No contact after being admitted

[mouse]

At the end of January, I received a very nice call from a faculty member at UCLA telling me that I had been admitted to their program and that I should be receiving materials in the mail soon. I was told a little bit about recruitment weekend in early March, encouraged to attend, and that although details were still unclear at this point, it would be possible to have some travel costs reimbursed (I'm on the east coast) and to stay with a current student in the program. When I hadn't received anything in the mail after two weeks, I emailed that faculty member asking for more information as well as if they knew who I should contact to set up travel plans and/or how to get a schedule for recruitment weekend. No reply. Next I tried calling the department, who thankfully got back to me the same day. They assured me that the reason I hadn't received anything in the mail is because the letters actually hadn't been mailed out yet and were going out the next day, but also that they would not contain any information about recruitment weekend. I was given the names and numbers of two other faculty members in the program to contact for that information. I called the first faculty member and left a message-- It's been almost a week and, yup, no reply. The mailbox of the second faculty member was full.

Since I'm not sure if I can be reimbursed for travel, I want to buy plane tickets SOON before prices skyrocket. Ideally I would have been able to do so last week, but so it goes. I'm just really nervous because I haven't received written confirmation from the university that I've actually been admitted, and I have no idea at all as to what the weekend will be like. Am I just being ridiculously paranoid? Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do next, other than sit on my hands and watch the mail?

Edited February 13, 2010 by mouse

[psychdork]

Is there a way you can get the email addresses of the two faculty members and try emailing them instead? I know from personal experience that profs tend to check their email a lot more frequently than their office voicemail. If you can't, then I would contact the department again and explain the situation and see if the department can contact those faculty and remind/alert them that you have tried to contact them. Also, if you haven't I would try emailing the prof you spoke with again. He/She may not be intentionally ignoring you but possibly just forgot to respond.

Congrats btw!

[highhopes]

At the end of January, I received a very nice call from a faculty member at UCLA telling me that I had been admitted to their program and that I should be receiving materials in the mail soon. I was told a little bit about recruitment weekend in early March, encouraged to attend, and that although details were still unclear at this point, it would be possible to have some travel costs reimbursed (I'm on the east coast) and to stay with a current student in the program. When I hadn't received anything in the mail after two weeks, I emailed that faculty member asking for more information as well as if they knew who I should contact to set up travel plans and/or how to get a schedule for recruitment weekend. No reply. Next I tried calling the department, who thankfully got back to me the same day. They assured me that the reason I hadn't received anything in the mail is because the letters actually hadn't been mailed out yet and were going out the next day, but also that they would not contain any information about recruitment weekend. I was given the names and numbers of two other faculty members in the program to contact for that information. I called the first faculty member and left a message-- It's been almost a week and, yup, no reply. The mailbox of the second faculty member was full.

Since I'm not sure if I can be reimbursed for travel, I want to buy plane tickets SOON before prices skyrocket. Ideally I would have been able to do so last week, but so it goes. I'm just really nervous because I haven't received written confirmation from the university that I've actually been admitted, and I have no idea at all as to what the weekend will be like. Am I just being ridiculously paranoid? Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do next, other than sit on my hands and watch the mail?

Details about the recruitment weekend were emailed at least a week ago. It is for Mar 5/6th - you should check your junk mail folder - maybe the email from the student organizing the recruitment weekend got lost?

[mouse]

Details about the recruitment weekend were emailed at least a week ago. It is for Mar 5/6th - you should check your junk mail folder - maybe the email from the student organizing the recruitment weekend got lost?

OH, YIKES. Awesome. I've been regularly checking my spam (and trash) folders just for this reason, but I ran another search for UCLA as soon as I read this and came up empty-handed again. I sent an email to the graduate admissions coordinator and I guess I'll call the faculty member who contacted me after the holiday. This is terrifying. Thanks for letting me know.

Edited February 15, 2010 by mouse

[highhopes]

OH, YIKES. Awesome. I've been regularly checking my spam (and trash) folders just for this reason, but I ran another search for UCLA as soon as I read this and came up empty-handed again. I sent an email to the graduate admissions coordinator and I guess I'll call the faculty member who contacted me after the holiday. This is terrifying. Thanks for letting me know.

I'm a current first-year grad at UCLA (in cognitive psych - I'll be seeing you in a few weeks, if you come!) so I know a bit of what the plans are, if you're really freaking out and want to know. I'm slightly hesitant to say too much on this public forum though. I did let the student organizer know about this thread though, so she's going to send trying sending individual emails which you're hopefully receive.

[mouse]

I'm a current first-year grad at UCLA (in cognitive psych - I'll be seeing you in a few weeks, if you come!) so I know a bit of what the plans are, if you're really freaking out and want to know. I'm slightly hesitant to say too much on this public forum though. I did let the student organizer know about this thread though, so she's going to send trying sending individual emails which you're hopefully receive.

I completely understand your hesitation. I guess my biggest fear at this point is that something has gone horribly wrong and that I somehow wasn't actually admitted. My second-biggest fear is that cost will become prohibitive and I won't be able to make the trip, as it's something I've really been looking forward to! I appreciate your talking to the student organizer, hopefully it'll all work out... If you have any suggestions regarding people to contact other than the graduate admissions coordinator and my POI, please do send me a PM!

[mouse]

POI has emailed me back! I resume the wait with renewed vigor! Thank you to everyone who offered suggestions and advice.