How do you prefer to receive an Admissions decision from a school?

[Irishlibra]

E-mail? Phone call? Letter? Website?

Admit - Phone call - There's something magical about getting good news over the phone.

Rejection - Letter - I can control when and where I open a letter, and I can mentally prepare myself before actually opening the letter. If it's a rejection then I can be opening disappointed in the privacy of my own home.

[DamianD]

Fast, and when I say fast I mean lightning fast! Like NOOOOOW!!

I feel like a cripple horse who can't race anymore, just shoot me and get it over with instead of waiting and waiting and waiting..... I even have a blister on my left index finger from pressing F5 continuously, never happend before :-o

But back OT

Admit: Phone call, preferably when I'm taking a crap :-D that would be too magical!

Rejection: Email, goes faster than letter. I'm afraid I'm going to cut myself when opening it in all my enthusiasm :-(

[anthropologygeek]

I preferred the letter so when I screamed I didn't freak anyone out.

[Aroma Black]

E-mail, by far. It gives us as much time as we need to formulate our responses to acceptance letters and allows us to move on faster in the case of rejections.

I can understand that a rejection letter is more respectful than a rejection e-mail in some ways--and for the admissions committee, makes it harder for someone to write back with a diatribe. But if the letter isn't going to be personalized anyway, it might as well be an e-mail. Last year it took more than three weeks for one of the letters to get to me because they used the cheapest possible service. In the meantime they sent me other e-mails saying, "As you already know, we were unable to admit you to..."

[Rustin]

I'd take e-mail, then a letter, and then a phone call. I'd be worried I'd say something stupid and their first impression of me would be yelping wildly in celebration or something. So, I don't know. E-mail is quick and private and lets me have my own response before having to deal with other people.

[DamianD]

E-mail is quick and private and lets me have my own response before having to deal with other people.

I don't think that my response will be very private, no matter where I am or with whom either I'll start dancing or crying. It is not like my phone beepz and I'm like "Hey MIT sent me an email about my application, but wait I'm in a store now so I'll wait with opening the email so I can have a private response" ;-)

[kotov]

Probably email. I hate talking on the phone, especially since I'm from the south and I'm applying mostly up north, and because I'm shy about it. And I don't feel like going to check the mail because I'm lazy. So yeah. Just email me. Also, I'm absolutely terrified of papercuts. Like. The people beside me in class put a paper in front of me and then pass it around me. I know, it's stupid, but it is what it is. So. Yeah. Email me, because I'll be the least insane that way.

[newms]

I prefer email too. Although, a phone call would be pretty good too - it's highly unlikely you'd get a call saying you're rejected (I'm guessing you'd only get one like this if you had a relationship with the POI and s/he wanted to give you the bad news) - so once you get a call, you know its either for an interview or an admit. An email can go both ways and that moment before you click on the email can be terrifying because of the anxiety.

[neshmi]

Personally, I would like a limo at the door, with a man in a tuxedo with a rich English accent coming to tell me I'm accepted, fully funded, and they're moving me out. But, an e-mail would also do.

[aem88]

A singing telegram

[whit]

If it's good news, I'll take anything.. carrier pigeon, message in a bottle, etc.

for a rejection... i'd prefer a letter, that way I have something to burn!

[space-cat]

I'm all about the phone call for an admit. Like newms said, if you see that number pop up on your cell (and yes, I do have a cheat sheet with the area codes for the schools I applied to...don't judge me), you know it's going to be good news. Ideally, that phone call is followed by a detailed email, so you don't have to worry about actually retaining any information while you're listening to your future adviser tell you how awesome you are

Rejections? Email all the way, and I don't need any more than "Dear Applicant, Sorry. Best of luck elsewhere!" Nothing stings quite like waiting until April, thinking you might still have a shot, when they already rejected you a month ago (but it took two weeks for the letter to be personalized and typed up..then it sat on an admin's desk for another week...then it had to work its way through snail mail...).

[Zouzax]

call me old school, but I prefer the regular mail system. I loved the excitement of checking my mailbox each day to see if there was a big, fat envelope waiting for me ... there's nothing like seeing that big envelope in your mailbox!!! And when you get a rejection letter, you know its a rejection without opening it ... aren't the thin letters the worst?

