Received Housing Information - but no acceptance

[TryingAgain]

Hi all,

So, my SO received a large envelope that clearly contained a lot of information inside from University of Oregon's English Department yesterday (I am applying to their comp lit department and received nothing). Unfortunately, our excitement turned into confusion when we opened it and found a letter from the graduate school stating that this is NOT an acceptance letter, but they just wanted to provide information on grad student housing. The large brochure that came with it suggested registering for student housing ASAP. So, probably wishful thinking, but I am wondering if this could be a good sign? It just seems like a a lot of money to waste to send this type of information out to EVERY applicant - and as I said, I didn't receive anything, although my application was due a month after the English department's app. Has anybody else out there who applied to Oregon's English program received this package? Or something similar from any other school? I know we should just hold our horses and not try to analyze every little thing we hear from each school, but come on, who isn't a little obsessive right now? Thanks!

[modernity]

Hi all,

So, my SO received a large envelope that clearly contained a lot of information inside from University of Oregon's English Department yesterday (I am applying to their comp lit department and received nothing). Unfortunately, our excitement turned into confusion when we opened it and found a letter from the graduate school stating that this is NOT an acceptance letter, but they just wanted to provide information on grad student housing. The large brochure that came with it suggested registering for student housing ASAP. So, probably wishful thinking, but I am wondering if this could be a good sign? It just seems like a a lot of money to waste to send this type of information out to EVERY applicant - and as I said, I didn't receive anything, although my application was due a month after the English department's app. Has anybody else out there who applied to Oregon's English program received this package? Or something similar from any other school? I know we should just hold our horses and not try to analyze every little thing we hear from each school, but come on, who isn't a little obsessive right now? Thanks!

I received a packet from a school last year with details like these included (financial aid, housing, etc.) and I was rejected. My rejection came late though, so maybe I was on a wait list or a short list and only those people got it after the immediate rejects... no idea. It could be a good sign (This was a different school and I don't want to say it's universal) - but from personal experience I would say don't get your hopes too high just yet - wait for more info, some of these universities just seem to like wasting paper!

[ecg1810]

I've received several e-mails like that from Yale, but have yet to hear anything else (and don't think I will until mid to late February). *sigh*

[ornithology]

I've received several e-mails like that from Yale, but have yet to hear anything else (and don't think I will until mid to late February). *sigh*

That's a good thing for you (bad thing for me)--I applied to Yale and have heard nothing. Did you apply to english or comp lit? what did the email say exactly?

[ecg1810]

That's a good thing for you (bad thing for me)--I applied to Yale and have heard nothing. Did you apply to english or comp lit? what did the email say exactly?

I applied to English. How about you? I just checked and was only able to find two of the e-mails (there might have only been two. . . not sure). One's from December 8th and the other from January 12th. Neither of them said anything particularly suggestive--just something to the extent of "thanks for applying" and "we thought you might find these websites about housing and life in New Haven helpful." I asked my mentor about these e-mails and she seemed to think that it was pretty customary for schools to send you things like that, so I didn't get too excited. :/

[mario]

yeah, the dec/8 was:

Dear XXXXX,

We are delighted you have applied to the Yale University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to look at some pages on the Graduate School's website that you may find useful.

The main website of the Yale University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences: http:www.yale.edu/graduateschool.

Student Life at the Graduate School:

http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/studentLife/index.html

Current Newsletter of the Graduate School http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/home/forms/newsletter.pdf

Living in New Haven Website - housing, neighborhoods, services http://www.yale.edu/livingnh/

Graduate School Viewbook: http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/home/forms/viewbook.pdf"

We encourage you to visit the links above, as well as other web sites within Yale University.

http://www.yale.edu

Sincerely,

Office of Graduate Admissions

*PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS MESSAGE*

and the one in january (12) was:

Dear XXX,

Thank you for applying to the Yale University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The purpose of this e-mail is to remind you that you have access to a feature of the online application that allows you to monitor the receipt of your standardized test scores and letters of recommendation by the Office of Graduate Admissions. Simply log back into your application (Click Here) and you will have access to the status of the receipt of those items.

Please keep in mind that if you mailed anything to us, the posting of those materials can take 5-10 days from the date of receipt of your application or the materials whichever is later. We are not able to provide status information over the phone or via e-mail.

If your application is marked "Incomplete" please check to see which documents are missing. If it is a transcript for a second degree at the same institution for which a transcript was uploaded there is no need to contact us and no need to worry. If it is a recommendation you can send a reminder to that recommender. If you are missing GRE/TOEFL scores which you know you have sent to us and there could be a first or last name issue, again, please contact us. In any case your application will still be forwarded to your program of interest during the month of January.

If you do need to contact us please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions section (Questions Not answered) for specific instructions on how to address your e-mail.

Also, remember that if you need to change your mailing address, phone number or e-mail, you may do so by logging into your online application and returning to the "Contact Information" section. Except for the optional Fall Term Grade Report, Contact Information is the only section of your application you can update information on once you have submitted.

If you have revised materials (Statement of Purpose, Resume, etc.,) you wish included in your file, you can send those to us and we will try to accommodate your request. Be certain to visit the Frequesntly Asked Questions section (Questions Not Answered) for specific instructions on how to address your e-mail.

Official decision notification is usually by e-mail and decisions, when available, will be posted in your on-line application. Decisions are generally posted during the month of February and March. All admission decisions are communicated by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, not by individual departments or programs. Only decisions from the Graduate School may be considered official notifications of admission and financial aid.

Sincerely,

The Office of Graduate Admissions

Yale University

*THIS IS AN AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED MESSAGE. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY*

[mario]

i think that the january 12th email was the worst because its title was something like: yale graduate school app status, so I was getting ready for something BIG and puf...

[ecg1810]

i think that the january 12th email was the worst because its title was something like: yale graduate school app status, so I was getting ready for something BIG and puf...

I know! When I saw it and then proceeded to read the "thank you" introduction it scared the heck out of me!

Edited January 23, 2010 by ecg1810

[ornithology]

oh right, i got those emails. gosh, i've become so paranoid (looking at results page...."an engineering student got an interview! i think this means Princeton rejected me!").

bon courage a tous!

[ecg1810]

oh right, i got those emails. gosh, i've become so paranoid (looking at results page...."an engineering student got an interview! i think this means Princeton rejected me!").

bon courage a tous!

Laughed out loud at your post, Ornithology. I can totally relate. Thanks for the grins.

[intextrovert]

I received the same thing from Oregon several weeks ago. That would be pretty sweet if it were true, but I think it's extremely unlikely that they looked over apps and sent mailings to the "good" ones. Much more likely that it's an automatic mailing to anyone who applied.

[TryingAgain]

Thanks for the replies. I figured it didn't mean anything, but it is hard not to try to read into everything. It just seems like such an atrocious waste of money and paper to send it out to all applicants, but I guess that's what they do.

[Branwen daughter of Llyr]

I got the Yale emails too, but nothing from Cornell or UVA. I did get an email from Brown saying my application was under review.

However - all these schools had relatively late deadlines - Cornell was Dec. 20th (with a grace period until January 15th to complete LOR's, GRE scores, Transcripts, etc.), and Yale, Brown, and UVA were all Jan. 2nd. I sent out all my materials by Dec. 24th, but I don't really think that made a difference.

The waiting game continues (even though I'm not particularly hopeful about this year, it's still nerve-wracking, especially when job hunting at the same time...)