What do you do when you get an email from a school you applied to

[ootg]

I'm terrible! I stay up all night to check my emails (due to the time difference), and end up feeling rotten during the day!

[martizzle]

So I got these two emails today, and they were titled:

Your (school name and department name) Decision

(School name - not full name as in Food University; just Food) Decision

Any guesses which meant what?

[Nancy]

Cos I live in the UK, I'm at least spared obsessive mail checking, but my email refreshing has been out of control! I got a rejection email and an acceptance a few days apart. The rejection had "Admissions Decision" in the subject, and was a very generic copy and paste list of reasons why I wasn't picked. The acceptance had the name of the school in the title, and said "Please find enclosed your offer for admission 2010" with a pdf of the letter attached.

Massive freaking out followed, as well as re-reading the letter a zillion times to make sure it was an acceptance!

Also, try waiting on decisions with a massive time difference, checking your emails from 8a.m until the early hours of the morning (just in case someones up far away!) is a killer.

Congrats to all those who made it, and good luck to those still waiting

[grad_wannabe]

I got an email from MIT that said, "MIT Architecture Graduate Application: Update" and I thought, "Oh holy hell, that's a rejection for sure." It turned out to be a generic, "Applications are being processed. Decisions will be released soon" and with a sigh I thought, "Shoot I don't know why I was so nervous when I opened that - there's no way in hell I'm getting in there. It's silly to have my hopes up about it."

There were days I woke up and thought, "There's electricity in the air this morning. I will hear a decision today, I can feel it." And then- nothing all day.

But then on the most random days, when I've had no anticipation whatsoever... something happens. Suddenly and with no warning, and then everything is different.

This past Sunday I was watching the Oscars with my parents (apologies to those that already read this story on the visual art board) and my phone buzzed. I reached for it absent-mindedly and saw it was an email, and before I even realized what was happening I saw the words "MIT" "Welcome" and "It is my pleasure..." I sat in stunned silence, my jaw agape. I remained silent until I opened up the browser on my phone, went into my email, and read the entire thing over once or twice (the subject line said "welcome! mit act" so there was no ambiguity in that). Then I sat, still unable to make words for a couple minutes, until they had finished announcing the award for Best Director.

The commercials came on and I said to my folks, "Hey, guys, uh ... speaking of happy times... I, uh ... I got into MIT." Then there was much screaming and jumping and shouting.

I was too stunned to even reply to the email. Took me all week to calm down enough to reply.

(Still waiting on the funding package, said to be included in the "official letter to arrive this week.")

Edited March 12, 2010 by grad_wannabe

[martizzle]

I got an email from MIT that said, "MIT Architecture Graduate Application: Update" and I thought, "Oh holy hell, that's a rejection for sure." It turned out to be a generic, "Applications are being processed. Decisions will be released soon" and with a sigh I thought, "Shoot I don't know why I was so nervous when I opened that - there's no way in hell I'm getting in there. It's silly to have my hopes up about it."

There were days I woke up and thought, "There's electricity in the air this morning. I will hear a decision today, I can feel it." And then- nothing all day.

But then on the most random days, when I've had no anticipation whatsoever... something happens. Suddenly and with no warning, and then everything is different.

This past Sunday I was watching the Oscars with my parents (apologies to those that already read this story on the visual art board) and my phone buzzed. I reached for it absent-mindedly and saw it was an email, and before I even realized what was happening I saw the words "MIT" "Welcome" and "It is my pleasure..." I sat in stunned silence, my jaw agape. I remained silent until I opened up the browser on my phone, went into my email, and read the entire thing over once or twice (the subject line said "welcome! mit act" so there was no ambiguity in that). Then I sat, still unable to make words for a couple minutes, until they had finished announcing the award for Best Director.

The commercials came on and I said to my folks, "Hey, guys, uh ... speaking of happy times... I, uh ... I got into MIT." Then there was much screaming and jumping and shouting.

dude, that's the best story ever...everyone is all watching tv/chilling, and you go: "hey...." nice. kinda thing I would do.....problem is my acceptance email is somewhere out there (still hasnt been sent yet) lol

[mushpuddle]

I check it immediately! I have no desire to prolong the waiting period. I star the acceptances on gmail so I can read them again and again

[martizzle]

I check it immediately! I have no desire to prolong the waiting period. I star the acceptances on gmail so I can read them again and again

idk...at least, yours have been acceptances (congrats on that by the way)...my confidence (which is usually through the roof - I'm frequently described as 'cocky' 'over-confident', etc) is at an all time low. when i get an email....i get scared and just want to crawl under the bed and hide lol

[ootg]

idk...at least, yours have been acceptances (congrats on that by the way)...my confidence (which is usually through the roof - I'm frequently described as 'cocky' 'over-confident', etc) is at an all time low. when i get an email....i get scared and just want to crawl under the bed and hide lol

You are not alone here. I've more or less given up. I think my chances are next to nil this late in the game, so I'm focussing on doing my work instead of worrying about admissions. If it is meant to be, it is meant to be...

[Rachel C]

I guess I got lucky....I was obsessively checking my online status for schools (which almost never showed anything.....) and got home last week to a small letter from Georgetown, one of my top schools- it was admission!

I then got 2 phone calls and an email the next 3 days- all admissions. I didn't realize that schools would personally call me as admission notification. It was nice to get in, but it doesn't really matter until I get financial aid packages. Georgetown's great, but I can't go if I have to pay full tuition.

So now the financial aid waiting game begins...Penn's already told me they'd give me 6,000.....but that seems to be a drop in the bucket. In the meantime I need to visit these schools and wait to see if I admission means I can actually go!

[ootg]

I guess I got lucky....I was obsessively checking my online status for schools (which almost never showed anything.....) and got home last week to a small letter from Georgetown, one of my top schools- it was admission!

I then got 2 phone calls and an email the next 3 days- all admissions. I didn't realize that schools would personally call me as admission notification. It was nice to get in, but it doesn't really matter until I get financial aid packages. Georgetown's great, but I can't go if I have to pay full tuition.

So now the financial aid waiting game begins...Penn's already told me they'd give me 6,000.....but that seems to be a drop in the bucket. In the meantime I need to visit these schools and wait to see if I admission means I can actually go!

Congratulations on getting into Georgetown! Hopefully the funding will come along soon.

[Golgotha]

Usually my stomach jumps into my throat and I can't open the e-mail fast enough. I've waited (albeit impatiently) for 4 months now, no use dragging on the suspense at the last minute.

[frenchpress]

I only applied to one school, and I'd corresponded with the Department Secretary several times during the application process about questions, so I knew her name/email. I was absent-mindedly Stumbling websites in one window and I saw out of the corner of my eye in the Taskbar that Gmail had registered a new email. Figuring it was my Mom (who else emails me, really), I toggled the window and saw the Secretary's name, and then the title "University X Admission Decision Letter." Ambiguous. My heart started beating harder and faster, but I had no time to think. In an instant, I opened the thread, didn't bother to read the few lines of text in the email body, and instead looked down at the name of the Word attachment: "University X Admissions Decision_TA" At that moment, I knew I was in the clear. The "TA" extension gave it away. Still, instead of waiting for Word to open, I used Google preview, and milliseconds later the Angels started to sing as I stared at the most beautiful Google preview ever...Granted Admission...PhD...Teaching Stipend...Full Tuition Scholarship...Health Benefit Package.......that's all I saw, I couldn't even read the other parts. I ran to my Parents' house, where they printed out the letter and read it in all of it's glory. I'm sure my Mom's putting it in a scrapbook somewhere

I'm glad I only applied to one school. I don't think I could go through that more than once, even though it turned out well in the end!