Do schools generally send out all the accepted notifications at once?

[MuseumGuy]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything about it.

 

One of the grad programs I've applied to is the University of Washington's Museology program. I saw in the results search that someone else got accepted today (congrats if you read this!).

 

I was wondering if it's bad that I haven't heard anything yet, or if it means they just haven't made a decision on my application yet. Do they send out all the accepted notifications at the same time? Or do they decide one at a time and then notify the students one by one?

 

I've been accepted to another school, so the stress of not getting in anywhere is gone, but  Washington is my number one choice, and the wait is so agonizing at times.

[MoJuiced]

I'm also wondering about this. I've seen posted results and heard from others regarding rejections/acceptance from schools I've applied to. And yet, I haven't heard word one way or another. 

 

I'm sincerely hoping that no news is good news and I'm still in the running...

[JewishSombrero]

Most schools, from what I've seen, send out acceptances in waves, so don't worry just yet. I got my first acceptance from UC Davis (yay!) a week after the first acceptance was posted. And I spoke to UCLA today who told me, despite the 2 acceptances I've seen posted here, they have not finished their decisions.

 

But then you have schools like Berkeley that send everything out in one shot.

[pachel]

I've been curious about this too. I have heard some places send out acceptances in waves ,but does anyone know why? Other than if you were waitlisted, why would some people be accepted one week, and then others the week after, or the week after that?

[Danochka]

I wonder if it's something like a sports draft, and different professors get to go through in order and take their 'picks'?

[TakeruK]

I've been curious about this too. I have heard some places send out acceptances in waves ,but does anyone know why? Other than if you were waitlisted, why would some people be accepted one week, and then others the week after, or the week after that?

 

Here's just a hypothetical example. Suppose a school has 20 spots to fill and they know to expect about 30% to 60% of their offers will be accepted. If they go for "30%" and make 60 offers, they might be in trouble if they get 40 people showing up. But if they only make 30 offers, then they might not actually fill up the whole class. 

 

Also, for many schools, they might not be the top choice for a lot of students (especially true if the school is at the high end of second tier or the low end of a first tier school) but they will get a lot of very strong applicants. It's hard to tell whether or not you're a top choice for a candidate. So if they make an offer to someone who got into programs they liked a lot more, they may be hoping that the person will say "oh I actually got into other programs and I'm not considering this program anymore". Although sometimes students do withdraw their "safety" school offers when they hear back from their favoured programs, not all (many?) will do this.

 

When they first make their original 30 offers, in some years, they might hit a large fraction of people who applied to them as safeties. Or, in other years, maybe most of them do want to go and it would have been a mistake to make 50+ offers! So, it makes sense to do admission in waves--admit some number from the top of the list first, and hear back from the ones that already are planning to go somewhere else. For some of the offers I got, the first thing they asked was whether or not I was still interested in their program (they were not making me decide yes/no but just wanted to know if they were still being considered). After they hear back from the first group, then if they project that they will need more people to fill spots, they might make a second wave of admission.

 

That's one possibility. Another possibility, which comes from the way some grant review boards operate, is that when picking the best candidates from a large field of applicants, sometimes it's very clear who the top are but not as clear who the middle ranked people are. That is, again if there were 20 spots and say, 500 applicants, the committee might unanimously agree on who the top 10 applicants are. These people might be strong enough that everyone is able to vote yes on them. So, the committee might decide to devote the first meeting to identifying these top candidates and sending offers their way first. Then, in the next meeting, they can sit down and discuss how to fill spots 11-20, where there will be disagreements and debate. This also works for the school because the top applicants will probably get a lot of positive results so they want to get their offer on the table sooner rather than later.

 

But not all schools do admissions in waves or even have waitlists. My current program makes all of its offers in about the third week of January and that's it. There are no waitlists. They only make as many offers as they have room for and in rare cases, we get 0 new students coming in if all of the prospective students decide to go elsewhere. Usually this means a larger incoming class the following year! So, unfortunately, it's not always true that no news is good news. 

[HockeyNerd]

I asked one of my professors on the graduate review board. She said they made all of the decisions at once but send out the acceptances and rejections in waves merely for logistical reason. They tend to get a lot of phone calls and emails from applicants either way and by spreading it out over a week or so it makes answering questions more manageable. As far as "top" students and "bottom" students she implied that is what wait lists are for.

[ilovephysics13]

So do you think if a batch of acceptance has been posted, then it is most likely a rejection?

[starofdawn]

I asked one of my professors on the graduate review board. She said they made all of the decisions at once but send out the acceptances and rejections in waves merely for logistical reason. They tend to get a lot of phone calls and emails from applicants either way and by spreading it out over a week or so it makes answering questions more manageable. As far as "top" students and "bottom" students she implied that is what wait lists are for.

 

I hadn't thought of that, but it makes sense. Not every school has the resources to field hundreds of calls/emails from rejected/accepted applicants. One of the schools I applied to just sent a ton of rejections(via results page), so now I know not to get my hopes up.

[HockeyNerd]

I think it is not over until the you actually get an email one way or another. Chin up

[talpostal]

I'm also applying to Museum Studies/Museology programs, I wouldn't worry at all if you haven't heard from them yet because it seems like the vast majority of decisions go out later in February or March. I'm curious to hear what other programs you're applying to and what you think of them because it's tough finding information on them online.

[hugthepenguin]

From what I've seen, most schools send out their first round of acceptances at the same time. However, most keep a waiting list because at least a few of those choose to attend school elsewhere. When those people reply, they will turn to their wait list in an attempt to fill that year's cohort. Don't worry too much about that.

[MuseumGuy]

I'm also applying to Museum Studies/Museology programs, I wouldn't worry at all if you haven't heard from them yet because it seems like the vast majority of decisions go out later in February or March. I'm curious to hear what other programs you're applying to and what you think of them because it's tough finding information on them online.

 

I've been accepted to Syracuse. I also applied to UNC Greensboro as a safety, but haven't heard from them yet. Washington is my number one if I can get in.