when no one answers or replies back...

[iamwhoiam]

I've sent off all my scores and transcripts to School A back in November. I know it got there, but my online status still says INCOMPLETE application because the scores and transcripts aren't updated! I've tried calling the grad coordinator, I've emailed, I've left a message, but still no word. When asked if there was anyone else I could talk to in the department, the answer is always no. I remember reading somewhere on their website that interview invites would be given out mid-January (around 1/18), late Jan. at the latest...and I'm getting pretty antsy here. Does anyone else have this problem? I'm giving them until Friday and then I'm going into panic mode.

[fuzzylogician]

Some of the schools I applied to never updated their websites with received materials. Others took *weeks* after the deadline to update my GRE score (and transcripts), even though I sent them out in July. Schools have their own ways of doing things, and sometimes it just takes time. I don't think there's anything you can do but wait.

[mario]

is your shool A on Tennesse?

Edited January 7, 2010 by mario

[mario]

is your school A on Tennesse?

[iamwhoiam]

Nope, it's not in Tennessee, it's a school on the east coast with one of those "applyyourself" websites, and that's the only way I know about my app status.

I will keep my fingers crossed, thanks for all the encouragement! Now if only my last LOR would get uploaded for school B.

Good luck to everyone else! I know we're all anxiously waiting for the decisions to begin...

[mario]

On 1/7/2010 at 12:21 AM, iamwhoiam said:

Nope, it's not in Tennessee, it's a school on the east coast with one of those "applyyourself" websites, and that's the only way I know about my app status.

I will keep my fingers crossed, thanks for all the encouragement! Now if only my last LOR would get uploaded for school B.

Good luck to everyone else! I know we're all anxiously waiting for the decisions to begin...

at least is not one of those embark schools like brown or cornell. i hate that system.......

[glasses]

at least is not one of those embark schools like brown or cornell. i hate that system.......

Oh Embark, how you drive me nuts. Your definition of a "status update" is "this application has been submitted" versus "this application has NOT been submitted": I could've kept track of that much myself. Now I have to call those admissions offices because I sent important stuff through the post (like, say, writing samples -- if those don't get to the right places my entire application is tanked right off the bat). They are not going to be happy to hear from yet another applicant, and I can't blame them in the least. Embark, you have turned me into one of them: the kind of person who mercilessly bogarts other peoples' time to assuage her own panic.

[iCyborg]

I've got the same problem with all universities using applyyourself system. They've remained the status of incomplete since I submitted a month ago.

I just assume that they are processing the doc, and have no time to update the online status.

I think if our applications really lack something, they will email us the problem. So don't worry.

[grad_wannabe]

MIT's school of architecture uses their own system (it wasn't applyyourself, but I don't remember if it was embark - it's been a month since I uploaded the thing) and their online application status page won't even let me log in. I clicked the link in the "Your Application is Processing - Check This Page Frequently For Updates" email they sent me and it goes to an error page - "Are you sure you typed the correct URL?"

I'm a little freaked wondering if this means I was already rejected and deleted from their system... trying to remain calm and tell myself it has to be an error on their end...

Edited January 7, 2010 by grad_wannabe

[fuzzylogician]

MIT's school of architecture uses their own system (it wasn't applyyourself, but I don't remember if it was embark - it's been a month since I uploaded the thing) and their online application status page won't even let me log in. I clicked the link in the "Your Application is Processing - Check This Page Frequently For Updates" email they sent me and it goes to an error page - "Are you sure you typed the correct URL?"

I'm a little freaked wondering if this means I was already rejected and deleted from their system... trying to remain calm and tell myself it has to be an error on their end...

Yeah, MIT had their own annoying system and its "application status" page doesn't really tell you anything about the status of supporting materials, as far as I remember. At some point they sent an email saying my app was being considered which I took to mean it was complete, but the website never said that. It does sound like you have a bad URL, because the site did work--it just sucked. Maybe you could contact someone and ask about it, but I'm sure it doesn't mean you were rejected or deleted anything like that. It just sounds like a mistake.

[mastermind1886]

Same story for me - east coast school, ApplyYourself system. Called today, they had everything, they just hadn't updated the system. And I submitted my application five weeks ago. So I second the previous comment that, unless they contact you, it's likely that they have everything they need!

