Do not contact your school because you are antsy

[meche]

I'm of the opinion that it doesn't matter.

I'm not antsy, I actually had a legitimate reason for asking for grad school decisions. I had to choose between two internships, product design and aero, before grad school decisions were out. All the schools I contacted replied and just said "we can't give you an early decision or move you up the list. you'll hear from us when you hear from us."

That being said, it doesn't hurt. I picked the product design job because it felt like the right choice, got into a product design masters program, and got rejected from the (one) aero school I applied to. Only the administrative staff sees your request, not the people who make the decisions, and they're told basically to just blow you off in a nice way.

[baltimore]

For what it is worth, I received an email from my POI two days after contacting to let me know unfortunately there was only one fellowship and I did not get it. I am so relieved to have this information. He said he wanted to let me know before the letters go out in TWO WEEKS. I would not have made it two more weeks.

[jordanami]

I see a lot of posts on the results board saying that they received their answer after an email request. I can't imagine that a dept. is going to change their decision in response to a polite email after a reasonable amount of time.

[new mexico]

i disagree. i contacted four schools i applied to a few weeks ago concerning when prospective applicants would be notified of admission decisions, and each school emailed me back a day or two later congratulating me on my acceptance. (i should ntoe that i already had a few acceptances, so i said i needed to know soon due to deadlines to accept other offers.) i'm still waiting for the official from two of them, but i'm glad i didn't wait. YMMV.

Edited March 11, 2011 by new mexico

[Red Bull]

I just had a moment when I almost waffled on my previous statement. While browsing the religious studies board I saw that my top choice had indeed been sending out results since about March 1st. It seems like it may be for those students who are just applying for a PhD (I'm applying MA/PhD). I stared at my screen looking at the phone number/ email for the grad advisor. I chose to wait. I am not a superstitious person, but I cannot bring myself to call and perhaps wreck my chances, even though that is very unlikely. I will choose to wait in frustration.

[DariaIRL]

From my perspective as someone who worked in an office during admissions:

It makes sense to contact if:

1) you are coming up on an application deadline for a fellowship or another opportunity.

2) you are SURE the program website does not already show some kind of admissions status, whether in your online application profile (if they use Apply Yourself for example) or their website.

Emails are the preferred method, allow for at least 2 business days for a reply before placing a call. If placing a call, please don't do it right when they open nor during the lunch hour.

[joops]

Really, I think this is bad advice. Why are you telling a group of nervous strangers what you think is best for them when you do not know their personal situations? Suggesting something is fine, but making blanket statements about what not to do is quite harmful at this point.

As long as status inquiries are done politely, there is no need to be wary of making them. Some people just want to KNOW so that they can make important life decisions in a prompt manner. Some people want to make sure that their answer didn't get lost in the mail or in cyber space. Some people want to know because they feel like they would rather have an answer one way or the other.

Please, next time you give people questionable advice, try not to phrase it so strongly.

[joops]

Now I am terribly concerned I've hurt my chances at admission by emailing to inquire about my status. Is it likely they could change their minds about me due to this action? Blerg.

I highly doubt they would change their minds unless you wrote something like "HEY JERKS AM I IN OR NO?!?!1"

[new mexico]

I highly doubt they would change their minds unless you wrote something like "HEY JERKS AM I IN OR NO?!?!1"

Exactly!!! No harm in calling. Just don't do it everyday. Give it a week or so between calls.

[everygirl]

My top choice emailed on Febuary 22, saying my application has been forwarded to the program admissions committee. Decisions out, quote, "soon".

I thought about not emailling them to ask at all -- busy people and all -- but this morning I got a tense urgent email from one of my other schools, saying they had somehow lost my transcript, and could I please send another. I'm requesting another, but it could take a week. That's ANOTHER WEEK I'LL BE WAITING. What burns me is that they sent out TWO emails more than a month ago saying my application is complete and has been verified by general admissions.

I know the two situations above aren't related, but I'm panicking -- what if my top school also lost my transcript and hasn't called me yet? I may as well call now to find out whether all is OK, so I'm not going to have to wait another week to hear from them either.

It's already March 11, people. Canadians take longer to respond, judging from general rumor and the results board, but come on. I want to know what I'm doing next year.

If I haven't heard by next week, I'm calling!

[mandarin.orange]

Is it likely they could change their minds about me due to this action?

No, so long as you followed basic email etiquette, were polite, not unreasonable, etc.

[jedi76]

Finally heard from the school I thought had lost my application (had seen accepted, rejected, and waitlisted posts on the results search). I'm waitlisted which is why they didn't contact me...they'd only been telling people who'd called/emailed and asked.

[Red Bull]

Do not contact your school because you are antsy. As you can see above, there are many legitimate reasons to contact your school. My point was (and still is) that you should not contact your school just because you are feeling anxious about decisions. Plus, I put my point across knowing that there would be those who would ignore/disagree with me and not take the advice. This is just "my two cents".

