parker09 (2022-2023)

"D" = a hold from that school.

currently abroad, so some of the dates for snail-mailed decisions will be a little late -- but i tried to note postmark dates.

no incredible softs... did very very little during undergrad. have a bit of public interest/nonprofit/NGO experience, but nothing extensive or extraordinary.

10/16 -- in at duke via email! LOVE priority track. (was "under review" for three days, now reads, "Decision made; you will be notified soon.")

11/2 -- georgetown status checker says decision rendered... (i shouldn't have put my overseas address. my parents going through my mail might be less-bad after all than waiting the additional 2-3 weeks...)

11/9 -- in at gtown via snail mail! (envelope says it was mailed 11/2. took a lot less time to get to me than I'd expected.)

11/14 -- in at michigan!!! ("decision" on status checker can log into admitted students site) EEEEEE!!!!

11/17 -- michigan AND duke (finally) admit packets! flash drive and lanyard = pretty sweet.

12/04 -- decision mailed at vandy via status checker! too bad it'll take at least 3 weeks for the mailing... hopefully they aren't rejecting yet.

12/10 -- in at BU! (they're calling today, but i'm abroad so i got an email instead.)

12/16 -- waitlisted at UVA via email. oh well. not entirely unexpected, i suppose.

12/16 -- waitlisted at Penn via email. again, not entirely unexpected, but i'm pretty bummed about this one... penn was my top realistic choice (maybe not that realistic, but definitely more within reach then H(Y)SCCN)

01/05 -- in at vandy (officially)! received the epic packet in the mail finally (though I think it arrived last week).

01/11 -- "held" via email at harvard. oh, for the love of god, just reject me already. really, i'm okay with it. i've got nothing to update you with anyway.

01/14 -- FINALLY got the BU admit packet, with a shiny $60k (total over 3yrs) scholarship, and a nice little handwritten note on my acceptance letter.

01/14 -- IN AT CHICAGO?! via email and status checker (they usually call first, but apparently not internationally). total surprise, was not expecting to break CCN.

01/25 -- in at columbia?! (via email because i'm abroad. the email says they sent the letter 1/22.) speechless. (well, except for this: take THAT, penn waitlist!) (except i would happily have gone to penn over columbia... eff.)

01/28 -- columbia admit packet! non-couriered, and postage apparently was only $5.98, so i have no idea how it got here in under a week.

02/04 -- "held" at northwestern via an email that told me to go to my status checker which made me download a pdf of the letter. NU, A HOLD IS NOT A DECISION! IS NOT IS NOT IS NOT!

02/05 -- chicago admit packet in mail. mailed 1/22, which means it didn't take AS long as it could have to arrive... nice admit letter with handwritten note, admitted students handbook, and "glass menagerie" = a facebook of sorts with a photo of EVERY member of the faculty AND student.

02/12 -- columbia admitted student handbook in mail! mailed 1/28, which means two weeks... i don't know how columbia is sending their stuff, but it's arriving here in a relatively timely manner despite not being via dhl/fedex/ups.

02/15 -- BU financial aid letter via snail mail (dated 2/4). not going to put the amount up, but i got a little in need-based grant (i'm assuming it's need-based, at least... the $60k that came with the acceptance letter is listed as "BU Law Merit Scholarship," and then there's a new amount listed as "BU Law Scholarship").

02/18 -- rejected from berkeley via email. unsurprising. never made faculty review... had just been sitting UR on status checker since 10/22.

02/19 -- found out I got $15k/yr at mich! (the letter was probably mailed ages ago but has yet to reach me-- I only found out because I was emailing financial aid people about applying for need-based aid, and they told me i was ineligible because of this merit scholarship.) yayyy! really really love mich, so this is great news.

03/08 -- (sometime in past week, because i was out of town) $60k duke scholly in mail! probably not a game-changer, but a nice gesture.
-- also, $81k at vandy via snail mail! (letter postmarked 2/26). decent chunk of money (especially for my numbers). i have a soft spot for vandy for some reason, so this will make a tough decision.

03/24 -- got an email from ucla titled "info for admitted students," so i'm going to assume that means i'm in, and conclude that they don't make international phone calls or substitute with personal emails. got an email a few hours later with need-based grant (not that much).

04/16 -- waitlisted at harvard via email. meh. don't really care either way. didn't send in a LOCI or anything since being held ages ago.

04/19 -- waitlisted at stanford via snail mail (letter dated 04/08, postmarked 04/09). this was the only school i was really waiting on. guess i'll... keep waiting. maybe.
04/19 -- oh hey, good news finally -- cls financial aid letter via email (not sure if they emailed it to me just cause i was abroad, or will be emailing everyone since it's so late in the game). pure need-based aid DOES exist, cause my numbers don't qualify me for the sneaky merit-disguised-as-need aid. if i weren't already leaning cls, this would not be a game-changing amount, but as it is, it might be a good-enough-to-rationalize-high-nyc-cost-of-living amount.

04/23 -- waitlisted at northwestern via really sneaky status-checker-pdf-letter switch (by which i mean, the formerly-a-hold pdf decision letter is now a waitlist letter, but the main status checker page is still the exact same, and there was no email or other notification).
-- also got a really nice snail mailed letter from vandy acknowledging my withdrawal last week... good form, vandy. that had been a really tough decision for me, and this just reaffirms how awesome their administration is.
-- DEPOSITED AT COLUMBIA! it was down to cls or mich, and i really think mich is a great place (and dean z sends the cutest emails), but cls might fit better with my career goals.

05/03 -- waitlisted at NYU via snail mail (dated 4/15, NOT POSTMARKED UNTIL 4/23... how long does it take to stick a letter into an envelope and mail it?!). stopped caring about this one a while ago.

...

08/30 -- so i obvi stopped updating this ages ago, but just for posterity: rejected via email from harvard&northwestern, and snail mail from stanford, in the past couple of weeks. did not send any materials or keep in contact in any way after receiving the waitlist decision in the first place (except to accept the WL spot when necessary).