Do you still get an official paper acceptance these days?

[seeingeyeduck]

I got one acceptance through email and one through the phone. It's early yet but I was wondering if that is as official as it gets or should we still expect the real deal by mail?

Does anyone know if the financial offer also tends to be mailed or if they just email that now?

Thanks!

[TakeruK]

I got paper copies through the mail. Usually it went like this:

 

1. Phone call from a prof (usually one I mentioned in the SOP) notifying of department's decision to forward application to grad school for final approval. Sometimes this is an email or it might be both.

2. Official email from Graduate School with official acceptance letter. This is where the official financial offer usually appears. Sometimes Step 1 includes the offer as well, unofficially. The official letter often comes as a PDF with letterhead and all that fancy stuff.

3. A while later, a hardcopy of the same PDF from Step 2 arrives in the mail. Sometimes the package contains a booklet or brochure about the school etc.

[seeingeyeduck]

Oh cool! What was the timing like? Sounds like with email now it's just more work for them!

[VioletAyame]

One of my schools skipped the (2) email step. I got notified on the phone and now am waiting for the official offer in the mail. It's been more than a week...

[seeingeyeduck]

Just got an of foal email from one of them after a week. So strange - I keep getting informed on the weekend from them.

The letter has a link at the bottom to mark my intention to attend but there's no deadline. Is it 4/15 by default or should I check?

[Queen of Kale]

I also got an e-mail (often promising but not explicitly stating an acceptance - something along the lines of "I heard that you should be expecting some good news soon Queen!" - to which Queen of little faith would just fret more).  Next I would get an email acceptance from the department or school but this would often come a week or two later.  Sometimes after I had an acceptance notification on my online application.  Last, I would get a paper acceptance.  In one case this arrived 6 weeks after the initial email from the POI.

[seeingeyeduck]

Wait, so is/are the prof(s) who interviewed you considered your POI automatically? Does that mean they are the ones who want to work with you? I'm wondering what it means that the profs I spoke to while assembling the app are not involved in the contacting at all.

[TakeruK]

Oh cool! What was the timing like? Sounds like with email now it's just more work for them!

 

The timing between the department notifying me and the Graduate School's official offer is usually about one week, but depends on each program's efficiency. My hard copy paper letter did not come until about 4-5 weeks after the official email. But, I was living in Canada at the time in a location that generally takes this long for large packages to come from the US. Fortunately, I was able to just scan and email back any forms etc instead of having to continue using snail mail after this!

 

Just got an of foal email from one of them after a week. So strange - I keep getting informed on the weekend from them.

The letter has a link at the bottom to mark my intention to attend but there's no deadline. Is it 4/15 by default or should I check?

 

Checking would be a good idea. But if you follow the link, the page might say a deadline too.

 

Wait, so is/are the prof(s) who interviewed you considered your POI automatically? Does that mean they are the ones who want to work with you? I'm wondering what it means that the profs I spoke to while assembling the app are not involved in the contacting at all.

 

Depends on the program. In the programs I interacted with, the prof that called me introduced themselves and said that they will be my temporary advisor and point of contact while I make my decision and until I arrive. Once I arrive, I would be assigned an academic advisor and then eventually, a research supervisor. In many cases, they try to pick someone who is interested in working with you as the point of contact but this might not be possible for various logistical reasons (prof on sabbatical, prof too busy, etc.). I would not assume that the person you have been talking to is automatically your research advisor!

[seeingeyeduck]

Checking would be a good idea. But if you follow the link, the page might say a deadline too.

It's kinda funny. It literally goes to a page that says, do you intend to come? With two radio buttons for yes and no. It's like one of those "do you like me?" notes, lol. Nothing else on the page!