UC Irvine "Invites you to apply" email??

[erikabrooke]

Hi everyone,

 

I have received multiple emails from UC Irvine encouraging me and inviting me to apply. The first said "Congrats on your excellent GRE scores" and the most recent said "Congrats on your excellent academic performance."  I had considered applying to UC Irvine but I decided against it because I thought I could not get in.

 

Did anyone else receive emails like this? I've also gotten them from Claremont and Pratt, but I don't care about those-- UC Irvine is an excellent school and I'm wondering exactly what these emails mean. I do not know if they send these out to a ton of people or just a few? Wondering what this means for my chances of acceptance...

 

p.s. I'm applying to PhD programs in English and Comparative Literature!

[hj2012]

I received emails like this from UC Irvine, as well as a number of other schools. I think it's just an automated email through the graduate school (as opposed to the actual department) based on a certain threshold of GRE score.

 

In any case, I wouldn't read too much into it. It certainly indicates that you scored very well on the GRE (congratulations!). However, the only time I saw those emails as useful was when they were accompanied by a fee waiver.