How will I find out?

[linden]

Well, I am finished with my applications. I know I will not hear from most schools until next spring, but some of the programs I applied to have rolling admissions.

So, I was curious... How are students usually notified about decisions? Will I get an email from the school? Or, should I continue checking the application website regularly? If it is the latter, where on the application website is the decision usually posted? Finally, how many weeks do schools with rolling admissions usually take to make decisions?

(And, yes, I realize I am only fretting about something over which I have no control.)

Thanks!

Linden

[t_ruth]

I'm curious to hear the answer, but can I just say I hate you :wink:

I have two small children and my own business, so I'm a bit behind the games with the applications (I have to do all my writing when they are in bed or napping and before I crash from exhaustion). They give me a few minutes when they are playing to check email and do non thought-intensive tasks, but that doesn't cut it for writing those SOPs.

Do most people get stuff in far before the deadline? See, this relates to your thread because if they do, the schools may be more inclined to start communications early

[timuralp]

When I applied, I was always notified by email of the decisions. The decisions started coming in around February 20th and went on until around March 8th. Those were not rolling admissions though, so I guess it doesn't really answer your question, but I think each school will send you an email.

t_ruth: I started on my SOP way too early probably (end of August-September), so by the time November came around I already went through 4 drafts and had something that I was reasonably happy with. Don't worry about submitting early, just make sure the apps are good. Kudos to you for doing all this with kids and a business.

[linden]

t_ruth:

I hear you. I am an older, returning student as well. And, I do not know how I would have been able to write the SOPs and all the other documents if I had children. So, the fact that you are even able to tackle this process with children in tow should make you feel proud. Many would not have the energy.

I also started the process almost a year ago, however, and I started working on my essays and applications back in April. (Which also meant that I had too much time to obsess about my essays.) So, that's the real reason I got in everthing so early. But,if it makes you feel better, I sort of regret it now... because it gives me so much time to fret about the status of my application.

Linden

[t_ruth]

ah, nice to hear I'm not the only old lady! what are you going for?

[UKbound]

I got my replies via email as well. The UK system is a little different so they came very early, but essentially the first round of emails came from the departments and the second came from the graduate school admissions. The second wave had all the administrative stuff, student ID number, housing info, conditions, etc.

Btw, t_ruth you're not alone in the "old lady" club. I'll be 39 in March, and I have three kids. Fortunately two of them are older and will be staying in the US at least for my first year. My little one is with his father most of the time, so he'll go back and forth according to our academic schedule (in other words he'll be with me for breaks, summer, and holidays).

[linden]

t_ruth:

I am an older, returning student, and I am mentally prepared to be the class dinosaur. If I get in anywhere.

Good luck.

Linden

[rising_star]

So, I was curious... How are students usually notified about decisions? Will I get an email from the school? Or, should I continue checking the application website regularly? If it is the latter, where on the application website is the decision usually posted? Finally, how many weeks do schools with rolling admissions usually take to make decisions?

You can check the results page of this website (http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/) if you want to search for your program and see how people have been notified in the past. I've gotten rejections via email and USPS and acceptances via USPS, email, and phone call. Oh yea, sometimes you can find out sooner by logging into the application system to check the status of your application. So it varies a lot, depending on the program. Last year, my potential advisor at a program called to let me know I got in and said the letter and all that was in the mail. Where I did my MA, I found out via a letter they mailed to me. And where I'm doing my PhD, they emailed a PDF of the acceptance letter and funding offer to me. So, it depends.

Do most people get stuff in far before the deadline? See, this relates to your thread because if they do, the schools may be more inclined to start communications early

I typically got my stuff in at the deadline or a few days before. I'm a procrastinator by nature, unfortunately. The schools generally don't start reviewing applications until after the deadline (unless they do rolling admissions). The earliest I ever saw was an acceptance noted in my online applications about two weeks after the deadline (and I got my stuff to them 2 days before the deadlines). That was a bit weird (and might've happened because I'd been in serious contact with faculty for about three months). That said, there's a school I applied to with a Jan 1 deadline that I didn't hear from until April 8 (acceptance with funding, because they'd just gotten around to reviewing apps I was told).

So basically it all depends.

[Ferrero]

Well, I am finished with my applications. I know I will not hear from most schools until next spring, but some of the programs I applied to have rolling admissions.

So, I was curious... How are students usually notified about decisions? Will I get an email from the school? Or, should I continue checking the application website regularly? If it is the latter, where on the application website is the decision usually posted? Finally, how many weeks do schools with rolling admissions usually take to make decisions?

(And, yes, I realize I am only fretting about something over which I have no control.)

Thanks!

Linden

smoke signal. Ever seen how they elect a pope. you're a pope.

[StudyMom]

Hi t_ruth and Linden,

I don't know about rolling admissions but I was notified pretty soon after the application deadline from most schools. Unfortunately, information about funding came much later, like two months, and I had to lobby for it. I am also an older student and did my applications while running a company and I know how hard it is but you can do it! Be warned that the application process is way way easier than the first semester of a PhD program, especially if you have been out of school for a long time (in my case 20 years). I have three young children, the youngest just turned 3 and it has been a huge adjustment for the family to have Mommy working all the hours in the day into the night all the time, including weekends, except when I am doing laundry or cooking or grocery shopping. I am really happy to have applied, been accepted and funded and be in the program but I was pretty unprepared for how it totally takes over your life. Good luck!

StudyMom