<p>Wow, I don’t understand that treatment. Maybe Elizabeth can shed some light on why these things happen as opposed to applicants who are completely ignored until the big white envelope arrives. One possible explanation is that promising candidates receive letters from departments for the majors they’ve selected. My D had no idea what she wanted to major in and said so in her application, so it wasn’t possible to identify an appropriate department head/chair to send her one of those love letters. But that’s just a theory of mine.</p>