Michigan Political Science

[polisciphd]

I know that there have been a few acceptances posted to U Michigan over the past few days, so I decided to write to the graduate admissions person and asked if she could give me an idea of when decisions were being made on applications. I expected her to write back and say that "unfortunately, you were not selected for admission," or "congrats, you made it kiddo!" (or something to that extent)

What I received is as follows...

"We are still currently reviewing applications. Decisions will be made by end of March / Early April."

So I am now thoroughly confused. I know that some schools do admits in rounds, but seriously I shouldn't expect anything until March/April? We all have to decide by April 15 whether to accept other offers, how can they reasonably expect that I can make an informed decision on whether to attend their program if I don't hear anything for another month and a half, when other schools are already courting me.

This may be just me venting, but surely this has happened or will happen to others as well...

[farty14]

You have most likely been denied, though you may be waitlisted. Michigan has already made its decisions.

[polisciphd]

You have most likely been denied, though you may be waitlisted. Michigan has already made its decisions.

I agree with your assessment. My question is though, do schools often put people on a "waitlist" without actually informing them of that status? Have others that have been waitlisted by other schools actually been told that that was the case? If not, how did you find out?

[farty14]

I'm not really sure how the waitlisting process works at Michigan. I would assume it is different at every school. Some schools may send acceptances in waves, essentially creating a de facto waitlist. Judging from the archives, it looks like UM does not do this; it usually sends out a notice. Maybe you will get a notice in the mail or via email. Good luck.

[ampersand]

I'm also anxiously awaiting a decision from Michigan. When I saw that other people were getting acceptance emails yesterday, I freaked myself out so much that I nearly jumped out of my skin every time the new-email window popped up on Google Talk. Darn generic emails from Amazon.com getting my blood pressure up! But I would expect to hear from Michigan far sooner than April. They probably just said that to you to cover themselves in case it takes that long to get back to a few waitlistees.

Does anyone know of a way to check your Michigan status online, ala Ohio State? I poked around on the grad school website for a while and couldn't figure out a way.

[farty14]

Go to wolverineaccess.umich.edu

[ampersand]

I went there and it didn't have anything on my admission status--is there a special hidden link I'm supposed to click on?

[farty14]

In the screen where it its displays two links (credentials and application), there should be something (not a hyperlink) that says "application status." That is my best guess.

[marshsm]

Michigan continues to make their decisions. "First rounds" have been notified, but this does NOT mean you are automatically denied; you could be on a waitlist somewhere awaiting the "second wave". They are required to send out final notificaitons to all applicants by April 15, and do generally wait till then.

[marshsm]

how can they reasonably expect that I can make an informed decision on whether to attend their program if I don't hear anything for another month and a half, when other schools are already courting me.

hmmm.. if other schools are courting you... then maybe you should take a serious look at those schools first.

[ampersand]

They are required to send out final notificaitons to all applicants by April 15, and do generally wait till then.

They wait until mid-April to notify everyone? Seriously? They do realize that a lot of us are already being courted by other good schools, right? If they wait that long, they're going to miss out on a lot of good students...

[alegriapura]

Dying to know!

[ampersand]

Anyone want to volunteer to take one for the team and call Michigan to see when the eff they're going to make their decisions?

[spin]

Does anyone have Ann Arbor's placement record/data? I can't seem to find it on their website. I know their placement for American is pretty good, but I'm a comparativists/IR.

Thanks!

[polisciphd]

Everyone can start checking wolverine access for their status. They posted the following this morning

The Graduate Admissions Committee wants to thank you for applying for graduate study in the Political Science department. We regret to inform you that the Graduate Admissions Committee is unable to recommend you for admission as a graduate student this fall.

This year, the Department was only able to accept a small number of applicants. There are many excellent students whom we have been unable to accommodate.

We appreciate your interest in our Department and extend our best wishes for the future.

Darn, I really wanted to go there. Now I will just have to root really hard against them in football, damn you Rich Rodriguez...

[ampersand]

In case anyone else is still waiting to hear from them, this is what I've heard from a couple of people who are students there now: Michigan has a lot less money this cycle, what with their economy in the toilet and all, so their incoming class is going to be very small this year. I think they've been taking so long to notify everyone because they've been waiting to know how much money they've got to offer. Personally, I haven't heard a blessed thing from them yet, so I'm still going to hold out hope, however irrational that might be.

[polisciphd]

Have you checked wolverine access to see if they posted a decision on your application?

[ampersand]

I've been checking it at least twice a day since about Tuesday, but there's still no decision posted. I guess I'll assume that no news is good news at this point.