Applying to graduate school can be stressful for anyone. But you spent the hours putting together the perfect application package – a well-written statement of purpose, clearly scanned transcripts, etc. – and you've successfully submitted your application. Congratulations!
But wait – the process isn’t over yet. Here is a look at what happens to your application once you submit it for review:
- Confirmation of Application Materials: Once you submit your application, you want to make sure that you attached everything that we need. You can log in to your application portal at any time to review your application status. If you notice that something is missing, email the materials to engineering@gwu.edu and we can attach them to your application for you.
- Admissions committee review: We now have all your materials and your application is complete, great! Now it is time for the initial review process. Master's program applications first go to our admissions committee, which will conduct a preliminary review before it goes to the department for final review and decision. PhD applications go straight to the department for a final consideration after all materials have been received.
- Materials review: If we notice any materials still missing from your application, we will notify you via email as soon as possible.
- Final departmental review: At this point, the department holistically reviews your application, meaning they will take a close look at all of materials that you submitted into consideration. Why is this positive? If you had one semester in your undergraduate program where your GPA was low, but you have good letters of recommendation and strong GRE scores, these can boost your application even with a low GPA.
- Student notification: Once the department has made the final decision on your application, our admissions team is notified and we send you the decision through an admissions letter in PDF form. You should receive an email notification indicating that a decision has been made. At this point, simply log back into your application portal to view your decision. If accepted, you will move into the next stages which may look slightly different depending if you are a domestic or international student.
And you’re all done! If at any point you have questions or just want to check your application status, please feel free to email engineering@gwu.edu. We are more than willing to assist you in any way possible.
Forrest Buck is the Graduate Recruiting & Admissions Associate at GWU's School of Engineering & Applied Science.
