School with the most annoying application procedure

Forum for the GRE subject test in mathematics.
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CoxZucker_Machine
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2012 11:38 am

School with the most annoying application procedure

Post by CoxZucker_Machine » Fri Nov 23, 2012 2:37 pm

Let's complain about the useless forms and documents that we need to go fill out when applying for a math PhD! Which school has the most annoying online application system?

My vote is for Berkeley. The system literally has 28 application sections. Personal History Statement? "Please describe how your personal background and experiences inform your decision to pursue a graduate degree. In this section, you may also include any relevant information on how you have overcome barriers to access higher education...etc" What is this BS. Also, goddammit I hate how we have to fill out the list of all courses we've ever taken with the textbook information manually for every single school. It would be so much easier if we could just put all that info in one pdf file and then attach it to every application. The only good thing Berkeley has going for it is that you don't have to mail official copies of your transcripts until after you're accepted. UCLA stills requires this which is so annoying.

We might as well get used to it though. I have a feeling that as mathematicians you have to fill out even longer forms for funding applications...

math_stu
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:05 pm

Re: School with the most annoying application procedure

Post by math_stu » Fri Nov 23, 2012 3:04 pm

can you please write which places did you see that require

" we have to fill out the list of all courses we've ever taken with the textbook information manually for every single school."

I saw that MIT requires that. What are the other places?

math_applicant
Posts: 157
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:15 pm

Re: School with the most annoying application procedure

Post by math_applicant » Fri Nov 23, 2012 3:37 pm

math_stu wrote:can you please write which places did you see that require

" we have to fill out the list of all courses we've ever taken with the textbook information manually for every single school."

I saw that MIT requires that. What are the other places?
I found Michigan, UW-Madison and Stony Brook require that. I also got the feeling that this info has to be available in one form or another for other applications. I think it's recommended that u upload an additional pdf with the info even if its not required unless u come from a big known school where no one will doubt what a first course in topology could mean :D

speaking of annoying: Michigan asks for a form to be filled and enclosed with the mailed official transcripts, for the love of god, how is this even possible if the whole point of mailing official transcripts is that students won't have access to them !!

Another annoying application is UW-Madison, u have to provide the list of courses as a comma separated file in a specific format.

TheYoungin
Posts: 39
Joined: Mon May 30, 2011 10:18 pm

Re: School with the most annoying application procedure

Post by TheYoungin » Fri Nov 23, 2012 3:46 pm

"speaking of annoying: Michigan asks for a form to be filled and enclosed with the mailed official transcripts, for the love of god, how is this even possible if the whole point of mailing official transcripts is that students won't have access to them !!"

Where does it say this?

marco
Posts: 263
Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:27 am

Re: School with the most annoying application procedure

Post by marco » Fri Nov 23, 2012 3:50 pm

The only annoying thing I have encountered is the sending official transcripts thing. Millions of schools are okay with them being submitted online so why not follow their lead? This requirement is going to potentially preclude from applying to some schools I really would have liked to get into because I (stupidly) only asked for one transcript when I had the chance at my school because I thought all schools only required them to be submitted online :cry: .

math_applicant
Posts: 157
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:15 pm

Re: School with the most annoying application procedure

Post by math_applicant » Fri Nov 23, 2012 3:54 pm

TheYoungin wrote:"speaking of annoying: Michigan asks for a form to be filled and enclosed with the mailed official transcripts, for the love of god, how is this even possible if the whole point of mailing official transcripts is that students won't have access to them !!"

Where does it say this?
if u request a Michigan ID on the application u will be emailed a confirmation mail along with the form , that's one more annoying part is that it's not written anywhere

TheYoungin
Posts: 39
Joined: Mon May 30, 2011 10:18 pm

Re: School with the most annoying application procedure

Post by TheYoungin » Fri Nov 23, 2012 3:58 pm

"if u request a Michigan ID on the application u will be emailed a confirmation mail along with the form , that's one more annoying part is that it's not written anywhere"

Oh no wonder...I didn't request a Michigan ID. Do you know if that's a necessary part of the application?

math_applicant
Posts: 157
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:15 pm

Re: School with the most annoying application procedure

Post by math_applicant » Fri Nov 23, 2012 4:07 pm

TheYoungin wrote:"if u request a Michigan ID on the application u will be emailed a confirmation mail along with the form , that's one more annoying part is that it's not written anywhere"

Oh no wonder...I didn't request a Michigan ID. Do you know if that's a necessary part of the application?
I think its optional. Even the form itself is optional. There was no help available for it so I just clicked to see what happens. I think it helps bringing compiling ur material easily, especially that schools have to match mailed paper transcripts with online applications and test scores and sometimes ppl have different last names in different places and so on.

Since you are a fellow michigan applicant :D , would u mind sharing ur experience with the SOP, like do u have particular research interests within the department ?

mindreader
Posts: 90
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2012 11:12 am

Re: School with the most annoying application procedure

Post by mindreader » Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:42 pm

TheYoungin wrote:"if u request a Michigan ID on the application u will be emailed a confirmation mail along with the form , that's one more annoying part is that it's not written anywhere"

Oh no wonder...I didn't request a Michigan ID. Do you know if that's a necessary part of the application?

It would expedite the process. The instructions can be found on the website. They mention that the UM ID will be e-mailed in approximately 10 days but I didn't get mine after waiting for 15 days or so. I decided to e-mail them instead and they were very prompt!

Legendre
Posts: 217
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2009 1:05 am

Re: School with the most annoying application procedure

Post by Legendre » Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:08 pm

1) Listing titles of relevant courses taken and their grades, both of which must be exactly copied from official transcripts. ---> Why not just look at my transcripts?!

2) Converting my UK grades to US GPA using their system. ---> I graduated valedictorian (top of all graduating students that year) but according to an application system's conversion my GPA is 3.2/4.0 lol?!

But to be fair, the online application system was probably done by the IT department and not the admission committee. During the last application cycle, I get the feeling that they might not care very much about the online form because I ignored some of the rules/procedure stated online and no one cared during the interview.



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