Here's a question about how to maybe save a little money. Committee Member #3 says I shouldn't spend the money to send any applications by anything but regular mail. Obviously, I wouldn't bother with fast mail for "postmarked by" deadlines, but he says it even for "received by" deadlines. Even when the "received by" deadlines are, like, tomorrow.
I mean, I know no one's really gong to start looking at applications until December, so there really is no reason to spend the money on the fast mail. But still, it really feels like I ought to get stuff in by the deadline. No?
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8 comments:
When I was an undergrad I worked in a department with an on-going search. There were several serious candidates whose stuff arrived the day after the deadline (and much much later than that). The search chair had a whole ethical dilemma about a person who was exactly what they were looking for who sent their app in 9 hours late... And eventually decided it wasn't right to consider that applicant.
If there is any chance your application could fall into such meticulous/upstanding hands, I say you'd better cough up the priority mail.
Couldn't we distinguish between the places that say 'deadline' and the ones that say 'applications received by this date are assured our full consideration'?
It's also worth mentioning that standard mail in the US is not typically slower than priority, can be faster, although of course can take longer (i.e. standard mail might get there next day if posted locally or on a major mail route, while priority mail apparenty [according to the USPS] always takes two days, the bonus being that it always arrives withion three days, which is only true of like 75% of standard mail.)
I hate to be pragmatic about the process, but why not spend the several extra dollars? A month from now you're not going to miss the cash AND your applications will be where they are supposed to be. Granted that the fact that your aps. were there well before deadline will go unmarked, it still seems important that your aps. were there (at the very least) on time as "anonymous" pointed out in on of the comments.
M.
Chalk it up to the paranoia but I would pay the extra for fast delivery to the close deadlines (and pay for confirmation) and then try to get the rest done soon enough to safely send regular mail.
I don't know the legalities of the difference... but the wording of the announcement does make a difference. I read a blog post about this a couple of weeks ago -- I don't remember which of the academic blogs it was...
Some places have a hard and fast deadline that they have decided is their firm cut-off. Their HR departments have decided that to maintain legality and to prevent having the search challenged, the person they hire must have their package in by the deadline.
Others have decided to be more flexible with their deadline and use the full consideration language.
If I come across the blog where all of this was discussed, I'll let y'all know.
Even if the place does not have a hard and fast deadline, but instead reviews applications on a rolling basis, there's still this to consider. People get attached to things they're familiar with. The later your application comes in, the more likely it is that it will have to "displace" another application, which one or more committee members already have already thought well of.
It's not impossible to overcome such a disadvantage, and I imagine that it happens quite often. But personally, I'd pay the extra couple dollars to avoid any disadvantage.
John T's comment reminded me of a question I've always had for anyone familiar with search committees: do committee members start reviewing applications as soon as they arrive, or do they wait until the deadline (or later), or is there no standard procedure on this?
I'm working in a department right now which stated that they would BEGIN looking at applications on Oct 16 (and in another ad they said Oct 31). Nonetheless, they were already holding meetings to discuss applicants at the end of September! I am sure they start to get ideas of people they like as soon as applications start rolling in if they are reading this early. So I went home and put together packages even for the schools that have December deadlines. I've sent almost all of my 60 packages out already because of the terror my department inspired in me. My suspicion is that we are better off if we just send out things as quickly as possible. Plus, then maybe there will be a couple of weeks left to actually work on the dissertation before we have to go into interview panic!
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