I actually don't like this email rejection system, Im going to be so excited before opening the email & then just to see a "We're sorry" will be SO depressing. Id rather take a thin envelope any day.

[Zouzax]

I prefer email too. Although, a phone call would be pretty good too - it's highly unlikely you'd get a call saying you're rejected (I'm guessing you'd only get one like this if you had a relationship with the POI and s/he wanted to give you the bad news) - so once you get a call, you know its either for an interview or an admit. An email can go both ways and that moment before you click on the email can be terrifying because of the anxiety.

This is a GREAT point that I didn't even think about. Now Ill be constantly checking my phone!!

[c_n]

Email. Definitely email. That way, I'm not taken by surprise like I might be if it's a phone call. Who knows what kind of mood I'll be in when the phone rings? Also, letters take a long time, and honestly, I just equate letters with rejection. I know it's not true, but it's just the way I think.

An email is more thrilling because it could be either one...it may feel like torture for the five seconds it takes to read the email, but you can't deny that it's very exciting!

[warpspeed]

Lately I've been having telemarketers call my cell phone. Obviously the numbers aren't saved so I answer every single one. I hate it.

I'd like a phone call, but email and maybe a follow up phone call is also wonderful. Honestly, for a rejection, I think a "check the website" is fine. I'd rather not dissect some silly, mass mailed letter.

[Golden Monkey]

Snail mail for both acceptances and rejections. No phone calls at all. I hate phones.

[sareene]

Admit: E-mail, letter, telegram, Paul Revere's ghost on horseback, whatever.

Reject: I'm still torn. An email may come as a shock, but at last I'd be the only one to see it. If my parents get the mail before me and see a small envelope they will know before and I won't be able to have a private reaction.

[was1984]

I don't understand the point of regular mail for anything but the transmission of goods. It wastes paper, costs money, and takes more time.

In direct response to the question, I'd like to hear whatever will let me know soonest. In general that's going to be email, since phone calls cannot be a mass communication and thus have a certain amount of latency. I'd be perfectly happy with an automated telephone system too, though.

Hell, I'd be happy with a text message. Just tell me!

[kyjin]

Phone calls would be wonderful for admittances. When I got into undergrad, I was called by the school on my cell phone on the way home from school! Sadly, I'm abroad right now, so that's not going to happen.

That being said, I definitely prefer email. Letter stink for me right now since I have to wait for them to be sent to Japan.

[Brandi88]

Email definitely.. I've been checking like a fool waiting for anything. I saw a few emails today from schools today and freaked out. Turns out they were just missing things.. sigh.

[Bonkers]

Accepted: Singing telegram by a bar tender named Smitty who has my champagne and confetti ready.

Rejected: Delivered to me by a person in a more miserable situation, so I can appreciate what I do have.

Wait-list: No. I cannot handle extra anticipation and false hope. Just don't tell me.

[agatheringrose]

Email. I took a temp job in another city a few weeks after finishing my applications. It was unexpected and so... if they mail it I'm going to get a call from my parents saying they have forwarded it on and that would be hell on earth waiting.

So email. Website if necessary. Avoid the phone calls because composure may not be fantastic. I don't care if its rejection or acceptance--I'm for email all around.

[Ludwig von Dracula]

The worst is getting a big fat envelope--and then finding out it's for a "consolation prize" like the Chicago MAPH. Might be initially flattering, until you realize that they're inviting you to a $45000 program without financial assistance. I think it's email for me too for reasons already listed (less wait time and no need to worry about how your reaction will impress somebody else).

[Aroma Black]

The worst is getting a big fat envelope--and then finding out it's for a "consolation prize" like the Chicago MAPH. Might be initially flattering, until you realize that they're inviting you to a $45000 program without financial assistance. I think it's email for me too for reasons already listed (less wait time and no need to worry about how your reaction will impress somebody else).

That can happen with e-mail too. One of my consolation prizes last year came in an e-mail with CONGRATULATIONS as the subject line.