Vanderbilt considering interest in an unfinished PhD application

<p>Today, I received an email from Vanderbilt saying that they have received my application even though I haven't submitted it. Admittedly, it was almost completed but I chose to exclude from consideration all three recommenders (which, btw, wrote recs to all 11 I chose to actually apply to) as a sign of withdrawal, hence not submitting it.</p>

<p>
[Quote]
</p>

<p>Dear students, (bcc to all applicants)</p>

<p>Thank you for your interest in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University.</p>

<p>This email is to acknowledge that your application to the Vanderbilt University PhD Physics program has been received and is being reviewed. </p>

<p>My name is Don Pickert and I am the Administrative Assistant to the Physics & Astronomy Graduate Program Committee. (GPC)</p>

<p>If you should need any help with your application or have any questions regarding it, you may contact me.</p>

<p>If any items are missing from your application or if the GPC needs additional information from you, we will contact you.</p>

<p>

[/Quote]
</p>

<p>So how could Vanderbilt receive my application when I didn't actually submit it? How often do situations like these arise?</p>

<p>If the end result is getting a free rejection letter in Vanderbilt's letterhead (if only because of missing recs), then so be it. I must admit, however, that, for Vanderbilt's physics dept to be willing to consider an incomplete application with recs missing, there must be at least one of the following at work:</p>

<ul>
<li>Desperate to take me (and likely with an UGF to boot) and then there had to be a few elements that caught their attention</li>
<li>Have an otherwise incredibly shallow or poor applicant pool</li>
<li>Not weigh recs much</li>
</ul>

<p>They are simply “squaring up the edges.” If you were a bit out of touch with reality, shall we say, and they never accepted or denied your application, you could cause a headache for them. You could say submittal of references are out of your control- why were you not notified so that you could rectify this? The school could have to devote resources, if you were not quite “with it”, to dealing with you. Perhaps it is easier just to shoot out an email to all who begin the process.</p>

<p>This is done by many schools. You are procedurally an applicant when you have turned in a partial application. That way, you are followed all the way to the end, and not left hanging at any point. Schools even go so far as to calculate you as an “applicant” (though you have zero chance of admittance) in their acceptance percentage calculations.</p>

<p>They do it as cheap insurance. You have to be included in some process until the end of the cycle, in order not to be lost in their system. I agree with you, or at least what I infer from your post, that it would be just as easy to send a letter saying that you will not be considered for admission this cycle because, as of the deadline, you had not submitted a complete application package. That makes more sense to me.</p>

<p>If you apply during a later year, are you now supposed to check “yes” in the “Have you ever applied for admission to Vanderbilt in the past?” box?</p>

<p>I would not worry too much about it.</p>

<p>I just re-instated the recommenders and submitted…</p>

Suppose that I would like Bob Scherrer (the very connection at Vanderbilt my supervisor have and the reason why I applied to Vanderbilt in the first place) as much as I would Adam Martin (at Notre Dame) as far as research is concerned. It’s a little premature to assume I would get in at Vanderbilt but I think it’s realistic.

I have already considered that both the social scene and the weather are vastly different between Vanderbilt and ND (weather is approximately the same at ND as it is at home and at Minnesota). But here’s the first big question: one has to wonder whether Nashville is livable on $20k/year on year 1 (and $24k/year in later years)…

Knowing that, under the stipulations of a F-1 visa, I have to return home unless I find a job (postdoc or otherwise) in the US during the grace period, here’s the big question #2: which one enjoys a better reputation in Canada, Vanderbilt or ND?

I think you are posting too much personally identifiable information on a publicly searchable website that could impact your graduate career. But to answer the question, if you will be looking for a faculty position, what will matter far more is the productivity and impact of your graduate and especially postdoctoral work on your field of interest.