FAQ

On this page we have listed some of our frequently asked questions. If you have a question that is not addressed here please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Sections on this page:

Applications

When should we open and close our application?

Graduate Admissions does not currently have any guidelines regarding opening and closing applications. Ultimately each department should determine what is the best timeline for them. Please be sure you allow for adequate time for nominees to be processed by admissions and make their decision on their offer letter.

Can we reopen an application after the original closing date has passed?

Yes. Please email your evaluator with the major code, degree type, and entry term you would like to open, along with a new closing date. (Note that we prefer to open/close applications on Wednesday in case any issues arise where troubleshooting is necessary.)

What sections of the application are required for applicants to fill out?

We expect all applicants to fill out the entire application as completely and accurately as possible. Please do not advise any applicants that they can skip sections of the application. When applicants skip questions on the application, the Admissions team has to look up the information or contact the applicant to ask for the information. This creates extra work for the Admissions team and delays the processing of nominations. Common examples include: current UCSD students who do not enter their PID on their application; applicants who only list their most recent school and not the rest of their Academic History; applicants who do not enter their expected degree or expected date of degree conferral. Please instruct all of your applicants to fill out the entire application as completely as possible.

Readmission

How do I determine if an applicant is a Readmit?

If the applicant attended UCSD (excluding School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy, or Division of Extended Studies) as a graduate student, they are considered a Readmit. Readmit applicants are instructed to contact the department they’re applying to before submitting their application.

How can we review applications & materials for Readmits?

If you would like to review the application materials for a Readmit applicant:

1. Ask the applicant to complete the entire application but not submit it.

2. When they have completed the application, contact your Admissions evaluator; we will manually submit the application and move it to the Department Review 1 bin. This will allow the department to review the application without requiring the student to pay the application fee.

3. After your review, if the department would like to Deny the applicant, move the application to the “Deny” bin as normal. If the department would like to Admit the applicant, move the application to the “Outcome - Readmit” bin and proceed to file the appropriate forms with our Academic Affairs Unit (AAU).

For further information on Readmission, see the AAU page concerning Readmission.

How do I nominate a Readmit applicant?

If you would like to nominate a Readmit applicant, please move their application into the “Outcome - Readmit” bin and proceed to file the appropriate forms with our Academic Affairs Unit (see Readmission for details). You will not need to nominate these applicants through Slate. These applicants are not processed by our team at Admissions, so please be sure to direct all your Readmission inquiries to your Graduate Academic Affairs contact.

Nominations

How long will it take for Admissions to process our nominations?

During peak times, please allow your evaluator up to 12 business days to process your nominations. Please note that this is an internal timeline between GEPA and departments only; we ask that you do not share this timeline with your nominees, as their actual processing time may be much longer if there are any issues with their application.

How does Admissions determine which applicants are exempt from the English Language Proficiency Exam requirements?

International applicants are exempt from this requirement if they received a degree from an accredited institution where the sole language of instruction was English. We verify the language of instruction using WHED.net.

Letters of Exception (LOEs)

How does Admissions determine when a Letter of Exception (LOE) is required for a nominated applicant?

Admissions will request an LOE for any nominated applicant does not meet one of our requirements for admission. The most common LOEs we request are for:

• Applicants whose undergraduate degree GPA was below 3.0 (or below a B-average).

• Applicants who received a three-year bachelor’s degree.

• International applicants whose English Language Proficiency Exam scores are below the required minimum for admission.

• Applicants who are applying for a degree program that is equivalent to a degree they already hold from another institution (Duplication of Degree).

• Applicants who would be enrolled at another institution during their prospective entry term at UCSD (Concurrent Enrollment).

How do I complete an LOE?

In most cases you should complete an LOE by submitting the LOE Form through the Reader. For a step-by-step guide on how to complete the form, see LOE Forms.

In rare cases, you may need to submit an LOE to GEPA in PDF format on official UCSD letterhead. These LOEs are not submitted through the Reader because they will be forwarded to the Graduate Council for approval, rather than approved at GEPA. The most common situations that call for this are LOEs regarding Duplication of Degree or Concurrent Enrollment. Your evaluator will inform you when an LOE needs to be emailed to them directly rather than submitted through the LOE form in Slate.

