anyone had a similar experience with ivies?

[hadunc]

I applied to Cornell and Yale and so far I have been totally discouraged. I checked my Yale status a week or two after I submitted everything and saw that my GRE scores hadn't come, so I called their office and was told rather rudely that they would not take any phone calls from applicants. So I sent an email like they requested, and have heard nothing since then. The status page STILL says there are no GRE scores!! Cornell hasn't been much better, I tried to confirm if they had received everything and got no reply there either. I sort of took this to mean that neither schools are at all interested in my apps. But even if that's not the case and I still have a chance, i'm starting to think that I don't want to go to either school because of the way I've been treated through the app process!

[limeinthecoconut]

Guess they are just swamped? Well, that is what's happening to my ivy application as well. I try not to think about it as a bad sign. Good luck!

[IvyHope]

Can't say the same. I got an email and a phone call from Harvard on the day of the application deadline to straighten out some confusion over transcripts. The online system reflected the correction that same day.

[limeinthecoconut]

Hmm, I don't see a document status thing in my Harvard application. Oh well...

[IvyHope]

I applied to the GSE. Might have a different system.

[limeinthecoconut]

Oh, mine is the GSAS. Shall try to stop being neurotic.

[polumetis23]

You're not going to go to Cornell or Yale because somebody was rude to you on the phone? Listen to what you're saying. Calling is always a bad idea, and I've never NOT gotten a reply to an e-mail query requesting the status of documents. Just keep it professional and follow up if you've given them at least a week to reply, but these people are very busy now and you want to minimize being seen as a "pest." Those online status updates are highly inaccurate as well, at least until all the mail has been processed.

[hadunc]

I wouldn't necessarily turn down Yale or Cornell just based on the interactions i've had with the staff, but I definitely got a better vibe from other schools I applied to. A couple of them contacted me about missing materials right away and were very friendly and helpful. I guess I will try contacting both of them again, and if nothing happens I will assume either they have all my materials or that they don't care, and in that case neither do I.

[Phedre]

Did you try calling your particular department instead of the GSAS?

I wouldn't worry about rudeness or warmth from any of the schools; you are not attending the schools to work with the secretaries there or to study with the phone receptionist-- you would be going, presumably, to take part in a community of scholars and to work with wonderful professors, right? So don't fret too much about it, although i definitely know how stressful it can be to be on edge about applications (and reading into small signs didn't help my anxiety either!)

As someone who's attended both schools, I can answer particular questions about the departments and the student experience if you lke!

J

[IvyHope]

Did you try calling your particular department instead of the GSAS?

I wouldn't worry about rudeness or warmth from any of the schools; you are not attending the schools to work with the secretaries there or to study with the phone receptionist-- you would be going, presumably, to take part in a community of scholars and to work with wonderful professors, right?

J

8) While this might be true, don't forget that these people are the glue that holds these programs together. They will make your experience miserable or not, depending on their perceptions of you. They handle all of your form-filing, registration, funding issues, paperwork, etc...I'd say they are going to be a bigger part of your life than some of the profs and fellow grad students. :-)

Although I just love playing devil's advocate, so take it for what it's worth.

[Phedre]

To some extent, yes, the secretaries are important, but I would say in 90% of the sticky administrative cases, it's your main advisor/prof who is handling things. That being said, I can only speak from the experience of being a current grad student at one of those institutions and an undergrad who worked in the dept of the other. So it may be totally different at other schools! Best of luck though

[indy4ever]

RE problems with GRE scores, I thought I had sent mine in to Duke (other universities I sent them to at the same time certainly received them). But for two weeks in a row, their automated status updates said they hadn't gotten them. The updates stopped on the 23rd with no mention of their ever having received them. I was too intimidated to call because every English department website says you shouldn't bother the staff. I wonder whether they got them? Hope I haven't just wasted a whole load of money with an incomplete application. Is it worth contacting them?

[limeinthecoconut]

Just e-mail once? After all, you paid good money for the application, and it'd be a shame if your application was tossed out because it was incomplete.

[commoner]

It is your responsibility to make sure all of those things are taken care of. Call them and ask. Do not be intimidated. Yes, they get a lot of calls. But, that is what happens every year. I had to have my GRE scores sent three times last year until the last two schools finally "received" them. The last set went out in January. This is your job to finish. Call them today if you are still unsure.