Organizing my 2019 - 2020 application Spreadsheet

[907914]

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So, these are the columns that my spreadsheet already has:

Name of School

2019 Earliest Secondary

Secondary received

Secondary Submitted

2019 Earliest Interview Invite

Interview Invite Received

2019 Earliest Interview Date

Interview Date

2019 Earliest Acceptance Received

Accepted?

Are there any other columns I should have for keeping organized? I will have a separate spreadsheet for notes on individual schools, but I won't worry about that until after interviews are scheduled.

 

[Cornfed101]

I also had columns for the top 5 things that were important to me (location, cost, my wife's opinion, academics, blah blah) that allowed me to rank the schools so I do the most important secondaries/interviews first if push comes to shove... but you don't have to do that in this spreadsheet.

 

[Rachapkis]

When things are out of your control, make a spreadsheet to give yourself the illusion of control. (If it matters, I do exactly the same thing.)

 

[907914]

I also had columns for the top 5 things that were important to me (location, cost, my wife's opinion, academics, blah blah) that allowed me to rank the schools so I do the most important secondaries/interviews first if push comes to shove... but you don't have to do that in this spreadsheet.

I am on track to have all secondaries finished by July 1 (Except for the oddballs like Duke and Penn that change every year) and I already have a spreadsheet like that from when I was choosing my school list lol Basically, State schools earlier than T20s in midsized cities earlier than T20s in big cities earlier than non-T20s. My whole school list is thankfully designed around my family (Except Stanford, Harvard, NYU....those are the butigotta ones...)

 

[907914]

When things are out of your control, make a spreadsheet to give yourself the illusion of control. (If it matters, I do exactly the same thing.)

LOL I know I have no control. I just don't want to be like "Oops, I forgot to submit Mayo clinic a few weeks ago..." and miss out on those early pre-fall quarter interview slots (Assuming I am lucky enough to be front loaded)

 

[Bonne Nuit]

So, these are the columns that my spreadsheet already has:

Name of School

2019 Earliest Secondary

Secondary received

Secondary Submitted

2019 Earliest Interview Invite

Interview Invite Received

2019 Earliest Interview Date

Interview Date

2019 Earliest Acceptance Received

Accepted?

Are there any other columns I should have for keeping organized? I will have a separate spreadsheet for notes on individual schools, but I won't worry about that until after interviews are scheduled.

I included secondary cost on mine.

Felt pretty sobering to sum that column for 30+ schools.

 

[907914]

I included secondary cost on mine.

Felt pretty sobering to sum that column for 30+ schools.

You know, while I have the spreadsheet up I might as well do that shouldn’t I? Maybe even average airfare and hotel planning? Yeah that’ll work. Thanks!

 

[Bonne Nuit]

I also had columns for the top 5 things that were important to me (location, cost, my wife's opinion, academics, blah blah) that allowed me to rank the schools so I do the most important secondaries/interviews first if push comes to shove... but you don't have to do that in this spreadsheet.

Location is a big consideration for us, too. I had my husband look through my list and assign a number value 1-5 based on how much he liked the city and how strong the job market is for his work in the area. I asked him to remain as objective as possible, since it only has to be for 4 years, but surprise surprise, Miami and my California schools were the only perfect 5 scorers.

 

[907914]

Location is a big consideration for us, too. I had my husband look through my list and assign a number value 1-5 based on how much he liked the city and how strong the job market is for his work in the area. I asked him to remain as objective as possible, since it only has to be for 4 years, but surprise surprise, Miami and my California schools were the only perfect 5 scorers.

I had my wife preliminary approve all of my schools. I’ll be having her do a scoring or ranking system after different interview invites and acceptances and what not. That way my school list is already preapproved by her for the actual application but she doesn’t have to worry about investing the time and looking up schools and job markets etc. until after acceptances.

 

[Campana]

@MemeLord

In addition to recommendations above, I also had the URL, Yes/No for screening pre-secondary, date they marked me "complete" and extra notes for when they'd send an email about various things like being on hold pre-interview, hold post-interview, etc.

 

[Seihai]

Don't need the accepted column. You'll get in everywhere .

To be more serious, I'm doing something pretty similar except I'm removing the "Earliest" dates since I don't really care where I was relative to others so long as I actually get a secondary/interview/acceptance. I might add it back in for the acceptance though as a marker of if acceptances have started going out.

 

[907914]

Don't need the accepted column. You'll get in everywhere .

To be more serious, I'm doing something pretty similar except I'm removing the "Earliest" dates since I don't really care where I was relative to others so long as I actually get a secondary/interview/acceptance. I might add it back in for the acceptance though as a marker of if acceptances have started going out.

The most important column for me I think is “earliest interview.” I desperately want to do AS MANY interviews before Fall quarter starts as I can...so September 25th for me. We have a long ass summer break.

I know some (maybe like 5) of my schools start interviews in August. Most start around the second week of September. So if I can literally just do one city after another after another...then cool. Also, the “Earliest secondary” is so I know if I missed something and the “Earliest acceptance” is, as you say, if acceptances roll out.

In the ideal situation, I will have multiple A’s by the end of March. Unless I have no acceptances by then, then end of March is when I am picking my school so I can arrange apartments, childcare, blah blah.

 

[Rachapkis]

I included secondary cost on mine.

Felt pretty sobering to sum that column for 30+ schools.

Wait until you buy flights and pay the expenses for interviewing! (First World problems, but very real ones.)

 

[ChymeofPassion]

School portal usernames and passwords

 

[907914]

School portal usernames and passwords

Easy peasy

Samthedoc1 for both of them!

In seriousness, yah will definitely make these columns!