Please help me decide whether/how to contact the program

[NoMoreABD]

So I'll try to keep it short and practical:

1. Met a professor who was impressed. She recommended me to the Dean of a (PhD) program in a Canadian school.

2. Sent the Dean all my material. Dean was very impressed. Agreed in advance to serve as research supervisor.

3. Dean contacted the adcomm and told them she recommends my acceptance. Asked me to send her my application, she might give me some advice.

4. Sent application to Dean. Never got a reply.

5. Deadline was Jan10. Applied. Put down the Dean's name as potential research supervisor. Mentioned she already agreed.

6. Waited. And waited. And waited some more. Got an email from the school saying the adcomms "may" start to meet in mid Feb.

7. Checking status on website every day. "No decision yet". No results posted on the results board here and other places.

8. DO I CONTACT THE PROGRAM? Do I contact the Dean herself? Do I continue to freak out and wait?

Thank you for your thoughts on this

[TMP]

No. Not yet. Give them another week.

[fortehlulz]

Definitely wait. They may not even have made final decisions yet, especially if you have not seen anything to indicate that decisions have gone out for other people. Do they give a date by which decisions are supposed to go out? If so, I would wait until after that day to contact them unless you have an actual urgent need to know (such as an approaching deadline for another program).

[NoMoreABD]

Do they give a date by which decisions are supposed to go out?

"...Applications are prepared for review by graduate program committees who may begin to meet in mid February. The length of time it takes to arrive at a decision can vary greatly (from several weeks to 60 days or more) due to the complexity of the process. If you are concerned, please contact your graduate program office..."

[fortehlulz]

"...Applications are prepared for review by graduate program committees who may begin to meet in mid February. The length of time it takes to arrive at a decision can vary greatly (from several weeks to 60 days or more) due to the complexity of the process. If you are concerned, please contact your graduate program office..."

It seems too early in that case to expect a decision. I still haven't heard from schools which had late November/early December deadlines. As they say, the length of time varies greatly. If you find out that other people are hearing from them, maybe wait a week after that then contact them.

[Eigen]

"...Applications are prepared for review by graduate program committees who may begin to meet in mid February. The length of time it takes to arrive at a decision can vary greatly (from several weeks to 60 days or more) due to the complexity of the process. If you are concerned, please contact your graduate program office..."

If they meet mid-Feb and take 2 weeks-60 days, the earliest you would have seen a decision would probably be the first week of March (realistically), and the decisions may take until mid-April. You're far too early to worry yet, imo.

[wtncffts]

Agree with the above. You should only start 'worrying' if you see results from others and don't receive anything. Also, you should be prepared for anything. From what you say, it definitely seems like you have a great shot, but I'd recommend a cautious optimism. All sorts of things can happen.

[NoMoreABD]

I'd recommend a cautious optimism. All sorts of things can happen.

Oh, I know. I am extremely cautious with my optimism.

And I'm also aware of the fact that by this stage it is out of my hands, and I'm actually very happy with my application. I think it was strong and I got good responses from POIs.

I just want to make sure I do everything I can, including reminding this person who promised to help - only if and when it's appropriate, of course.

[NoMoreABD]

ok, I'm bumping this thread cause I have some new info (and because not knowing is starting to affect my plan B...)

Now I know the program has told other applicants that they'll have decisions within next week. They post decisions on their website.

Since then, some people already got rejections. But nothing for me yet.

And still, not a thing on the results board here.

I want to know whether I'm waitlisted, so maybe I can do something about it. I don't even know if they have one, but that would explain why some people got rejections and I got nothing.

One POI has promised to help me get in. I know it doesn't necessarily mean anything, but that's the only leverage I have. So:

Do I contact the program now, to find out if I'm waitlisted?

Do I wait until the end of next week - and then ask about a waitlist?

Do I contact this POI - when and what do I say?

Thanks for your patience and for any advice!

[Langoustine]

I think by now it is OK to email and ask. That's what I did and everyone responded very fast with updates. It turned out one of my school sent out a rejection letter that got lost in the mail and another is only waiting on funding. I think by this point it makes sense you feel like you should have heard something. Good luck!

[MoJingly]

I think by now it is OK to email and ask. That's what I did and everyone responded very fast with updates. It turned out one of my school sent out a rejection letter that got lost in the mail and another is only waiting on funding. I think by this point it makes sense you feel like you should have heard something. Good luck!

I agree. It's April. Time to know.

EDIT: I mean, you know, almost April

Edited March 29, 2011 by MoJingly

[Eigen]

If they said they'd have decisions this week, I'd wait until the end of the week and then contact them.

[NoMoreABD]

I think by now it is OK to email and ask.

I agree. It's April. Time to know.

OK, so do I send a polite email asking whether there is a waitlist, and is it ranked?

Or do I just ask for a status update on my application, hoping that if there IS a waitlist - they'll tell me?

Sorry for being so anal about it... I'm beginning to freak out with all the stories I see here like misplaced applications and such...