STANFORD PHYSICS APPLICATION DEADLINE

[ThomBoh]

I'm applying to stanford physics and there's some ambiguity about their application deadline that I can't sort out.

Their web page says that "applications should be complete by the deadline, Tuesday December 17 2013".

I have an exam tomorrow morning so I wanted to try and figure out how much time I have tomorrow to finish my application, so I phoned their graduate admissions staff to ask if there was a cut-off time for applications tomorrow.

She seemed annoyed at my call, asking me what the application says (it doesn't say, which is why I was phoning) and then said that she doesn't know, and that it might even be a midnight deadline. Then she said "wait you know what? if it's a midnight deadline then maybe the deadline is tonight? at midnight on 17 is just after 11:59:59 tonight. i would submit tonight to be sure". This seemed to be a guess that she pulled out of thin air and refused to check with anyone. I find this pretty frustrating since all other schools are very clear about their deadlines and their admissions staff have all been very polite and helpful about things like this.

The wording on the website *could* possibly be interpreted to mean that the application has to go in BEFORE the 17th, but this seems unnecessarily misleading if that's what it means, since all other schools state the day on which you must submit the application and usually even give a time.

It would be extremely helpful to know if I have until tomorrow night to finish the application. Given that I can't get a straight answer out of the grad admissions secretary, I was wondering if anyone knew anything about how stanford advertises and treats its deadlines.

Thanks!

[bfollinprm]

If you get it in on the 17th, they'll look over your application. It's not like they meet on the 18th to start reviewing, professors won't see the applications until after the Christmas holiday. The 17th deadline is to give the staff time to prepare the applications before the holidays, which they won't start until at the earliest the 18th.

[ol]

When I applied to Stanford, the deadline that year was Tuesday Dec 14. They actually sent out an email that day (Dec 14) to everyone who hadn't yet submitted the application saying the deadline was midnight PST that night.

So applying that logic it would mean that you have all day tomorrow to submit your application. Of course, their policy could have changed....

[ThomBoh]

^ that's very helpful. thank you.

I don't expect that they would have changed how they do things, and I mean I figured that was definitely the most reasonable scenario since that's how most people would interpret the description of the deadline on the web site. it's just this one admin staff was a jerk about this and everything else i've ever called stanford about, and wasn't sure whether or not to take her guess that the deadline was tonight too seriously.

[Arbitrary]

There's another annoying issue with Stanford: they require you to send by snail mail two sets of official transcripts of any post secondary education you aquired. Disregarding the fact that Stanford is one of the few schools which still asks you to do this, I'm having a slight problem with them.

I've sent the two sets of transcripts by registered mail sometime in November, and USPS marked it as delivered by December 3rd. However, the Stanford online application claims the official transcripts were not recieved yet, and thus marks my application "incomplete". I wanted to send an email to verify if they recieved the transcripts, but then I noticed on their website that they expicitly tell you NOT to email them on such issues.

This is rather annoying! I already sent my application and paid the 125$ or so (also the most expensive of application fees). I do not want my application to arrive at the trash bin just because of mail issues.

[actrask]

^They haven't matched up your application with the transcripts you posted yet - don't panic.

[poel5279]

Here is another annoying thing.
My application appears "Incomplete" because they have not received TOEFL score, when their website clearly says TOEFL is waived for international students enrolled in 4 year institution at the US.

I sent them an email about this issue, and no response...

[TakeruK]

Here is another annoying thing.
My application appears "Incomplete" because they have not received TOEFL score, when their website clearly says TOEFL is waived for international students enrolled in 4 year institution at the US.

I sent them an email about this issue, and no response...

Many of the applications I filled out had the same issue even though TOEFL is also waived for me (did all of my schooling in English Canada, but it's still a foreign country!). Also English isn't my first language but it's the only one I'm fluent in. However, many applications ask "Is English your first language?" and if the answer is no, they want you to fill in language testing stuff! So I think glitches like this are common and easy to resolve--just requires a bit of emailing around! But it's not like they are going to throw out your application without checking why it says "Incomplete"

[poel5279]

Here is another annoying thing.
My application appears "Incomplete" because they have not received TOEFL score, when their website clearly says TOEFL is waived for international students enrolled in 4 year institution at the US.

I sent them an email about this issue, and no response...

Many of the applications I filled out had the same issue even though TOEFL is also waived for me (did all of my schooling in English Canada, but it's still a foreign country!). Also English isn't my first language but it's the only one I'm fluent in. However, many applications ask "Is English your first language?" and if the answer is no, they want you to fill in language testing stuff! So I think glitches like this are common and easy to resolve--just requires a bit of emailing around! But it's not like they are going to throw out your application without checking why it says "Incomplete"

Yeah, I get that. They will probably not throw it away, and there probably are people faced with similar situations.
But, it is still quite irritating.

[hermitw]

Here is another annoying thing.
My application appears "Incomplete" because they have not received TOEFL score, when their website clearly says TOEFL is waived for international students enrolled in 4 year institution at the US.

I sent them an email about this issue, and no response...

I have email the physics department and graduate school. They say toelf would be wavered and the admission committee would notice you education in english speaking institution.