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[kitmonk]

The beginning of school is fast approaching, and I still have not received any information at all from my soon-to-be department.  I mean literally, not a word.  I only know what day school starts because finally, in desperation, I emailed the grad director to say, "Could you please tell me what day things start this fall, as I need to let my boss know when my last day of work will be."  That was in early July.

A couple of weeks later, I was on the phone with my undergrad adviser, who happens to be the grad director of the department at my alma mater.  When I told him I had yet to receive any info from my new department he  responded, "Kitmonk!  I sent out our info packets to new students on June 1.  You need to call the grad director ASAP."  So I emailed again, and was told that I'd be getting a letter by the end of the month.

Well, now it's mid-August and...... still nothing.  The department website says something about developing a summer reading list with your adviser and pre-registering for classes, but I've yet to get any info at all from anyone.  And an adviser?  Haven't been assigned one.

I don't want to make a pest of myself by getting in touch with the grad director again (her previous replies have been rather curt), but I'm starting to freak out a little.  The silence has become, as they say, deafening.

Meanwhile, I don't even know where or what time to show up on the first day.

What should I do?

[vardahilwen]

Contact the department secretary and say you want to make sure they have all your correct contact info.  Just taking care of business, you know.  And why do you ask?  Well ... because you haven't received any correspondence from them, and just wanted to make sure.

Vardahilwen

[kitmonk]

This is a good idea.  I have to say, they haven't much impressed me in general with their organizational skills.  This is the same school that messed around with their online application system a few days before aps were due, requiring all students to get their recommenders to RESUBMIT letters on less than a week's notice.

I picked them because I loved the faculty I met and because they're one of the top programs in my field.  But sheesh!

[tamiam]

Just show up. Be all eager-beaver. Get to work.

[yellowtractor]

I disagree with Tamiam and agree with Vardahilwen.  Call the department secretary, who is almost certainly (a) not on leave or on vacation and (b) more likely to know what's really going on than, say, the chair, at least at this point in August.

I had a similar thing happen at one of my former employers, a prestigious school I'll call SnootySLAC.  I tried to balance between being annoying and simply trusting that everything I needed to know would eventually be passed onto me when I needed to know it.  I should have erred on the side of being a little more annoying.  Many balls were dropped over the summer, and I had quite a bit of catch-up to do in August and September (including some health insurance snafus that, while resolved in the end, had potentially nasty consequences).

All of which is to say--IF somebody has dropped the ball, or many somebodies have dropped many balls, it will be, in the end, YOUR job to pick them all up.  Not a pleasant way to start off with a new employer, even if it isn't your fault.  Call now, if only for peace of mind.

[kitmonk]

Thanks everyone!  Yellowtractor, I completely agree.....which is why I had a nice chat with the department secretary today.  She was able to make a couple phone calls and get me the info I need.  Turns out, they've been sending Important Information to me for a couple weeks now at my campus email address.  Yes, that's right, the same campus email address they told me COULD NOT BE SET UP until I was physically on campus in the fall.  D'oh!

So now that I've set up the email and read all the info, I'm very glad I didn't just wait.  There's already been reading assigned for my one required course, and I discovered a snafu with the adviser assignments.  Easy to take care of now, total problem if I'd waited till the first day.



Thanks, all!

[georgia_guy]

You might want to look for an academic planning calendar online. Many schools have that on their website.

This does not excuse the people who dropped the ball, but it may help your planning.

[kitmonk]

Georgia Guy, is an academic planning calendar different from just the regular academic calendar of start and end dates, holidays and finals?  I've only seen the latter, but maybe I need to be looking elsewhere....

[georgia_guy]

An academic planning calendar will have the dates of things like university faculty meetings, important deadlines and so forth. This is different than the normal academic calendar, which primarily is geared toward students.

Using both would be a good bet, if they have them.

The planning calendar should be on the faculty portion of the website.

[kitmonk]

Ahhhhhh, that does soudn useful.  Looking now.....