Josef Korbel School Office of Admissions

Look at this nice picture while we review your application

josefkorbelschool — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:00:12 +0000

As of today, we have 854 applications to review. So, if the phone rings a bit longer or your emails take a few hours to receive a response, we apologize. Truth is, some of your personal statements are too engaging to put down. My favorite personal statement thus far starts out with the life the applicant wanted, juxtaposed with the life he was living as a Marine. It was totally engaging, clear and very well written. With that, I need to head back to reviewing files.

Today has been a great day with the Director of the Peace Corps, Director Aaron Williams on campus to meet with our students (he is a great speaker!). So, in an effort to distract you so I can get back to reading some personal statements, please look at this photo of Director Williams speaking to our students.

Brad Miller

Director of Graduate Admissions

The priority deadline has passed…now what?!

josefkorbelschool — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:53:38 +0000

We begin the transition from frenetic calls about tardy transcripts and absent-minded recommenders to what do I do now?

If you submitted your application and ALL supplemental documents
Well done! Likely you received an email from the Office of Graduate Studies notifying you that your application was forwarded to the Josef Korbel School. You should have also received an email from our office (Graduate Admissions) confirming receipt of your application and forwarding it to the Admissions Review Committee. While you can breathe a deep sigh of relief that the next application step is out of your control, you still have homework to do. That’s right, homework. To fill the time between now and when we will announce admissions decisions (around early March), I recommend continuing your graduate school research so when you are accepted to ALL the schools you applied to, you can make a thoroughly informed decision. Here are a few areas I recommend checking out on the Josef Korbel School site and comparing with other schools:

Current student blogs
Career and internship information
News and events
International student info
Cost of attendance, Korbel scholarships and external scholarships

If you submitted your application but have one or more documents outstanding (and therefore an incomplete application)
First things first – BREATHEEEEE. It’s ok if your degree transcript arrived at 12:01am on January 16 (which it didn’t b/c it was MLK day and NOTHING arrived that day, so really we received it on the 17). Even if we received it on the 18, 19, 20 or early next week, it is perfectly fine and we will still consider it received by the January 15 deadline and if your application is complete, the committee will evaluate you for admission AND merit scholarships. We will continue to accept applications and supplemental materials, and review completed applications until our class is filled. When will that happen? I have no idea – that’s the risk you are taking by not completing your application by the 15th.

My second recommendation: check the status of your application often, give it 8-10 business days for us to receive and process your documents and hassle those recommenders if they continue to forget to submit their letters! Keep in mind that we only need two recommendations and it takes ETS approximately 10-12 business days to submit GRE scores. Once your application is complete, refer to the section above.

With that, I will get back to reviewing applications. Let me just say – it’s such a pleasure getting to know all of you. Brad and I, along with the rest of the review committee, really enjoy this aspect of our job so thank you for all of your hard work and for being such exceptional applicants!

PS
Apparently many of you read our blog because we had very few emails and calls this Tuesday (and after the previous admissions blog). My apologies if I scared you from contact us. Please don’t hesitate to give us a ring or shoot us an email if you have any questions or concerns. However, based on the number of applications received, it seems like you are all successfully navigating the application process!

Regards,
Nicole

Nicole Vilegi-Sandage
Associate Director of Graduate Admissions
Josef Korbel School of International Studies

The Approaching “Deadline”

josefkorbelschool — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:48:35 +0000

Here are a few quick notes before this weekend’s priority application deadline. The most important thing to remember is that the University of Denver will be closed on Monday January 16th in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. As a result, the mail will be delayed, however, we consider all documents postmarked on or before January 15th as received on/before this date so don’t stress it too much. Above all, please remember that we review files after this date and until our incoming class is filled.

The phones will be ringing off the hook in our office and the Office of Graduate Studies requesting info about the status of one’s application. Please try to refrain from calling unless it’s urgent. While we love to talk to prospective students and applicants, 90% of the calls go something like this:

Applicant: I’m curious if you received my transcripts from (x) university.

