Helping Interpreting E-mail from Admissions

[imonedaful]

Hey guys!

I have been analyzing an e-mail that I received from a school I applied to for about a week and a half now. I have not heard word on acceptance or rejection yet. The e-mail sounds incredibly promising to me but of course there are no certanities. I would love some feedback from the smart people on this forum. This e-mail was received on March 9th 2012:

Hello Christina,

Our PhD admissions committee is meeting next Monday to review applications. We have identified you as a candidate we are particularly interested in. Please let me know if you are still interested in our program, or if you have already accepted another program's offer.

Best regards...

I sent an e-mail back saying that yes, I was still interested. I only applied to three schools for a PHD in Organizational Behavior and I have not heard anything back yet. This was sent a week and a half ago, does anybody have an idea of how long admission committees meet before they make a decision. Any help is immensely appreciated!

[ANDS!]

You wont hear anything after they make a decision; the actual Graduate Department will review their decision and let you know if you are in (usually a formality). I'd wager you'll hear something next week.

[imonedaful]

That makes sense. I really hope you are right!

[lillymaginta]

I think they are considering your application, that's mean you made it to the finalists. But don't count this as an acceptance as I received similar emails from some schools. Hope all goes well! Good luck!

[ethnotime]

From what I've heard from other people, each department is allotted a certain amount of money for scholarships. Thing is, if they hand out scholarships to people who don't go to that particular school then they lose that money. So schools are prepared to hand out money to people who they know are going to go. The school that the OP applied to might also have a limited number of spots available for their program and they just want to eliminate people for the same reason: No point accepting 3 people who are not going to end up attending. That they sent you that email is a good sign.

Good luck.

[imonedaful]

They really lose the money is the student does not end up attending? That seems kind of bizarre. I know athletic scholarships don't work that way! Thank you for the feedback.

[juilletmercredi]

They don't work that way. If the school offers funding to someone who turns down their offer, they can usually offer that funding to someone else if the funding belongs to the department.

Sometimes if it's a *university* fellowship and their top choice for it turns it down, they can lose that. But usually the department doesn't lose any money if someone rejects them.

[imonedaful]

They don't work that way. If the school offers funding to someone who turns down their offer, they can usually offer that funding to someone else if the funding belongs to the department.

Sometimes if it's a *university* fellowship and their top choice for it turns it down, they can lose that. But usually the department doesn't lose any money if someone rejects them.

That makes more sense to me. It doesn't seem like money just disappears into thin air. Who is going to reposses it? Isn't that why they have waiting lists?