats are: -GRE: V- 160, Q-156, Essay-4.5 -GPA: 3.86 -Undergrad: BA through state school's online program, AA through local community college -Work experience related to the field: 4 years of full-time unrelated work experience prior to & during AA -Recent grad I too had significant transcript issues due to some personal issues. My first semester GPA was a 1.63 & I was placed on academic probation. However, I shaped up my act & ended up more than doubling my GPA. It's great that you've worked hard to improve your grades in your senior year; it shows admission committees that you are serious about your academic career. Out of the 3 programs I applied to, CUA was the only one who asked for an explanation for any academic issues. I wrote a 3 paragraph response which addressed my poor performance early on, my improvements over the years, & how I did not allow my poor grades to discourage me from achieving my educational goals. I didn't address my academic issues in my applications to Pratt & UMD since they didn't ask. Don't allow your poor early performance to scare you off from applying. Instead, use it to your advantage. A lot of people just coast through school without having to deal with any set-backs. The fact that you've struggled & overcome your obstacles shows that you are more than capable to achieving your dreams. As far as your personal statement, try looking up things like <library grad school application essay example> or <mls OR mlis grad school application "personal statement" advice> & read whatever you find. It's helpful to search on non .edu sites, since your queries will probably turn up a lot of results detailing program requirements instead advice & examples. Good luck!

I personally take the USNWR rankings with more than a grain of salt. Their methodology essentially amounts to a popularity contest amongst senior faculty. From their website: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/2013/03/11/methodology-best-library-and-information-studies-rankings "The rankings are based solely on the results of a fall 2012 survey sent to the dean of each program, the program director, and a senior faculty member in each program." I'd suggest searching Hack Library School for personal opinions from students: http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/ You can also review the ALA's Job Placement Stats: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/10/placements-and-salaries/2012-survey/explore-all-the-data/ Finally, I'd recommend reaching out to current students on Twitter. If you DM someone asking for their advice & provide them with an email address, you'll probably receive a candid response back filled with advice & opinions on their program. I reached out to students at all 3 of the programs I applied to, & received helpful advice from them all. Hope this help!

I wanted to share some information regarding admission statistics. Throughout the waiting period between my application submissions & acceptance letters, I spent a fair amount of time stressing over whether I measured up to the competition. Hopefully, this information will allay some nerves. UMD iSchool admission statistics: Average GPA: Masters 3.59 / Doctoral 3.21 GRE Quantitative: Masters 678 (153 new scale) / Doctoral 736 (158 new scale) GRE Verbal: Masters 573 (158 new scale) / Doctoral 576 (158 new scale) GRE Analytic Writing: Masters 3.8 / Doctoral 4.4 *Source: UMD iSchool College Profile, received as attachment to Welcome Packet email. If anyone has come across admission statistics from verifiable sources, I hope you share them here. GRE Concordance Table: http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/concordance_information.pdf

I paid my enrollment deposit on the second day of my CUA campus visit. They were my first choice throughout this entire process, and I am so glad that I am officially enrolled. I notified UMD by email & snail mail that I declined their acceptance. It was quite hard, considering that I had just visited their campus (on my dime, not theirs) and met a few members of the iSchool dept, but I tried to be as diplomatic and thankful as possible. I plan on staying in the DC area after graduating, so I disn't want to potentially rule myself out as a future employee by not acknowledging their kindness.

So here's my perspective on funding at each of these programs: UMD: Visited their financial aid office & was told that determinations regarding loans & work-study would not be made until probably late June. They prioritize undergrad freshman, so until they're done, no info for grads. Spoke with an iSchool academic program specialist regarding assistantships & was told that all positions were awarded through the Career Center, which was surprising to me, since their website states that all iSchool assistantships are awarded through the iSchool's Student Services department. CUA: Most loan & work-study determinations will be made by May 6th deadline. I was strongly encouraged to apply directly to the library & any other departments I may want to work at. In addition, their career services department can help students obtain on- and off-campus employment. Assistantships are usually advertised on their ListServ. I was told that scholarship determinations should be made within the next few weeks. Hope this helps.

Wow. That's bad. Having 3 different recommendations, both digital and hard-copy, lost in the ether is crazy-sloppy. And refusing to allow your recommenders to resubmit their recommendations online is completely unacceptable. How do they expect your recommendations to be submitted? Maybe you'll receive a "surprise, you've been accepted!" packet like me.

