The Poor Thinking of the Duke Graduate School

[jacib]

So today I got home, and the most recent email said DUKE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL DECISION LETTER AVAILABLE. Naturally I check it first. You can skim this clearly of the "check the website" type, but notice it just has two links:

Dear Xxxxx,

The Duke University Graduate School was pleased to receive your application for admission and to be able to consider you along with the other very well qualified applicants who are interested in pursuing graduate studies at our university. Your application has now been evaluated, and you may view your decision letter on line (click here) beginning February 16, 2010. You will need your PIN (xxxxxxxxx) and password (xxxxxxxxxx) to access your letter.

In addition to this on-line notification, applicants admitted to the Graduate School will be sent a paper copy of the admissions letter through regular mail services. To notify us of your decision to accept or decline our offer of admission, please use the link provided in your on-line decision letter to access the enrollment form. Information about Graduate Student Services including housing, child care, health insurance, etc. can be found by visiting the web site located at http://www.gradschoo...sionupdates.htm

Thank you for allowing us to consider your application and best wishes as you seek to further your studies.

Important Note to Admitted International Applicants: To study in the United States, you will need to obtain a student visa. Please understand that Duke University cannot issue a visa eligibility document (I-20 or DS-2019) to you until you have submitted the enrollment form, the visa request form and any required supporting documents. A link to the on-line visa request form will be sent to you if you accept our offer of admission.

Sincerely,

Duke University

Graduate School Enrollment Services PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS MESSAGE AS RESPONSES WILL NOT BE ANSWERED.

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Okay, now which link did you notice first? I noticed the longer one, which had the words "Admission Updates" in it (Grad Cafe truncates links, remember so it's even longer in real life). So I clicked that one, which automatically redirected me to the page http://gradschool.du...itted/index.php which not only says "Admitted" in the address but also starts off with the line,

"Congratulations on your acceptance, and welcome to Duke!"

Only after pausing for a minute did I realize that I would have to sign in to read any real decision, so I went back, signed into ApplyNow, saw the "check admission decision" link, and got a standard form rejection letter. Thank God I have another acceptance already, but did anyone else make the same mistake?

Edited February 16, 2010 by jacib

[javagdss]

That is incredibly misleading.

[LiteratureMajor]

I find this letter to be not only misleading, but highly inconsiderate. Surely, the person(s) who generated this letter aren't too dense to consider just of a moment that the recipient might get the impression that they've been, oh, I don't know... ACCEPTED?!?!

Thank goodness you do have another acceptance, but I feel terrible for those who don't and get their hopes up with this bull***t of a notifcation.

[adam_cs]

so cruel

[Katzenmusik]

Oh my gosh. That is just completely thoughtless.

Why not just send one ApplyYourself link to everyone, then from there give the accepted students a further link to matriculation info?

Sorry that happened to you.

Edited February 17, 2010 by Katzenmusik

[Lauren the Librarian]

Ugh. That's terrible.

Very good you have another offer. Congrats on that.

[anxiousapplicant]

Wow that sucks. I can only imagine how your heart must have been racing first with your hopes and excitement and then with your disappointment. That was incredibly shitty of them to do. I didn't even notice the little link at all. Plus the way it's written about accepting the decision was misleading as well. Who wants to work with poos like that anyway?

[johndiligent]

Honestly, I would have clicked on the first link first but that's only because I've conditioned myself to read and re-read every communication sent to me by a graduate school 800 times before I have any emotional reaction to it whatsoever. I'm still pretty sure the acceptance sent to me Saturday was sent in error and I'm *still* re-reading it for the "Just Kidding!" in fine print.

[captiv8ed]

OMG that is horrible. I clicked on the link and it looks very much like you were accepted because, well, it says, Congratulations on your acceptance!

Is it really so hard to email this out:

Thank you for applying to our Graduate School for the 2010-11 academic year. While I assure you that the materials you submitted were carefully reviewed by the faculty in the Department of Sociology, I regret to inform you that the department did not recommend your admission for the coming year.

Blah blah blah blah?

[anya11]

It is really poor formatting. Info on graduate student services and international applicants make u believe that u are admitted. Guess they didnt want to bear the pain of sending separate e-mails again. 

I agree it is misleading and glad that u have another offer. Congrats.

[Gareth]

I really don't like the GradAssoc@Duke. When I called them to make sure my application was complete, they were so impatient.

And I still cannot figure out why they provide no online status check - I don't think this is hard to provide. By providing such website, there may be less calls for them to answer! Now I have to make international calls during a two-hour-window everyday. But I am now in China, where there is a 13-hour time difference! That means I have to call them at about 3.00 am!

Generally speaking, the application system @Duke sucks.

[coffeeandtoast]

I don't find it misleading (in terms of links). I noticed the first link before the other one and I would have clicked on the first one anyway. Although I'm sure being nervous and all, if you read through the letter it looks like you may have gotten in (notify us of your decision, blah blah). They should have phrased the letter better. I also was not impressed with the Duke system.