[piccgeek]

With pretty much every school I applied to last year I had to send at least one email making sure they actually had all my materials, and I'm dancing that dance again right now with MIT over an LOR in limbo >.< I actually went and pestered the administration in person for my application to my UG school, and it's a good thing I did, seeing as my GRE never managed to quite make it there. They finally just took my copy, it was easier for everyone. *sigh* Seriously, as if this process wasn't painful enough, they have to make it a logistical nightmare as well??

[grad_wannabe]

Just got an email from MIT - their system was down all week. "We apologize for the inconvenience!"

My status page has been updated - but they apparently chose to file SOME pieces from the last package I sent, but not all.

"We have received your portfolio and transcripts from school #1, but not transcripts from school #2. Your application is incomplete."

Me, shaking the computer - "THEY WERE ALL IN THE SAME PACKAGE! AARRGHHH!"

[socialcomm]

Just got an email from MIT - their system was down all week. "We apologize for the inconvenience!"

My status page has been updated - but they apparently chose to file SOME pieces from the last package I sent, but not all.

"We have received your portfolio and transcripts from school #1, but not transcripts from school #2. Your application is incomplete."

Me, shaking the computer - "THEY WERE ALL IN THE SAME PACKAGE! AARRGHHH!"

Haha... that made me LOL. How frustrating! I guess part of what you learn from this process is patience too.

[Jillybean]

Just got an email from MIT - their system was down all week. "We apologize for the inconvenience!"

My status page has been updated - but they apparently chose to file SOME pieces from the last package I sent, but not all.

"We have received your portfolio and transcripts from school #1, but not transcripts from school #2. Your application is incomplete."

Me, shaking the computer - "THEY WERE ALL IN THE SAME PACKAGE! AARRGHHH!"

I have had the same problem with so many of the applications I sent out!! WHY do they do this?? Seriously, is there anyone reading this forum that has insight into the review process and can explain why??

[Katzenmusik]

Man, I love this forum! It's great for when you need to vent about the horrors of Embark vs. ApplyYourself and other obscure application angst that no one else in the world understands!

The application systems are so clunky and time-wasting, it is hilariously ridiculous (I can laugh now that my 12 applications are all submitted--now in various stages of incompletion, but still). I love how if you forget to log out of one system, you have to restart your browser to enter another one. And then there are the application systems that assign you a completely random string of numbers and letters as your password and/or log-in name, but don't bother to email any of this info to you for your own reference. And I've probably wasted days of my life trying to relocate applications that are only accessible by wading through page after page of the university's web site, including their alumni donor page.

There are infinitely more examples of how user-UNfriendly some of these apps can be--and while the details can seem small, the stress tends to build until you are gradually driven insane. As I was completing my applications, I actually started to compile a top-ten list of the ways these systems could be improved for all of our sakes, which I would post as an open letter to the academy at large. Of course, I lost interest in this project once my applications were in and I could sit back and start stressing over my online status updates instead. But the concept holds merit!

[modernity]

What's worse is that one of my grad schools has no status update system whatsoever. I submitted my application recently and there is no reply whatsoever - no email, no status page to log into and check, nothing. I just sent my application somewhere out there into the abyss, and have to hope all my information gets there, and is considered. I suppose I may hear from them when I am rejected/accepted...or perhaps after the due date (I submitted early).

This is in stark contrast to another school who updated me about all of my received paperwork- the day after the entire school due date, on a Saturday no less ( I hadn't even checked until late today because I thought for sure there would be no information for at least another week or two).

If some of these schools can get it together and be that efficient, why can't others?

[red_crayons]

Trying to contact an admissions office for 3+ weeks to find out what kind of writing samples they would like. Finally get a reply. Two, in fact. And between the two back-to-back emails, only two of my four questions get answered.

And my name was spelled wrong BOTH TIMES.

I already had misgivings about this school...

[iamwhoiam]

School A never replied back to ANY of my emails or phone messages I left asking about my application. The interview invites were sent a couple of days ago, so I guess it's over for me at that school. Hopefully I didn't waste my app money sending in an application they never reviewed. Sigh.

[mudlark]

For the last couple of weeks, my lovely and extremely bubbly grad secretary has been sealed in her office, dealing with towering mounds of paperwork and looking like she hasn't slept since Christmas. I know she's putting in lots of long hours, and juggling crazy family responsibilities on top.

Most likely, the people who you're dealing with are nice, competent folk who are stretched to their limit. The funding crunch hurts staff as much if not more than students. Many are doing enough work for two people. It's always shitty to not hear back quickly, but it's probably a simple question of work levels rather than a sign about your application. Certainly not a sign that they didn't review it at all!