COMMANDO TACTICS WHILE WAITING: 

Section 5 of the Online Guidebook  [ return to the table of contents ]

Okay, so you've sent your applications in, and you know you got them there by the deadline because you sent them second-day air at least four days before they were due, $3 being a small price to guarantee such internal serenity and peace of mind, after all. Or, you sent them next day air because you were too lazy to save yourself $11 by sending them in any earlier. Or -- and this is really hard to believe, but theoretically plausible -- you sent them in several weeks before they were due, and spoke with Ms. Beeswick (writing down name, date, and time in a special diary...) at the admissions office who assured you that they had arrived in fine shape, and aren't you a darling for being so prompt and considerate of her time constraints? (Yuck...) 

Now what? 

This is where, again, many graduate applicants fall into the fateful Undergraduate Admissions mode of thinking. They sit down and wait politely and worry where they might get in and think "oh, won't it be great if any one of them accepts me?" One word: wrong. 

Yes, it's true, many people get accepted exactly this way. In fact, probably the vast majority do. Few people think to act differently. And you may not want to act differently. But I would suggest that you consider -- just consider -- other ways of keeping busy during this graduate admissions "void."

Contact Your Recommenders: The people who have recommended you would love to hear from you. Why don't you call, visit, or write them a letter? Tell them where you finally applied, what fellowships you've discovered, and how the whole thing went (very well, I would expect, with the amount of planning you did). Of course you're going to contact them again after the admissions letters start trickling in, but at least they will be appraised of the current situation. And they may even be willing to help you a little further, if the urgent need should arise. Certainly don't forget them at this critical stage. 

Call Politely To Inquire: Unless you received a postcard stating that everything in your file was completed, you should call the admissions offices to make sure that there are no lingering problems with your application packet. Especially if they informed you that something was missing, you'll need to follow up later by asking whether the additional forms ("Sent out on this date: ___________") have been received at their office. Call it peace-of-mind insurance or whatever, but call. 

Visit Schools: This is a terrific time to travel. You're bored and nervous, they're currently looking over your application, and meeting each other now may be just the thing to dispel any questions or doubts either you or the program might have. Moreover, by making your name and face familiar to them, you will gain a qualitative advantage over other candidates. Just as in politics, name recognition is half the battle; the more familiar they are with you, and the more they connect that name to a living, breathing person, the better off you are. 

Get On The 'Net: You're not alone, and the Internet will prove it. Right about this time newsgroups like "soc.college.grad" and "soc.college.gradinfo" start blooming with information and questions and worried remarks from people just like you. Ask around to see whether School X has sent any acceptance letters yet, or if the fellowship from the National Piscatological Society seems as fishy to other folks as it does to you. You'll probably also hear the lamentations of exemplary students with 4.1 GPA's (due to their double A+ in Theoretical Astrophysics) discuss how they were denied admission even to Drunken State University because they had failed to fold their forms into correct thirds. Ignore them, they're either liars or idiots -- everyone knows you don't fold application forms, they go in big manila envelopes! 

Don't Expect A Reply Until Late: It's probably better to fool yourself into believing that acceptance letters won't be coming out until at least two weeks after the admissions office say they will. Thus, when they arrive seven weeks late (as typical), you'll only have spent five anxious weeks of peering inside an empty mailbox. And although the temptation is great, you may find that you are better off not harassing the admissions office every day, or screaming at the office personnel: "What the hell would you have done if MY stuff had arrived seven weeks late!?" This strategy, as natural as it seems, tends quite often to backfire. 

Call Politely Again: It is okay, however, to make one or two brief calls to the admissions offices, gently reminding them of your continuing interest in the program. You may also wonder openly about the current status of your file, the number of applications received, or how many acceptance/denial letters have already gone out, or other such things. They may not answer directly, but hey, you're just being friendly, right? 

Send An Additional Recommendation: Now we are getting into some more serious measures. While it is generally wise to stay within the proscribed limits as far as recommendations and essay lengths are concerned, you may decide that your application could use a little lift and that, with a certain amount of tact, you might help it by sending along an additional recommendation. Tell them, for instance, that you originally had intended to include this recommendation but that it had arrived late, and you were sending it along now whether they would could use it or not. Of course, this is only one possible scenario, but your general strategy is clear: show an abiding interest in their program, offer additional resources for their decision-making, and subtly provide another reason for them to learn your name. Slightly risky, yes, but not much. The worst they can do is not read the recommendation, and you will have openly recognized that option unassumingly. Again, this is not a conventional strategy, but it is indicative of the opportunity to be both creative and persistent in your efforts, however you decide necessary, and to follow through to the end. 

Send a Letter: Unorthodox but surprisingly low-risk strategy is the idea of contacting graduate programs after applications have been sent. Perhaps you worry that you have created a mistaken impression of your interests or strengths, or fear that successive denials threaten your chances for admission at all. For whatever reason, you may decide to send a letter to the remaining schools to reinforce your interest and to reacquaint them with you. Tell them if they're #1 (conveniently forgetting, of course, to tell them that they're the only program left!) or let them know that you've just received a private fellowship offer (whereas money may not "talk" in the graduate admissions process, it certainly grunts pretty audibly). Professional journals, Internet newsgroups, and ongoing conversations with your recommenders also may provide excuses for letterwriting. Whatever the source, the purpose again is to separate you from the crowd, increase familiarity with your name, and demonstrate your particular interest and knowledge of their program -- all worthwhile causes. 

Recommenders' Aid: As an interpersonal process, why not recognize any potential aid your recommenders might provide? If one of them should happen to know certain faculty members or be an alumnus/a at the school in question, they may be able to aid your application in a personal way. Yes, this sounds like a covert action, but it isn't. Think if you were in the process of hiring someone, and a friend called to say he/she knew one of the applicants to be a fantastic worker, despite a relatively standard résumé. Would you feel more confident in hiring that person? Certainly. Likewise there is nothing wrong in allowing other people to say nice things about you, as long as they do so willingly. The only thing that is difficult is finding a tactful way of asking for such a favor. I can only say this: the more concerned you are, the easier the asking will become. 

Truly Desperate Suggestions: These two are added only to give you an idea of other guidebooks' somewhat amazing and rather blunt advice. I endorse neither of them, but I'd love to hear if either one actually works... 

The most overt strategy, perhaps, is to buy one's way into a program or school with a very large donation, perhaps through the generosity of a parent. This opportunity is available to few applicants and is difficult to document. Those few applicants in a situation to pursue such an approach presumably do not need further advice on the topic. 

Or this little gem.... 

A final high risk alternative is to use connections you may have with university administrators or other heavies. This essentially means arm twisting rather than persuasion.

Apply To Lesser Schools: If you are honestly worried about your chances of getting in anywhere, a quick dash back to Peterson's might be in order. You might have eliminated this by including a Stone Age primitive, basic type of safety school from the very beginning, but this is no time for self-recrimination. Go ahead and complete the application for two such safety schools now. You can decide later whether you're better off, A) with no degree, or B) waiting until next year's round of applications. It'll be nice in any case to have a choice in the matter, and not have the decision thrust upon you unwillingly.