After you apply to a Model UN conference: what happens next

The organizers decide, you answer any questions and pay any fee, then you get your country, your documents and finally the conference.

Six steps follow, and the organizers set the pace of each:

1. 1The decision. The organizers accept you or not, and you hear by email.
2. 2Questions to answer. They may add questions, such as a consent form for a parent.
3. 3The fee. If there is one, you pay it when it opens.
4. 4Your country and committee. Your assignment arrives by email, and your research starts.
5. 5Documents and your paper. Your committee's files and position papers appear.
6. 6The conference and after. Then come the days in committee, and your MUN CV keeps the record.

The order can change: some conferences take the fee when you apply, and some assign countries before the fee opens. Applying with your school? Your head delegate or faculty advisor handles some steps for you.

Your status moves from Submitted to Accepted to Assigned, and each one tells you what to do next.

Your status sits at the top of your application page, and it changes as the organizers decide. Here is what each one means for you:

You usually hear within days, by email, and your application page shows your status at any time.

The organizers decide whether to accept you, and when. Most decide fast: about seven in ten accepted delegates on mymun hear within two days. You get an email either way.

Still waiting? A longer wait is no bad sign, because some organizers decide only once applications close. If you have heard nothing by then, reply to your confirmation email and ask.

If they cannot offer you a place, the email suggests conferences still taking applications, so apply to another one.

Changed your mind? Until you are accepted or pay, you can withdraw on your application page. After that, write to the organizers: only they can release you, and any refund is their decision.

Organizers can add questions after you apply; answer them early, because each answer is final.

Answer each new question as soon as it appears at the top of your application page. Some arrive after you submit and others once you are accepted, such as a consent form for a parent to sign. The confirmation and acceptance emails also list any still open.

Check each answer before you send it, because only the organizers can change it afterwards. If a required one is still open before the conference, mymun reminds you by email.

Use the weeks before your country arrives to learn the rules, read about your committees and plan your travel.

Waiting for a decision or a country is the best time to prepare. Three things pay off whatever country you get:

• Learn the rules of procedure. Know roll call, the speakers' list and the main motions before day one. The rules of procedure guide covers them in one sitting.
• Read about your committees. Each committee you listed has a mandate and past topics. The committee pages show what the common ones, such as the Security Council, can and cannot do.
• Plan the trip. Check the dates, the venue and the journey, and ask your parents or school for permission early. If you need a visa, ask for an invitation letter now.

Then picture the days themselves. The guide to your first conference walks you through the first morning, so you arrive knowing what happens when.

Ask the organizers for an invitation letter as soon as they accept you, because a visa can take a long time.

Reply to your acceptance email to ask, because each conference decides whether it writes letters. Book your visa appointment as soon as the letter arrives, and read the refund policy before you pay, in case the visa comes too late.

The organizers set the fee and when it opens; your application page shows whether it is due yet.

Pay once your application page shows the fee as open. That is often right after you are accepted, sometimes earlier, and sometimes only once you have your country.

Once a payment has started, do not pay again until it clears: some methods, such as a direct debit, take a few days. The Help Center lists the payment methods and why a payment can fail.

Your payment goes to the conference organizers, not to mymun. In a delegation, ask your head delegate before you pay, because they may cover the fees for the whole group.

Usually once you are accepted and have paid, by email, and often only a few weeks before the conference, so start preparing before it comes.

The organizers decide when: at in-person conferences on mymun, half of delegates get their country less than four weeks ahead. So prepare what you can now, and read the committee topics as soon as the conference posts them.

The assignment email names whom you represent, in which committee and language, and often your topics and chairs. Start researching your country the day it comes, with the UN's research resources as a first stop.

Once you are assigned, your committee's page lists your chairs and the other delegates, so you can spot likely allies early. Your preferences guide the organizers, but they decide. If you want a change, ask once, early, with a short reason, then prepare for the country you have.

Your committee's files, often the background guide, appear once you are assigned, and many conferences collect position papers on mymun too.

Once you are accepted, the conference's documents hold the files the organizers share with everyone, and more can appear later. Once you are assigned, your committee's own files appear too, often the background guide (some conferences call it a study guide).

Many conferences collect position papers on mymun. You upload yours on your application page, and you can read the papers the rest of your committee uploads before the first session. Your deadline is in the background guide or the organizers' emails.

Many conferences run MUN Command for every committee, and if yours does, you get an invite by email. On the conference days you answer roll call, vote and raise motions there, and the committee chat replaces paper notes. Your bloc writes drafts together in its live document editor, all typing at once, with no Google Docs or shared folders.

Your head delegate or faculty advisor applies for the group first, then adds you, and can handle some steps for you.

A delegation is a group from one school or club, led by a head delegate or a faculty advisor. The leader applies first, then shares an invitation link or adds members by name. You open the link, finish your own application and submit it.

From then on your leader sees your status, fee and position paper. They can answer the delegation's questions, pay fees for several members at once and, at some conferences, hand out the delegation's countries.

If your leader added you by name only, you need no account: they manage everything, and emails such as your assignment go to them.

Your conference joins your MUN CV, your rating helps decide the Hall of Fame, and your chairs' feedback sets your goal for next time.

• Your MUN CV. Every conference you attend on mymun appears on your MUN CV, with your committee, your role and any award the organizers record. The organizers reviewing your next application can open it.
• Rate the conference. mymun asks you to rate it with one to five gavels and, if you like, feedback. Organizers see your rating but not your name, and ratings from delegates and chairs decide the Hall of Fame.
• Ask for feedback. Ask your chairs for one thing to improve, then answer three questions about what you enjoyed most, what was most difficult and what you learned.
• Pick your next conference. Choose one thing to change, and find a conference taking applications. Follow one that is not open yet, and you get a notice when its applications open.