Admissions office made a mistake!

[e.lehavi]

Hey All!

I have a funny issue and not sure if this is the right place to ask about it!

I’m kinda new to the whole graduate admission process. I’m applying to University of British Columbia (UBC) for MEng in Biomedical Engineering. Before applying I emailed the admissions office asking if a writing sample is required and they said that due t the fact that this is not a "writing oriented" degree the writing sample is not required, but the field on the website will stay open as the website is a generic one.

A few weeks later, after the deadline for submitting the application has ended, I received an email from the admissions office asking me to submit a writing sample. To make a long story short, they said they can wave it and it won’t affect my chances of getting in as it’s a mistake they made.

so here's what I’m wondering about:

1. do you guys think it will affect my chances?

2. does it mean someone looked into my application and found it interesting enough to ask me for one or is it a general process?

 

Thanks!

[2017 Applicant]

2 hours ago, e.lehavi said:

1. do you guys think it will affect my chances?

 

2 hours ago, e.lehavi said:

they said they can wave it and it won’t affect my chances of getting in as it’s a mistake they made.

 

2 hours ago, e.lehavi said:

2. does it mean someone looked into my application and found it interesting enough to ask me for one or is it a general process?

It means that someone at least scanned your application and saw that the field for "Writing Sample" was empty. I have received automated emails from schools before deadlines because I hadn't submitted one of the supplemental items. It sounds like this email came from a human, though, so I think the safest thing you can conclude is that they have at least begun the application reviews.

[e.lehavi]

thanks

has anything like this ever happened to anyone else?

[drumroll]

Are you really thinking about NOT sending? You've got a chance to send more material about yourself. Why on earth would you not use it?

[2017 Applicant]

14 minutes ago, drumroll said:

Are you really thinking about NOT sending? You've got a chance to send more material about yourself. Why on earth would you not use it?

Well, the deadline is past, so no use in worrying about it now.

And to be fair, if a department says that a writing sample is not required, chances are they are not going to waste their precious time reading any writing samples that are submitted anyway. I've seen schools that explicitly said "any recommendations received past the third recommendation letter will be ignored."