(Reprinted from the June 2011 issue of the CGS Communicator)

The 2011 CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey, Phase I: Applications included a series of special questions about application and financial support deadlines for graduate students. The questions were designed to gather information about how deadlines were set and whether there have been any changes to deadlines in recent years. This article presents a brief analysis of the responses to those questions.

Survey Methodology and Response Rate

In January 2011, a link to the 2011 Phase I survey was e-mailed to the graduate dean (or equivalent) at all 494 U.S. colleges and universities that were members of CGS. A total of 232 institutions responded to one or more of the special questions on application deadlines, for a response rate of about 47%. The analyses presented below are limited to these 232 respondents. They included 164 doctoral institutions, 57 master’s-focused institutions, and 11 institutions classified as baccalaureate or specialized in the 2010 basic Carnegie Classifications. Sixty-seven private, not-for-profit institutions responded to one or more of the application deadline questions, along with 165 public institutions. By geographic region, 60 of the responding institutions are in the Midwest, 46 are in the Northeast, 38 are in the West, and 88 are in the South. 

Application Deadlines

Institutions were first asked, “Which one of the following best describes your institution’s application deadline(s) for fall admission at the graduate level?” Choosing from among three possible response options, the majority (53%) of the respondents indicated that application deadlines are set by individual programs. Nearly one-third (31%) said that the deadlines are set by individual programs, with a final deadline set by the institution or graduate school. The remaining 17% reported that there is an institution-wide deadline set by the institution or graduate school.

There were no statistically significant differences in responses by Carnegie classification or geographic region, but private, not-for-profit institutions were more likely than public institutions to report that application deadlines are set by individual programs (58% vs. 50%) and that there is an institution-wide deadline set by the institution or graduate school (24% vs. 14%). Private, not-for-profit institutions were less likely than their public counterparts to report that that deadlines are set by individual programs, with a final deadline set by the institution or graduate school (18% vs. 36%).

Changes to Application and Financial Support Deadlines

The next two questions related to changes in application deadlines for fall admission and/or financial support for graduate students, asking whether any deadlines have changed within the last three years. Since these two questions also addressed financial support—unlike the previous question which just focused on application deadlines—the findings are somewhat different. The first of these two questions collected data for respondents from institutions where deadlines for fall admission and/or financial support are set by the institution or graduate school, and read as follows: “If deadlines for fall admission and/or financial support are set by the institution or graduate school, have any of those deadlines changed within the last three years?” The second question collected data for respondents from institutions where deadlines for fall admission and/or financial support are set by individual programs, and read as follows: “If deadlines for fall admission and/or financial support are set by individual programs, are you aware of programs within your institution that have changed any deadlines for admission and/or financial support within the last three years?” Ninety-three institutions responded to both of these two questions, presumably because some application and/or financial support deadlines are set by the institution or graduate school and other application and/or financial support deadlines are set by individual programs.

Among the 143 institutions responding to the first of these two questions, thereby indicating that at least some deadlines for fall admission and/or financial support are set by the institution or graduate school, 62% reported that those deadlines have not changed within the last three years. Three out of ten respondents (30%) reported that the deadlines are now earlier, while 8% said that the deadlines are now later. (Eighty-six respondents selecting ‘not applicable’ and three institutions not responding to this question were excluded from these calculations.) There were no statistically significant differences in responses to this question by Carnegie classification, geographic region, or institutional control.

The respondents to this question were then asked to indicate which types of deadlines changed within the last three years. Among the 43 respondents indicating that deadlines are now earlier, 67% reported that the deadline for international admissions changed, 51% said that the deadline for domestic admissions changed, and 49% said that the deadline for students seeking financial support changed. Among the 11 respondents indicating that deadlines are now later, eight respondents reported that the deadline for international admissions changed, five respondents said that the deadline for domestic admissions changed, and only one said that the deadline for students seeking financial support changed.

Among the 164 institutions responding to the second of these two questions, thereby indicating that at least some deadlines for fall admission and/or financial support are set by individual programs, 37% reported that the deadlines are now earlier, 31% said that some deadlines are now earlier and some are now later, 29% said that the deadlines have not changed within the last three years, and 3% said that the deadlines are now later. (Sixty respondents selecting ‘not applicable/not aware of any changes’ and eight institutions not responding to this question were excluded from these calculations.) Doctoral institutions were more likely than master’s-focused institutions to indicate that deadlines have changed, with more than four out of ten indicating that some deadlines are now earlier and some are now later, as shown in Table 1. There were no statistically significant differences in responses to this question by geographic region or institutional control.

As with the previous question, respondents were then asked to indicate which types of deadlines changed within the last three years. Among the 60 respondents indicating that deadlines are now earlier, 70% reported that the deadline(s) for international admissions changed, 75% said that the deadline(s) for domestic admissions changed, and 40% said that the deadline(s) for students seeking financial support changed. Among the five respondents indicating that deadlines are now later, three respondents reported that the deadline(s) for international admissions changed, four respondents said that the deadline(s) for domestic admissions changed, and only one said that the deadline(s) for students seeking financial support changed. A total of 51 respondents indicated that some deadlines are now earlier and some are now later, and among these respondents the vast majority reported that the deadlines for international admissions (84%) and domestic admissions (88%) changed. More than half (53%) indicated that the deadline(s) for students seeking financial support changed.

Conclusions

Responding institutions were more likely to indicate that application deadlines for fall admission are set by individual programs, rather than by the institution or graduate school. Institutions where deadlines for fall admission and/or financial support are set by individual programs were nearly twice as likely to report that deadlines have changed within the last three years as institutions where deadlines are set by the institution or graduate school—seven out of ten of the former reported changes to deadlines compared with four out of ten of the latter. The majority of institutions changing deadlines made those deadlines earlier, rather than later. For example, among institutions where deadlines are set by the institution or graduate school, respondents indicating earlier deadlines outnumbered respondents indicating later deadlines by a factor of four to one.

The data presented here are admittedly from a relatively small sample of the institutions that award graduate degrees in the United States. And since the data were collected through a survey that primarily gathers data on international students, the responses may not be representative of all institutions, particularly those with smaller numbers of international students. That being said, the data suggest that there may be a trend toward earlier deadlines for applications and financial support at U.S. graduate schools, and furthermore, that this change affects both international and domestic students. More information is needed, however, to interpret the true meaning of this finding. For example, the survey did not collect data on the actual deadline dates, so it is unclear how much deadlines have shifted (e.g., by one week, two weeks, etc.). The reasons for changes to deadlines are also not fully known. Changes to deadlines may have been made to align an institution with the deadlines of other institutions, to differentiate an institution from others, to align various deadlines within an institution, or for any other number of reasons. While the survey data do not illuminate the reasons for changes to deadlines, they clearly show that some institutions and graduate programs are making changes to deadlines for fall admission and financial support.

By Nathan E. Bell, Director, Research and Policy Analysis