Plenty of admitting still going on
Yesterday, I dropped a tall pile of files in Laurie’s office. They were all applications heading in the admit direction. In fact, within the last week or so, I have read far more admits than denies. Sometimes that happens, and we don’t try to balance the outcome on a day-by-day or week-by-week basis: the number of admits, denies, and wait lists always works out by the end of the process.
I’m mentioning this now, because the word is seeping out that we made a small number of admission offers last week. The newly-admitted applicants, whom we now refer to as “the Febs” (for their February admission), met three characteristics:
1. They’re strong candidates, and we had no doubt that they would be admitted, regardless of the nature of still-unread applications.
2. Their applications were complete by about February 1.
3. Their applications had gone through the complete review by about February 8.
To the “Febs” out there: Congratulations on your admission, and welcome to the community!
To everyone who didn’t get an admission offer from us in February: Please focus on points 2 and 3, and don’t freak out! Take special note that your file might have been complete by January 15, and still didn’t meander its way through the complete review process before February 8. There’s a little bit of random chance involved. And, even more important, remember that the large majority of our admitted students will be notified at the end of March — not in December (through Early Notification) or in February. Take a breath, and go back to the long wait. We may have spread a little February joy, but there will still be plenty of happiness to go around in March.
Hi Pallavi,
Naturally, seeking to close one can of worms, I have opened many others. My last word on February admits is: Notification went out by email, paper mail, and the GAMS site. But…very few offers were made. So, again, if you didn’t hear from us, please don’t let that be a source of concern. Nothing has changed in that the large majority of admissions offers (Really! Two-thirds, at least!) will be made in March.
Now I’m off to this week’s Admissions Committee meeting. Plenty of admitting still be done!
Jessica
Dear Jessica,
Just wanted to know whether the decisions are put on the online system as soon as they are made? also is the final decision sent by e-mail or by post?
Thanks
Pallavi
Dear Jessica:
Yes that helps and I appreciate the candidness of you and your blog. It is the uncertainty that causes me to worry. Knowing either way is much better. Thank you!
Hi Kathleen,
I’ll tackle both your questions together. First, we really don’t use any kind of rolling admission or batch review process, so there won’t be any other admission offers before the big bunch goes out in March.
On the scholarship question, I feel like any answer I give has the potential to cause more worry. On the good news side, I can report that not a single penny has been allocated for scholarships yet. Neither the ENs nor the Febs get a scholarship decision with their admission offer. All the scholarship info goes out together in March. And…while the Febs are very solid applicants, that doesn’t mean there won’t be admitted applicants with both higher and lower merit. So I encourage you not to worry too much right now.
I hope that helps, and doesn’t further muddy the waters!
Jessica
Hi Jessica:
One more question, if those are the outstanding candidates, does that mean most of the merit scolarships have been disbursed?
Hi Jessica:
Does that mean that students are notified as soon as a decision has been made or is it “in batches?” If there a February batch, is there another one before the end of March or is that it?
It’s me, again — with apologies for an error. The LLM program did end up with a few Febs. Thanks to Peter for setting me straight.
JD
Hi Shikhar,
The Febs are MALDs, MAs, and MIBs. Whatever I wrote above applies to all three programs–far more offers of admission are still in front of us than behind us. (LLMs and PhDs are considered as a group, and all the admission offers are made together at the end of March.)
Thanks for prompting me to answer an obvious question that I had neglected.
Jessica
Hi Jessica,
Are the “Febs” only MALD applicants or does this apply to MIB applicants as well?
– Shikhar