Informally-admitted-waiting-for-official-letter limbo

[longshot]

I'm sure that there are plenty of people who have gotten informal letters of admission from potential advisers, but who are desperately waiting for the official confirmation of that to come by snail mail. For those who have gone through this process earlier, or have knowledge of it, how long do the official letters take to arrive after the informal e-mails? Also, is the departmental letter considered "official," or is that only the case for the whole package that the Graduate Studies Office sends? For places like Princeton and Harvard, which do not seem to have an online notification system, how do admitted students go about accepting/rejecting the offer? Through e-mail? Other ways?

Any insightful details about this mysterious process would be much appreciated. And yes, you are also free to let the steam off and tell all on the forum just how nervous the time between the informal and formal notifications has been for all of you (who were lucky to be admitted into your respective programs)...I, for one, have not slept properly since being hit with the H-Bomb...

[kdilks]

Informally accepted on January 28th, was told I should have already received the official letter on February 9th when I got financial info e-mail, generic e-mail from the graduate school on February 12th saying it would be mailed the next day, currently still waiting...

[miratrix]

This does not make me nervous at all. I was told that I should get a letter detailing funding about a week after I got the phone call, and that the official admissions letter should take another month or so to catch up (because they still haven't finished with decisions, and the grad school has to process acceptances), but it's nothing to worry about. I've never heard of a school taking BACK an informal admission.

[gradlife]

I spoke with the DGS on Thursday, February 5 and was "informally admitted." I received a letter in the mail Tuesday, February 17th. It seemed like it took forever, but really just under two weeks. I also received an email from another school today congratulating me on my acceptance, and the email said I would receive a formal letter in "a few weeks." I think it definitely depends on which school/program -- hope that helps OP.

[girlseekingphd]

Yeah, I was informally accepted the last week in January. Still waiting on my letter. I've check my application status online and it now says "referred." Any idea what that might mean?

[thepoorstockinger]

I have officially been admitted into a department but the financial offer is coming the mail (was supposed to arrive today but didn't) which just seems dumb to me. Another school admitted me a few days later but offered me money in the initial e-mail and have since made two more offers. The program sending out the paper offer to me is very new and I feel like this is a huge mistake on their part - this really is a competitive process for both students and programs and if they want a shot at good candidates they can't be sitting on their hands while other programs are tossing money around.

[miratrix]

I think "referred" means the department let the grad school know they want you and the grad school now has to officially process and send out the acceptance.

[Louiselab]

this limbo is like the seventh layer of hell.

I just want a dollar figure and they keep teasing me by sending out emails on Mondays saying "it's definitely coming by email this week!" and then.... silence. zip zero nada. I also need to find people to cover for me at work but I don't know when two of the visiting weekends are.

[socialpsych]

Hey, if you're waiting for details on funding, I have heard that it is totally appropriate to call/email your contact person and ask.

I was waiting for a funding offer in order to withdraw some applications, and with some encouragement from grad students, I just asked the prof in charge of the program whether he could give me any details. He gave me a call and ran me through the entire package. The official letter hasn't even been mailed yet.

They mean it when they say you can contact them with any questions!

[humdevphd]

My contact person "informally" told me about my funding in her email, and then again when we spoke on the phone. If it's a potential advisor, they may not have all the details, but they definitely have some... You should certainly ask any questions about funding - the worse they can do is say they don't know!

Still haven't received my official letter yet though!

[ohheygradschool]

I had a pretty quick turnaround for 2, but I've still only heard from the department at one school. I guess it has to do with funding decisions. Honestly though, I'm glad that I heard unoficially from the depts first because it feels more personal than from the grad school.

[mlle]

I think "referred" means the department let the grad school know they want you and the grad school now has to officially process and send out the acceptance.

My online status for one of my programs says, "referred - please contact program directly for more information" and I took that just to mean that the grad school forwarded my application to the department for review. I haven't heard anything at all regarding decisions from that program. If it still says referred even though you've been unofficially admitted, I would just figure that means the grad school hasn't gotten around to updating your status to accepted yet.

For the OP, I know that with my MA program, the DGS told me in person that I had been admitted in late Feb. When he told me, he said they had decided to accept me about a week prior to his telling me, but he "wasn't allowed to say anything." I didn't end up getting my official acceptance in the mail from the program until about a month later. By then I was starting to worry whether they were just taking their time in sending out the official letter, or if they were having second thoughts or something, **eeek**