(Official Letter) > (E-mail)

[PFitz]

Is anyone else with an informal e-mail acceptance getting REALLY antsy for that official letter to send back?

[RoseThrn82]

Yep, I'm glad for the email as it does at least let me know where I stand. However, I wish the official letter would hurry up and come!

[iWILLgetin]

YES!

I got an email from a prof at dream school asking me to join her lab with good funding. I REALLY need that letter to get here, so that I can accept. (and to relieve that feeling that its too good to be ture)

[PFitz]

YES!

I got an email from a prof at dream school asking me to join her lab with good funding. I REALLY need that letter to get here, so that I can accept. (and to relieve that feeling that its too good to be ture)

Have you told friends/family yet?

[oldlady]

I, too, am waiting for the official letter, but this is still a million times better than waiting for the initial e-mail!

[anxiousapplicant]

Actually, email > official letter, when the offical letter = letter addressed to someone else in a different state with my address on the envelope. True story, this happened to me just recently.

[iWILLgetin]

Have you told friends/family yet?

Just my fiance, because he needs to know where to start looking for a job/apartment. According to the department, its been in the mail for a while. If my mom got it before I did though, I probably need another one. She is good at losing mail.

[jeanne]

YES! I got an acceptance to my #2 choice in January, had a visit day where I met with my advisors, and still haven't gotten an official letter with an offer of funding. They said I'll get full funding, but I want it in writing. But I'm still waiting to hear from my top choice school so I don't want to bug them about it.

[jlee306]

OMG!!! I am going crazy waiting for my official acceptance letter!! I was so excited when I got the email and it told us we would be receiving the official letter in the mail "in a week or so." But it has been almost 3 weeks!!! I can't take this anymore....I want to frame the letter!

[PFitz]

OMG!!! I am going crazy waiting for my official acceptance letter!! I was so excited when I got the email and it told us we would be receiving the official letter in the mail "in a week or so." But it has been almost 3 weeks!!! I can't take this anymore....I want to frame the letter!

I guess I'm paranoid the offer will be pulled. This would never happen, right?

[johndiligent]

It hasn't bothered me too much except for one school, where the e-mail was just a brief note letting me know I'd been accepted, and all of the details (funding, please?) are to come with the official offer. I'm eagerly/impatiently awaiting that one.

[jlee306]

I guess I'm paranoid the offer will be pulled. This would never happen, right?

No!!! They better not!! Haha. But seriously, they should not be able to do that! It was finally posted on the school's website earlier this week that I was accepted to graduate school. The email also wanted us to reply to the director letting her know if we will be attending or not so they can let the waitlist people know. I replied to her the same day I received the email that I would be attending and she replied back and we set up a day to get together for advising. I think they just got a little ahead of themselves telling us that the letter would arrive in a week or so because spring break rolled around and they probably decided they did not want to mess with the letters on their break. Oh well, but I will be sure to let you know when my letter arrives!

[sucre-creme]

Okay, so two years ago I got an email from the graduate admissions office saying I was admitted. So I was waiting for the official letter and called to asked them how long it'd take.... They told me I was rejected not accepted and that the email gave me wrong information. All this after I paid enrollment fee. They asked me to pay that so I could get my official letter... I felt so stupid then....

Edited March 19, 2010 by sucre-creme

[jeanne]

YES! I got an acceptance to my #2 choice in January, had a visit day where I met with my advisors, and still haven't gotten an official letter with an offer of funding. They said I'll get full funding, but I want it in writing. But I'm still waiting to hear from my top choice school so I don't want to bug them about it.

I finally called my #2 to see about the letter and it was a good thing I did. Somehow they FORGOT to send me my official letter! Yikes! At least it'll be in the mail today. The first thing I'll do when I get it? Resign! And then if I do actually get into my top choice, then it will be a happy bonus instead of a life-staking decision.

[red_crayons]

I waited a month to get an official letter from one school after getting a phone acceptance.

By the time it arrived I had attended an open house at a different school and decided to attend. I told the co-chair of the department - who had given me the acceptance phone call - who told me to register my decision once I got the official offer letter. Which came a week later. In this case, though, I think the delay is related to the fact that it's a big department and they probably sent all acceptance letters at the same time, once all decisions had been made.

There were lots of things wrong with that program, though, including uncommunicative staff leading me to think they had never even received my GRE scores, meanness during my acceptance phone call, no financial support, and a visit day on April 16 - the day AFTER I would have had to decide! So maybe there was also a general attitude of not caring about future students (or, at least, me).

[oldlady]

First official letter came in today... as an e-mail attachment, informing me that I would be getting a different (and even more official) letter in the mail soon. But the letter did include funding info -- a nice chunk o' change for five years, plus extra in the summer linked to TA/RA activity.

This is me exhaling: *aaaaah*

[nyuma]

I got an email first - finally got the letter/packet, but the funding info won't be sent for "a week or two" - aka awfully close to Apr 15. aaack

[parapluie]

I guess I'm paranoid the offer will be pulled. This would never happen, right?

