Do they always send email notifications?

[troy.princess]

I know my question is going to sound stupid...

Do universities always send email notifications if something changes on your online application file?

Is refreshing my email enough or do I have to refresh my online application as well?

tnx

[Bukharan]

It probably depends on the university you are applying to. Different universities use different online application systems and adopted different methods of notifying applicants.

For example, none of my the schools I applied to have an online system where I could log on to and check the status of my application - so I have to rely on my e-mail.

[newms]

Unfortunately, they don't always send email notifications. A couple of the schools I applied to says they will snail mail their decision, while others say that you should check the status website because they may have information and notices to applicants. What you could do is maybe to set up a filter in your email so that any emails from that school get sent via SMS to your phone - that way you don't have to worry about checking your email all the time.

Edited February 3, 2011 by newms

[troy.princess]

Thank you!

That is so annoying why can't they be like the online stores? if your order is shipped you get an email notification....

I have my gmail on my android phone so I can read my emails all the time

I cannot believe the thing that occupy my mind..... I NEED some answers

thank you

Unfortunately, they don't always send email notifications. A couple of the schools I applied to says they will snail mail their decision, while others say that you should check the status website because they may have information and notices to applicants. What you could do is maybe to set up a filter in your email so that any emails from that school get sent via SMS to your phone - that way you don't have to worry about checking your email all the time.

[awvish]

Been a while since this thread was bumped. I'm going to do it with a small rant:

I got an email from my tied-for-first school today saying that their final admissions meeting is today. And that they will being to mail out decisions tomorrow. Probably. And so I should expect something in two or three weeks.

They've got to be kidding. Can they afford to not send e-mails at all?

When they had a-no-other-options, absolutely, completely online application?

Are they kidding?

I know the world isn't supposed to make sense, but can someone give me some perspective please? Why this might make sense to them? Are they trying to avoid being swamped with something by distributing the receive-times by admitted people? Trying to avoid litigious rejectees accidentally being on the "accept e-mail" list? Actually planning to e-mail but unwilling to admit it? Just plain mean? Covering their butts and planning to e-mail a few top choices their unofficial admission, and giving the two-to-three-weeks business for those of us who will end up not in the first cut of either, and will thus be notified later?

I know I'm not the only one, but I'm vascillating between staggered at the weirdness of snail-only decisions from an e-application (What, seriously?!) and shocked disbelief that I might have to wait two or three more weeks when they will know today (You can't do this to me!*). Help? Thoughts? Opinions?

*Oh, but they can

[MoJingly]

Been a while since this thread was bumped. I'm going to do it with a small rant:

I got an email from my tied-for-first school today saying that their final admissions meeting is today. And that they will being to mail out decisions tomorrow. Probably. And so I should expect something in two or three weeks.

They've got to be kidding. Can they afford to not send e-mails at all?

When they had a-no-other-options, absolutely, completely online application?

Are they kidding?

I know the world isn't supposed to make sense, but can someone give me some perspective please? Why this might make sense to them? Are they trying to avoid being swamped with something by distributing the receive-times by admitted people? Trying to avoid litigious rejectees accidentally being on the "accept e-mail" list? Actually planning to e-mail but unwilling to admit it? Just plain mean? Covering their butts and planning to e-mail a few top choices their unofficial admission, and giving the two-to-three-weeks business for those of us who will end up not in the first cut of either, and will thus be notified later?

I know I'm not the only one, but I'm vascillating between staggered at the weirdness of snail-only decisions from an e-application (What, seriously?!) and shocked disbelief that I might have to wait two or three more weeks when they will know today (You can't do this to me!*). Help? Thoughts? Opinions?

*Oh, but they can

That's horrendous. I wish we could understand how these people think.

[Katie Brady]

I got one notice via email from Maryland saying that my application had passed through general screening and was being submitted to the individual department for review, and a decision would be coming my way "shortly". That was about 10 days ago, so their "shortly" might mean two weeks, a month, who knows.

And that's frustrating, awvish. I think that the way schools get around that is so they don't get inundated with emails and calls from people who are equi-anxious as we are (if not more). If they say "you will know by X date", and its a few days after that, people will just call and bug them, so I think they are trying to prevent that.

When they say "you'll know in a few weeks", that's not a definite time frame, so it allows for less phone calls and traffic in and out of their office. I'm only assuming this because we do that where I work. If someone submits paperwork for a grant or whatever, we have to give a vague "you'll know by" or "within the next few weeks" as a response, since a specific date would cause insane amounts of questions and phone calls to come our way if it's a day later. That might not be the reason, but I'm willing to bet it is.

It's still really crappy and frustrating.

[gradgirlwannabe]

Tonight I considered leaving my window open in case one of my schools decided to notify by owl. I live in the upper Midwest. It's February.

[rainbowworrier]

Tonight I considered leaving my window open in case one of my schools decided to notify by owl. I live in the upper Midwest. It's February.

you just completely made my day with that!

[neuropsychosocial]

Do universities always send email notifications if something changes on your online application file?

Sometimes they sent carrier pigeon; sometimes snail mail; sometimes email; sometimes owl (thanks gradgirlwannabe!); sometimes they don't notify you at all, in which there is probably a camera trained on you as part of some research study.

More seriously, it seems like most online systems send an email when something updates, but occasionally, they're not quite synched. So your online app might be updated at 2PM and the email goes out at 5PM. I tried checking online systems obsessively, but it was too hard, so I switched to logging in only at night, after the office had closed for the day.

Tonight I considered leaving my window open in case one of my schools decided to notify by owl. I live in the upper Midwest. It's February.

Pure awesome!

[FingersCrossedX]

Tonight I considered leaving my window open in case one of my schools decided to notify by owl. I live in the upper Midwest. It's February.

Oh, I applied to Hogwarts too.