bluebros

I was interviewed for a CALA position back at the end of March, but I didn't end up getting it. They told me during the interview that they were interviewing 15 people for a total of 4 CALA positions. Ultimately, I declined the admission offer because the out-of-state tuition is just too much. I agree about UNC not maintaining very good communication after the initial acceptance email. I had the same problem with people not answering phone calls or returning calls when I left voicemails.

I fortunately didn't have an experience as bad as that with Kent State (I had all of my recommendations sent via mail), but it definitely seems like there's a lack of coordination there. I recall one of their webpages saying that recommendation letters weren't necessary, only the downloadable form, but then another page seemed to suggest that letters were also necessary. So I just erred on the side of caution and had them send letters as well. I noticed another lack of coordination with assistantship applications. The Graduate Studies division had one PDF form to fill out, and SLIS had a completely different, more-detailed PDF form to fill out. Neither form allowed you to type your information directly into the form, so I just superimposed text boxes with my information in the appropriate spots. I didn't want to have to fill them out by hand and mail them in because I haven't found the mail to be too reliable in sending my transcripts. So I filled them both out and uploaded them with my application. Then a few weeks later, SLIS posted a new, entirely online version of the assistantship application on its website. It was essentially the same as the PDF I had filled out, but they told me that I would have to fill out the new online application in order to be considered for an assistantship. Ultimately, I ended up filling out three different applications for an assistantship. I actually would've been better off if I had procrastinated until after the online application was posted. Go figure. Luckily I haven't had any major horror stories yet. My biggest complaint is that a lot of programs don't seem particularly communicative beyond telling you whether or not you've been accepted. With the exception of Michigan, the schools I've applied to haven't really done a lot to keep students in the loop about things. And I've found that they're all a bit coy about funding information. I'd rather they just be upfront about the realistic availability of funding from the beginning, as it would have helped me to target my efforts more effectively. The exception to this is Pitt, which told me that funding is extremely tight right now. But I already knew that anyway from meeting with the director of the Archives program last spring when I didn't get offered any funding from Pitt.

Thanks! I lived about an hour or so away for a couple of years, so I've been to Ann Arbor maybe ten times or so, but I've never gotten to spend a significant amount of time there. Just from my limited experience it seems like a nice place to live. I think I'd most like to attend school there, but it all comes down to funding. I can't afford 40 grand a year on out-of-state tuition, so I'll only be able to go there if I get an assistantship or some other sort of funding. I haven't heard anything from UMD about funding. I'm not even really sure what their timeline looks like, so I wouldn't know when to expect to start hearing from them about scholarships and assistantships. I think that when schools refer to "financial aid," they're generally speaking only about loans and federal work-study, so I don't think that May date applies to scholarships/assistantships. I haven't found UMD to be particularly communicative, so I'm not really sure what's going on over there. I'm in a similar sort of situation. Having recently finished a Ph.D., I'm extremely reluctant to take out any additional loans. It just doesn't seem financially responsible to incur even more debt for a career that isn't known for having high earnings potential. I'm fine with not making a lot of money, but I also don't want to default on my loans or otherwise be unduly burdened by them for the next decade or more. Even my one in-state school (Pitt) would be pricey without at least some funding. So my choice is basically dependent upon funding. Part of my reason for applying to five schools was to maximize my chances of getting funding somewhere. I've probably got another month or so of waiting on funding information before I can make a decision.

Thanks! Congratulations on your acceptances as well. While I do have five schools to choose from at the moment, I have a feeling that they will start making the decision a lot easier for me once I hear about funding. For some reason it seems like funding is a lot harder to come by in these types of programs than it was in the ones that I got my previous graduate degrees. I'm not exactly sure why that is, but hopefully at least one of these schools will work out well for me. Good luck with your funding situation too! Congratulations! I'm thinking about going, but I'm not sure because, as sfh09 mentioned, Michigan visiting days start the day after that. And while I'd be happy to enroll at Pitt (it's my "local" choice), I'm not sure that I'll have any better luck there this year than I did last year in terms of funding when it was the only school I applied to. As of now, I'm planning to attend the Michigan visiting days. Unless something drastically changes in my schedule, I'll be making the trip to Ann Arbor. I'm surprised that it's a three-day thing. Perhaps it's intended to make the trip more worthwhile for people traveling long distances. If it was a bit shorter, I'd be more inclined to commit to attending Pitt's visiting days as well. Four consecutive days of "orientation" types of sessions/activities is a bit much, especially when I'm not even really sure if I'll be able to afford to enroll at either school.

Haha, I don't blame you one bit for caving. Judging by your signature, it looks like you were accepted. Congratulations! I wouldn't throw in the towel yet on Pitt. I think they do them in batches. I got accepted there last year and found out the first week of March. I just found out from UMD yesterday that my acceptance is official. They sent an emailing saying that my final decision was available and that I needed to check the online application system. From there I was able to download a copy of the official acceptance letter. It said a copy will be mailed out as well.

