Recommended for Admission

[seung]

I found a thread that addressed this back in 2010, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to renew the conversation--for my sake and for anyone else interested.

If a department has "recommended you for admission" to some central committee for the school, how likely is it that you will receive an official admissions letter?  What do such committees typically look for in applications?  And under what circumstances would they reject you?

Thanks :]

[fuzzylogician]

At that stage you'll most likely get an admissions offer. The department needs to get approval from the graduate school. The graduate school will usually just approve the department's choices. They may have their own cutoff criteria (usually for GPA and GRE scores); departments will sometimes have the ability to advocate for exceptions to be made for students who don't meet those cutoffs. It's not unheard of for someone to be denied at this stage, but it's rare. 

[seung]

Thanks fuzzy logician. Your answers are always insightful and helpful.  From what I am collecting from your response, it seems that the graduate school probably will not be looking at Personal Statements, Recommendation Letters, or Writing Samples, but rather things that can be measured numerically and objectively (GPA, GRE).  Of course each school hands the process differently, but am I correct?

[fuzzylogician]

They might also check that your application is complete, which would entail checking that you have the right number of letters, you submitted a writing sample, etc. But I would think they wouldn't read letters, essays, and such, because those are used for departments to determine fit and wouldn't be as useful for people who aren't specialists. But yes, every school will have a possibly different process. 

[GeorgeC07]

7 minutes ago, seung said:

Thanks fuzzy logician. Your answers are always insightful and helpful.  From what I am collecting from your response, it seems that the graduate school probably will not be looking at Personal Statements, Recommendation Letters, or Writing Samples, but rather things that can be measured numerically and objectively (GPA, GRE).  Of course each school hands the process differently, but am I correct?

As long as your materials are complete and meet the requirements of graduate office, you will be admitted. The official admission letter from the graduate office might come in a day or two, so congrats!