<p>Does anyone know what "referred" status means? I submitted an application to a program back in December. Once the file became complete, my application status stated "evaluation" and give the note that the application was being prepared for an academic decision. About a week or so ago, it changed from "evaluation" to "academic review" and said that the application had been sent to the department for an academic decision. Well, two days ago, it switched from "academic review" to "referred." The graduate site does not give any delineation between these categories for me to understand what "referred" status means. I have sought other ways to find out, and have mainly heard that it simply means that you have been admitted and now they are "referring" you to the graduate fellowship council so that you can be admitted with funding. However, I have been unable to verify that one way or the other. The graduate school itself will only say that the application is going through another level of review and that you should hear something soon. </p>
<p>So, again, does anyone have any familiarity with what "referred" status might actually mean?</p>
<p>Based on the way that we handle applications at my school, my PI is the graduate admissions director so I have an inside scoop, referred usually means that the specific department or program that you applied to wants you for an interview or for admission but that they need to refer your application to the graduate school admissions committee to make sure that you have or will feasibly meet the graduate school’s admissions requirements. </p>
<p>So here, the biology department reviews the apps and picks the people they want to interview and after interviews recommends certain people for placement into the program. The graduate school can still say no if that person doesn’t meet certain requirements, but in the four years I’ve been working for my PI it has never happened because if the department thinks you are a strong applicant then you have most likely fulfilled all of the requirements for the graduate school itself.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response to my inquiry. This is helpful information to me, and makes sense given that the graduate school, in any case, must approve the recommendation for admission on the part of the department.</p>