UMD had a special e-government scholarship program available for Fall 2013 applicants: http://ischool.umd.edu/content/e-government#ScholarshipProgram. Information on loans, grants, work-study, scholarships, assistantships & fellowships can all be found on UMD's Financial Aid website, so that's why I assumed that all financial info would probably go out at the same time. I still don't understand how colleges handle the actual "paying for your education" element of the admissions process. Both CUA & UMD did not contain even a breakdown of tuition, let alone aid info, in my acceptance offers. I have been fortunate enough to never need student loans or scholarships, so the idea of enrolling in a school & not even knowing how much it will cost or how I'll be able to pay for it is kind of terrifying. I'll be visiting both CUA & UMD next week & will be incorporating a meeting with a financial aid representative at each place. Hopefully I'll have a much clearer picture of the types of financial assistance available.

Congrats! You shouldn't have to wait too much longer to receive your official offer of acceptance. It took 9 days between getting my recommendation email & my official acceptance notice on ASF.

I'm 11 days away from my final decision. I'll be having official visits to UMD next Monday & CUA next Tuesday & Wednesday. It will be a busy 3 days: tour the campus (& the libraries, of course), sit in on classes, meet w/ advisor, financial aid, career services, off-campus housing, etc. I'll be making my final decision, enrollment deposit & everything, on Thursday. I already know in my heart that I'm going to CUA, but I can't completely write off UMD without even sitting in on a class. Funding would be great (pulling for one of CUA's many scholarships), but a few thousand dollars from UMD isn't going to convince me to attend a program I'm not in love with. Go with your heart!

I'm glad that no one else has had a similar experience to mine. I wasn't sure if behavior like this was common or not, since this is my first time applying to a "real college." Not to denigrate my almae matres, but both of the college I've graduated from did not a formal application process or have any admissions criteria for students. My community college accepts everyone (outside of certain requirement for health professional programs) & my state college only requires students be at least 21 years old (GED/HS diploma required, of course). As a result, I never had to go through the entire process of filling out a huge application package, collect letters of recommendation, or take an standardized test (GRE but no SAT). I am very glad the admissions process is over & have been accepted to all 3 of the programs I applied to (never thought that would happen). I haven't had a second thought about Pratt (even though it would save me about $20k by living at home), so I know I've made the right decision.

Has anyone applying to UMD received funding info yet? I saw a response on the admissions results page "accepted with full tuition scholarship for e-gov't specialization." WOW! & Congrats! (& how do I get some of that?) All I received was a single-sheet acceptance letter in the mail. No program info, tuition breakdown, enrollment instructions, nothing. Their Financial Aid dept website says that funds won't be rewarded until May (http://www.financialaid.umd.edu/osfa/dates.php), which seems pretty late to me. Then again, this is my first time requesting aid, so it might be totally normal.

Glad to read that UMD is investigating your transcript issue. Their Grad Admissions dept has been very response the few times I have contacted them, same goes with Financial Aid dept. I am in the process of arranging a visit to the school, including a class sit-in, & my coordinator has been a bit off her game. I have had to call her a few times to follow up on emails, but she always knows what I wrote in my emails (why not just reply?). I don't know. UMD is so frickin' huge I'd figure they wouldn't have their act together, but I've so far been happy with their responsiveness.

So, this is just my personal experience, and I hope that I'm the only one who's had to deal with an awful admissions dept, but I think it would be helpful to know whether I'm alone in having an admissions dept horror story. Pratt: Their policy only required official transcripts after acceptance, as long as an unofficial copy was scanned & uploaded w/ the application. I included an unofficial scan &, just to be on the safe side, had an official copy mailed as well. 2 weeks after my application was submitted, I received an email from their admissions dept that my unofficial copy was unacceptable & my application would not be considered until they received an official application. 3 emails informing them I had an official transcript mailed to them = No response. Phone call #1 asking if they received it in the mail = "We're still sorting through our mail" (even though it had been 4 weeks). Phone call #2 a week later to follow-up = No response to my voice mail message. At this point, I'm panicking: Why haven't they received my official transcript? What if I send another one & it ends up "lost in their files" again? What if my application isn't even considered because they arbitrarily won't accept my unofficial transcript? Imagine my surprise when I received an acceptance package in the mail the next day, my first one out of all the programs I applied to. What happened to the admissions dept holding my application until they received an official transcript? Did they ever receive an official transcript? I have no idea, since my followup emails & phone calls were, once again, unacknowledged. So I sent in my form declining their admission 2 days ago. Hopefully it won't take them 4 weeks to find it in their office. They may have an amazing program, great professors, and outstanding networking opportunities, but I wouldn't know. If I treated the application process & admissions dept this way, I wouldn't be admitted (or I certainly shouldn't be). Is it an overreaction to expect that admissions depts treat their applicants with the least bit of respect or courtesy, or is it a reflection of the overall program itself?