How quick were your acceptance or rejections?

[Lousy Test taker]

My quickest rejection was within 9 days of application submission not counting Saturday and a Sunday in between. I got this generic e-mail saying that the admissions committee did not recommend admission. The adcom must have been on speed to roll it out that soon.lol

[BongRips69]

I waited until a day before the deadline for UCSC, then heard a week later. They said my application was a perfect fit.

[Roccoriel]

My first choice for undergrad let me know within 2 weeks of me submitting my application that I was in with a 50% scholarship. My grad school application still has not told me what is going on and I sent that in December 15. Last I heard, they were "planning on looking at apps within the month" in February...

[jeanne]

Quickest acceptance was two months (End of November to end of January). I'm going on almost three months since I submitted an application to hear about their response, which will hopefully be positive. Quickest rejection was six weeks.

[rdutta]

I had one acceptance come in under two weeks, the rest of the responses have been at least a month past the submission date. I'm still waiting on three schools right now that had deadlines of Dec 15, Dec 31, and Jan 15

[alexis]

First acceptance: 3 and a half months later (but only a month and a half after the due date)

First rejection: 2 months later

Last rejection: 3 and a half months later

[johndiligent]

On the short side, I had an acceptance come in Feb 13 for a January 31 deadline (two weeks).

On the long side, I had an acceptance come in March 15 for a December 1 deadline (three and a half months).

So there's clearly quite a range...

[Jae B.]

My quickest acceptance was in two months, a little ahead of the time-line the school had proposed for the admissions process. It was nice because I was genuinely surprised to hear from them! Other students were hearing at the same time, though.

My other school stuck to their three month admissions process.

[Babbling Dweeb]

On the short side, I had an acceptance come in Feb 13 for a January 31 deadline (two weeks).

On the long side, I had an acceptance come in March 15 for a December 1 deadline (three and a half months).

So there's clearly quite a range...

That is a serious range! Just out of curiosity, for the school that was quick: did they have a smaller program than the one that took longer? I'm wondering if the amount of open slots and number of applicants has a real factor...or if it's all just twisted evil adcoms depending on the school

[FoggyAnhinga]

the quickest i heard back from was a month after I applied (it was a rejection).

[joro]

I submitted almost all of my applications in the end of October and I'm still waiting for 7 of the schools to get back to me.

[fuzzylogician]

I doubt in my field it made a difference whether I submitted my app two months before the deadline (not!) or a day before the deadline -- the adcoms convened when they convened and announced their decisions only after they'd gone through all the apps. Most departments have visit days in mid-March so they have to make all the decisions some time before then. For what it's worth, it usually took them about a month and a half after the deadline - so I heard back in early February for Dec15 deadlines, and closer to March for January deadlines. ....and I'm still waiting to hear if I got off the UPenn waitlist, so my longest wait is one year, but I don't think they're planning to get back to me *grins*.

[johndiligent]

That is a serious range! Just out of curiosity, for the school that was quick: did they have a smaller program than the one that took longer? I'm wondering if the amount of open slots and number of applicants has a real factor...or if it's all just twisted evil adcoms depending on the school

In theory, it's a smaller programme since it's a joint programme which - I gather - receives fewer applicants overall. However, this school extended all of their offers at the same time, so they actually had just as many applications to review as the others. I'm not sure why some can turn it around so fast! I'm guessing fewer people on the adcomm makes a difference.