It's Me

The best measure of placement rates is the musicology wiki: http://academicjobs.wikia.com/wiki/Musicology/Ethnomusicology_2017-18 You can look through all job postings and offers in musicology/ethnomusicology from the past five years (maybe longer?)

UCLA has already contacted/brought out their musicology finalists though I don't believe they've made any decisions yet--I haven't heard anything either way regarding the other UCs. It is likely that USC has already reached out to their top applicant; they will probably only take one musicology student (that has been the trend in recent years) and therefore will work their way down their list if their top candidate chooses to go elsewhere...so you can't really count them out at this point. Best of luck to all of you this application season!

@lecturesonnothingI'm glad to hear it went well! I hope it doesn't end up being too difficult of a decision for you. It was tough turning down a lot of great offers. I had been in contact with my POIs at each university and was really excited about every program I applied to. One school in particular was very difficult--I wasn't expecting an acceptance from them at all and they were my first and most generous offer (and I would have been VERY happy there). However, the decision itself was fairly easy; I got into my top choice with excellent funding and accepted their offer that day (I'm happy to tell you where via PM). My congratulations to @mmmarimba as well and to everyone else who has received and accepted an offer!

@lecturesonnothingCongrats on having so many great options! Our field is very small and it is highly likely that these programs know that they are competing for you. If you've already ruled out Cornell or Chicago as a possibility, I would let them know sooner than later as to free up funds or a spot for other prospective students--since you've already decided on one over the other, this seems the most collegial. Definitely email the professor you've been in contact with and let them know how sincerely excited you were about the opportunity to work with them and perhaps mention grabbing coffee or something at the national AMS; they are obviously very interested in your work and this is a great way to seed staying in touch once the conference rolls around. As for Columbia, how heavily is it weighed against your current first choice? If you are seriously considering Columbia, I would advise getting in contact with the faculty with whom you're interested in working--you might find that it's not as good a fit as you thought. Also get in contact with some of the graduate students (faculty will most likely introduce you if you ask) and do the research you didn't do initially. Reputation is not everything and given that these are all top rated programs, you have such a great opportunity to go with where you feel the most comfortable and able to succeed. I know it has got to be a tough choice!

@ShadowCat Same to you! I hope you get the funding worked out and are able to make a solid decision

Crickets on this thread for too long! I hope everyone has heard back by this point with (hopefully) good news. It is truly a relief to have the wait over--now I can concentrate on stressing out about my masters thesis...so close yet so far...

Check the Musicology/Ethnomusicology wiki here: http://academicjobs.wikia.com/wiki/Musicology/Ethnomusicology_2015-16

Congrats!

@Musicologist I'm waiting on UT Austin as well. Haven't heard anything either way about NYU. With every email that comes in I think "THIS MAY BE THE ONE!" It's torture.

Congrats to the Indiana and Case Western admits--hope this week brings many more!

@musicologypl You got this! I expect a lot of movement these next two weeks.

This is a great thread! My first acceptance came in at 9pm on a Saturday of a holiday weekend. To say it caught me off guard would be an understatement--this acceptance floored me. First, of the programs I applied to, I felt the least confident with my chances here. I had, in fact, been texting with my friend only thirty minutes prior about how I knew that this program was going to reject me. My spouse and I had just gotten home from dinner and decided to spend the rest of the evening at home...then it appeared in my email. I knew before I even opened it that it was good news--it was a personal email from a professor in the department. I thought, however, that it was going to be an interview request or an invitation to visit campus. I read the email aloud and as I got to the line offering me acceptance, I began to shake. Then came the funding details...tears. It was an amazing offer from a prestigious university. So of course we had a change a plans that evening: beers and whisky at a favorite bar to celebrate! As for my friend, it was quite a funny turn to go from complete self-doubt and despair to "I GOT IN!" I had to assure her that I was, in fact, not joking around. I wish I could bottle that feeling. There is truly nothing like it.

Acceptances can come at different times, especially if the program has an unofficial "waitlist." The first round of rejections will usually be sent out at the same time (after top candidates are notified of their acceptance), so if you see rejections posted on the results board but haven't heard from the school, then it's likely that you are still in the running.

It looks like someone was already accepted by Urbana-Champaign in late December (Musicology PhD), which seems very early. I'm not sure how many they tend to take per year, though. Did you apply to the musicology or ethnomusicology program at UCLA? Both are excellent!

@musicologypl I haven't heard anything about Stanford but I also did not apply there. The only place I applied to that does interviews is UCLA--I hope to hear something from them soon!