be sure to call your programs....

[frankdux]

and make sure they got all your stuff.

my #1 choice received NONE of my LOR's. (makes me suspicious. like they don't got their s*** together.)

[Philmajor]

How long ago were the letters mailed? Keep in mind that the mail is pouring into grad school offices and not everything gets opened immediately. Give the office workers a little time to sort through everything and give them a call back in a week or so.

[Dreams]

I see both of your points, and I agree that it is important to check to ensure your documents are received after a certain amount of time has passed. One program I applied to a few years did not receive many of my documents. They also never called or informed me that anything was missing. Mind you I applied very, very far ahead of the deadline.

I only found out because I got a phone saying my check had been mailed back to the (no longer valid) address printed on it. After calling the school, I was told that 2 reference letters, my statement of purpose, resuem, and one of my writing samples were missing. The rest of the documents made it. Unbelievable I thought since I mailed everything in one package, but these things do happen.

Now with the online tracking systems some schools use, it makes it easier to track which documents have been received; but you have to allow about 1 to 2 weeks during the peak submittal season because of the amount of documents pouring in. That said, I am in trouble because another school has not received something and the deadline was December 1.

[Ferrero]

frank, this is a great idea. What kind of tone do you think one should strike when phoning the graduate school?

[ampersand]

If you're Ferrero, you take a belligerent tone and yell at the office workers because HOW DARE they lose YOUR documents and don't they KNOW who you are and how much SMARTER you are than them? It establishes dominance, which will impress them and they'll be sure to admit you.

If you're anyone else and want to make sure the graduate secretaries don't hate you and throw your application in the trash, you will be kind and patient with them. You will understand that this is an incredibly stressful time of year for them and they probably have thousands of pieces of paper to keep track of. For schools that track application statuses online it will take a few days for them to update after they receive your stuff. Your best bet is to mail stuff very early, and to maybe send it certified mail so you can track when it gets there. You will also be sure not to call every day, because that will irritate the office staff too.

[Ferrero]

If you're anyone else and want to make sure the graduate secretaries don't hate you and throw your application in the trash, you will be kind and patient with them. You will understand that this is an incredibly stressful time of year for them and they probably have thousands of pieces of paper to keep track of. For schools that track application statuses online it will take a few days for them to update after they receive your stuff. Your best bet is to mail stuff very early, and to maybe send it certified mail so you can track when it gets there. You will also be sure not to call every day, because that will irritate the office staff too.

Weak. Milquetoast. Namby-pamby. Mollycoddle. I will reiterate: you are PAYING them (in some cases up to $100 or more) to simply NOT LOSE your application between now and the admission committees' deliberations. If they don't have your stuff, it is pure negligence. Tell them you are reporting them to the Better Business Bureau and that you are a lawyer. They will find your items in a hurry. Call morning, noon, and night.

[Minnesotan]

frank, this is a great idea. What kind of tone do you think one should strike when phoning the graduate school?

I normally use something along the lines of "Listen, bitches: you best get yo acts together before I come down and slap some sense into ya!"

No, I don't.

When I was doing this, I didn't want to offend, either. What I realized is that every serious applicant is going to do this, and it's not an unreasonable question to ask. Just treat it as if you worked for FedEx: "I'm checking on receipt of x, y, and z..." Serious, polite, professional, and (most of all) patient. Some schools don't "have their shit together," but there's no need to be a jerk about it and stand out; just send them a new copy, and ask for more time if necessary.

[frankdux]

Weak. Milquetoast. Namby-pamby. Mollycoddle. I will reiterate: you are PAYING them (in some cases up to $100 or more) to simply NOT LOSE your application between now and the admission committees' deliberations. If they don't have your stuff, it is pure negligence. Tell them you are reporting them to the Better Business Bureau and that you are a lawyer. They will find your items in a hurry. Call morning, noon, and night.

as much of a douche as ferrero is, he does bring up a good point.

the material cost of everything for me has been roughly $120 per school. to top if off, the thought that i actually have post office confirmation on x, y, and z and yet a grad secretary tells me i'm missing x, y, and z is absurdly frustrating and does show a slight lack of order on one end of this procedure.

however, it is still best to keep your cool and act like a decent person.

[Minnesotan]

Some day, when you're a department head, you can get your vengeance on the negligent office staff who offended your sensibilities in the past. Until that time, it's best to grovel before their majesty and power.

You just don't piss off the department secretary.

[JMoo]

***********

[juilletmercredi]

Be careful. Some graduate programs/departments/school specifically state that you should not call them to ensure that all your materials have been received.

[lauras]

NYU holds off sending you a login id for 3 weeks after you submit your application.

Not hard to figure out why

[frankdux]

Be careful. Some graduate programs/departments/school specifically state that you should not call them to ensure that all your materials have been received.

i've never read that anywhere.

[seunghwane]

i've never read that anywhere.

