Accepted to Duke today... anybody else?

[sacklunch]

Just hold out. A department's staff has little to do with the overall feel of what it's like to be at a school. The Div school is HUGE and accepts/has more MDiv students than most. I imagine they are dealing with literally hundreds of students' aid. You all have til the 15th, right?

[indefiniteintegral]

Just hold out. A department's staff has little to do with the overall feel of what it's like to be at a school. The Div school is HUGE and accepts/has more MDiv students than most. I imagine they are dealing with literally hundreds of students' aid. You all have til the 15th, right?

Are you so sure?

 

It would make sense that how admissions offices treat potential future students may be indicative of treatment once enrolled. Some admissions offices have surely felt more welcoming than others--it feels like they actually want me there. Others, not so much.

[sacklunch]

Are you so sure?

 

It would make sense that how admissions offices treat potential future students may be indicative of treatment once enrolled. Some admissions offices have surely felt more welcoming than others--it feels like they actually want me there. Others, not so much.

 

I guess I'm not as concerned with any department's staff. The limited time you actually have to deal with them makes the trouble negligible. It's one thing if they are straight up being assholes, but it seems like they are just really busy. Once you arrive at a graduate program you are not there to mingle with the staff. Now if the faculty were acting that way....that's another thing entirely.

 

I remember before my MTS thinking some of the same things. I vividly remember a lady at Vanderbilt being really rude to me (admissions) and it left a bad impression about the program after. But I had to remind myself that is one tiny experience that is likely not representative of an entire school/department. I attempted to make the choice where I wanted to go based off of their faculty (fit) and secondly smaller things like that. 

[religioustiger]

Are you so sure?

 

It would make sense that how admissions offices treat potential future students may be indicative of treatment once enrolled. Some admissions offices have surely felt more welcoming than others--it feels like they actually want me there. Others, not so much.

 

Sure, some admission offices do feel more welcoming than others and it may well be true that their attitude exemplified pre-enrollment is what one can expect from them in the future. Jdmhotness's point is that the attitude of any given institution's admissions department is not necessarily indicative of what the general environment, at this particular institution, is like.

 

While I do agree with hotness I still feel that Duke has really mishandled things and that this will, and I believe must, factor into my and others' decisions concerning whether or not to attend. What I fail to understand is how Duke still manages to sustain a great student body when they treat applicants the way that they do. For instance Jcosta, who has posted on this thread, received full-ride offers to Vanderbilt, PTS, and Yale and has still yet to hear from Duke concerning the status of his funding. Surely Duke realizes that his application is very strong and that, in all likelihood, he has received other offers (which he has). I am in a similar situation; I have made my other offers known to Duke's admission committee and they still will not give me any information other than the fact that I should hear sometime before April 15th (lol). All that being said, how can they expect to maintain the strongest student body possible when they mishandle applications and effectively lose out on many extraordinary candidates simply because of their poor procedures? 

Edited March 31, 2013 by religioustiger

[Yetanotherdegree]

I'm not so sure that letting you know later than other institutions about your funding package constitutes "mishandling" of your application. You will know by April 15, and Duke obviously gets enough qualified and exceptional applicants that they can fill their programs with good candidates. The program is competitive which means that, among other things, they can take their time with the applicants who are not getting the bigger scholarships, and there will still be people who sign up for those spaces and are happy to do so, whether the admissions office has "mishandled" their application or not.

Of course you want to know where you stand, everybody does. And if Duke is worth it to you, then you'll wait it out. If not, then you are free to accept one of your other offers. But I don't think it's a personal slight or an egregious error and you shouldn't take it that way. It's just the way they handle admissions, not an insight into the quality of their degrees.

[indefiniteintegral]

Sure, some admission offices do feel more welcoming than others and it may well be true that their attitude exemplified pre-enrollment is what one can expect from them in the future. Jdmhotness's point is that the attitude of any given institution's admissions department is not necessarily indicative of what the general environment, at this particular institution, is like.

 

While I do agree with hotness I still feel that Duke has really mishandled things and that this will, and I believe must, factor into my and others' decisions concerning whether or not to attend. What I fail to understand is how Duke still manages to sustain a great student body when they treat applicants the way that they do. For instance Jcosta, who has posted on this thread, received full-ride offers to Vanderbilt, PTS, and Yale and has still yet to hear from Duke concerning the status of his funding. Surely Duke realizes that his application is very strong and that, in all likelihood, he has received other offers (which he has). I am in a similar situation; I have made my other offers known to Duke's admission committee and they still will not give me any information other than the fact that I should hear sometime before April 15th (lol). All that being said, how can they expect to maintain the strongest student body possible when they mishandle applications and effectively lose out on many extraordinary candidates simply because of their poor procedures? 

Likewise. I have made my significant funding offers from other schools well-known to Duke--with emails weekly to them. Still, nothing.

[religioustiger]

 Hear anything from them today?

[indefiniteintegral]

 Hear anything from them today?

Yes--and now, some serious discernment will be taking place...

[religioustiger]

So has everyone heard back from Duke at this point--or, are there people still waiting? 

[bigsh]

There are still people on the waitlist waiting for a final decision.