How do I confirm my application package is complete when exemption is involved?

[hahahut]

Hi, all!

Can anyone with previous application experience to share how we can ensure any exemption is granted before the deadlines? I am an international student. But since I received my bachelor degree from New Zealand, I am exempted from the TOEFL requirement by most schools. However, in all the applications I have started, only one has an option for the applicant to claim the exemption eligibility. I have learned from life that you would often get different interpretations on the same term from different people, especially in this case the exemption is not precisely worded (sometimes it is only clarified from the program's FAQ). I definitely don't want to find out my application cannot be processed because of missing document after the deadline. I imagine the admission office would be too busy to answer specific inquiry like this close to the deadline. Is there any good way to check? Or am I just being too paranoid?

Thanks!

[adaptations]

If the question is answered in the FAQs on their website, trust it. Those FAQs are there for a reason and are not lying to you. If there is confusion, even with the FAQs, and you need further clarification, just email the admissions personnel with the department and ask.

[hahahut]

Thanks! I guess I am just being paranoid. But sometimes it does take a while to dig out the exemption. I always checked via email if it was not clearly laid out. Can't help worrying the person who eventually processes my documents would have a different interpretation. Do the application status normally say if all documents are received? If so, at least I could track down to someone and explain before it is too late.

[newms]

Thanks! I guess I am just being paranoid. But sometimes it does take a while to dig out the exemption. I always checked via email if it was not clearly laid out. Can't help worrying the person who eventually processes my documents would have a different interpretation. Do the application status normally say if all documents are received? If so, at least I could track down to someone and explain before it is too late.

Trust me - its better to be paranoid now than later. I almost had an issue with what you were asking after I submitted an app last year. I had assumed (nonchalantly) that since I am a native English speaker I would have received a TOEFL waiver automatically. After I applied to a particular school they sent me a link to a website that showed the status of my app, and there was a section for the TOEFL waiver and it was empty for me. I nearly panicked but when I sent an email explaining the situation, they granted me a TOEFL waiver.

As for the application status on the websites - those are notoriously slow. The experience I had last year was pretty positive as the schools I applied to kept my status up to date when documents arrived, but there were a lot of stories last year of people freaking out because schools were slow to update the application status. I think some people might still be waiting to see if their transcripts arrived.

[hahahut]

Thanks, Newms! I guess there is no way to make sure it wouldn't happen now. Just have to watch the status carefully and hope for the best.

[Grad Hopeful]

Thanks, Newms! I guess there is no way to make sure it wouldn't happen now. Just have to watch the status carefully and hope for the best.

I wouldn't worry about bothering the admissions office close to the deadline, it is their job to answer admissions questions. If there is a separate international admissions office they are most likely in charge of your application status, so it would be best to contact them. If you want to be sure of a fast reply you should call them directly and ask, it can take some time for a school to notify you if you are missing a document (calling usually generates a faster response than email).

Just don't contact the school too often, for instance when I worked in the international admissions office for a university it would take 2 weeks for documents to be processed once we received them so students should allow a reasonable time for documents to arrive. Trust me the admissions office is only annoyed if an applicant decides to call every single day or even multiple times a day even though there is no possible way we could have received the required documents (although this can be understandable in some cases if there is some emergency).