Yes, admission decisions will start to be made available on the application Web site later this week. An email is sent to an applicant when their decision is ready to be viewed. Thus you will know a decision has been made when you receive an email from us.
However, not all decisions go out at one time. A file may go through several steps of review but we do not wait until 100% of the decisions are made to start posting notifications to the application site. This means some decisions will not be posted this week. If I had to guess I would say that we will have just over half of our decisions posted by the end of this week.
I will explain generally how the process works but please understand that the process is not an exact science and there are other factors that can influence when a decision goes out. Take a look at the following picture and you will notice three piles. Combined, you can consider the piles to represent a group of applicants reviewed by a portion of the Admissions Committee:
Files go out for reading and evaluation sheets are filled out by the Committee members. This allows us to divide the applications into three general categories.
Let us start with pile #1. This is the pile where those who have read the file are in agreement. These decisions can be entered in the system. Approximately 60% of files fall into this category.
Pile #2 represents those where the readers of the file did not entirely agree and they have asked for additional review by a Senior member of the Admissions Committee prior to making a final decision. Approximately 25% of applications fall into this category.
Pile #3 represents those who the readers believe should be considered for first year fellowship awards – approximately 15%. These files take longer to process because they have to go through additional rounds of meetings.
Again, this is not an exact science and decisions may not go out in this exact order, but this is generally how the process works. Thus if you do not hear from us soon, do not worry, the process can take time.
When we enter a decision into the system you will receive an email message telling you to log in to the application site to view your decision letter. Thus you will find out your decision on the application Web site.
Admitted applicants will receive a paper copy of the same letter posted on the site a number of weeks later. Applicants who are not admitted will only see the letter on the application Web site, we do not send a paper copy of letters to those who are not admitted. We also do not send a paper copy of the letter to those who are placed on the waitlist.
I hope this provides a bit of insight into the process and please wait to receive an email letting you know when you can view your decision letter on the application site. If you do not hear from us this week, do not worry, we still have quite a bit of work to do.
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