Rejection Letters

[JLM28]

In general, do programs send out rejection letters throughout the application cycle? Or do most save up all applications in certain piles (interview, reject, wait list) and send out notifications all at once? I realize every school is different, but for those of us currently playing the waiting game, I was curious if anyone had some insight. Thanks in advance!

[UGoLong]

Where I work, we accept, waitlist, or reject. The acceptances and rejects happen early, I believe, and the waitlist "waits" for a least a while before the students find out.

[JLM28]

I guess what I mean is do programs wait to send out rejection letters until the application deadline? Or do they send them out on a rolling basis as the apps come in?

[MT2PA]

Both.  It does depend on the school.  Some will reject you as soon as they see your app if they know they won't be interviewing you.  Some will hold on to your app in case they maybe decide to interview you later and then reject.  Others still will wait until the class is full and all acceptances have been confirmed and then reject even if you never heard about an interview.  

 

You could be getting rejections for the next 12 months depending on the program.  There is no 'general' or 'most' on this topic.  With nearly 200 programs, it's probably spread out evenly among the  options.

[JLM28]

Thank you for the response!!!

[optimistic3]

It can go either way depending on the school. I got my first rejection email last year in November. Other schools waited until the end of the cycle.