Is it worth checking the online application status?

[johndiligent]

I have them all bookmarked and check them all every so often (maybe twice a week) for changes, but it's something I do out of boredom. I don't expect actual answers to reveal themselves on there first, except for rejections which I'd like to delay as long as possible anyway.

[chocker]

Ahem! Berkeley...

ann arbor

[joro]

I just went to check my online application status and the end page where you 'sign' your name and put the date. I put my name, but then instead put my birth date. I submitted this application in November and only noticed it now. No way to change it either, I hope they don't even look at that. Haha.

EDIT: Okay it seems the system did that themselves. I went to check the pdf form of my application and it shows a signed form of 10/20/2009 at 12am.

Edited February 4, 2010 by joro

[DJLamar]

Stanford's website and application annoyed me. I had trouble finding a faculty listing by interest and I think at one point I just went through all of their CS faculty and threw out the ones that weren't even in my area :\ Eventually I think I found a listing by interest, though.

Then the application itself... they said on all the FAQs and such that you needed to upload unofficial transcripts from each undergrad institute you attended. For CS at least, there was no place in the application for a transcript, so I uploaded only my primary institute's transcript in the "additional documents" section at the end. Now at the same time, this application was due in the middle of final exams for me and I hadn't yet scanned an actual copy of my transcript, so the thing that I uploaded was a 10 page print-out of my web transcript from the registration system, which had tons of extra white space. Half of my application file is going to be that trash paper.

A couple of days after submitting, I got a status email or something that provided a separate form for transcripts. They never said anything about that before I submitted

[javagdss]

Davis (Embark system) just updated my status today... it previously listed my application as complete and showed all my transcripts. Today it no longer says it's complete, and removed the record for my UG transcript, which it had previously listed by name, so it can hardly have been a mistake. Weird.

[Goober]

I would say yes to the original question...a bunch of us all found out we got in to Wisconsin Madison only by checking our online status - letters followed a few days later.

[metin]

I basically wouldn't bother checking the website status, unless there's info specifically directing you to look for your reply there. They will email, call, or send you mail. Good luck!

I think the first answer is important. Although I am very sure that checking the admission status does not have any effect (---- ) on the speed of my admission process, unless I get my first answer, hopefully acceptance, I will check the admissions website of the universities I have applied as well as my mailbox often. After this point I do not know what will I do.

[murpstud]

I just hope they don't indeed have a counter. If they did, I'd probably get rejected for my obsessiveness...

[worrywort]

Idunno how 'worth' it it necessarily is, but I do it daily. It's how I found out I was unofficially accepted to UT. I received a letter a few days later confirming what was on the website. I still have to be officially approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies, but I'm confident that I'll be accepted.

For the other two schools I've been accepted to so far, I first received an e-mail followed by a letter via snail mail confirming my acceptance.

Checking the three other school's websites compulsively till I get anything via e-mail/snail mail. It's unhealthy and obsessive, but I can't help it.

Just received an e-mail from UW saying they won't be mailing out letters till APRIL. Ugh. I wish schools wouldn't wait that long to let you know. I believe UIUC won't be mailing out letters till approximately mid-March/early-April according to an e-mail I received from them. Not sure when UNC will be letting their applicants know (apparently someone has already received word via this website... been checking the mail hoping to receive word).

It can be worth checking, but I wouldn't consider it official (unless it's a rejection, then it seems unlikely to reverse).

[BlueandBuff]

Worrywort,

Are you going for an MLIS or a PhD? I noticed you'd heard back from UMich, and I'm still waiting :-)

[worrywort]

Worrywort,

Are you going for an MLIS or a PhD? I noticed you'd heard back from UMich, and I'm still waiting :-)

Master's in Information. No Ph.D. for me, yet. Best of luck!

[hydrangea]

When I logged in, where it gives you the summary, and says "submitted," below that the word "Decision" appeared in bold. However, it took a few hours (appeared at midnight) until a link was posted at the bottom of the page, where you could actually click and see the decision. It was all on the main page; I didn't have to go and click "check your application" or anything.

I have two applyyourself applications. I was admitted (notified via email) to one school (UPitt), but my applyyourself main page has not changed. No decision link/word has appeared after several days. If you have an applyyourself app. and nothing is changing, it might just mean that the school/department isn't utilizing that feature.

Thanks so much for the info about where the link should appear. I was really curious about that.

[SpS4]

I've only been checking the online status for the applications that have specified a "Decision" section. Figure there's no point checking it otherwise, and I'd actually expect an e-mail notifying me of the decision before they updated the website...

