Comments on: A Quick Tip for Applying to Grad School

By: applying

applying — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:21:55 +0000

Wow. Just wow.

By: Julianne

Julianne — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:13:43 +0000

applying — I think you’re safe. The student could be heard in the background.

By: The AstroDyke

The AstroDyke — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:55:45 +0000

Wait till the helicopter parents start calling about grant proposals.

By: applying

applying — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 07:36:57 +0000

I am applying to your department, and I was talking to my mom about it the other day.

I don’t think she would, but suddenly I’m filled with a cold dread……

By: ts

ts — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:32:23 +0000

Maybe one of my parents calling you wasn’t enough. If both my parents called, it would’ve looked more serious. Yeah, really serious.

By: jackd

jackd — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:52:38 +0000

Jeff @9 – is this any worse than calling the alumni foundation and implying that a donation might be doubled if things go a certain way wink wink?

Different norms apply. Alumni associations and university foundations and the like exist to raise money from the public, so a member of the public calling about a money situation is not, in and of itself, utterly inappropriate. (The offer of money for a hiring decision is wrong, of course.) An unsolicited call to a department’s grad admissions office is pretty much only appropriate for an applicant.

By: Count Iblis

Count Iblis — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:53:31 +0000

So, who called? A colleague of Julianne?

By: pipa

pipa — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:33:05 +0000

**Parents negotiating startup packages for assistant professors?**

Rien — Spouses do that sometimes . I have heard one such apocryphal story…

By: Sili

Sili — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:58:45 +0000

Ouch.

By: Kevin H. (aka Ultra-heli parent)

Kevin H. (aka Ultra-heli parent) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:34:56 +0000

Jeez, Berkeley? Total safety school

I feel it’s best to send messages like these to ALL universities early on… This does occasionally present a problem when the crazies (Bob Jones University, who ironically like to be called BJU, and Liberty University) actually want to meet with you.