Most annoying part of application process

[grad_wannabe]

That would be awesome!

For me, it was the cost of the whole applying process and transcripts... oh and forgot to mention the apprehension and anxiety...

I was wondering - can we write off application expenses on our tax returns as education expenses? I know there are people on here who spent over a grand...

[focused]

The two most annoying parts for me were finding conflicting information between the department websites and the online applications (and even within the department websites themselves) and now the waiting. This is miserable. The SoP, the LoRs, the transcripts, etc. were not half as bad as this waiting game!

[iWILLgetin]

I Spent over $1000 applying to graduate school... That's more than I pay for tuition! (after financial aid)

Also, I was on top of things, and submitted my applications in November, thinking that this would make me look good. My LORs only just got submitted, and I haven't heard a word from any of my 9 schools.

[fred987]

It's a toss up between LORs and Transcripts.

[profound_g]

Right now it's websites that don't update status (to complete that is).

[Golgotha]

Personal history statements. Especially ones that ask you to demonstrate your leadership experience with lower socioeconomic classes. I'm a middle-class white kid from the 'burbs, my whole life has been white-collar. I honestly had no idea what to write.

[Infinite Monkeys]

The most annoying? Hmm.

The worst was the way that everyone wanted similar elements prepared in very different ways. Hey, if you're going to ask me to spend my waking existence preparing my SoP fifteen different ways, then you could at least all share basic forms. Personal info, academic info, that sort of thing. Re-typing all of that got tiresome. (Two schools did use the same app system, so it filled in all the blanks the second time around.)

Seconding the idea that the conflicting information was exceedingly annoying as well. The sites even conflicted within themselves. As an example: When I started the process, many of the schools wanted hard copies of everything--letters, writing samples, CV, SoP, transcripts. Suddenly, I'm working on the online app and no, they only want files done electronically. It threw me and my letter-writers for a loop; they had to submit everything a second time, and when I called to see what was going on, the schools would invariably tell me that, oh, sorry, we're transitioning our apps to online-only, and you're just in the middle of the change.

...seriously? You're changing things in the middle of the process? Why not wait until, oh, I don't know, after everyone's done and before next year's particular purgatory begins?

Ahem. Sorry. Bit frustrated there for a minute.

[Serric]

Without question, the wait. Everything else was a pain in the butt, but it was something that helped keep my mind off things and it was under my control: the interminable wait for that first e-mail notifying me of an interview is something I hope I never have to deal with again.

[jeanne]

Right now, I'd say the wait.

If you asked my 6 weeks ago, I'd say the transcripts. But that's probably because I never bothered to "finalize" my degree (aka pay the $50 for the degree) from my master's program that I finished two years ago, so I had a whole bunch of extra paperwork to do for that.

A little off topic...

For everybody complaining about additional essays - try med school essays. They're crazy! I did that last year thinking I'd want to be a doctor (changed my mind before completing the apps) and this round of applications is way easier! But I have no idea what everybody else's applications are like, only Educational Psychology.

[Ziz]

Schools that require you to accept their offer before being allowed to apply for financial aid.

[tarski]

Schools that require you to accept their offer before being allowed to apply for financial aid.

. You have my sympathies.

[Smaudge]

For me it was the schools who require three different forms of your transcripts. For two programs, I had to send official copies, upload student copies (and play around with the file size until it was small enough to upload), and then manually enter in Related Coursework and Relavent Coursework, plus my grades, plus how many semesters I took each class.

Really, Harvard? Really?

[javagdss]

Getting transcripts from my old community college, where I took a whopping 3 summer classes. The fastest they can mail them is with 7-10 business day processing time and normal snail mail. If you want rush processing, it's still 3 days, and you have to pick them up physically, and I live 500 miles away. Also, you have to mail or fax them a paper signed document authorizing the release of your transcript after you request and pay for it online, for Every. Single. One. Seriously? Get your act together and offer rush service! And stop making me print and fax things!

Previously I thought any application that had paper components (my Oregon schools) were annoying, but now that I'm in the waiting stage, I think these are my favorite. Once I put the application in the mail, I stopped thinking about it. There's nothing more I can do. They sent me an e-mail saying the app was complete, but there's no online site to check compulsively for months. Those other applications with beautiful, seamless online forms and uploads and status pages are incredible teases now. They haunt me in my dreams, and during the day it takes all my willpower not to check them 100 times per day. If they look at the number of times each applicant logs into the system, they'll probably think I'm insane.

[Rohit Nair]

The most annoying part was getting transcripts, by a country mile.

I don't understand why *all* universities don't start accepting electronic copies of the academic records and then ask for the real ones if any only when you get an admit. Saves money. Saves time. Saves effort (for us and them) And it's like the single point of failure in the whole process coz it involves the University (my Uni doesn't hand over the transcripts, they mail it directly), the mail folks, the chances of it getting lost, the chances of them not processing it correctly and so on.

[slider]

The whole process-seven times in a week.

[Tiglath-Pileser III]

Two things were really annoying.

1. Navigating/following up upon the idiosyncrasies of the application websites. Where there was a difference between department and general school requirements, I would have to call the particular departments to get them fixed.

2. The WAIT! The wait is killing me! I hate the wait.

[anxiousapplicant]

This is going to sound a little unorthodox, but I hate looking up professors to work with. How the hell do I know if I want to work with you? It may be that you do great research but it turns out we hate each other; or your research holds no interest for me, but I may change my mind when I get to grad school. Plus, being in political theory/philosophy, I guess I'm more interested in reading the great philosophers... I mean, unless Immanuel Kant or Friedrich Nietzsche is in your faculty, I'd rather read their thoughts.... I hope that's not a horrible thing to say.... I just don't want to be someone's disciple, I want to think for myself...