Mid-February process update

Time for an admissions process update!

Since January 10 — our first regular deadline for applications for September enrollment — your applications have been working their way through a process that goes like this:

Receive application
Check application for needed materials
Mark application as complete once all materials are received
Have a student read the application (primarily for MA, MALD, MIB)
Have a staff member read the application
Have faculty members read the application, as appropriate (more for PhDs, fewer for MALD)
Move the application to a virtual “bin,” where it waits until we release decisions.

Quite a few applications are already in their final bin, while many others (including those received by February 10) are still snaking their way through the process.  Also on the move: EN applications submitted last fall for which we deferred making a decision to this spring.  All will be reviewed again with Committee discussions as necessary.

Once we complete application review for all programs, we’ll release decisions.  For applicants offered admission, decisions will be accompanied by scholarship information.  Even applications submitted by March 1 (the final deadline for the LLM and MIB programs), will be decided on by the decision date, so long as they are complete on March 1.  We don’t yet know on which day we’ll be releasing decisions, but we always aim for the third week of March or earlier.  I’ll try to provide a date in March, once all is clear.

Whenever I take a minute to think about it, as I’m doing now, I appreciate how long the review process must feel to applicants.  Probably a good number of you are relieved to be done with your applications and to let us do the work for a while.  Others find this stretch much less relaxing.  To all of you, I just want you to know that we’re working hard on your behalf and we’re pleased with how smoothly the process has gone.  Committee discussions are respectful and are helping to shape our reading and our future class.  We still have another month or so in front of us before we’ll release decisions, but I hope it’s helpful to have a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes process.