What information do I need to include on an LOE?

The LOE Form asks you to share the factors that favor a nominee for admission and explain how the department will support the nominee during the program. Be specific and detailed with your responses. Further guidance is available at LOE Forms | Guidelines for LOE Form Responses.

How long will it take Admissions to process an LOE?

Once you have submitted an LOE for your nominated applicant, please allow Admissions 12 business days to review. In situations where the LOE has to be reviewed by Grad Council, this timeline may be longer. Please note that LOEs are an internal process; do not share the LOE process or this timeline with your nominated applicant.

Fellowships

How do I nominate an applicant for a Fellowship?

See our Slate guide on Fellowship Workflow Nominations - How To For Departments.

How many applicants can I nominate for Tribal Membership Initiative or UC HBCU Fellowships?

At this time there is no limit on the number of nominations.

Admitted Applicants

How long does an admitted applicant have to reply to their offer of admission?

All applicants who have an offer of financial support from the department have until April 15th to respond to their offer of admission. This is in accordance with the Council of Graduate Schools’ Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars, Fellows, Trainees and Assistants, which UCSD participates in. Messaging on the applicant portal states that the deadline for a decision is April 15th, but that some departments may have other deadlines (see Example Applicant Portal | Decision Reply Form).

Can we set a different reply-by deadline (other than April 15) for our admitted applicants?

If your department wishes to set different reply-by deadlines, you may only do so for applicants who do not have an offer of financial support. Please be sure to communicate your department’s deadline clearly with your applicants.

Does Admissions enforce the decision deadline and prevent admitted applicants from accepting offers after the deadline has passed?

No, we do not enforce deadlines and the system does not automatically cut off the Decision Reply Form after any certain date. This means that if you want to strictly enforce a reply-by deadline for your program, you will need to inform your Admissions evaluator. Once you have communicated with us about your deadline, we can query for all your admitted applicants who have not submitted the Decision Reply Form and set those decisions to “Decline” so that those applicants can no longer accept their offer of admission. Important: Please do not move applicants who did not respond to their offer of admission to the “Deny” bin.

How can I view an applicant’s decision/award letter?

Decision letters are viewable from the applicant’s Slate record, under “Decisions.” (See Navigating Records | Application for further assistance.)

Decisions

Can an admitted applicant still submit the Decision Reply Form even after the decision deadline has passed?

Yes. The system will not automatically cut off the Decision Reply Form after a certain date. This means that if you want to strictly enforce a reply-by deadline for your program, you will need to inform your Admissions evaluator. Once you have communicated with us about your deadline, we can query for all your admitted applicants who have not submitted the Decision Reply Form and set those decisions to “Decline” so that those applicants can no longer accept their offer of admission. Important: Please do not move applicants who did not respond to their offer of admission to the “Deny” bin.

What should we do about admitted applicants who did not reply to their offer of admission?

Any admitted applicants who did not complete the Decision Reply Form will be automatically assigned a “Decline” decision by Admissions during our Slate clean-up at the end of each admission cycle (usually around October). If you would like to close your decisions earlier than that, please contact your Admissions evaluator. We can query for all your admitted applicants who have not submitted the Decision Reply Form and set those decisions to “Decline” so that those applicants can no longer accept their offer of admission. Important: Please do not move applicants who did not respond to their offer of admission to the “Deny” bin.

Can you submit the decision for an applicant who notified me of their decision over email?

We do not submit decisions on behalf of individual applicants. If an applicant tells you their decision but still has an “Awaiting Decision” status on their Record, please instruct them to submit their decision on the Decision Reply Form. Any admitted applicants who do not complete the Decision Reply Form will be automatically assigned a “Decline” decision by Admissions during our Slate clean-up at the end of each admission cycle (usually around October).

Can an applicant who already accepted or declined admission go back and change their decision?

