When is it appropriate to email the admissions chair to ask about the status of applications?

[pataka]

It's been over a month since I've heard anything regarding the University of Michigan's Clinical Science program. Last year, it seems they sent out rejections around the 16th-17th of January, and it's hard to determine when they sent out interview invites. Interview/"recruitment" weekend this year is Feb 16-17. Would it be appropriate to email the admissions chair at this point to ask if interview invites have been sent out? Or should I just bite my tongue and wait? I feel like I'm contemplating poking the beast and I don't know what's in my best interest here.

[Clinapp2017]

What do you gain by asking? You just look impatient. Learning to be patient and wait to hear back on things (e.g., grants, applications, jobs) is par for the course in academia. 

 

If you really must know (because of conflicting interview weekends invitational ONLY), then maybe it would be appropriate to email the program coordinator. I’d still advise against. 

[Piagetsky]

12 minutes ago, Clinapp2017 said:

What do you gain by asking? You just look impatient. Learning to be patient and wait to hear back on things (e.g., grants, applications, jobs) is par for the course in academia. 

 

If you really must know (because of conflicting interview weekends invitational ONLY), then maybe it would be appropriate to email the program coordinator. I’d still advise against. 

As much as waiting patiently is torture for me, I completely agree.  The chances of the response being "Why, yes, you're accepted and we just forgot to tell you" is next to zero, so I can't imagine any good news coming from such a contact.    I do things to occupy myself like check TGC a million times a day instead.

[pataka]

8 minutes ago, Clinapp2017 said:

What do you gain by asking? You just look impatient. Learning to be patient and wait to hear back on things (e.g., grants, applications, jobs) is par for the course in academia. 

 

If you really must know (because of conflicting interview weekends invitational ONLY), then maybe it would be appropriate to email the program coordinator. I’d still advise against. 

Well I would gain knowledge that would quell the anxiety that comes with limbo. But I know you're right. I guess I just needed someone to confirm that asking would be a bad idea. It's my first round of applications; I suppose I wasn't prepared for time to feel like it's moving so slowly, and I'm losing my mind a little, haha. Thanks! 

[studentofthemind]

6 minutes ago, pataka said:

Well I would gain knowledge that would quell the anxiety that comes with limbo. But I know you're right. I guess I just needed someone to confirm that asking would be a bad idea. It's my first round of applications; I suppose I wasn't prepared for time to feel like it's moving so slowly, and I'm losing my mind a little, haha. Thanks! 

This is soooo understandable. It is a torturous process!

[TakeruK]

In my opinion, the only time it's reasonable to ask this is when you are just about to accept another school's offer or do something else that means you will be no longer interested in the school.

For example,

- if your #1 choice school has not got back to you yet and you have an offer from your #2 choice school
- you already know your final choice will be down to these two and have declined all the other schools
- it's late enough in the season (mid-March ish) and you're ready to make a decision

Then, this might be a good time to ask #1 choice if they have finished making decisions yet. This prevents you from keeping School #2 waiting for another month until April 15 and allows the waitlist process etc to proceed for everyone. Usually at this point, asking something like this will either result in #1 choice school telling you that you were not accepted (schools don't usually send out rejections right away) or that you are on a waitlist. Either info would help you proceed through the last part of applications.

Another example,

- it's really close to April 15
- your #1 choice school has not got back to you yet
- you have an offer from your #2 choice school that expires on April 15

Then, asking #1 school can help you either make a decision (#1 school tells you that you're rejected) or they might say you're on their waitlist and will get a decision by say April 20. Then you can ask #2 choice school if you could get an extension to April 20. (This scenario applies too for other deadlines but April 15 is common).

[ilikepsych]

Did your POI contact you for an informal interview over Skype or on the phone? If not, I'd imagine that it's unlikely that an interview invite will come. 

My assumption is that they are waiting for students to respond to their interview invites and are still trying to coordinate. If students indicate that they aren't able to attend, that opens up room to interview more applicants. Once they have filled up all the slots, I'm assuming that's when the rejections go out. How many interview slots depends on budget (not sure if each area has their own budget, or if it's a department budget), too, and I think they're trying to coordinate to bring as many people as possible before they send out rejections. 