After reading some of the stories on this site, I am so paranoid about this happening to me! Well, not necessarily it being pulled but it being a mistake... like they sent out acceptances to the wrong list of people or it was sent too early by accident and I'm not really in. I know it is somewhat ridiculous to be worried about it as it must be a very small percentage of people that this happens to, but the school hasn't updated their website saying that I have been accepted yet, I just got an email from the director of the department telling me I was accepted and asking me to email back to let them know if I am going to attend. Also- said that I will be getting the official letter in the next week or two and will get all the information about financial aid, orientation, registration, etc. eeeeek. I hope I'm not getting too ahead of myself!!

[matcha]

School A sent me an email, formal letter, connected me with a student, sent me packets of information, and have been in constant contact.

School B sent me an email.

I called School B to find out when I would be receiving any additional information, or at least a formal acceptance letter. They stated they "don't do that anymore". I feel like they don't care!

At least it helped me decide. School A, here I come!

[profound_g]

Just wanted to say the school that categorically stated that they will answer by March 15th.. did answer last Sunday... they sent all remaining applicants a really polite e-mail asking us to wait a couple of weeks more... 8)

Well, at least they didn't lied about answering us no later than March 15th... However, we were silly to hope that their answer would be regarding our applications' final status...

First official letter came in today... as an e-mail attachment, informing me that I would be getting a different (and even more official) letter in the mail soon. But the letter did include funding info -- a nice chunk o' change for five years, plus extra in the summer linked to TA/RA activity.

This is me exhaling: *aaaaah*

This is my case too. While an actual physical letter is nice, it's probably not a necessity if the e-mail is more than "Congrats, you're in" type.

School A sent me an email, formal letter, connected me with a student, sent me packets of information, and have been in constant contact.

School B sent me an email.

I called School B to find out when I would be receiving any additional information, or at least a formal acceptance letter. They stated they "don't do that anymore". I feel like they don't care!

At least it helped me decide. School A, here I come!

But they're saving trees! (Or some such. Maybe.)

[coyabean]

School A sent me an email, formal letter, connected me with a student, sent me packets of information, and have been in constant contact.

School B sent me an email.

I called School B to find out when I would be receiving any additional information, or at least a formal acceptance letter. They stated they "don't do that anymore". I feel like they don't care!

At least it helped me decide. School A, here I come!

I had something similar. One school's acceptance email seemed to beg me to reject the offer. They spent two lines on my acceptance and funding and three lines on how to turn down the offer. I obliged them.

The other school never told me I was off the waitlist and I got a random phone call from a potential advisor asking me when I planned on notifying them of my decision. :/

The school I chose sent my letter via mail and postal the same day and checked in periodically.

I'm of the opinion that if a school cannot do better when, theoretically, they are supposed to be courting you it does not bode well for when you are at their mercy and need assistance.

[alexis]

I'm so glad I found this thread! Not sure why I missed it before. I received an email with my acceptance and all the funding details, have visited the department and let them know in person I'm accepting, but still haven't gotten the letter in the mail. (Once I accepted the offer via email to the admissions director, he replied back and said I would get the contract etc. in a few weeks). It's completely and utterly irrational of me, but now I'm feeling slightly uneasy...what if they decide to reject the offer? No one has signed anything yet, so they could, right? (Um, I know. Trying to tell myself I am being loopy doopy.) Still, I check the mail each day, hoping!

Coyabean, I love your signature (congrats on Emory btw!)! I think programs really, really underestimate the effect that a) notifying us at a reasonable time of acceptance and b.) being communicative/in contact with us ultimately has on our decision-making process. Like you say, it could be a sign of bigger problems in that department. Also: I will second Temple's crappiness. I was accepted there when I applied to master's programs, and originally had been one of my top choices, but then when I tried contacting them multiple times to visit, and NO ONE would respond to my inquiries, I decided that since they couldn't take the time to try and show an accepted student around and answer my questions, they were definitely not worth my time.

Edited March 28, 2010 by alexis

[DariaIRL]

When I was an undergrad, I worked in a department grad office where we sent our decisions via email. The offer email included important bits like funding info and such but the Graduate School of the university would be sending a separate packet that has other things like where to send your deposit and immunization records. Since the Grad School manages all graduate programs at the university it could sometimes take weeks after one receives an email dept offer, to receive the Grad School offer. From this experience, I wouldn't think that just an email offer to a paper one means the email department cares less. If they ignore your subsequent questions, that is definitely caring less. lol.

[kabutar]

Uh, so still paranoid here regarding withdrawal of offers...

Mine wasn't an email, but an online offer of admission 'letter' that was added to the school's application management system. 1.5 weeks later came the funding decision as another letter added to the app management system. I just accepted the offer and paid my deposit etc. If the acceptance was a mistake, I wouldn't have gotten the funding info, right? There hasn't been any sort of snail mail letter yet lol.

Edited March 30, 2010 by kabutar

[laurian]

I'm in the same boat. I'm a bit concerned though, because that recommendation/admit email didn't mention anything about funding. Just that if you haven't received an official letter yet, the delay could be due to something about materials. It just sucks, because Univ. of Maryland also lists my status as pending even though both of the departments I applied to HAVE made a decision.