When to check in?

[ts1493]

Hi all -- 

I applied to four PhD programs between December and January 15th.  I just heard back from one that I got in with full funding (!).  Just wondering if at this point I should wait it out through February to hear from the other programs, or if it's appropriate to send an email and say politely, "I've been admitted to another PhD program but am still very interested in your program.  What is the timeline for your decisions?"  I would be especially interested in hearing back from my top choice, where my app is in committee review.  Hmmmm.  What do you all think?  It's too early to check in, right?  

[Foreveronward]

I'm personally not checking in because 1) I don't want to be that annoying applicant (though I seriously doubt they'd remember my name after one phone call) and 2) I really don't want to hear "Oh, we sent our interview requests/initial acceptances recently." 

Your mileage may vary though. Since you already have one acceptance, I don't think it would hurt. I'm sure your programs have graduate admissions assistant director or something similar that deals with most of the paperwork and questions. Why not shoot them an email or call them? It's better than bothering the professors (imo), and they tend to be less busy than the program chair.

[Eigen]

Is there a reason you need to know now? Is the school that admitted you pushing for a fast decision?

Most schools will (should) give you until April 15 to decide. Most schools decision time-tables are based around this- some might not get back to you until the end of Feb or mid-March.

Unless you *need* to know now, checking in is annoying, will be perceived as pushy, and won't do your application any favors. Letting them know you've been admitted somewhere else really isn't pertinent information to the other schools.

[TakeruK]

Don't check in. Let the programs go through their normal process in determining their admissions. Don't be the annoying applicant that thinks they're special and needs to know extra information because they got into another program already.

The exception would be in cases where 1) the person you've been talking to at these schools asked you to keep them updated on your other decisions or 2) the school that accepted you is requiring you to make a decision prior to April 15.

Otherwise, I would probably not check in with graduate programs until late March or early April (if there's one or two schools that you haven't heard from yet and you're pretty sure you want to accept a school and you just want to confirm that you got a silent rejection so that you can go ahead and accept the offer you currently have).

[ts1493]

Hey all, this makes sense.  I was leaning towards not contacting them and waiting it out.  I'm relocating, so the sooner I know and decide the sooner I can find housing but that's not their problem.  Will just continue to wait it out!

[Eigen]

You wouldn't be relocating until the Fall anyway, right?

I can't imagine you'd want to relocate 6+mos before the start of the semester. Most of our new grad students move to the city sometime in August, maybe July if they really want to get familiar with things before they get here.

[TakeruK]

I definitely understand the source of stress and anxiety in wanting to make a decision sooner rather than later. My spouse is not a student and moved with me to my graduate program and February was the most stressful month for both of us while we wait for decisions to come in. It's really tough not knowing where you would be, and especially for the non-student partner, as there were also worries about finding work etc.

But unfortunately, I don't think it's really possible to rush things at this time. In the above post, I gave some exceptions for some cases where I would check in, but they were all about grad school. I should have mentioned other considerations too---for example, I think it's okay to check in and ask about decision status if you are in a situation where e.g. your partner has a job offer in the same area as the first school that accepted you and that job offer has a strict deadline and you want to know if you still even have a chance at other places before making the decision etc.

Note: I'm not saying that I think you have a partner or anything---just wanted to give examples to demonstrate that it's okay, in my opinion, to have graduate programs worry about the other issues that come with grad students relocating. Academics are humans too, not just research machines I'm saying this because in some parts of academia, it seems like being a nomad and being willing to move at a moment's notice is considered a good thing (or even necessary) to succeed in academia and I want to minimize this type of thinking as much as possible. I want to normalize the fact that there are lots of non-academic reasons to choose a school

Edited to add: Also, my program will accept people for a fall start date but if someone is willing to pay you as an RA over the summer, you can start as early as you want---some people even start in May or June (usually people who are not coming directly from undergrad). Sometimes people who start this early even get a paper completed before the school year even begins.

[ts1493]

Hi all - thanks for the thoughts!  I'm moving with my husband and since we used to live in the city we're hoping to move back to and it's notoriously hard to get affordable rents in a good location I would love to lock down an apartment soon.  There are already lots of apartments coming out for september 1st and August 15th move in dates, so the idea is that we'd fly up to look at something and lock down a lease for September, but we're waiting to finalize decisions about my program to know what neighborhood we want to live in.  That's why I feel a bit antsy.  

But, again, that really has nothing to do with the programs, so I'll be waiting to hear back on programs and not checking in.  Hopefully I'll hear either way soon! 

[nightfarmer]

I'll echo everyone else to advise you NOT to check in with them, and add that you should take comfort in the thought that you WILL be attending a grad program somewhere. As someone who has thus far heard nothing either way from anyone, don't take that simple knowledge for granted.

[med latte]

All good points.....and yet the temptation is still there at times! I need to install an app on my computer that will prevent me from emailing schools for another month or so.