Decisions on our Early Notification applications went out on Friday, and we’re receiving questions on what it all means.  If you’ve been admitted, congratulations!  I’ll assume you don’t require much more explanation.  On the other end of the happiness spectrum, for the second year, we denied admission to some applicants and, when appropriate, informed the applicant that the missing piece is professional experience.  We always feel some regret in denying applicants, but we hope it will help applicants make informed decisions on where else they should apply.

That leaves those whose application was deferred to the spring round.  These applicants will have their credentials reviewed again in the context of the larger application pool.  Applicants who were deferred are invited to update us on changes to their status.  New grades or test scores definitely should be submitted.  An additional recommendation or a new résumé that sheds light on your recent activities can also be valuable.  The bottom line is that you’re welcome to update us, but please be sure that whatever you send is really an update.  If the same information is already in your file, there’s little to be gained from sending it a second time.

The deadline for PhD and Map Your Future applications is tomorrow, so the Admissions Office is making a quick shift of focus.  If you have further general questions about the deferrals, please include them as comments below.  If general themes emerge, I’ll address them in an additional blog post.

Posted by Jessica Daniels on 19 Dec 2011 3 Comments »

If, like me, you’re pursued through elevators, shopping malls and supermarkets (or, in my husband Paul’s case, Tokyo hotels) by an endless loop of holiday songs, you may think that this post’s title refers to snowmen and trappings of the season.  No!  The most wonderful time of the year is….Committee Time!

The Committee on Admissions reviewing fall 2012 applications will meet for the first time today.  The meeting kicks off the part of the year when most (all?) admissions staffers agree we’re doing our most interesting work.  We have three returning student Committee members who will help us train the five new students and three new professors.  The Committee’s task is the same each year, but every group has its own vibe and I’m looking forward to learning what this one is all about.

Time to grab my coffee and head over to the meeting.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Posted by Jessica Daniels on 09 Dec 2011 No Comments »

I don’t usually have a chance to take a full day to read applications at home during our Early Notification review, so today is my lucky day.  All the stars aligned:  a calendar free of appointments and a big box of applications needing attention.  My slippers are on and I’m ready to read!

Posted by Jessica Daniels on 01 Dec 2011 2 Comments »

I love Thanksgiving, and I always appreciate the extra long holiday weekend.  But meeting our Early Notification goals means reading applications at some point before Monday.  I have a couple of dozen applications — enough to need some time and focus, but not as many as I’ll bring home on a typical February weekend.  So I’ll probably read a few tonight.  Maybe a few tomorrow, while we’re waiting for my cousins to arrive.  The rest?  Well, knowing myself, I predict that Sunday will be organized around application reading.

But first the holiday.  I’ll spend this afternoon baking more than is reasonable, which will put me in a Thanksgiving frame of mind.  I’m trying a new pumpkin pie recipe, as well as some old favorites.  Paul will demonstrate his expertise with stuffing and I’ll cook up the sweet potatoes.  Tomorrow morning, I’ll pursue one of my favorite pre-meal traditions and take a walk.  I live in a busy neighborhood, and I enjoy the quiet that comes when nearly everyone is inside preparing or socializing.  Around 4:00, a cousin who lives locally will arrive at our house with a turkey and everything else that goes with it.  Our annual ritual of food, family, and friends.

Wherever you are, and whatever your holiday traditions may be (or even if you didn’t realize the U.S. is celebrating a holiday this week), I wish you a happy Thanksgiving!

(Please note that the Admissions Office will be closed from Thursday through Sunday.)

Posted by Jessica Daniels on 23 Nov 2011 No Comments »

I’m still having trouble believing that October is over, so imagine my surprise that the first application deadline for September 2012 admission is tomorrow!  Our newly selected student members of the Admissions Committee are already busy reading files, grabbing two last week and two today — a pace that will soon be unsustainably (laughably) slow.  (I think they know that, but we’re glad to allow them to breathe for a few days more.)  Time for me to get going, too!

For the majority of you who have not yet submitted your EN application, it’s not too late to avoid running up against the precise deadline of Tuesday, November 15, 11:59 p.m. EST (GMT -5).  Submit your application today, and you can pat yourself on the head that you were early.  Note that the piece that must arrive by the deadline is your online application.  It’s preferred that your recommendations, transcripts, and test scores arrive by tomorrow, too, but please don’t hold your application simply because your professor hasn’t zapped through a letter.

Once you’ve submitted your part of the total file, you can monitor our work through the Graduate Application Management System (find details here).  Fortunately for you ENers, we’ll receive a very manageable number of applications tomorrow, and we can compile files much more quickly than in January.  In fact, the whole turnaround for the EN process is super rapid.  You’ll hear from us well before the end of December (exact date still TBD).

Finally, the decision options for Early Notification fall in three groups.  We may choose to admit applicants (occasionally with a condition, such as additional foreign language study); to defer the decision to the spring, when we’ll look at the application in the context of the larger pile; or to deny.  Last year was the first year we denied some applicants and, while I appreciate how disappointing this is, we believe it’s better for the applicant to have clear information that can be used in deciding which other schools to apply to in January.

Posted by Jessica Daniels on 14 Nov 2011 No Comments »