I'm in! (the saga)

Catching up...

I got my transcript ordered and mailed, got access to my old college account so I could check things like my GPA and date of graduation on the unofficial transcript, estimated my 2010 income, and got my online application submitted December 28th. (I finished paying off my undergraduate student loan on the 15th, so that fell into place quite nicely.)

I then entered the anxiety-ridden doldrums of WAITING for a response. The informational email I got reminded me to check my email frequently for a status update, and then qualified
"frequently" as "as often as once a week, but not as often as every 5 minutes". How did they KNOW??


Finally, a full month after submitting my application -- entirely online, mind you -- and receiving a confirmation number at the time, I received an email that meant that some human had looked at the online application and decided it wasn't missing anything vital. However, that only meant it was marked as "Incomplete" -- because my transcript, long-posted, had not yet been matched up with it, and certainly no one had yet taken a look at it with a mind to evaluating me for admission. That would take another 6-8 weeks, the materials indicated. So... Incomplete. For the longest time. And no more emails.

I got into the habit of signing into the MySJSU website once a weekday and just checking, and then trying to forget my login credentials in between, as I didn't have permissions or access to much of anything else yet. Every time -- no messages. Status: Incomplete. I was starting to worry that maybe my transcript had gotten lost, and I wouldn't find out about it until after the document deadline.

Earlier this week, I logged in about half an hour before leaving work. No new messages. Status: Accepted - Classified Graduate!

There was no fanfare, no email, nothing. I had to double-check to see what that actually meant. The website gave me:

Accepted - Classified Graduate
You have been admitted in clear standing to the university and to your Graduate Program.
-You have no conditions or outstanding documents required.

Hooray!

I started with the Facebook announcement, of course. I'd decided earlier that I wasn't going to notify my parents that I was applying for grad school unless and until I was accepted. (This is a major step forward from "Maybe I can keep it from them until I've graduated.") So I didn't have to be super-secretive about it. One mass text to the half-dozen people I knew would cheer, and a hectic set of IMs, and I was officially launched on my way. (60 "like"s and a couple dozen comments of congratulations so far.)