daseinplushie

Some programs notify everyone by postal mail,too. Some of the programs I applied to notify acceptances as well as rejections by postal mail (which I verified on last year's gradcafe listings for those programs).

I was lucky to have all three of my letters arrive in plenty of time. However, one of the schools I applied to wound up losing all three of my letters, telling me at 7:30 pm on a Friday evening that I had until Monday morning to get my recommeders to resend them.

I'm not a student, so my apologies in advance if this information is completely useless to you, but... South Bend itself is very conservative. It's got a very midwestern farm town vibe to it, IMO. I live in Detroit, used to live in Chicago and go back to Chicago a lot, so I tend to go through that area about once every couple of months. FWIW, I'm not a lesbian, but I feel uncomfortable whenever we stop around there, just because of having a few visible tattoos and a more artsy/intellectual look. South Bend is just very homogeneous. As far as the Catholic element of the school itself, that might not be as much of a problem. I go to a Jesuit school in Detroit, and I know that my school has a lot of resources. A lot of Catholic universities advocate community involvement (and in some cases, community activism) which tends to encourage more of an atmosphere of diversity and tolerance IMO. You'd be about ninety minutes from Chicago, which has a thriving gay and lesbian community, so if there weren't ample resources in South Bend, you'd at least have easy access to Chicago. The Metra also goes between South Bend and Chicago, although it stops running somewhat early. If you're interested, you can check out the route here: http://www.nictd.com/service/dailywestbound.htm

It looks like we've applied to some different programs, so I don't know if this is helpful to you or not, but I spoke to Marquette yesterday. They told me that my file was still under review, and that there are three possible categories for which I'm being considered: the funded PhD, the unfunded PhD and the MA. He told me if I call him by late next week, he should have a definite answer for me. Duquesne told me when I applied that they make decisions in mid-March, but their deadline isn't even until Feb. 15, so that makes sense. I emailed Fordham last week, and they told me they would start notifying by postal mail (both acceptances and rejections) in about a week.

I think it depends on the program. Some of the programs I applied to notified right away, while a couple of them have said not to expect an answer until mid-March. I have found that programs are pretty good about giving me a decisive answer when one has been made. I emailed a number of programs--two of them wrote back and told me I was rejected, one wrote back and told me that I was accepted, and three told me that decisions weren't yet made and that I could expect an answer in mid to late March.

I couldn't stand the wait either, so I mailed programs I hadn't heard from. In one case, I received an acceptance (it had just been decided that day!) in one case, I received a rejection, and in one case, I was told that they were still deliberating and encouraged to follow up with them. I think it's better to know, even if it's bad news.

Hey, Einstein, who do you generally send the emails to? I've been thinking of sending an email to a couple of places, but am not sure if I should send it to the secretary, go straight to the director of graduate admissions, or send it to someone else...

Well, it's only been a week since they sent out their first wave so it's too soon to tell. I've been accepted to a couple of programs, though, so I know I'll be going somewhere. I'm still waiting on a bunch, though, since a lot of the programs I applied to have February deadlines...

I can relate. I had something similar happen with one of my first choice programs last week. They do it this way to torture us

It's not uncommon to be notified by phone. A lot of programs will notify you via either phone or email, then follow up later with a letter. However, if you weren't called, that doesn't mean that you were rejected. A lot of schools admit students in waves, since not everyone they give an offer to will accept. So, even if you weren't in the first wave of applicants, there's still a chance you might ultimately get accepted.

Has anyone heard from LUC? I know that they sent out acceptances throughout the month of February last year, but I haven't heard of anyone getting notified yet this year. I was wondering if anyone else has heard anything...

Heh, my backup plan if I didn't get in anywhere was to move to Amsterdam and write. I can picture myself having occasional days next year where I'd wished I'd gone through with that ;-)

I think it's their way of saying that while they found your application to be impressive, they aren't ready to announce decisions either way. This could indicate that you made at least the first cut, and they are in the process of finalizing a decision or it could simply mean that they have a strict protocol for notifying applicants. I don't think you can tell either way from that email,though.

The waiting is driving me nuts,too. A lot of the programs I applied to have February deadlines, so I probably won't hear anything until mid-March. Making matters worse, my credentials are all over the place. I gave a paper at a conference last summer and have two publications, but my rather abysmal quantitative score made my overall GRE score less than stellar. So, really, anything could happen... On the bright side, I was admitted to an MA program a few weeks ago, so I know I'll be going somewhere. The waiting is making me nuts, though :wink: