Recommended for Admission

[Raffi526]

Okay, so here's the thing. I received to emails from two separate universities congratulating me because I was "recommended" for admission but the graduate school has to make a final decision on my admission and announce the final decision. This is becoming the bane of my existence because I'm persistently checking my email to the point that I'm annoying myself. I can't help it. My main concern is, do graduate schools deny admission after the department recommends you for admission. I understand that I have to meet the graduate school minimum requirement of a 3.0 cumulative GPA or a 3.0 based on the last 60 credit hours from the last 2 years. Cumative GPA I have a 2.91. Last 2 years 60 credit hours GPA I hold a solid 3.5. There is no GRE requirement for the Graduate School (UofA) itself. Will I have a solid chance of getting admitted or will they give me the boot?

[istanbulnotconstantinople]

I was similarly confused by an email I received saying I was recommended for admission but the graduate school had to make the final decision. I contacted the person who sent the letter and they explained that it was a formality and they had never heard of anyone being turned down by the graduate school. Of course if there is a minimum requirement then not meeting that means you haven't met your side of the bargain, but it sounds like you definitely will so I think you can assume you're in. You could also contact the programmes if you want to alleviate your nerves for certain, when I asked they were very polite and understanding about the confusion. Congratulations on the acceptances!

Edited March 2, 2017 by istanbulnotconstantinople

[TakeruK]

Yes this is normal, as the above poster already said. In addition, even if you don't quite meet whatever University-wide minimum, it's not the end of the world, your department can still petition the Graduate School to make an exception for you, or to accept you with some conditions (e.g. a minimum GPA in your first year etc.). This all happens behind the scenes so you won't really know unless they tell you. It could also be the cause of the delays.

However, a delay doesn't mean that you fall into this category. I think most schools might take 2-3 weeks between the "recommendation" and the "official" decision. The Graduate School probably waits until they get a whole bunch of recommendations from all over the campus and then approves them all at once. Then, it takes some time for the staff to prepare all of the official acceptance letters and double check all the terms etc. (remember they are doing this for programs all over campus with very different funding or TA/RA requirements etc.). So 2-3 weeks in between the "recommendation" and "official" is not atypical. 

[Raffi526]

@istanbulnotconstantinople Thanks for the advice. I actually gave a call to the Graduate School admissions office the the assistant or front desk respresebtative was extremely rude to me. I asked about the likelihood of the Graduate School denying admission and she said she can't answer that question. I then asked, may I speak to someone who is responsible for evaluating the students? She said, "No, you are not allowed to speak to the evaluators." Although the mechanical engineering department advised me to speak to the evaluators to see the status of application. It's very frustrating because I'm concerned with my future and they play these stressful mind games. 

[TakeruK]

54 minutes ago, Raffi526 said:

@istanbulnotconstantinople Thanks for the advice. I actually gave a call to the Graduate School admissions office the the assistant or front desk respresebtative was extremely rude to me. I asked about the likelihood of the Graduate School denying admission and she said she can't answer that question. I then asked, may I speak to someone who is responsible for evaluating the students? She said, "No, you are not allowed to speak to the evaluators." Although the mechanical engineering department advised me to speak to the evaluators to see the status of application. It's very frustrating because I'm concerned with my future and they play these stressful mind games. 

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with the staff there. However, you should know that you are asking very unusual questions and you likely caught the person by surprise. This doesn't mean that they were right to be rude to you, and you probably didn't know that the questions you asked are not appropriate. I'm telling you this now not to chastise you, but to hopefully help you for the future. There's a lot of stuff that happens "behind the scenes" so it's not like everyone is expected to know what's appropriate or not.

The person that answers the phone is not likely the person that makes the decision and so they don't know the likelihood of acceptance. And even so, if they had said "90%", that is not helpful to you because it doesn't matter what the overall rate is, for you, it only matters for your file. The evaluators at the Graduate School level is likely the Dean and/or their delegates. These are very busy people that you can't just call up and chat with! Also, it is generally considered inappropriate to talk to evaluators before the process is complete, because that gives the appearance that you want to influence their decision. 

Maybe it was all a misunderstanding, but at this point of the process, all you can do is wait. If you are worried that your application got lost, you could call the Graduate School to check. But this time, instead of asking what you did before, the only appropriate question is: "Can I check on the status of my application? On date X, the mechanical engineering department informed me that they have recommended me for admission and that my application has been forwarded to the Graduate Office."

Then they will either hopefully say, "yes, a decision has been made and you will get notice soon", or "sorry, the decision has not yet been made and we will let you know once it is ready." You should not expect to get an actual decision over the phone like this. The only reason to call is in case you fear that something went wrong and they didn't actually receive your application (however, unless it's been like a month, I would not worry about it).

[Raffi526]

Just got my acceptance letter!! 

[Adelaide9216]

I got a similar admission offer. "Recommended". I was surprised I got in because my CGPA was 3.64 and the last student that got admitted last year at a CGPA of 3.8. But I guess my CV, and letter of intent really helped me out. From my understanding, I am accepted, I haven't accepted the offer yet though because I am still waiting for two other universities to answer me.