 

 

[pataka]

8 minutes ago, ilikepsych said:

Did your POI contact you for an informal interview over Skype or on the phone? If not, I'd imagine that it's unlikely that an interview invite will come. 

My assumption is that they are waiting for students to respond to their interview invites and are still trying to coordinate. If students indicate that they aren't able to attend, that opens up room to interview more applicants. Once they have filled up all the slots, I'm assuming that's when the rejections go out. How many interview slots depends on budget (not sure if each area has their own budget, or if it's a department budget), too, and I think they're trying to coordinate to bring as many people as possible before they send out rejections. 

 

 

Yes, they did, a little over a month ago.

That's actually a really good likely/possible scenario that I hadn't thought about; thanks!

[ilikepsych]

15 minutes ago, pataka said:

Yes, they did, a little over a month ago.

That's actually a really good likely/possible scenario that I hadn't thought about; thanks!

Oops, it says that in your signature; I didn't see it at first!

I'd hang tight. It seems that admissions decisions have gone out later this year (at least for developmental... last year people heard back before Christmas. I didn't hear back until January 10th). Perhaps everything is pushed back this year.

Also, I had an informal phone conversation yesterday with UVA, and they said that I'd hear back for a formal interview in the next 1.5 weeks. Great...except that the interview weekend is Feb 8-10. That literally means I'd be notified 1-1.5 weeks before the scheduled interview weekend. So unless it's the week of the interview and you haven't heard anything, I'd say to sit tight!

Edited January 18, 2018 by ilikepsych

[pataka]

3 minutes ago, ilikepsych said:

Oops, it says that in your signature; I didn't see it at first!

I'd hang tight. It seems that admissions decisions have gone out later this year (at least for developmental... last year people heard back before Christmas. I didn't hear back until January 10th). Perhaps everything is pushed back this year.

Also, I had an informal phone conversation yesterday with UVA, and they said that I'd hear back for a formal interview in the next 1.5 weeks. Great...except that the interview weekend is Feb 8-10. That literally means I'd be notified a 1-1.5 weeks before the scheduled interview weekend. So unless it's the week of the interview and you haven't heard anything, I'd say to sit tight!

Ah, that makes me feel better. Thanks for the insight, and congratulations on your acceptances and interviews!

Wow, notification a week before interview weekend is crazy! That would make me incredibly nervous for flights, etc. Good luck with the phone interview, regardless  

[ZTG92]

I had a similar question, if I can piggy back! I have an interview in a few weeks already, and am waiting to hear back from another university that is close the one I am interviewing at. The interview days are a couple days apart, and they are on the other side of the country from me. Anyway, would it be inappropriate to email the PoI/call the office now to ask about invites, as I am trying to book flights now if possible? I don't want to appear impatient or anything, especially if I end up on a wait list or something.

[TakeruK]

8 hours ago, ZTG92 said:

I had a similar question, if I can piggy back! I have an interview in a few weeks already, and am waiting to hear back from another university that is close the one I am interviewing at. The interview days are a couple days apart, and they are on the other side of the country from me. Anyway, would it be inappropriate to email the PoI/call the office now to ask about invites, as I am trying to book flights now if possible? I don't want to appear impatient or anything, especially if I end up on a wait list or something.

This is a tough one, which was why I didn't include it in my earlier response! I had a very similar situation actually. I asked some professors at my school for advice and they said I could ask, or I could not ask. My field is one where the school pays for all the cost of the visit, so it's not a big deal if I don't ask since it's not my money being spent. In addition, if this other school wasn't planning to hold interviews in the same week, it might be better to wait for their official visit date to visit.

In the end, I decided to take a week to think about it. During that week, I got a rejection, so my dilemma was solved for me lol. However, if I were to ask, I would phrase it something like: "I applied to your school; I'm still very interested; I will be visiting School X nearby on Dates Y-Z" then politely ask if they know their timeline for making decisions / visits / interviews / etc. This won't sound like you are asking for an early decision, but instead, allows them to tell you their decision timeline so you know whether or not to wait to buy tickets. It also allows for them to gracefully say that you won't be invited (i.e. "we already sent out decisions X weeks/days ago").

