Stood-up by Dean; keep applying to program?

[hejduk]

I probably shouldn't use the term "stood-up", but I personally feel like it happened. I was suppose to meet with the Dean/Grad Coordinator of a program at a recent conference. We had been in email several weeks before the conference, and her last email before the conference stated she'd email me the week of the conference. The week of the conference came, but no email! I emailed her back, and humbly stated that I was sorry I missed her (even though she was the one that didn't respond).

I'm really not sure if she got uber busy during the conference (which happens to everyone), or if she's just being a prick. I did end up meeting with a prof from the same program, but didn't mention anything of it to him. Should I give her some slack, or take this personally?

I have a short list of a few schools, and one of the schools really jumped my list due to several meetings I had at the conference with profs/deans.

[newms]

Don't take it personally. Probably she was very busy with preparations for the conference. If you had a good meeting with a prof at that school and are otherwise interested in that school, I would continue to apply to that school.

[adaptations]

Definitely do not take it personally. If the school is a good fit, just apply and hope for the best. Remember, faculty are crazy busy and they are hounded by tons of potential applicants and current students. I remember meeting a professor at a conference who asked me to send her my paper, but he was very honest and said not to expect a response. Between teaching, kids, research, etc, he admitted he had a really hard time responding, and not to take it personally, but he was still interested in the research.

[hahahut]

I think they are just busy. The fact that academics are doing rigid researches and having things published creates an illusion that they have everything scheduled and carried out as planned. But in fact, they are just normal human beings who struggle to fulfill commitment and catch deadlines. I have a professor who promised replying my email and only replied two months later. But once she asked me to put her in contact with my employer regarding some research collaboration. Then it took her five months to eventually contact them. So I would never take her late reply as personal. Though I have to make sure she gets at least two months for any recommendation letter deadlines.