Once an applicant has submitted their Decision Reply Form, they will not be able to go back and change that decision. Any applicant who wishes to change their decision needs to notify their department. Once you have been notified by the applicant about the change, please forward the applicant’s email to your evaluator so that we can verify this change has been approved by both the applicant and the department.

Documents / Finalizing Admission

How can my student see what documents they need to submit for you to finalize their admission?

If the student logs in to their applicant portal, they will see “Your Next Step: Submit Your Pending Admission Documents.” All the documents they need to submit will be listed underneath. If Graduate Admissions has received the document but has not begun review yet, a note will be listed under the document that says “Documents received - in queue for processing.” For an example, see our Example Applicant Portal underneath “Your Next Step: Submit Your Pending Admission Documents.”

How can I see what documents my student needs to submit for you to finalize their admission?

If you look up the student’s record in Slate, you can click the Profile tab and click the “Schools” section (in the right-side column). Documents that need to be submitted to Graduate Admissions will be listed in the column “Missing Docs.” For an example, see our Navigating Records | Profile guide.

Why does my student have a Missing Docs hold from Admissions?

The deadline to submit required materials to Admissions is Friday of the fourth week of Fall quarter. After that deadline, Admissions will place a Missing Docs hold on all students who still have “Provisional” status in Slate. If you have students who have Missing Docs holds, please direct them to check their applicant portal to see what documents they are required to submit to Admissions.

Can you temporarily lift the Missing Docs hold so that my student can register for courses?

If the student is still in their first quarter, Admissions will temporarily lift a Missing Docs hold for one week at the request of the department. If the student still has not submitted their required documents in subsequent quarters, the department must submit an LOE to Admissions to have the student’s hold temporarily lifted. In this LOE, the department should confirm that they have verified the student is working with their previous institution(s) to obtain their documents. If the student has not made an effort to obtain their documents, the LOE may be denied.

Deferrals

Are students who defer admission automatically admitted to their deferred entry term?

This is up to the department. For any deferrals, you may choose to either: (1) admit the applicant for the designated deferral term without reviewing the application again during that cycle, or (2) review the application again during the designated deferral term alongside other applications for that cycle, submitting a new admit/deny decision for the deferred applicant. Please be sure to communicate your preference regarding deferrals to your evaluator.

Do deferred students need to resubmit their application/transcripts/recommendation letters?

In most cases, deferred students do not need to resubmit the application or any materials. The exception is when there is updated information on those materials – e.g., if they took a course at another institution since their initial application, they will need to submit the updated transcript.

Can an admitted applicant defer without department approval?

Admitted applicants are able to select “Defer” as one of the options on their Decision Reply Form. When they select this option, they will see information regarding our deferral policies, including that they should have permission from their department to defer. (See the Example Applicant Portal | Defer to read the complete information provided.) However, there is nothing in place that prevents an applicant from selecting this option even if they have not discussed a deferral with their department. This is why it is important for you to regularly check your “Outcome - Deferred” bin to make sure that each applicant who has deferred has done so with your knowledge and approval.

If an applicant selected “Defer” in their Decision Reply Form, but you do not wish to approve a deferral, we ask that you reach out to the applicant directly. Inform them that a deferral is not approved and that they will need to give you an Accept or Decline decision via email. Once they have informed you of their decision, please forward their email to your evaluator so that we can update their Slate & ISIS records. Note: in these situations we ask that you still allow the applicant the opportunity to Accept or Decline admission. This situation would not be considered a “Deny” as the applicant has already been offered admission. Denying at this stage would be rescinding an offer of admission, which should only be done in extremely rare circumstances.

Can an applicant who initially accepted admission go back and change their decision to defer?

Applicants who already submitted their Decision Reply Form will not be able to go back and change that decision. Any applicant who wishes to change their decision needs to notify their department. Once you have been notified by the applicant that they would like to defer, please forward the applicant’s email to your evaluator so that we can verify this change has been approved by both the applicant and the department. Note: We cannot defer students if they are already enrolled in courses; please make sure students withdraw from courses before notifying us to defer their admission.

Slate

For questions regarding Slate, please visit our Slate Guides.