Would it be unreasonable for me to visit the department to request an update on the status of my application?

[megtree]

I have two program offers that are about to expire on Monday and I'm still waiting to hear from my top school (which is in my hometown). I've already extended both offers as long as possible, so Monday is a hard deadline and I have to make a decision before then. I know my top choice program sent out first round offers mid-march. I learned that at least one second round offer went out yesterday, but I'm not sure if the second round is being sent out in bulk or in gradual waves throughout the week. Based on previous timelines, I expect all final offers will go out by the end of April (this school's admission process is notoriously slow), but obviously I can't wait a month to learn my fate.

Would it be kosher to visit the department, explain my approaching deadline, and try to glean some information about my specific application? I would hate to commit to another program and learn a couple days later that I had ranked well enough to receive an eventual offer. I'm not sure if it would be unreasonable to ask the grad advisor if she can give me a general sense of how I've ranked; I figured I'm more likely to obtain this information if I show up in person, but I'm not sure if that's too pushy or potentially harmful for my application. If I'm a definite reject, then I just want to know so I can confidently chose between my two offers, you know? What should I do?

Edited April 4, 2018 by megtree

[TakeruK]

Do not go in person. Really, don't do it. 

Assuming by Monday you mean Monday Apr 9, you should email today. It doesn't matter if the person hasn't responded to emails in the past, that should be your first mode of contact (the email from 1 month ago is way too long ago and this counts as a new interaction/issue now). Try emailing the assistant again. 

If you don't hear from them by Friday, call the assistant. Now it's a little less awkward to say it on the phone, hopefully, because you can start by saying you are calling to follow up on a question that you sent via email on Wednesday....etc and then explain the situation. Yeah, it will probably still be awkward no matter what but by Friday you don't have much to lose. If you can't reach the person for whatever reason, I think you could also try fuzzy's advice to email the grad advisor directly and explain. Hopefully you have until the **end** of the day on Monday to decide so that leaves Monday for followup calls or to hear back from the grad advisor.

Finally, I understand your frustration and you are probably just venting here, but when you do contact the assistant and/or the advisor, please let go of feelings like "the assistant sucks at her job". Admin assistants have a ton of responsibilities and they have to prioritize their work. Often, this means that queries from non-students or people outside of the school are de-prioritized. There are only so many hours in a work day and if they don't get to your email because higher priority things keep coming in, then that's life. Maybe this person really does suck at their job, or maybe this person is actually doing work meant for 2-3 assistants (I personally know many people who work in this role and they often wear multiple hats and/or assist multiple faculty members, so although being a point of contact for this advisor is one of their jobs, it may not be their only one, and maybe not even their most important one. The assistants I know often tell me that they have way more work than they can complete in one day, so they have instructions from either the faculty members themselves or their admin bosses to prioritize some work over others. Ideally, the best solution is to hire more assistants but that costs money!) 

In any case though, whether this person is doing a poor job or they are super busy, it does you no favours if your annoyance is conveyed through any of your communication. So if you do write directly to the grad advisor, take care to ensure your words don't imply that you are reaching out directly only because their admin assistant is not doing their job.

[rising_star]

I would not go in person. I would email or call. I would also check to make sure they aren't on spring break this week.

[catsbloom]

Personally, I would call or email instead of going in person. 

[megtree]

Thank you both for both of your feedback! I wish I could just email, because I feel so awkward trying to blurt out my situation on the phone, but the grad advisor's assistant failed to respond to a previous inquiry last month and I've heard my experience isn't unique; this person regularly doesn't respond to applicant/student questions.

The grad advisor's assistant is the suggested point-of-contact (according to the department's website), but since she seemingly sucks at her job, would it be acceptable for me to email the grad advisor directly? Or is a phone call best in light of the weird email situation?

[fuzzylogician]

8 minutes ago, megtree said:

The grad advisor's assistant is the suggested point-of-contact (according to the department's website), but since she seemingly sucks at her job, would it be acceptable for me to email the grad advisor directly? Or is a phone call best in light of the weird email situation?

I'd probably do the following: email the contact person; wait about a week or so for a response, then follow up, replying to the original email. If there's again no response, I'd then follow up/reply again, this time ccing the grad advisor directly and apologize ("I apologize for emailing you directly, but my previous emails haven't been answered and I wasn't sure who else to contact"). That creates a paper trail that can sometimes be useful. Alternatively, you could try calling. It'd be much faster and might work just as well. 

[megtree]

1 hour ago, TakeruK said:

Do not go in person. Really, don't do it. 

Assuming by Monday you mean Monday Apr 9, you should email today. It doesn't matter if the person hasn't responded to emails in the past, that should be your first mode of contact (the email from 1 month ago is way too long ago and this counts as a new interaction/issue now). Try emailing the assistant again. 

If you don't hear from them by Friday, call the assistant. Now it's a little less awkward to say it on the phone, hopefully, because you can start by saying you are calling to follow up on a question that you sent via email on Wednesday....etc and then explain the situation. Yeah, it will probably still be awkward no matter what but by Friday you don't have much to lose. If you can't reach the person for whatever reason, I think you could also try fuzzy's advice to email the grad advisor directly and explain. Hopefully you have until the **end** of the day on Monday to decide so that leaves Monday for followup calls or to hear back from the grad advisor.

Finally, I understand your frustration and you are probably just venting here, but when you do contact the assistant and/or the advisor, please let go of feelings like "the assistant sucks at her job". Admin assistants have a ton of responsibilities and they have to prioritize their work. Often, this means that queries from non-students or people outside of the school are de-prioritized. There are only so many hours in a work day and if they don't get to your email because higher priority things keep coming in, then that's life. Maybe this person really does suck at their job, or maybe this person is actually doing work meant for 2-3 assistants (I personally know many people who work in this role and they often wear multiple hats and/or assist multiple faculty members, so although being a point of contact for this advisor is one of their jobs, it may not be their only one, and maybe not even their most important one. The assistants I know often tell me that they have way more work than they can complete in one day, so they have instructions from either the faculty members themselves or their admin bosses to prioritize some work over others. Ideally, the best solution is to hire more assistants but that costs money!) 

In any case though, whether this person is doing a poor job or they are super busy, it does you no favours if your annoyance is conveyed through any of your communication. So if you do write directly to the grad advisor, take care to ensure your words don't imply that you are reaching out directly only because their admin assistant is not doing their job.

I'm going to follow your advice to the letter. Thank you. 

As for my attitudes towards the advisor's assistant, I appreciate your comment and just wanted to emphasize that I share your sentiments. I've been an assistant to a department head so I recognize that an unrealistic workload is a totally plausible circumstance that could result in a lack of response.  I've been a little paranoid that the lack of reply indicates that I'm not a candidate for consideration (so a non-existent priority), but I've tried not to jump to conclusions as I recognize that there are a million different circumstances that could have influenced the lack of reply. For example, one of the other school's assistants also didn't respond to an inquiry, and I later learned that the website had outdated information and an ex-employee was incorrectly listed as the point of contact. Anyway, rest assured that it was just a flippant remark and I hold no resentment towards this school's individual. I've worked in client-services for over a decade so I'd never be rude to someone who has failed to meet my expectations; I recognize they're likely trying to meet a hundred other expectations which are completely invisible to me.

Cheers!