Shall I call the department about my admission status?

[ted hudson]

Every year, I hear people saying that calling the department and asking about your application status brings bad luck, and you get rejected. However, I am so excited that I think I will call the department.

Do you think it will cause any problems? Or will I ever get a useful answer?

What kind of responses did you get when you called the department?

Edited March 4, 2010 by ted hudson

[genotype]

Every year, I hear people saying that calling the department and asking about your application status brings bad luck, and you get rejected. However, I am so excited that I think I will call the department.

Do you think it will cause any problems? Or will I ever get a useful answer?

What kind of responses did you get when you called the department?

I find it really hard to believe that calling would actually lead them to reject you, unless you were somehow unbelievably rude or obnoxious. I think it is more likely that, if you call, your file may be looked at a little quicker, so if you are on the reject list, you would find out a bit sooner. However, I highly doubt that it would cause any problems, unless perhaps they are on the fence about you and you say something incredibly insulting to the department rep. I would give them a call and just politely ask when you can expect to hear back about your application.

To give you details on my experience, this is my second time applying to grad school. This time I only applied to one program and have been in touch with the program administrator throughout. Last time I applied (to 8 schools or so), I received very helpful responses when I checked in, with the notable exception of an Ivy league school that shall not be named. In that case, my POI sent me back an extremely rude e-mail telling me I wasn't admitted. Everywhere else, the replies were courteous and they didn't seem to mind at all. I also doubt that me checking in with that specific POI caused my rejection; I think they had made up their mind already at that point.

Best of luck!

Edited March 4, 2010 by genotype

[grad_wannabe]

If you fear bad luck, you could always just ask about the status of decisions in general and whether they've been made/when they'll be made, without giving your name.

[ted hudson]

Thank you for the answers. I have sent them an email and waiting for the response

[madisonstarr]

Thank you for the answers. I have sent them an email and waiting for the response

how did you word your email asking for a status update? Waiting is killing me, I just want to send an email already and find out.

[ted hudson]

how did you word your email asking for a status update? Waiting is killing me, I just want to send an email already and find out.

OK, here is the message that I have written to the admissions office (of the department):

Dear Sir/Madam;

I am [my full name here] and I have applied to your department's graduate school for PhD study (Fall 2010).

Could you please let me know the current status of my application and when the decisions will be announced?

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Yours sincerely,

[my full name here]

[my application # here]

Result: I have received a standard email telling that the decisions will be available next Saturday. At least, now I know that I have to wait till then.

[Sulaiman]

Glad to see that I am not the only one in this situation.

[Tall Chai Latte]

I think it's cool to call. In fact, I didn't know that I got waitlisted until I email the coordinator (sometimes they just don't tell you these things). Just be polite when you ask, they are busy at this time of the year.

[agnel]

Sent a mail to Cornell and UMN ... no replies .. planning to call them up today ........any one else in the same boat?

[jeanne]

I know the adcomm for my final school met earlier this week. I sent an email today just stating again that they were my top choice, I appreciate their considering my application, and was wondering if they knew when decisions would be sent out. Hopefully I'll get a response soon.

Good luck to all!

[ootg]

I personally do not hold much hope for my applications, now that it such a late hour. A few schools have yet to tell me the results of my applications, so I guess I have to hold on and wait. Hopefully my birthday month will bring good tidings!

[richinsane]

to call/email or not to call/email... that is the question

[Summit_Bid]

I called someone at UCLA. I didn't tell them who I was just that I was wondering when desicions in my program would be announced. She told me they send out admits/rejects in batches starting this week and going until the end of April. The next day I got my reject letter in the mail.

[Nightingalesing]

Oh dear... I just sent an email to a department and I'm trying my best not to second guess it or regret it. I know they made a slim number of acceptances a few weeks ago and a slew of rejections by email shortly after. As I still have yet to hear anything and the date of accepted students weekend comes closer, I would just really like to know what my status is. On the other hand, it feels better to imagine the good news than to know the bad...

[ootg]

I called someone at UCLA. I didn't tell them who I was just that I was wondering when desicions in my program would be announced. She told me they send out admits/rejects in batches starting this week and going until the end of April. The next day I got my reject letter in the mail.

I wrote to UCLA and they said that offers were already made. What I don't understand is that if I was getting rejected, why did they not just inform me sooner? I still have not had any official rejection from the school to this day, although I see that some have already got their rejections. What gives? It is not as if they are doing a super-personalized rejection letter, right?

[Babbling Dweeb]

If you fear bad luck, you could always just ask about the status of decisions in general and whether they've been made/when they'll be made, without giving your name.

I did that Monday...and somehow I turned into a 5 year old hiding behind a parent scared to show my face -via the phone. I called the right University, the right school and spoke with grad admissions, but I didn't ask about my program. I just asked if they were sending letters this month or next month. For some reason I felt like a idiot for calling and didn't want to hang up on the person once they picked up the phone.

When I hung up I just looked at the wall and said "What the hell was that?" Apparently this whole process has really messed up the wiring in my head.

[ootg]

I did that Monday...and somehow I turned into a 5 year old hiding behind a parent scared to show my face -via the phone. I called the right University, the right school and spoke with grad admissions, but I didn't ask about my program. I just asked if they were sending letters this month or next month. For some reason I felt like a idiot for calling and didn't want to hang up on the person once they picked up the phone.

When I hung up I just looked at the wall and said "What the hell was that?" Apparently this whole process has really messed up the wiring in my head.

*hugs*

I know that I would be an absolute mess if I called the admissions department...

[psychdork]

I emailed 4/5 of my remaining schools. So far two have replied: one told me I was waitlisted, the other rejected. The nice thing about the rejection is my POI explained the number of people the department is planning on taking, so I had some "inside" information which made me feel better about the rejection. Still waiting on two...if I don't hear back from them by April 1st I'm going to call them.

[agnel]

Yippeee I got my first admit in 2 years..... wrote to them on tuesday , called tehm on Wednesday and got a mail today

[kulimer]

Would you think it's a bad idea to go to the departement? I talked to them before applying.

[joro]

I sent one email to one department and they sent me an acceptance the day after. I really want to email another one, but I'm a bit scared because I had originally asked when decisions will be sent out back in January and they gave me an answer for later this month or early next month. If I were to ask again, I might sound like a pest and get placed on the rejections list.