Shortlisted

[eln]

Hi,

 

I just got an a status update via email saying that I was shortlisted. Can you kindly explain the term. Thanks

[Excelsior!]

@eln well, you are not admitted but you are not rejected. If one or more students that got accepted choose not to attend, you may take their place. The number of applicants that are shortlisted are not known, though, so you don't know what may happen.

[eln]

Thanks for answering this. My confusion is the following, how come my status didn't say waitlisted. BTW, my friend got the exact same email, but instead of shortlisted, hers says waitlisted.

Edited February 5, 2018 by eln

[Excelsior!]

So, maybe, shortlisted is more high on the list and, thus, more likely to be accepted. But, I am not really sure about that.

[fuzzylogician]

in the context of graduate admissions "shortlisted" is a bit of an unusual phrasing. In the job search context it means you are one of very few finalists who are invited to campus to give a talk and interview, before one candidate is hired. For grad admissions, I can imagine it either being a mistake, where "waitlisted" is meant, or it might mean something like "invited to campus to interview/visit". I think the best thing you can do is write back and ask what this means (or: something like, "could you explain what the next steps in the process would be?").

[TakeruK]

Usually the generic academic selection process, if you include all the steps might be:

1. Gather all applications, remove incomplete/ineligible ones.
2. Committee makes a "long list" of candidates they would like to discuss further. To save time, maybe only 1-3 committee members reviews each application at this point and they are just making the decision "keep" or "reject".
3. Out of the long list, committee meets and debates who to include in the "short-list" of people they might want to interview (Skype or on-campus) and/or go into further/deeper debate.
4. The short-list is ranked and the offer(s) are made. Those on the short-list that didn't get offers go on a wait-list.

For grad admissions, they might not bother with a long list. Like @fuzzylogician said, it's a little unusual phrasing to use for grad admissions, since normally the process is all silent until Step 4. But I suppose some schools might want to let you know you are still in the running after Step 3. However, it could also be that this school uses "short list" to mean the same thing as what most other places call "long list".

 

[Lydia Douglas]

Yes, I would agree that the shortsheet is where the student pool is. The probability of course is not great that someone will refuse, but it is.