After being tortured by GPA, GRE/GMAT, school selection, and essays countless times, you’ve finally transformed from a newbie into a tough survivor and reached the final stage of submitting your applications.
Although the anxiety and stress may have eased, this application battle is not yet over. Here, CheersYou（清柚教育） would like to remind everyone:
Submitting the online application is not the end of your graduate school application.
After you’ve submitted the application, you need to keep track of your application progress. At the same time, it’s important to have a general understanding of how long each step may take.
Below, CheersYou（清柚教育） has compiled for you the most time-consuming steps in the later stages of graduate application. While you’re making sure nothing is missed, be prepared to wait patiently—good things take time.
Step 1: Slow Transcript Delivery
An important step around the time of your online application is sending GRE/GMAT score reports and official (verified) undergraduate transcripts to universities, using the school code and address.
Taking GRE as an example, the ETS website indicates that score report delivery takes about five business days, and once delivered to the school, the admission office needs time to process it.
Therefore, it’s recommended that you take the test at least three weeks before the deadline, giving yourself enough buffer time for score delivery.
This year, during the special period of taking the GRE at home online, there may be delays in score delivery, so we strongly suggest finishing the test as early as possible.
At the same time, sending official electronic undergraduate transcripts or completing WES transcript verification may take even longer than usual this year.
Take undergraduate transcripts for example. Even in normal circumstances, some students find it inconvenient to apply in person after graduation. This year, with most people unable to return to campus, requesting transcripts online will be the go-to method for many students.
Normally, it takes two days for the school to receive the request, another two to three days for the school to mail it out, and an additional two to five days for the admissions office to receive it. If the school requires a paper transcript or international mailing, it could take up to ten days. This year, due to the pandemic, processing efficiency may be reduced.
For all types of transcripts, we recommend preparing and sending them in advance, so that after you submit your online application, the school will receive them right away and directly move into the review stage.
While waiting patiently, also be sure to follow up in a timely manner. If more than two weeks pass with no news, call the school first, then call ETS or your undergraduate institution to request a resend.
Step 2: Delayed Recommendation Letter Submission
Unless the school explicitly states that recommendation letters must be submitted before the deadline, generally, it is fine for professors to submit their letters within one to two weeks after the student submits the application.
However, toward the end of the semester and year, with many holidays, professors may not check their emails frequently, and late submission can happen. This semester, with primarily online teaching, professors’ inboxes may also be flooded with emails, making it easy to miss one.
You can check the submission status of recommendation letters through the university’s portal, so be sure to monitor it closely.
It’s best to inform your professors in advance about the programs you are applying to. After submitting the application, send a polite reminder email to the professor to avoid situations such as an incorrect email address that prevents them from receiving the request, or simply forgetting to submit altogether.
At the same time, if the recommendation material is missing for too long, the school will also email you as a reminder, so be sure to check your emails promptly. Every year, there are sad cases where reminder emails are automatically filtered into the spam folder by Gmail, causing the application to become invalid without any refund of the application fee.
Step 3: Unexpected Errors in the Online Application
Because different programs at different schools have different requirements, students often need to register multiple accounts to fill in application information, and mistakes can happen inadvertently.
Examples include reversing first and last names, entering the wrong birth date, or uploading a document that didn’t actually succeed but submitting without noticing.
And these accidents are not always our own fault. There are also cases where a professor submits a recommendation letter with the wrong name or phone number, or there’s a system bug on the website, causing the information to mismatch and resulting in a “silent rejection.”
Remind yourself to double-check all information before and after submitting your application. If you discover a mistake after submission, stay calm.
Once submitted, an application usually cannot be modified or deleted, so you should immediately call the admissions office. Since it may be hard to explain clearly over the phone, follow up with an email to detail the issue.
Schools are generally willing to help resolve such issues, so there’s no need to be overly anxious. Of course, it will require patience on your part.
Step 4: Long Processing Time by the Admissions Office
Generally, admission decisions are released within 6 to 8 weeks after the application is submitted. However, for many programs with December and January deadlines, many students tend to submit their applications around holidays, causing a backlog at the admissions office.
Take Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) for example, a very popular school with a large number of applicants. In a previous application cycle, we contacted their admissions office by phone and learned that application materials submitted around Christmas were sometimes still not being processed by mid-January.
Regardless of the program, the admissions office needs a certain amount of processing time. The more popular the program, the longer it may take. So it’s best to submit your application as early as possible and not let procrastination get the better of you.
At the tail end of the application season, it’s important to stay calm and be patient. Trust that all the hard work you’ve put in will pay off. We wish everyone a successful 21 Fall application season and hope you receive your dream offers!
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