Recommended for Admission

[murpstud]

Got a letter from the department chair today saying "Congrats...I've recommended you for admission to the Graduate School, you'll receive a notification of acceptance or rejection from them soon." This means I'm in right? Just a formality? The entire letter is positive, they won't reject me if the department accepts me will they? I'm just hung up on the "rejection" word in the letter. lol.

Thanks.

Edited February 22, 2010 by murpstud

[socnerd]

You're in as long as you meet the school's minimum standards for admission. They often have their own set of guidelines and scores that applicants must meet in order to attend, so as long as you meet their requirements they should accept you, but it doesn't mean you are officially in yet.

[fuzzylogician]

Yes, you're in. Congrats!

I've never heard of someone being admitted by the department and rejected by the graduate school, probably because departments don't recommend inadequate candidates for admissions.

[RomulusAugustulus]

Yes, from what I hear it is unlikely you'll be rejected by the grad school if the department accepted you. Just keep your fingers crossed, but I would say your chances are better-than-good!

[bikefarm]

Agreed, you're pretty much in! Congratulations!

[johndiligent]

It's 95% for sure. Though, with deference to fuzzylogician, I have heard of someone being accepted by the department but rejected by the graduate school. But it happens only very, very, very rarely so you needn't worry.

[fuzzylogician]

It's 95% for sure. Though, with deference to fuzzylogician, I have heard of someone being accepted by the department but rejected by the graduate school. But it happens only very, very, very rarely so you needn't worry.

heh, no need for deference. That's good to know, I've really never heard of it happening before. Must have been a very unusual story.

[liszt85]

Yes, you're in. Congrats!

I've never heard of someone being admitted by the department and rejected by the graduate school, probably because departments don't recommend inadequate candidates for admissions.

Let me introduce myself. I was recommended for admission by two professors at two different universities last year (McMaster and UCSD) but the graduate school rejected me because of funding constraints. The professor at UCSD emailed me saying something along the lines of (almost exact quote) "I'd love to have you in my lab. I've tried my best and have recommended that you be admitted. However, its likely that the graduate school will reject you because our international student funding is very constrained this year"

The grad school sent me a rejection 2 days later. It was not a very nice letter, it said something like "the applicants this time were really good...blah blah". I forwarded that to the prof and soon came the reply "I'm glad I warned you because rest assured that the only reason for your rejection is the intl student funding scene here right now. What they say in the generic letter is inaccurate."

The one at McMaster was a funding issue too, again as admitted to me by the professor herself. She had told me that she'd recommended me for admission. If you see my posts from one year back, you will see me asking for opinions about McMaster and Hamilton (assuming naively that I would be admitted). So yes, it does happen. Funding should be lesser of a problem if you are an American citizen. So if you are, I think the chances are extremely high that you will be admitted. Good luck!

P.S: Oh yea, I remember one more program that put me in a waiting list again for funding reasons (U Minn, Cog Sci, new program that started in 2009) but that was different because nobody really recommended that I be admitted. That was just a waitlist that didn't turn out to be an admission. I mention this just to tell the international students who might be reading this that funding situations are not as good as they used to be..so a rejection is possible (though unlikely) even if the department recommends you for admission.

[fuzzylogician]

Let me introduce myself. I was recommended for admission by two professors at two different universities last year (McMaster and UCSD) but the graduate school rejected me because of funding constraints. The professor at UCSD emailed me saying something along the lines of (almost exact quote) "I'd love to have you in my lab. I've tried my best and have recommended that you be admitted. However, its likely that the graduate school will reject you because our international student funding is very constrained this year"

The grad school sent me a rejection 2 days later. It was not a very nice letter, it said something like "the applicants this time were really good...blah blah". I forwarded that to the prof and soon came the reply "I'm glad I warned you because rest assured that the only reason for your rejection is the intl student funding scene here right now. What they say in the generic letter is inaccurate."

The one at McMaster was a funding issue too, again as admitted to me by the professor herself. She had told me that she'd recommended me for admission. If you see my posts from one year back, you will see me asking for opinions about McMaster and Hamilton (assuming naively that I would be admitted). So yes, it does happen. Funding should be lesser of a problem if you are an American citizen. So if you are, I think the chances are extremely high that you will be admitted. Good luck!

