Potential Problem with my top choice--How annoying should I be?

[Tybalt]

Okay- I'm having a bit of a neurotic moment here.

My absolute top choice is Vanderbilt (as in, if they called in 5 minutes with an offer, I would accept without even needing to hear back from my other 10 schools). As such, I went to even more neurotic pains than usual to make sure everything for that app would be in order. I sent in requests for transcripts early. I arranged for the max 5 letters of rec (so that I would have two spares in the event of a prof. flaking).

When the deadline (Jan.15) passed, I was surprised to see that they were showing two of my three transcripts missing (I have two undergrad transcripts, because I transferred). I called the schools to confirm that they were sent. I called Vanderbilt and was told that they likely weren't processed yet.

About a week went by. One of the missing transcripts (my MA degree in progress) showed up on the app. The other (my undergrad transcript for the school that I graduated from) still showed as not received. I e-mailed the contact listed on the page, but never got a response. Finally, I called today. She didn't take my name or look into it, but told me that if the app still said "not received" then they likely never got it. She also said that the apps were already being reviewed by the adcom, and I would get an e-mail if they needed to see anything.

I immediately sent her an e-mail with a PDF of my unofficial transcript, and ordered another copy of the official to be sent.

My concern is this: If they ARE missing my undergrad transcript, is my application even going to be reviewed? I already called once and e-mailed twice. How much of a nuisance should I be about this? I can accept being rejected. I'd be crushed if my app wasn't even reviewed for my absolutely perfect fit of a school.

Edited January 26, 2011 by Tybalt

[bigdgp]

Okay- I'm having a bit of a neurotic moment here.

My absolute top choice is Vanderbilt (as in, if they called in 5 minutes with an offer, I would accept without even needing to hear back from my other 10 schools). As such, I went to even more neurotic pains than usual to make sure everything for that app would be in order. I sent in requests for transcripts early. I arranged for the max 5 letters of rec (so that I would have two spares in the event of a prof. flaking).

When the deadline (Jan.15) passed, I was surprised to see that they were showing two of my three transcripts missing (I have two undergrad transcripts, because I transferred). I called the schools to confirm that they were sent. I called Vanderbilt and was told that they likely weren't processed yet.

About a week went by. One of the missing transcripts (my MA degree in progress) showed up on the app. The other (my undergrad transcript for the school that I graduated from) still showed as not received. I e-mailed the contact listed on the page, but never got a response. Finally, I called today. She didn't take my name or look into it, but told me that if the app still said "not received" then they likely never got it. She also said that the apps were already being reviewed by the adcom, and I would get an e-mail if they needed to see anything.

I immediately sent her an e-mail with a PDF of my unofficial transcript, and ordered another copy of the official to be sent.

My concern is this: If they ARE missing my undergrad transcript, is my application even going to be reviewed? I already called once and e-mailed twice. How much of a nuisance should I be about this? I can accept being rejected. I'd be crushed if my app wasn't even reviewed for my absolutely perfect fit of a school.

Yes, it will be reviewed. They will not screw somebody over who has paid the application fee, gone to the trouble to arrange all other transcripts and LORs and written an SOP and writing sample. If there were a few problems with your app, or things were received last minute, they might get touchy. This obviously isn't the case with you, though, and they aren't going to fault you for what may potentially be a processing error at your undergraduate university. I'm not an expert, but I've heard enough similar scenarios to speak with relative confidence on the subject.

[KRC]

I had the same problem. The status for the transcripts kept saying "not received" despite uploading both of them at the time of application (well before the deadline). I kept calling, too, and the rather snarky representative with graduate admissions said that we need to submit two official hard copies... despite this (to my knowledge) not being mentioned on the application.

She said that it's up to the department if they review the application without the hard copy transcripts. I can't see how they would just trash an app with e-copies because of some red-tape (but, I suppose, stranger things have happened).

I rushed two copies from both of my schools late last week, and one has been uploaded.

As a side, I applied in Philosophy (the only phil dept. on my radar) so perhaps the layout changes per department, but am I the only one who thought the Vanderbilt application was heinously ugly? It looked like it was something from the geocities days, maybe worse. By far the least professional app. site I encountered (out of 10).

[tortola23]

I had this same problem with my applications last year, and spent a lot of time freaking out about it. However, all of my materials were received on time and EVENTUALLY processed. I would not worry too much. Plus, if a school that's interested in you is missing one of your transcripts, they'll most likely contact you about it. They won't assume that you forgot.

[soxpuppet]

All the anecdotal evidence in my possession suggests that this would not be grounds for unannounced disqualification. If they need the transcripts to make their decision, they will most likely let you know. Certainly, they can make a decision to admit you with an unofficial transcript only - technically, they should only need the official one to actually register you in the program, etc. Only thing I can think of is perhaps it might be necessary for consideration for special fellowships, but again, I can't imagine that they would not contact you if there were any reason they needed to have the official documents now. I get the sense that programs ask for official transcripts not so much because they fear fraud but also because if a student is accepted, the school requires official transcripts for enrollment purposes.

In this case, certainly, you're better off letting them tell you what they need than risking coming across as, as you say, "annoying."

