Haven't heard anything from program yet - is that strange?

[geekman]

So I was accepted into a PhD program for this upcoming Fall. I got an official acceptance letter/package in the mail. I visited the school and met the program coordinator, professors, students, etc.

Ever since I accepted the offer, I haven't heard a peep. I know that I can just go ahead and contact them, but is this a common occurence? I hope this isn't a stupid post - I just wanted any general feedback / related stories on this subject.

[busybee3]

Each school works on its own timeline. Likely, they have just finished wrapping up the spring semester and are taking a breather. If you have any questions you want answered, definitely reach out. There's nothing wrong with requesting a timeline for items like enrollment deadlines, courses for the fall semester and orientation dates. Since you met with students before, you can reach out to them and ask when to expect communication regarding the fall semester.

[MyNamesNotRick]

Given that you sent your letter back accepting the offer you should be straight.

Hopefully the department has their stuff in order.

If that is the case and you don't want to bother the professors/grad director yet, the secretaries are your best friend.

They usally have all the specifics in regards to logistics anyway.

Edited May 30, 2012 by MyNamesNotRick

[fuzzylogician]

That's how it was with my program. I accepted the offer in April and pretty much didn't hear from them again until August. Our department slows down a lot over the summer - students and professors travel or are otherwise away from their offices - and there is nothing really going on for new students until a week or two before the new semester, when orientation activities begin. If you have questions or concerns I'm sure you can just email someone and ask (a professor who you were in touch with, students you met there). You may want to make sure you were able to successfully set up a university email account and your department knows what it is, or that they have some other way of contacting you if needed, but otherwise I don't think there is anything to worry about.

[Dal PhDer]

I think a lot of programs are like that...the others offer really great advice!

I would contact the secretary for the department and just say "Hello" and check to see if you need to be doing anything to get everything in order. Contact the graduate coordinator and see if there are any scholarships they can recommend you apply for, and get in touch with your advisor and to see if you can discuss courses for the fall, potential collaborations/research work, and to talk about your thesis work (if you have one).

I wouldn't worry about it! But I am the type of person that would worry about it, and I would send out quick non-bothersome emails to a few key people just to keep in touch and make sure all my ducks are in a row!

[new_to_kin]

It was the same for me....however I called the secretary to ask if some sort of letter was sent out and she mentioned that she had emailed me an orientation letter (the university doesn't do snail mail anymore). What had happened was she'd mistyped my email address and it hadn't gone through. She resent and then I realized I'd sent a few redundant emails to my supervisor (I emailed to apologize as I didn't want to seem like a total moron).

The official letter mentioned that all future correspondence will be via my university email, so I had that forwarded to my yahoo.

So you might want to check on this or at least log onto your uni email

[uncreativename]

It was the same for me as well. I contacted the graduate coordinator to set up a campus visit -- but the contact has been on and off since then. The problem appears to be gathering enough professors at the same time for my visit to be worth while.