Master's degree acceptance notification dates

Graduate School
1

<p>After two kids doing Undergraduate, I am feeling out of my element as my son now goes through the process of applying to grad school's. For his field, he has chosen to apply for a Masters at this time. He only applied to four schools. Unlike Undergraduate where each school has a well published date and procedure for notifying accepted students, I cannot find any such information at the graduate studies level. The following are the schools to which he submitted applications:</p>

<p>Harvard SEAS
Tufts
Northeastern College of Computer and Information Science
Boston University School of Arts and Sciences</p>

<p>For Harvard I was able to find the following:

[quote]
Key Dates
December 31 Application Due Date (by 5 p.m. EST)
Mid-December Process and review of applications
March Open house for admitted students
April Decision letters mailed
May 1 Reply date for admitted students

[/quote]

How can there be an open house for admitted students with a date earlier than the decision letters being mailed?</p>

<p>For Tufts, and NE, I cannot find anything. For BU, it states that to find out information about acceptances, the specific department of application should be contacted.</p>

<p>Is there a typical protocol for Master's? I know that PhD acceptance calls have been going out already for various schools. (Are Master's done by phone as well?)</p>

<p>Thank you for any information you can share.</p>

2

<p>Graduate admissions are decentralized and much less structured - every school and department does things their own way. The only hard and fast universal date is the April 15 Council of Graduate Schools deadline for accepting financial aid offers. Even that is only a gentlemen’s agreement and can sometimes be changed.</p>

<p>The open house date you mention suggests that admitted students will be personally notified by their professor of interest, either by phone or e-mail.</p>

<p>Yes, it’s a nerve-wracking process, never knowing how long things will take until a letter suddenly arrives…</p>

3

<p>^thanks</p>

<p>Would be so nice if it were more defined and conveyed.</p>

4

<p>Same boat here. Daughter attended an open house at Northeastern in the Bouve School of Health(?), had an interview with director of the program, and was sent an acceptance letter a few days later. Problem is they want an answer/deposit in 3 weeks. Interviews for assistantships is later in March. How can one make a decision without finances known? She’ll be communicating tomorrow about the timeline.</p>