Consult Christine: What’s in a Name?

What’s in a name?  A lot, if you are on the receiving end of thousands of transcripts, emails, and applications every year!  For this week’s blog post, I want to focus on the importance of name consistency with your application.

Your name is your own.  It is what distinguishes you from everyone else.  It has special family meaning.  It is your legacy.  It is also what ties all your application materials together into one nice package.  Therefore, it is important that you keep your name consistent for all parts of the application.

Starting with email correspondence to the office in your early stages of graduate school inquiries, make sure to include your full name as it will appear on the application.  Then when taking the GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, etc., please use the same name format you will on your application.  This is very important, and saves a lot of confusion when it comes to processing applications, and that is good news for both you and us.  Finally, on the application itself, continue to use the same name.  When we go to pull your materials together, it will make me and all our student interns infinitely happier if we have all your items together!

In addition to people who use different versions of their name in different settings, there are also people who changed their name (usually due to marriage) in the years between their undergraduate studies and their Fletcher application.  If you’re one of them, please make us aware of the name change!

So while I may want to go by “Chris” or “Tine” (I don’t) in my informal correspondence, when it comes to formal graduate school applications, I will stick with my given name.

If you’re unsure what to do, just remember to keep it consistent!

For name-related questions and other queries, email us or call us at +1.617.627.3040.