1. Deciding, Notifying and Celebrating
2. Identifying “Next-Steps”
Deciding: Following the Interview
 Continue any substantive email contact with
faculty, but do not inquire about
admission status
 No news is good news
 You will hear one of three things
-acceptance
-rejection
-alternate status/waiting list
Deciding: What to do if Accepted
 Acceptances are often made by phone. Once an offer is
extended, it cannot be withdrawn prior to April 15th so
you do not need to decide at that time.
 Be polite and say three things:
1. I’m thrilled
2. I don’t expect it will take me long to decide,
but you will be the first to know when I have
made my decision
How can I best reach you? (e.g., phone, email?)
3. Will I be receiving a written offer ?
Deciding: What to Do if Accepted
 You need to see the formal letter of offer before
accepting. It will carry specific terms, including
funding, tuition waivers, etc.
 This information is too much and too
confusing for a phone call and the faculty
member may not know all of the details
at that time
Deciding: What to Do if Rejected
 Thank you
 Reappraisal
-look at yourself
-other programs
-other fields
 Consider Master’s degree first
 Consider a year further year of
preparation before reapplying
Deciding: If Wait-Listed
 Ask how their waiting-list works, where you are on the
list and whether they can estimate your chances of
being extended an offer (yield rate)
 If high on the list , wait - a lot happens in the closing
few days
 As many people will wind up enrolling in a given
graduate program from the waiting list as from the
“top group” in any given year
 wait for your top programs to come
through before committing so that you
do not wind up with “buyer’s remorse”
Deciding: Two Cautions

#1 Never decide on the basis of stipend amount.
Differences among stipends can be more than
compensated for by cost-of-living differences, by
first-year starting salaries, by tuition differences, etc.

loans are relatively low-cost with deferred payment

looking back 10 or 15 years from now, you will never
think twice about having earned less on a
stipend at your top choice, whereas you may
always wonder the other way around
Decision-Making: Two Cautions

#2. Try not to hold more than one offer at a time. Rankorder your programs and release any lower ones after
you receive a written offer from a higher program. This
prevents gridlock for programs and overload for you.
Don’t collect all of your offers before trying
to decide which one to accept!
Notifying: Protocol


Notification of declinations
-phone call or email
Notification of Acceptance
-phone call or email
-written acceptance
Only 4% of adults in the U.S. have graduate
degrees, so congratulations!
2. Take time to acknowledge those who have helped
you along the way- family, friends, and faculty
3. You may well turn to these same people
in the future for further support,
recommendations or help
1.
Locate where you currently are at in your
graduate school preparation
2. Identify addition steps that you can take
at this time to further prepare yourself for
graduate study or graduate application
3. Make a commitment to “think outside your GPA”
and start acting like a graduate student.
Get involved. Take responsibility for
your learning. And accrue distinctive
experience outside of the classroom.
1.
You don’t need to do everything
to do everything you need
2. Start somewhere and do something.
The difference between nothing and something
is infinite; the difference between something
and something more is finite.
So you can make an infinite
difference by doing anything!
3. Good Luck in your preparation and
application to graduate schools!
1.