[bfat]

I work in the Graduate School of a mid-level state university that has about 4,500 grad students, and I can tell you that this month has been absolute hell. We're receiving several hundred pieces of mail every day with all the parts of students' applications, and I know at least at our school, the website that lists what materials are missing draws its information from the very last step of the application process (the "checklist" page in our system). So we get hundreds of calls every day from people sure they sent their stuff, but whose checklists haven't been updated. So don't panic. We tell everyone that their stuff is probably here, but is somehwere in one of the steps of being processed. Ironically, the stuff would get processed a lot faster if students would stop calling to check the status of their applications

bfat

[woolfie]

I work in the Graduate School of a mid-level state university that has about 4,500 grad students, and I can tell you that this month has been absolute hell. We're receiving several hundred pieces of mail every day with all the parts of students' applications, and I know at least at our school, the website that lists what materials are missing draws its information from the very last step of the application process (the "checklist" page in our system). So we get hundreds of calls every day from people sure they sent their stuff, but whose checklists haven't been updated. So don't panic. We tell everyone that their stuff is probably here, but is somehwere in one of the steps of being processed. Ironically, the stuff would get processed a lot faster if students would stop calling to check the status of their applications

bfat

I work in an undergraduate admissions office at a large state university. Another thing that most people don't realize, that I deal with a lot, is that people will send in their test scores or transcripts, but they don't fill out the application until later. So I constantly get calls saying, I sent my test scores in november but they aren't showing up yet, why has it taken three months? When in reality they had just filled out the app the day before and we are swamped trying to match things.

I still have checklists that say all my materials aren't recieved, and I waited two months to contact one program and they still hadn't updated it. We just gotta sit back and wait at this point, they'll let us know if they need something from us.

[lolopixie]

I had one problem with the Vanderbilt app and that was that my GRE scores weren't showing up. I got a direct contact phone number for where ETS sends the scores and it turns out it wasn't assigned to my account because I have a two word last name with a space in it (as how it was put on the application), but ETS doesn't allow for spacing on their information so it went down as one word. I was able to get it fixed over the phone that day, but this turned out to be a problem for a few other schools. I called all schools applied to and some had it received, while others had to go retrieve the info. And one program asked for the info after the deadline - Vandy will let you know if you need to send more info. There might not be an app fee, but there is a reason they can afford to not make you pay - they want top notch people there and their reputation speaks for itself. They will review you.

[tortola23]

I had this problem with my UW application. I finally emailed them the other day, because it's been almost a month since I sent everything in. I got a very nice email saying that they've received everything and that my application is being reviewed. So they might just be terrible about updating those online checklists . . . it sucks, but it seems that all of my schools have received all of my materials, contrary to what 1/3 of my checklists say!

[woolfie]

I had one problem with the Vanderbilt app and that was that my GRE scores weren't showing up. I got a direct contact phone number for where ETS sends the scores and it turns out it wasn't assigned to my account because I have a two word last name with a space in it (as how it was put on the application), but ETS doesn't allow for spacing on their information so it went down as one word. I was able to get it fixed over the phone that day, but this turned out to be a problem for a few other schools. I called all schools applied to and some had it received, while others had to go retrieve the info. And one program asked for the info after the deadline - Vandy will let you know if you need to send more info. There might not be an app fee, but there is a reason they can afford to not make you pay - they want top notch people there and their reputation speaks for itself. They will review you.

As someone who matches test scores to applications in an admissions office, I see this all the time. This is on the school. You should call the school and tell them, and they should be able to find it. It probably just didn't show up on a report, and if you tell them, they should be able to find it. If the school says they don't have it, they need to look harder. They do.

[woolfie]

I had this problem with my UW application. I finally emailed them the other day, because it's been almost a month since I sent everything in. I got a very nice email saying that they've received everything and that my application is being reviewed. So they might just be terrible about updating those online checklists . . . it sucks, but it seems that all of my schools have received all of my materials, contrary to what 1/3 of my checklists say!

This same thing happened to me. It had been TWO months of nothing changing on my site, so I emailed and they said they had everything.

[lolopixie]

As someone who matches test scores to applications in an admissions office, I see this all the time. This is on the school. You should call the school and tell them, and they should be able to find it. It probably just didn't show up on a report, and if you tell them, they should be able to find it. If the school says they don't have it, they need to look harder. They do.

You're right. Every school was able to find the score, just had to do the extra leg worth. This is why my goal is to marry someone with a simple last name - need to get rid of the complicated last name!!! lol

[bfat]

You're right. Every school was able to find the score, just had to do the extra leg worth. This is why my goal is to marry someone with a simple last name - need to get rid of the complicated last name!!! lol

Of course, then you'll have to be sure to include both your married name AND your maiden name on everything because of the old files with your previous name. We have this problem all the time in our grad admissions office.

[Tybalt]

Of course, then you'll have to be sure to include both your married name AND your maiden name on everything because of the old files with your previous name. We have this problem all the time in our grad admissions office.

It could be worse. My name has an apostrophe, and it NEVER shows up properly in databases. I've seen it listed variously as:

O'Neil

O_Neil

ONeil

O Neil

O-Neil

O'

and my personal favorite-- O#@%&^%Neil

[lolopixie]

Of course, then you'll have to be sure to include both your married name AND your maiden name on everything because of the old files with your previous name. We have this problem all the time in our grad admissions office.

LOL - I'm hoping to not have to do this again!!!! That just scares me away from even changing my name in the future!

[lolopixie]

It could be worse. My name has an apostrophe, and it NEVER shows up properly in databases. I've seen it listed variously as:

O'Neil

O_Neil

ONeil

O Neil

O-Neil

O'

and my personal favorite-- O#@%&^%Neil

and i bet all those variations show up on your credit report at "aliases" - when i see the word alias it makes me feel like i did something wrong! no, it's just that people can't get it together lol

[bottles]

My hyphenated last name has been the bane of my existence...I called Arizona State to make sure my transcript arrived because it wasn't showing up, and while it was there and everything was fine, I still got to hear: "Oh, I couldn't find you. It must have been the hyphen." Gah!