Does anyone know about postgrad admissions? Is this a good sign?

[LaPetite]

This is probably one of those pointless questions that no one can give a definitive answer to but...

I applied to do an MA. I had to ask my manager if I could give her details for a reference because it's been a long time since I graduated from my first degree.

She agreed so I submitted by application online on Sunday.

On Friday, at work, my manager asked me to look at an email she'd received, just something she wanted a second opinion on, and I happened to see the other emails in her inbox down the side of the browser window and there was one from the university postgraduate admissions team.

I only glanced very quickly, but I think it must have been sent on Thursday because it was under an email from me that I sent on Thursday afternoon.

So after all that boring detail my question is do PG admissions teams only send reference requests when they're planning to make an offer? Or do they just send out automated emails for all applicants?

I've been driving myself mad wondering about it all weekend.

Of course it could turn out that another member of the team just happened to apply for a PG course at the same uni and that email had nothing to done with me...

They ask for references for all applicants. It's usually automated so when you submit your application on the system, the reference request will automatically be sent to the email address you've given for your referee.

Ah, ok. Thanks.

I was hoping they would only email referees for candidates they wanted to offer a place for.

Oh well, I'll just have to stay on these tenterhooks wondering if I'll get a place for a while longer.

I’m an academic and do admissions for our postgraduate programmes. We ask for recommendations as standard for all applications before they are sent for review. So I make the offer and I’d only see the application for review once the references have been sent in. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean anything really. I’d say we send out offers usually a month to 3 months after receiving the application, depending on how quickly someone gets around to looking at them.

Thanks. The uni I've applied to say they usually make a decision within a month so hopefully I'll only have another three to four weeks to wait.