P.S: Oh yea, I remember one more program that put me in a waiting list again for funding reasons (U Minn, Cog Sci, new program that started in 2009) but that was different because nobody really recommended that I be admitted. That was just a waitlist that didn't turn out to be an admission. I mention this just to tell the international students who might be reading this that funding situations are not as good as they used to be..so a rejection is possible (though unlikely) even if the department recommends you for admission.

I'm so sorry to hear that they did that! (but then luckily it all turned out for the best )

In my case there was one (California) department that basically said they didn't have funding for internationals, but at least they had the decency not to let the grad school play the bad guys. I was upset they took my registration fees when they clearly could not accept me, but I guess I should be thanking them for being frank about it.

[liszt85]

I'm so sorry to hear that they did that! (but then luckily it all turned out for the best )

Yes, I guess so!

[myrrh]

I think, generally, being recommended for admission is very close to a really admission. However, I've heard some anomalous stories. For international students whose native language is not English, the most common problem would be TOEFL. Sometimes the department can recommend someone whose TOEFL is a bit under the requirement of grad school, and their could be some negotiation among the grad school, the department and the applicant to decide whether the applicant can get an admission, a conditional offer or perhaps get nothing in the end. In some cases, the applicant would be ask to take TOEFL again.

Anyway, I think it's very likely that the OP is in. Congrats!

[Dr._Robotnik's_Shadow]

You're in as long as you meet the school's minimum standards for admission. They often have their own set of guidelines and scores that applicants must meet in order to attend, so as long as you meet their requirements they should accept you, but it doesn't mean you are officially in yet.

This is correct. Admissions can and do reject applicants even though the department recommended them because their guidelines are different than the department's.

[Thefish]

I got an email saying that I've been recommended for admission also. Now, I know for a fact that 1 out of 4 of my recommenders did not submit his letter of rec, I don't know why, he said he was on it, but I stopped worrying once I got the email about being "recommended for admission". Is it possible that the department could not accept me for only having 3 out of 4 letters of rec? That would be awful!

[Bubbles8697]

I got recommended by my program but my gpa is .3 points below the graduate college minimum. I am in or out? They also asked me for another transcript. What does this mean?

[myrrh]

I got recommended by my program but my gpa is .3 points below the graduate college minimum. I am in or out? They also asked me for another transcript. What does this mean?

I guess (just guess) the thing is going like this: the department wants you, but yes, the grad school has its rules. Your GPA could be problematic, although we can never say at what extent. The department would perhaps try to defend you, but the result partially depends on how much they know about everything behind your GPA. So far, they knows nothing, I guess. So, if I were you, I would write to the department, say thanks to them, and ask them to keep me informed once there's ANY updates. If I am lucky, I would know once the grad school has raised any issue on my GPA. Then I can provide some explanation to the department or the grad school.

Will things really go in this way? I don't know. But it makes sense and I've heard some TOFEL stuffs did go like this. More important, it's no hurt to email the department and ask them to keep you informed of anything unexpected.

[Bubbles8697]

I guess (just guess) the thing is going like this: the department wants you, but yes, the grad school has its rules. Your GPA could be problematic, although we can never say at what extent. The department would perhaps try to defend you, but the result partially depends on how much they know about everything behind your GPA. So far, they knows nothing, I guess. So, if I were you, I would write to the department, say thanks to them, and ask them to keep me informed once there's ANY updates. If I am lucky, I would know once the grad school has raised any issue on my GPA. Then I can provide some explanation to the department or the grad school.

Will things really go in this way? I don't know. But it makes sense and I've heard some TOFEL stuffs did go like this. More important, it's no hurt to email the department and ask them to keep you informed of anything unexpected.

Thanks for much for the advice. They have a copy of my transcript, they just wanted one from a summer class I took at a college near my home. In that case, I'm not sure if it will make or break anything as it was one intro math class and I did fairly ok (.

I'm extremely nervous!!!!! I want this madness to end!