If I were to do it again and if I didn't get that rejection, I wouldn't ask. In the years afterwards, I met many prospective grad students that end up traveling a lot for visit dates. But again, it's not my money to fly back and forth across the country to do these visits. If your field doesn't pay for these visits, then I'd probably ask!

[ilikepsych]

11 hours ago, ZTG92 said:

I had a similar question, if I can piggy back! I have an interview in a few weeks already, and am waiting to hear back from another university that is close the one I am interviewing at. The interview days are a couple days apart, and they are on the other side of the country from me. Anyway, would it be inappropriate to email the PoI/call the office now to ask about invites, as I am trying to book flights now if possible? I don't want to appear impatient or anything, especially if I end up on a wait list or something.

Personally, I did ask about invites but phrased it in such a way that indicated that I was really interested in X school, but I have received interview invites from schools Y and Z and wanted to make sure that if invited, I would be able to attend X school's interview day. However, I only asked this question if my POI reached out to me for an informal interview over the phone or demonstrated lots of interest in having me join their lab. All of the schools I've been invited to are paying for travel costs. I don't think it comes off as impatient--if anything, if you phrase it as I did above, it makes you sound like a competitive applicant because so many places want to interview you! 

[ZTG92]

3 hours ago, ilikepsych said:

Personally, I did ask about invites but phrased it in such a way that indicated that I was really interested in X school, but I have received interview invites from schools Y and Z and wanted to make sure that if invited, I would be able to attend X school's interview day. However, I only asked this question if my POI reached out to me for an informal interview over the phone or demonstrated lots of interest in having me join their lab. All of the schools I've been invited to are paying for travel costs. I don't think it comes off as impatient--if anything, if you phrase it as I did above, it makes you sound like a competitive applicant because so many places want to interview you! 

I think I will word it in that way; that I have a previous invite in the area but I wanted to make that university a priority if possible. Unfortunately, my programs (Clinical) are so far not paying for travel costs, although they are providing a place to stay at least. I appreciate the feedback - this entire process has been the most stressful months I can remember!

[georginazhou]

I think it is ok to ask either the grad office or the POI for your app updates. If they are going to invite u for interview or they are still deciding who to invite/ accept, they won’t reject u just because you asked for updates. Certainly, it would do no more harm if they already decided not to accept u. Compare to anxiously torturing your patience, why not politly inquire some updates from those who know what page they are on for this process? Just my own opinion. I know some may disagree.

Anyways, I contacted some the grad office and POIs of the programs I applied. I was either told all the interview invites had gone out, or I have been waitlisted. Not great news, but I actually felt released, becuase I then know which ones I do not need to keep being anxious about, and just patiently wait for those which I am waitlisted. The period after application submission and before April, it is a “psychological marathong game”, for medicore applicants like myself ( laughing bitterly) But who knows, maybe one day when I am actually not refreshing the result page and checking the posts on this forum, and just tell myself “ you know what, if I dont get any acceptance this season, I can always try again next year and strength my application this year.” Then, BANG! I m accepted from the waiting list.  just like the movies, when you give up hope and let it go and u get a chance. ( just want to ease myself and you guys who are in tight tension and waiting some laughs.) 

I emailed the grad office of one school and the director told me both interview invites and acceptance have gone out, but declination is gonna be going out in a month or two. Luckily, I emailed my POI too when I emailed the grad office ( it is really my top 1 choice), and being told I am waitlisted but not rejected. Also told me my application is fantastic, but they have only a couple spots for international students. So, my point is, if you want to ease yourself out because you just really in all-time high alert anxiety mode, CONTACT THEM! Really, I dont think it will do any harm, especially if you express your positivity and still interested in the program. If they go down waitlist, then you might be the one. 

Good luck to us all!!  

 

Edited January 21, 2018 by georginazhou