Contact program about where they are in the process?

[Hopelessly_Neurotic]

Is it rude/premature to contact a program and ask where they are in the process of reviewing/admitting applicants? The deadline for the program I'm thinking about was Dec 5th. If I knew the invites had gone out it would allow me to move on with my life somewhat, but I don't want to seem impatient (which I totally am, of course..)

[IvyHope]

Yes. If you haven't heard back, it's because they haven't decided.

Also, they do keep track of emails from prospective students, and these things are considered in decisions (ie, was the student irritating/rude/unprofessional?).

I was witness to a discussion about a student between two faculty just last week, and they made their decision (after formally discussing the student in an earlier meeting). The faculty member literally hopped out of our office to email the student. They like notifying students, so unless you've heard, they likely haven't decided yet.

[Hopelessly_Neurotic]

I like that you have the inside scoop! Okay, I think I will just try to think about something else then.....

[Louiselab]

I was informed by an advisor that it is "very bad form" ie super tacky to call and ask about anything regarding your application and they might not have contacted you yet because a) decisions haven't been made, decisions were made, but your application is in the second round so they haven't gotten to you yet c) they got to you but are still weighing other options so they're holding out on notifying you d) they notified everyone who was accepted and the rejected people... well, they can wait and be the last to know about their rejection.

[willtherebestars]

I think it's only safe to ask if all materials have arrived. I was really worried about one school because their deadline was Dec. 15th and my online status was still showing a couple of documents missing in late January, so I wrote to the gsas (following the instructions offered on the website EXACTLY, including all requested info. and the appropriate subject line) to ask how I could remedy the situation. They took about a week but responded and were very helpful. Then, of course, I followed up with a thank-you email.

One school emailed me to let me know that all materials had made it in, and I just responded with a thank you. I didn't want to come off as aggressive or anything.

[MCTitans]

Yeah, all I've done is to email the admissions staff to make sure all my materials are in, because I've had the same problem with some status pages. But I would never ask if my application has been considered yet.

[socialpsych]

I have heard of some people emailing after April 15th if they haven't heard anything yet, but before then, I agree with other posters, I wouldn't do it.

[freshprince]

I really think the biggest issue is knowing that your application is fully complete and interview invites and/or acceptances have been sent out. Yet, you have not received this letter nor a rejection letter. Makes you wonder where you're application is and what they are waiting for to tell you whether you have been accepted/rejected. I somewhat find it hard to believe they would spend so much time waiting to send a decision, as it leaves us so out of the loop and our self-esteem drops in response to literally NO response.

Hence the problems I face right now - 2 schools I know have sent out invites, I have received none and no rejection. It's a state of flux and ambiguity. Any ideas why this would happen? I know some have said that it's a second look/pass at the application, or they are just waiting to reject you... Any other thoughts?

[socialpsych]

I have heard both--that you are on a waitlist, or that you have been rejected and they just aren't letting you know. I think people here tend to say that no news is better than rejection news (maybe just probabilistically?).

[Hopelessly_Neurotic]

Hey Fresh Prince..

Congrats on getting into UT Austin!! About your question, I think it's impossible to know what that means. If you want to be strictly scientific about it (i.e., thinking in terms of probabilities) then perhaps it's not a good sign -- however, that depends on how long ago the interview invites were sent out and when exactly the interview weekend is. My reasoning is assuming rejection notifications haven't gone out yet -- there will be more rejections than waitlist notifications, so probabilistically, assuming all invites have been sent out, it wouldn't look good.

That said, I have made a lot of assumptions here that may not be accurate. However, it may be that you are still being considered. As far as I know there is even a chance that people can get admitted even if they weren't invited to the interview weekend, but I think it's relatively slim.

Anyway, don't give up hope! It's still early.

[samoth]

One school emailed me to let me know that all materials had made it in, and I just responded with a thank you. I didn't want to come off as aggressive or anything.

I skipped the thank you notes after a person from Harvard GSAS (who was uncommonly nice and helpful) told me that they get so many emails during the application season that she hardly manages to keep track...