Really, I think this is bad advice. Why are you telling a group of nervous strangers what you think is best for them when you do not know their personal situations? Suggesting something is fine, but making blanket statements about what not to do is quite harmful at this point.

As long as status inquiries are done politely, there is no need to be wary of making them. Some people just want to KNOW so that they can make important life decisions in a prompt manner. Some people want to make sure that their answer didn't get lost in the mail or in cyber space. Some people want to know because they feel like they would rather have an answer one way or the other.

Please, next time you give people questionable advice, try not to phrase it so strongly.

[michpc]

Finally heard from the school I thought had lost my application (had seen accepted, rejected, and waitlisted posts on the results search). I'm waitlisted which is why they didn't contact me...they'd only been telling people who'd called/emailed and asked.

Am I the only one who finds that ridiculously aggravating?

[Blackhawks10]

Contacting your program isn't necessarily a bad thing. I had been waiting around 10 weeks to hear from a program, so I sent an e-mail. Two days later they sent me an acceptance e-mail. I wouldn't contact a program right away, but if you have been waiting for a while a follow up e-mail wouldn't hurt.

[Poppet]

I know the two situations above aren't related, but I'm panicking -- what if my top school also lost my transcript and hasn't called me yet? I may as well call now to find out whether all is OK, so I'm not going to have to wait another week to hear from them either.

It's already March 11, people. Canadians take longer to respond, judging from general rumor and the results board, but come on. I want to know what I'm doing next year.

If I haven't heard by next week, I'm calling!

I don't see why you'd force yourself to wait. You've already found yourself in a situation where your transcripts were lost and you were not notified of this properly. I don't think there is anything unreasonable about calling your top school and saying, "I realize that this is a very busy time and I apologize for bothering you, but I received disturbing news from another school that my transcripts had not been received. Can you please confirm for me that my application is complete?" I adamantly believe that it is far more prudent and reasonable for you to watch out for your application than to practice a passive politesse that neither ensures the success of your application nor prevents the (realistic) possibility of error. As long as you are polite and gracious in your request for information, I do not think this is an unreasonable concern in the least.

I worked in an immigration law firm for years and managed over 1200 clients myself - I received hundreds of emails and telephone calls every single day from panicked clients asking if they'd signed documents properly, if I'd received the email they sent 30 second prior, if they were going to receive a decision soon, etc. Sure, some of the calls and emails were fruitless and annoying, but human beings are generally capable of understanding the stress and anxiety of other human beings who are trying to process life-changing decisions. The administrative staff of graduate admissions are also people, and as long as they are treated with respect and appreciation, and as long as communication with them is polite and gracious, I do not think that anyone should worry about the call causing any negative consequences. In contrast, sometimes the act of passively waiting instead of calling can have very bad consequences.

[msdostoevsky]

I think it can be helpful to call the program you've applied to, but granted it depends on who you speak with and inquire about your decision with. I've called admins and contacted the Director of graduate admissions, and received a status update. It can really depend on the program though, whether you have been accepted, rejected or even wait-listed. Once, for one program I hadn't heard back for a whole month!! I called periodically to speak with office staff and they were unfortunately not very helpful, just stating the generic "Decisions are still being processed!" I decided to contact a PI who I met and who was on the admissions committee--he informed me that my application was on hold (it had neither been rejected, accepted, nor waitlisted) and he advised me to keep calling to inquire about the status since the admissions committee would be meeting again to discuss the applications on hold. He also said, and I quote, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease!" I got an acceptance the next week! So have faith, patience, but also a healthy sense of importunity.

[Lanie]

I think the OP gave good advice. It sucks to wait but that's the way it is. Of course in exceptional circumstances, call to see if all your documents were received etc... and of course if you're down to another program's deadline... call.

But just because you're tired of waiting? Seems sort of silly to me to bother someone over impatience.

[amanda lauren]

I've applied to 4 graduate schools; 2 I've heard back from, and 2 I've heard NOTHING from since I got the "thank you for paying your application fee" letter back in January. One of the schools that I've heard nothing from is my top choice, and their website says that "applicants will be notified of decisions by May 1st" (is it just me, or is that ridiculously late to be notifying us, considering that most schools send out letters by March, or April at the latest?). Of the schools that I heard back from, I was accepted to both and was told that I had to reply with my statement of intent to register within one week of receiving the letters. I called my top choice school to ask if there was a rough estimate of when I might expect to hear back from them, hoping that I would hear back much sooner than May 1st, and was told that my application was already under review and I would likely hear back sooner than the May 1st deadline, but probably sometime in April. *Side note: when I called the department, the woman I spoke with immediately knew who I was and knew that my application was already being processed - am I just grasping at straws when I'm thinking that this could be a good sign? End side note* Anyway, I had to accept an offer from one of the schools that I'd already heard back from, since I didn't want to say no to both and end up screwed if I don't get into the other schools that I haven't yet heard from. I accepted this offer about 2 weeks ago, and figured that I would be able to withdraw my acceptance if I do get into my top choice (I know other people who have done this). However, the school whose offer I accepted has sent me several emails today, and apparently I need to sign up for classes, field placement interviews, etc within the next 12-14 days. It feels to me like I would almost be locked in to that program at that point, and withdrawing from it to attend a different school would be extremely difficult. As such, I emailed my top choice school today and explained the situation, and asked (politely!) about when I could expect to hear back about my admissions decision. Normally I wouldn't have contacted them - I haven't contacted the other school that I haven't heard from - but at the rate things are going, I may not be able to pull out from the other school at that point and would end up going to my second choice school because my first choice has an insanely late notification date. Was I wrong to contact them?!

