Are you applying to Indiana?

[ridgey]

Does anyone else really not like Indiana's application? I'm not a fan of having to enter work history and publications rather than just uploading a CV. The fields are pretty basic - job title, employer, dates, phone number. I don't see how they can use that information to distinguish between applicants. The publications field seems to elminate the possibility of listing submitted or in press publications.

It's a bad idea to send a CV when they don't ask for one, yes?

[naptown]

It sucks! Their system is so poorly designed. I agree that the "publications" area was awkward and hard to use. There was so little space to put the title of anything - the paper, journal/conference, or even who the coauthors were. With most of the IU stuff, I just tried to make it work as well as it could for me. But they still ask some bizarre questions. You have to answer "city of birth" in addition to the usual citizenship questions. Oh, and online payment at the end is really hard, too - I thought it hadn't gone through at first. The only thing I liked about IU's online application system was that it allows you to send online LoR requests before you finalize your app.

I did send a paper CV to IU. For any schools where the department page was ambiguous about whether they preferred online or paper materials, I went ahead and mailed a paper packet of CV/SoP/Writing Sample/anythingelse to the graduate coordinator or secretary specified on their site. If they're vague in their directions, I'd rather them have too many options for retrieving my materials than not enough or the wrong ones.

Some schools make you paste your CV into a box or several fields, and I guess that's to make everyone's info seem equal in presentation and to avoid being swayed by layout. In that scenario, I guess it could be considered bad form to send your real CV. Not sure...

[ColorlessGreen]

What confuses me about the IU app is the part only for students under 21. Under 18 I get, but why would a 20 year old like myself have to provide my parents' contact information? Am I still a minor in Indiana? It's really strange.

Most of my online apps have had layouts similar to IU's for work experience and publications. I don't think any of them actually ask for a CV, in fact.

[a fragrant plant]

The publication part is also annoying. They have a word limit for your publication's title. What the heck!?

I sent them a hard copy of my CV. It's not a requirement but as you said I just don't see how they can use the information to distinguish between applicants.

[acup313]

Yeah, I did not have to deal with the publication part, but I am pretty against having to recreate my entire resume when I could just send it in. I do understand though that it is the Graduate school who is viewing this part, and they probably want to only look at the application. The specific program I am applying to I assume will just look at my resume. So even though I understand why it is this way, I still hate it.

[ridgey]

I forgot my biggest gripe when I started this topic: the schools search under educational history. I figured out the random three letters to enter in the "country" field, and got a list of high schools. To be fair, in my country "college" doesn't mean university and is in the name of many high schools. The entries on the list that aren't high schools don't actually have names, just seemingly random numbers. I've sent two emails with no reply. Guess I have to figure out the time difference and call.

[piccgeek]

Okay, as a Purdue grad and current Purdue student, I might be biased...but IU seriously rarely has their sh*t together. They have some great programs, but they're not so hot with the organization. When I applied last year I had many of the same problems all of you are talking about. They just have a really bad system, and apparently they don't care. I can't speak for every department, but I know their English department contacts don't have anything like a reasonable response time answering emails.

Am I still a minor in Indiana? It's really strange.

Nah, I've lived in Indiana forever, and you come of age at 18 like everywhere else (heck, at IU, one of the biggest party schools in the US, you would think they would care less about being 21...people from Purdue leave campus to go to IU to party, because it's easier to party underage there). I don't know WHY IU thinks they need your parents' info...maybe for grad student health insurance information? Seems like a reach for the application process, but it's the best guess I have.

Edited November 19, 2009 by piccgeek