<p>Hello all, I am confused and should I be excited?</p>
<p>I have just received a hand written letter from the Assistant Director of Admissions from the University of Chicago. It says something along the lines of, "thank you for your application, please know we will be in touch with you shortly, should have have any questions feel free to contact us at...blah blah". </p>
<p>Is this normal protocol? Does this mean the decision towards my acceptance is inching near?</p>
<p>Thanks for reading</p>
<p>That is strange! I would guess it is a good sign.</p>
<p>But just to keep you from getting your hopes too high (better to be pleasantly surprised than let down), I should let you know that when I applied to UChi for their undergrad program, they really yanked my chain. I got a personal call from the admissions director telling me that I was wait-listed only because they wanted to wait for my latest grades which were going to be reported soon. He made it clear that I was pretty much accepted except for this technicality. Well, I got straight A's that semester, and then I talked to him again (this time I contacted him) and he said everything was on track and I'll be the first one off the waiting list. Well, those bastards went to the waiting list and accepted a bunch of people but rejected me!! In the end, I'm glad I got rejected because I think NU ended up being a better place for me anyway. But still, that was dirty BS right there!</p>
<p>wow mind tricks to the extreme. Sorry to hear about that but it sounds like you've found a good place regardless. Thanks for the comment, I will keep that in mind</p>
<p>Means nothing. Unless ANYTHING that specifically says "been accepted in our program" or "we are sending our recommendation for your acceptance to the Graduate School", any letter between now and those FINAL decisions mean nothing.</p>
<p>i think you should double check with the school that this was really sent to you. it seems unprofessional to send a hand written letter? i've never heard of anyone getting something like that.</p>
<p>Some committees (a sort of analogue of departments) at Chicago are very hands-on. A handwritten letter would not surprise me. </p>
<p>I've had students get phone calls from potential faculty advisors. I think this is not terribly out of character for Chicago. It's old school. And a very good thing, I think.</p>
<p>That is quite nice. Take it as such. Chicago is a great school.</p>
<p>Chuck_b, yes I am sure it was written to me. They even wrote my name within the card.
Anyway, I guess I was just more curious if this is normal or abnormal for admissions. I know that the program I'm applying to has at least a few hundred-to a thousand applicants a year and to write one by hand seems tedious. In the meantime, I'll take the letter as it is, just a letter</p>
<p>And to think, I had doubts when I realized one of the schools I applied to required me to mail a check to the department. I thought that that school was so far behind the times, it made me worry about their technical infrastructure. Did they seal their letter with wax? That would have been cool too.</p>
<p>Are you sure it was handwritten and not some fancy imitation handwriting? lol Maybe the Director just has too much time on her/his hands.</p>
<p>yes, it was definitely handwritten. i know this because I could barely read the sloppy cursive. Haha</p>