I've never heard this either.

Please back up your claim.

[limeinthecoconut]

The above is stated in the UW website. It writes that you should neither e-mail nor call them to enquire about the status of your documents, but to wait the status to be updated on the online system. However, I did get e-mails from the Graduate Program assistant about missing items.

[silverfrost]

For those of you that haven't seen that message-- that's strange, because the department websites of half the schools to which I'm applying state explicitly that applicants should not contact admissions to check on supplemental materials.

[seunghwane]

Hmm that's strange.

Which schools are you applying to?

I'm applying to:

Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, Rockefeller, Princeton, WashU, UCSF, Caltech and Janelia Farms.

[weeble]

Several of the programs I'm applying to also request that you don't call to check on your materials. The most extreme is Penn State (for my department anyway). They say not to call them, and they won't call you if you're missing anything. So basically, if something doesn't get in, you're screwed.

[juilletmercredi]

If you've never read it before, you probably don't have to worry about it, but to substantiate my claim:

San Francisco State University, MSW program: "Please do not call to inquire about the status of your application."

UC-Berkeley, Architecture: "Please note: We request that you do not call or email inquiring about your application status. If we are missing any of your application materials, we will email you."

Stanford iCME: "We are unable to answer inquiries regarding the status of any application. We will contact you if your application is incomplete; be sure to keep your e-mail address updated. Please refer to the Application Deadlines for the approximate time when application decisions will be made."

UCLA Biomedical Engineering: "Do not call the Department for the status of an application." (in reference to completion status)

University of Maryland, Pharmacy: "Please do not call the admissions office to inquire about the status of your application."

UIUC, Computer Science: "Please do not call or email the department or the Office of Admissions and Records. No information concerning an applicant's file or admissions decision can be given to telephone or email inquiries."

University of Chicago, Humanities: "Please do not call the Admissions Office about the status of your materials during this busy period, as we will be unable to fulfill individual requests during this time." (This time refers to between December 1 and January 15.)

Yale University Graduate school: "Please do not call regarding status of materials including the receipt of transcripts, letters of recommendation or test scores."

Texas A&M Computer Science: "Please do not call or email asking the status of your application."

...a LOT of schools do this. It is usually listed on the school's admission website, so I urge you to double-check your school's admissions website/FAQ to ensure that you're allowed to call and check on the status of their application. A lot of schools do this for good reason. If you have 250 applicants to your program, would you want 250 people calling you (all between December 15 and late January, when you're supposed to be on vacation or at least trying to get some research done) to ask if you've received their transcripts, letters of recommendation, statements of purpose and other supplemental materials?

The best you can do in these cases is double-check to make sure that your own institution sent the transcripts and that your letter-writers sent their recommendations. Some schools have online tracking systems, but for the other ones you more or less have to cross your fingers.

[dowjonesindustrial]

There are definitely a group of schools out there who don't want any calls regarding applications... right now. I would recommend asking whether or not you'll be notified if a piece of the application is missing, or if you can contact the department a couple of weeks after the due date.

So, while I had an admissions assistant at An-Ivy-to-Remain-Nameless tell me that "there's really not much you can do if we lose something" ( ), these are two backup options for a little further down the road (jan 5th for december apps, etc)

[linden]

In my case, my GRE scores did not make it to one of the institutions to which I applied. (I was aware of this because the school uses an online tracking system.) Although they state that applicants should not call to confirm receipt of materials, I called anyway. They were very nice. Nobody chewed me out for calling. They also calmed my jittery nerves by telling me that it was not a problem that my scores would arrive after the deadline.

I also called another school, because one of my recommenders, who had supposedly mailed out my letter in the early fall, was not answering my emails or calls. I needed to find out if I needed to get a LOR from another individual. Again, although I was not supposed to, I called the school. They were nice enough to look into it, even calling me back the next day.

I might not have called if there had not been a specific problem, but I was treated very politely by staff at both programs. Perhaps they put me down on the don't-admit list for this transgression. But, they did not seem offended or annoyed that I called. I am not posting this to prove anyone wrong or right, but rather to offer some anecdotal evidence to reassure those who feel they need to call to get updates on the receipt of materials.

Linden

[rising_star]

To those wondering about schools forbidding applicants from calling:

My former graduate school did not have a listed phone number. As in, the Graduate Admissions office, for registration questions, etc. The actual Graduate School did NOT give out their phone number. It wasn't on their website and even our department's grad program secretary did not have it. When they moved to a new building, they waited 6 months before sending department heads an email telling them that the old phone number belonged to the math department and to stop using it. Seriously. You want to know why they did this? Because of applicants calling all the time, which inhibited their ability to get their work done.

For the record, I'm not talking about my department. I'm talking about the University's Graduate School and its Office of Admissions.

[seunghwane]

I think it's field-specific.

None of the neuroscience departments has that listed on their website.