Maryland doesn't show the admission decision in the online application system. They only sent me an email. If I click "check application status," it merely says, "Your application is now complete. It is currently being processed or soon will be. Thanks. If the status of your application is 'COMPLETE', that indicates that all required support documents have been received and that your file is ready to be reviewed for decision. After the review is completed, you will receive a letter with the decision recommendation in the mail. Decision information cannot be given out over the phone or in email correspondence." Thinking about it now, that would make sense as to why the email I received was worded in such a conditional manner. The email did mention that once the Graduate School makes its decision about the program's recommendation for acceptance, it will send a letter in the mail. But if your online application still says that the application is incomplete, I would try sending an email to make sure that they have everything. It might just be a glitch on their end, but I'd still check just to be safe. I know that mine didn't change over to "complete" until several weeks after I had submitted everything simply because it took an absurd amount of time for them to receive/process the transcript for one of my previous degrees. So it's possible that it might be something minor like that where it's not an issue on your end but rather on theirs.

Yeah, I suppose they probably were trying to be encouraging. I honestly wasn't expecting to hear anything from them this soon since the application deadline was just at the beginning of this month. I understand that it's hard not to be anxious about it, but I would imagine that you'll probably be fine. If you were good enough that the people who run the actual program accepted you, then I doubt that anyone else will raise objections. I'd guess that it's more of a bureaucratic formality than anything else. And it seems that a lot of these programs attract students with varied backgrounds, so I wouldn't worry too much about having a "typical" background. I'll definitely let you know once I hear from UMD about a formal acceptance. Thanks! Good luck to you too!

I'm surprised that they haven't notified you yet since you submitted your application not all that long after me. I don't know how you can fight the urge to ask, haha. If I could actually ask in person, I don't think I'd be able to restrain myself. Congratulations! I got the same kind of email from UMD yesterday too. I thought it was kind of odd that they would send out such a conditional email. Why not just wait until the Graduate School approves the recommendation? Although, I can't imagine that there would be too many circumstances in which they would reject the recommendation of the actual program itself. Congratulations to you both! Hopefully the funding situation there will be better this year, for everyone's sake. Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, there wasn't really any funding available for master's students last year when I was accepted.

Thanks! Congratulations to you too! Thanks! Maybe they are reviewing the applications separately by degree. When did you submit your application? I submitted mine in early December. Good luck! I hope it all works out for you. Thanks! Congratulations to you too! I also got the sense that they take in a lot of students. On their website it says that there are 381 master's degree students. With it being a two-year program, I would assume that each year's cohort would be about half that number. I'm not sure how that number breaks down in terms of the number of students in each specialization though. And with the price tag of tuition (at least for us out-of-state folks), I would imagine that even more students are accepted but don't enroll. Waiting on the funding decisions is getting a bit nerve-wracking.

Congratulations! Me too! I got accepted for the MSLS program, specializing in Archives and Records Management.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one obsessively checking. Of the programs I've applied to, I think Michigan is the one I'd most like to attend at this point. They seem like they really have their act together there. With some of these other programs, I never get responses to my emails, or if I do, it's days or even weeks after the fact. I figure that if they're not going to be particularly helpful on the way in, they're probably also not going to be very helpful on the way out (in terms of career guidance and professional development) since they will already have your money at that point. I actually got accepted to Pitt last year but deferred enrollment because there was no funding. It was the only school I applied to last year because I wanted to move back to that area (I'm originally from Western PA) after having spent the last several years away in graduate school. I went to meet with one of the professors there last April, and he basically told me that when the governor gutted the state's education budget, their funding took a big hit. He said if I had applied a year earlier, I would've had at least half-tuition funding. When I emailed their department secretary a month or two ago about something completely unrelated to funding, she told me that the Admissions Coordinator told her to emphasize to me that funding is in really short supply; so it doesn't sound like the situation has really improved during the intervening year. I'm not really holding out much hope of going there at this point. But for what it's worth, last year I was notified of my acceptance the first week of March (I think around March 5). I had submitted my application in about mid-December, shortly before Christmas. And then I heard back about funding (or rather, lack thereof) within the first couple days of April. Yeah, I wouldn't be too concerned about not hearing back yet, particularly from Pitt, because as I mentioned, you probably won't hear from them until at least early March. I can totally relate to that feeling about waiting. I actually felt a lot better while I was in the process of applying than I do now. At least then I felt like I was doing everything I could to give myself the best shot at getting into programs and getting funding. Now that the applications are all in, I feel like I still need to be doing something to work proactively toward that goal, but I'm not sure what I can really do at this point. And the whole issue of just not knowing what my situation is going to be in the fall is giving me a lot of anxiety. I want to be able to plan ahead and get things in order ahead of time, but I won't be able to decide on a school until I hear about funding. And some of these schools wait until close to the decision deadline (or even after) to make funding decisions. For instance, Kent State told me they won't be making decisions about assistantships until April or May, but most schools expect you to accept or decline enrollment by mid-April. It's a very frustrating process.

UNC sends an email notification to check the online application system, which is where you'll find your admission decision. I got my acceptance from them on January 25, and I submitted my application shortly before the December 10 deadline. Depending upon when you submitted your application, I would imagine that you'll be hearing back from them relatively soon. Has anyone heard back from the University of Michigan yet? I've been accepted to UNC, University of Pittsburgh, and Kent State, but I'm still waiting to hear back from Michigan and Maryland.