Applications

An application is the paperwork half of a campaign: a university, a program, an intake term, a deadline, a pile of documents, and eventually an answer. Tracking → Applications holds all of it.

Every column and control on this screen is explained in Tracking, part by part.

6.1 Open an application#

1. Go to Tracking → Applications.
2. Under New application, pick a university.
3. Click Create.

It starts at considering, with an empty checklist. Open it to fill in the details.

Open one per university you're seriously considering — including the ones you're not sure about. An application sitting at considering costs you nothing and keeps the deadline in front of you.

6.2 Move it along#

The Stage column is editable in the table, so you can update where things stand without opening the record.

You can also withdraw at any point. Nothing forces you through the stages in order — set whatever is true.

6.3 Inside an application#

Checklist. Every application starts with the usual items. Tick them as you go; completed items are struck through. Add anything specific to this program — a portfolio, a second recommender, an English test — with the box at the bottom. Your checklist completion rate is tracked in Analytics, which is a good early-warning signal when a deadline is close and the list is still half empty.

Linked professors. The professors attached to this application, straight through to their records. Handy when you're writing a statement of purpose and need to name a lab.

Offer. Once something arrives, record the stipend, whether tuition is waived, whether insurance is included, the location, and the date you have to decide by. That decision date shows up under Upcoming and on the dashboard, which matters — offer deadlines are short and they don't move.

Decision. Mark it accepted, rejected, waitlisted, or withdrawn when you know. This is what makes acceptance rates in Analytics real.

Interviews. Give it a title and a date and click Schedule. Scheduled interviews appear in Upcoming, and the dashboard flags ones that need preparation.

6.4 Everything with a date on it#

Tracking → Upcoming is one list of every dated commitment in the next 30 days, whatever kind it is:

Anything already past its date is shown in red. The dashboard shows the next 14 days of the same list; this tab is the full window.

Check this once a week. That's usually enough to never be surprised.

What's next#

Your campaign has history now. Time to read it: dashboard and analytics →