HOWEVER, I just checked one school's website and although the "Decision" line still reads "NOT AVAILABLE" (as it has read since the application was processed by the school), now at the bottom of the page there are two buttons: ACCEPT OFFER OF ADMISSION and REJECT OFFER OF ADMISSION. I'm trying not to get too excited because I haven't received an e-mail yet...but what does this mean?! I'm hesitant to click the "Accept" button because I'm not sure what will come of it (....still waiting to hear from other schools/this particular school I'm referring to is my back-up).

[pea-jay]

Gee, thanks for reminding me of this additional way to obsess. At least only one of my schools has this option. My other application is strictly old-school, all communication by mail.

[daimiasue]

I think you should check them at least once each to ensure that they have all your documents. I waited until two weeks after submitting to check and realised that one school did not have my GRE scores from ETS and another was missing a recommendation letter which the professor forgot to send in... I also see that some are waiting for TOEFL scores which I don't have since I'm a domestic student from an English speaking country. Not sure whats up with that. I emailed the graduate program directors so hopefully that will be rectified and they'll let me know one way or another. I hate waiting so this is killing me. My one interview is my only solace in this period of uncertainty.

[eastcoastdude123]

I don't. It just stresses me out too much, and I'm already stressed out enough with work, bills, coaching, and checking my email once an hour hoping to hear from different schools. I thought waiting for admission into undergrad programs as a HS senior was awful, but this is way, way worse!

[socnerd]

Got 2 rejections via the website today, no e-mails.

[joro]

Got 2 rejections via the website today, no e-mails.

You just made me check my application status again.

[Tiglath-Pileser III]

I thought waiting for admission into undergrad programs as a HS senior was awful, but this is way, way worse!

Amen to that! In my undergrad, I was accepted everywhere I applied so it never occurred to me that I would not be accepted. With my Masters, I was accepted at the school of my choice one week after I got the last of my paperwork submitted. It was the only school I applied to, as I didn't want to pursue a masters degree but wanted to pursue a masters degree at that particular school. I wasn't expect to be accepted there at all and I was expecting a long wait. This time, however, I know how fierce the competition is, I know how few seats are available, and at my adviser's encouragement did not apply to safety schools. Then, my first contact from a school was an outright rejection. Too much knowledge is not a good thing.

And it's turned me into a nervous wreck.

[EniS]

HA!! Hooray for humor, I never realized how much of my time on this forum is spent with a tensely furrowed brow until I laughed just now. Felt good.

monkey face, I second that emotion. got right to the end before i relaxed my face and let myself stop thinking oh shit oh shit oh shit - how does he know this! I am like the dim one in any standard US Sitcom.

The irrationality of this is even more pertinent if you dont reside in the US and the States is say, 5 hours behind you. So when you wake up and immediately start checking your staus and emails at 08:00 even though you know there is no way in God's name anything can have changed as it is only 03:00 in the US only a deep-seated insanity can explain such actions. Its not healthy in the slightest especially considering I am more than positive its going to end in heartbreak. arrrrrr

Edited February 26, 2010 by EniS

[eastcoastdude123]

Hermes,

I hope that in a few weeks I know where I'm going, and I hope that I never have to go through this process again!

[origin415]

Hermes,

I hope that in a few weeks I know where I'm going, and I hope that I never have to go through this process again!

I can't imagine job applications being much better!

[Tiglath-Pileser III]

I can't imagine job applications being much better!

Actually, job applications are much better. If they aren't interested in you, you never hear from them again. They are only interested if they contact you. And if a batch of job applications don't pan out one week, you send out more next week. You don't pay employers to apply for a job, and you are not stuck in limbo for a year if there are a flood of applicants and you get rejected. And if you don't like your job, you only keep it until you find another. There's a lot less at stake with a job application.

Job applications are a lot less nerve wracking than PhD applications.

[oldlady]

Just so you know, when I applied to a tenure-track position at a community college several years ago, I sent in my resume in November and got the offer in June!!! Welcome to academia ...

[joro]

Actually, job applications are much better. If they aren't interested in you, you never hear from them again. They are only interested if they contact you. And if a batch of job applications don't pan out one week, you send out more next week. You don't pay employers to apply for a job, and you are not stuck in limbo for a year if there are a flood of applicants and you get rejected. And if you don't like your job, you only keep it until you find another. There's a lot less at stake with a job application.

Job applications are a lot less nerve wracking than PhD applications.

Speaking of job applications. I applied for a job in 2008 and finally received a rejection email last week.