Admissions office: When was your transcript sent?

Applicant: Last Thursday (January 12, today is Tuesday, January 17)

Admissions: Please keep in mind that it takes approximately 2-3 days for mail to arrive. Being that it is peak application season, once received, it will take approximately 6-8 business days to upload your document(s) to your record. You can check the status of your application online and we encourage you to do so as we try to process applications in a timely manner.

Please keep this scenario in mind as your finger touches the dial pad or Siri says, “are you sure you want to call the Josef Korbel School’s Office of Graduate Admissions again?” Between our office and the Office of Graduate Studies, we receive this type of call approximately 150 times/day). Please don’t call to confirm that number.

Simple logic:

If you:

with a question similar to the one mentioned above, then you take away precious

from us processing

and therefore, we will look like

and you look like this

because it is taking a bit longer for us to process/review your application.

We recognize this is an anxiety provoking time, however, bear with us as we enter the application review season.

If you desperately want to connect with us over the three-day weekend, check out our social media channels:
Facebook Twitter YouTube Flickr WordPress

Enjoy the weekend!

Regards,
Nicole

Nicole Vilegi-Sandage
Associate Director of Graduate Admissions
Josef Korbel School of International Studies
Nicole.Vilegi@du.edu

The Approaching Deadline

josefkorbelschool — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:38:43 +0000

Here are a few quick notes before this weekend’s priority application deadline. The most important thing to remember is that the University of Denver will be closed on Monday January 16th in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Due to the holiday, the mail will be delayed, so if you were planning on sending something on Monday, you’ll have to wait a day. We consider all documents postmarked on or before this date as received on/before the priority deadline so don’t stress it too much. Above all, please remember that January 15th is a priority deadline and we plan to review files after that date, until our incoming class is filled.

Applicant: I’m curious if you received my transcripts from (x) university.

Admissions office: When was your transcript sent?

Applicant: Last Wednesday (January 11, today is Tuesday, January 17)

Admissions: Please keep in mind that it takes approximately 2-3 days for mail to arrive. Being that it is peak application season, once received, it will take approximately 6-8 business days to upload your document(s) to your record. You can check the status of your application online and we encourage you to do so as we try to process applications in a timely manner.

Think about this scenario as your index finger touches the dial pad or Siri asks, “are you sure you want to call the Josef Korbel School’s Office of Graduate Admissions again?”
Between our office and the Office of Graduate Studies, we receive approximately 150 calls of this nature. Please don’t call to confirm that number.

Simple logic:

If you:

with a question similar to the one mentioned above, then you take away precious

from us processing

Therefore, we look like

and you look like

because it is taking a bit longer for us to process/review your application.

We recognize this is an anxiety provoking time, however, bear with us as we enter the application review season.

If you desperately want to connect with us over the three-day weekend or in general, visit/join our social media channels:
Facebook Twitter YouTube Flickr WordPress

Enjoy the weekend!

Regards,
Nicole

Nicole Vilegi-Sandage
Associate Director of Graduate Admissions
Josef Korbel School of International Studies
Nicole.Vilegi@du.edu

A Brief Update

josefkorbelschool — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:38:24 +0000

Last week, I gave a quick update of how far along the Office of Graduate Studies is with processing the mail. Unfortunately, not much has changed from last week since the mail keeps coming. This week, I’m too tired to write about office pets or my resolutions. Instead, I’ll provide a few quick updates so I can get back to reviewing applications. Also, I’m feeling kind of bitter and snarky tonight after a rough day. Yes, I’m listening to Enya on Spotify, what?

1. The Office is Graduate Studies is still about 5-7 business days behind in processing documents that have been mailed or uploaded. This means if you’re not seeing your documents in your WebCentral checklist, don’t panic, just wait they will show up.

2. ETS is about 10 business days delayed in sending us GRE scores. So, if you took the GRE recently and don’t see it showing up in your WebCentral Checklist please wait a few days.