[Golden Monkey]

I've applied to 4 graduate schools; 2 I've heard back from, and 2 I've heard NOTHING from since I got the "thank you for paying your application fee" letter back in January. One of the schools that I've heard nothing from is my top choice, and their website says that "applicants will be notified of decisions by May 1st" (is it just me, or is that ridiculously late to be notifying us, considering that most schools send out letters by March, or April at the latest?). Of the schools that I heard back from, I was accepted to both and was told that I had to reply with my statement of intent to register within one week of receiving the letters. I called my top choice school to ask if there was a rough estimate of when I might expect to hear back from them, hoping that I would hear back much sooner than May 1st, and was told that my application was already under review and I would likely hear back sooner than the May 1st deadline, but probably sometime in April. *Side note: when I called the department, the woman I spoke with immediately knew who I was and knew that my application was already being processed - am I just grasping at straws when I'm thinking that this could be a good sign? End side note* Anyway, I had to accept an offer from one of the schools that I'd already heard back from, since I didn't want to say no to both and end up screwed if I don't get into the other schools that I haven't yet heard from. I accepted this offer about 2 weeks ago, and figured that I would be able to withdraw my acceptance if I do get into my top choice (I know other people who have done this). However, the school whose offer I accepted has sent me several emails today, and apparently I need to sign up for classes, field placement interviews, etc within the next 12-14 days. It feels to me like I would almost be locked in to that program at that point, and withdrawing from it to attend a different school would be extremely difficult. As such, I emailed my top choice school today and explained the situation, and asked (politely!) about when I could expect to hear back about my admissions decision. Normally I wouldn't have contacted them - I haven't contacted the other school that I haven't heard from - but at the rate things are going, I may not be able to pull out from the other school at that point and would end up going to my second choice school because my first choice has an insanely late notification date. Was I wrong to contact them?!

May 1??? That's completely ridiculous. It truly amazes me that after so many decades and decades of graduate and undergraduate admissions, the universities have not made any attempt to settle on some kind of rough unified schedule.

[isis]

Okay, this is perhaps in its own league of antsy ridiculousness here, but I found out a week ago that I was accepted to my program by checking the online system, which said my letter was in the mail. I used my office, which is about twenty blocks away from the school, as my mailing address, and I still haven't received my letter. Should I contact the admissions department, or am I just being silly?

[basst]

Okay, this is perhaps in its own league of antsy ridiculousness here, but I found out a week ago that I was accepted to my program by checking the online system, which said my letter was in the mail. I used my office, which is about twenty blocks away from the school, as my mailing address, and I still haven't received my letter. Should I contact the admissions department, or am I just being silly?

Sometime they send the letter to your permanent address. You should check it.

[jsade]

Nothing wrong with contacting imo, I did and found out 1) the director had gone on vacation till the 20th (glad your having a good time) 2) the committee was still deliberating and that notifications would apparently be sent out 'by april.' I'm not sure if that's inclusive OF april, but that's neither here nor there...It has stopped me checking my application status on a twice daily basis (on a good day) and searching for results on gradcafe....sometimes it helps! Use your judgement!

[thesnout]

I called my school to find out when decisions will be sent. I'm in Canada so the April 15th deadline doesn't apply to the school. I say call once. It's faster and more anonymous. Emails can work too. I don't have the patience for emails though. If you get through keep it short and sweet. Don't waste too much of their time.

The admin woman was very friendly to me and gave the info I needed. 2 more weeks and I find out. Excited either way with fingers crossed.

When in doubt just check the results board too. See when the previous years decisions went out. But there are times when you will have to contact the school. Just be objective about it. These people are swamped and might get pissed off at you.

Edited March 20, 2011 by cherylsafina

[TVDOC]

I dont see anything wrong w/ contacting. I am waiting on a school...called... and found out they never evaluated my app since they filed my grad transcripts as my undergrad. They had previously told me my app was complete. So, they screwed up and it would never have been discovered if I had not called to check on the status.

I think everyone has the right to call and inquire on status for whatever reason they may have (lack of patience, need to make a decision on other accepts, etc...). The schools should be understanding of the need to know and while a week after the app deadline would be very premature to call, as with many cases here if several months have passed with no word, I say call.