12345678900987654321

I am not a man, please don't call me sir. A little sleuthing goes a long way. However, if you don't care that much you can simply begin your emails with "Dear FirstName LastName" "Hello" "Greetings" or similar. Don't send me an email that says something like "I would like to work under your supervision." I'm not hiring anyone. Don't send the exact same email to me, the department head, and three faculty members. Similarly, why do so many international students email the department head? Do you think you're going to jump the line? Do people advise you to do this? Please carefully read the emails I send. If you seem to have extreme difficulty comprehending them, I will make a note of that and share it with the admissions committee. With some time and attention to your communication, you will receive better information from us. I don't work in the English department so your grammar doesn't have to be perfect. However, it does make a difference before and during the application process. Also pay attention to capitalization. You'd be amazed at how many emails I receive without capital letters. They can be hard to read. I am happy to get settled. However, things will be easier for you if you take advantage of the resources I (and the college) send you before arriving. It will be much easier for you if you take our suggestions about finding housing and a roommate. Just a few suggestions to make your application process (and my life) easier.

If you're not sure of the gender of the person you're talking to, it is ok to simply begin an email with "Hello." I have received an inordinate amount of emails this cycle addressed to "Sir" and it makes you look silly. Also, what's up with the Sir/Ma I get a lot of? Why not Sir/Ma'am? Is Ma commonly used in some countries?

It is a very busy time for people involved in graduate admissions. Just hold your horses.

I'm pushing my committee to have everything decided by Feb 1. Here's the thing about faculty: they move at a glacial pace. Their usual work of research, writing, and revising is a SLOW process. I find that their slow pace spills over into everything they do.

My system doesn't automatically send reminders. However, I bet in your case it was automatic. I doubt people were working on the 24th and 30th to push the button to send reminders.

I work with scatterbrained profs all day, every day. Because of this, I also understand that some of them find it an absolute chore to upload a letter. I'm going to design a research project to determine if grad school turns people helpless or if helpless people are attracted to grad school. After some of the applicants I've seen this season I'm going with the latter.

That's hilarious! If I got that message (and an immediate apology) but the applicant had otherwise demonstrated competency in the application process I probably wouldn't say anything to the committee.

My committee will call people they know at PhD applicant's MS schools all the time. No MS references when applying to a PhD program would be a HUGE red flag. If you're serious about continuing your education in this field you must find a champion in your current department. Don't do any of this via letters or emails. Make an appointment with someone.

Sure. January 3 is a Saturday. The grad secretary probably didn't realize it was a Saturday and didn't change the deadline from the previous years. (Totally something I would do.)

For the love of all things holy, READ THE DIRECTIONS. When I get emails like this: Dear GradSecretary, Should I mail my transcripts to you? Please respond soonest. Applicant Here's how I want to respond: Applicant, You have received emails about this very topic. In addition, that information is on the department's website AND on the university's website. If you can't follow these simple instructions what makes you think you can hack it in grad school? Also, I respond as soon as I can. If you ask me to respond "soonest" though, my sense of urgency drops. Also, if you continue to be incompetent during the application process I WILL tell the committee. They want to know if they're considering admitting an idiot who takes an inordinate amount of hand-holding. GradSecretary

IME you really need to make it look like you're not copying and pasting. My professors HATE that. Show some genuine passion.

My guess is Don meant to send the email to the "Submitted" applications instead of all of them. The other possibility is that because you were close to completing it they assumed (or maybe hoped) that you would complete it soon. And yes, I can see everything even if it hasn't been submitted yet.

For clarification, are you thinking about making changes without showing him the final letter? IMO, that's a big mistake.

Glad to see you asked! That was going to be my advice. If there's a letter missing by the deadline and you haven't contacted me to explain, it doesn't look very good. Life happens and professors can be forgetful.

THIS I get this kind of stuff regularly and it is no big deal. Also, the phrase absent-minded professor exists for a reason...

IMO that's an odd way they ask the question. We ask if they intend to apply for an assistantship. However, we just generally assume they need financial support. Not sure how other departments do it but we make admission decisions first and funding decisions later. Self-funding doesn't play into the admissions decision. They either think you can succeed or you can't. If you were applying to my program I'd tell you to leave it off. Since you're not, I'd ask the grad secretary what they consider to be financial support.

Generic emails for all! Seriously though, I know you guys want to know as soon as possible so I send generic emails as soon as the committee makes a decision. Top candidates usually get a personal email from someone in the Department. If they're funded they'll get an offer letter emailed to them as well.

This is an old-ish post but here's my advice anyway: It probably isn't a deal breaker so honestly you're probably fine to leave it be. You can just shoot your school's admissions contact noting the issue. If you (or they) think it is going to be a big deal I would have your recommenders write you an email which says something like "Trent, I'm sorry about the mistake on your letter. I wrote that you went down in flames when really you went down in a blaze of glory." Then forward it to your contact with an explanation.

Community college classes in high school? Are you counting them as prerequisites? Unless you are IMO it isn't an issue. Here's how that conversation would go in my committee: Professor 1: "Oh, I see Cambienta got a D- in underwater basket weaving in HS. Well his/her grades since have certainly improved." Professor 2: "Underwater basket weaving, really? Where did you see that? I didn't even bother with the community college transcripts." Professor 3: "Oh yeah, my daughter took that in HS. It was a crazy hard class." Professor 4: "I took that class as an elective back in 1969. My professor was a long-haired hippie who always came to class smelling like weed. For our final he took us to the beach and we just had a drum circle." GradSecretary thinks silently "Would you people hurry up? This has absolutely no impact on Cambienta's application and in five minutes you're going to forget that Cambienta ever took underwater basket weaving."

Wednesday (tomorrow) is the last day my committee will be reviewing applications until after Jan 15th deadline. Next week is finals week and after that we're closed until January. Rolling admission just basically means that the review/admit as applications as they come in instead of waiting until after a specified date. Unless those two schools do something different, there really isn't any difference in submitting early vs. waiting until Jan.

Professors can be so slow with this kind of stuff. Fortunately, professors are the ones reviewing the applications so they will (hopefully) be understanding about this kind of stuff. Our application system lets me see when you send requests. If I can see you've been making an effort it isn't a huge deal for us. We will still want it but a few days late isn't going to negatively impact your application. If a letter is going to be late, IMO it is better to finalize/submit your application before the deadline even if the letter isn't in yet.

You are way overthinking this. I would wager that 99% of the time my committee does not look at waiver status. Plus, in the US at least, it's the law. Under the Family Rights and Privacy Act, university students have the right to inspect their files upon request.

In my field we do not have admissions interviews. We welcome all admitted students to visit and pay for visits for our top prospects.

It sounds like you have a great story to tell about how you stuck with college despite challenges/moving. My committee eats that sort of stuff up. I've seen people put it in their SOP or sometimes they'll just email me about it. I usually discuss my interactions with applicants during admissions meetings and I bring it up there.

Exactly. At my school fees are NOT refundable. That is the risk you take when you apply. Buck up kiddo.