3. The “Deadline” is Sunday January 15th. The University of Denver is closed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day January 16th. Brad Miller will be out of the office on Tuesday January 17th due to a teacher inservice at his son’s school (if you need me I’ll be at the zoo). All this is to say PLEASE DO NOT PANIC IF YOUR DOCUMENTS ARRIVE A FEW DAYS LATE. As you can see, I won’t even be in the Office until Wednesday of next week so rest assured we will not notice if it arrives late. Save yourself the $17.80 for overnight shipping and buy yourself a latte.

For all of you outside of Denver, we’re finally getting snow, please return to the slopes!

Brad Miller

Director of Graduate Admissions

brad.miller@du.edu

Back from break!

josefkorbelschool — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:55:01 +0000

Happy New Year!

On behalf of the Office of Graduate Admissions, I wish you many personal, professional and academic successes in 2012. I have a feeling it will be a terrific year and our 2012 cohort is going to be one of the best on record.

We are wrapping up the first week of the winter 2012 quarter and you can definitely differentiate between the first-year and second-year students, when asked, “How was your break?”

Typical first-year student response: ”It was good. I read a lot of books but it was too long. I was bored…it’s great to be back.”
Typical second-year student response: “It went way too fast, I wish we had a few more weeks.”

Little do the first-year students know, the next 20 weeks of their lives will be rather intense, to say the least. You see, we have a nice long break between the fall and winter quarters. Six weeks to be exact. However, the long haul has just begun – 10 weeks of classes, a week for spring break (at which time, many courses require final papers during that week) and then another ten weeks of classes. By finals week of spring quarter, (June 4-7), the cafe can hardly keep up with the queue of bloodshot eyed, nail-biting, walking zombies.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

However, if you have yet to submit your application, time is ticking! The January 15 priority deadline is quickly approaching. Our office has received quite a few calls this week from applicants who haven’t hit the submit button and are checking to see if we received their transcripts, letters of rec, GRE scores, etc. Here’s the challenge: until you hit the submit button, we cannot review your electronic file because… you don’t have one! So do yourself (and us) a favor and make the final tweaks to your statement of purpose and resume and submit your application so we can better assist you! I look forward to seeing your application next week.

Enjoy the weekend,
Nicole

Nicole Vilegi-Sandage
Associate Director of Graduate Admissions
Josef Korbel School of International Studies
Nicole.Vilegi@du.edu

2012 is buried under a pile of mail

josefkorbelschool — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:26:23 +0000

Happy New Year everyone. The University of Denver reopened today for the first time since the holiday break. I think we worked our way through our inbox which is saying something. I talked to the Office of Graduate Studies today and they said 400 applications came in over the break and they currently have four large boxes of mail to open and match to applications. All this is to say we are doing our best to match up your documents and review your applications so we can give you an admission decision in a timely manner. Give us a few days before calling us to see if we have your documents. Also, keep in mind you should click the submit button on your application if you have yet to do so. Otherwise, your documents will just kind of hang out in a sorry looking filing cabinet until you click submit.

Brad Miller

Director of Graduate Admissions

brad.miller@du.edu

Season’s Greetings from the Josef Korbel School!

josefkorbelschool — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 23:47:38 +0000

On behalf of the Josef Korbel School’s Office of Graduate Admissions, I want to wish you a wonderful holiday!

Please keep in mind that the University of Denver will be closed from Monday, December 26th through Monday, January 2nd. In the meantime, you can check the status of your application online via webCentral.

Your University of Denver ID is 87XXXXXXX and the initial passcode is your birthdate in MMDDYY format. You will need to change your passcode upon logging in. Upon entering webCentral, click on myWeb > Banner Self-Service > Student and Financial Aid > Admissions. Then, select the processed application.

