yes

can you say when you got the call?

umass student here. can guarantee they don't do this, plzz stop making people anxious thank you<3

i mean if they call people from outside your institution, how would you know/or not know

bc I know program leadership well enough to know they're not about it. there's a difference between calling mentors to ask about an applicant vs calling the applicant themselves. they do not do the latter