Putting it All Together

1. Putting it All Together Deciding, Notifying and Celebrating Identifying “Next-Steps”

2. 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

3. 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 Once an offer is extended, it cannot be withdrawn prior to April 15th so you do not need to decide at that time.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: • I’m thrilled • I don’t expect it will take me long to decide, but you will be the first to know when I have made my decisionHow can I best reach you? (e.g., phone, email?) • Will I be receiving a written offer ?

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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”

7. 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

8. Decision-Making: Two Cautions • #2. Try not to hold more than one offer at a time. Rank- order 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!

9. Notifying: Protocol • Notification of declinations-phone call or email • Notification of Acceptance-phone call or email-written acceptance

10. Celebrating Only 4% of adults in the U.S. have graduate degrees, so congratulations! Take time to acknowledge those who have helped you along the way- family, friends, and faculty You may well turn to these same people in the future for further support, recommendations or help

11. Next Steps Locate where you currently are at in your graduate school preparation Identify addition steps that you can take at this time to further prepare yourself for graduate study or graduate application 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.

15. Next Steps You don’t need to do everything to do everything you need 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! Good Luck in your preparation and application to graduate schools!