I also encourage you to visit our Admissions FAQs and take a few minutes to read some of the recent articles featuring our Dean, Ambassador Christopher Hill, who recently spoke to NPR, ABC News, Time and the New York Times about the leadership in North Korea.

We look forward to answering your questions, processing your applications and hopefully meeting you in 2012!

Happy Holidays!

Regards,
Nicole

Nicole Vilegi-Sandage
Associate Director of Graduate Admissions
Josef Korbel School of International Studies

The 2011 I Barely Knew

josefkorbelschool — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:33:20 +0000

A mere 11 days remain in 2011. This means the internet is a buzz with the top “year in review” stories including my favorite, Google Zeitgeist. Admittedly, I was one of the 167 million who searched for Rebecca Black’s “Friday” single online. If you have yet to see this brilliant musical production–don’t, your memory of 2011 will thank you.

My top memories of 2011 include watching my son dance to Moby, spending a week at the beach with my family and running a 3:37 marathon.

Here are some other favorites from my year:

Book: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall

Album: Undun by The Roots

Restaurant: Illegal Pete’s

Movie: The Help (my wife preferred the book)

iPhone app: Dropbox

My favorite Korbel memories from this past year include having Ban Ki-Moon and General George Casey on campus and meeting all of our new and talented students. September’s incoming class was one of the most dynamic in recent years and I have a hard time keeping up with their energy.

I failed miserably at meeting 2011’s resolutions. I declared 2011 the year of the salad, and for the most part, I did eat a lot of lettuce. Even had one episode where I ate a salad for breakfast which led me to the vending machine by 9AM for a snicker bar.

I wish you the best in 2012.

Brad Miller

Director of Admissions

University of Denver

Josef Korbel School of International Studies

brad.miller@du.edu

A few of my favorite things

josefkorbelschool — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:06:07 +0000

I have a confession – while I’m not much of a holiday person, I secretly love cheesy Christmas movies. Top of the list: A Christmas Story. My dad and I used to watch the 24 hour loop, laughing hysterically each time Ralphie nearly shot his eye out, when he walks down the stairs in his fabulous pink bunny pjs and gets the good ole Ivory soap in his mouth after his f-bomb slip up. A close second: The Sound of Music. Whether I watch it or not, right around this week each year, like clockwork, I begin humming, “My Favorite Things,” in what I like to think, is comparable Julie Andrews voice.

So in ode to my singing buddy Julie, here are a few of my favorite (Josef Korbel School) things:

1. Increased pageviews on our How to Apply and Admissions FAQ pages. I like to geek out on google analytics as often as I can and few things delights me more on M-F, 8-4:30 than to see that ya’ll are checking out our website, gathering oodles of information and making informed decisions.

2. Complete applications and supplemental documents submitted on or before January 15th. What can I say, it’s the simple things in life that give us joy around here.

3. Kaladi Brother’s Coffee. If you apply, are accepted and join the Josef Korbel School student body, you need to know about this teeny tiny coffee shop about four blocks from our building. Even though Starbucks is directly across the street from this place, Kaladi’s holds its own and you will understand why when you’re initiated into the world of Kaladi’s coffee. Go early or at off-peak hours if you want to sit and sip there.

4. The corkiness of our admissions office. I love that we work our bones off yet have fun too. People tend to pass by our office and say, “you guys have too much fun.” While there are certainly days when we are holed up in our offices, we try to play the brain game on a weekly basis, brainstorm better names for our pink chicken (currently named pink chicken) and cheer when someone finds a garbage can full of expired vending machine food (Cheetos don’t really expire, do they?). We should create an iSpy app for our office and make it a requirement for all applicants to successfully find all of the misfit toys in our office (read Brad’s previous post to learn more about our fun office friends).

It’s Friday – 1pm and the University officially closed at noon. So, I will leave you with Julie and the von Trapp kids…

Enjoy the weekend,
Nicole

Nicole Vilegi-Sandage
Josef Korbel School of International Studies
Nicole.Vilegi@du.edu