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Apologies if this thread is a bit premature, but I can just feel the rejections looming towards me so I figured let's see what people are thinking of in terms of a back-up plan. There was an excellent thread last year that outlines just how absurd this whole process is - and importantly, how we shouldn't take rejections and shut-outs to heart. There are numerous reasons why someone may or may not get accepted, and those reasons tend to vary so wildly that it's difficult to pinpoint what we could have done differently. That being said - what's plan B?

And now my waiting is complete...Vandy interview invite this morning for 03/04!

Just wanted to say I just got the email. I don't know if they were sent out in a batch or what. Good luck everyone!

Official email from WashU saying that I'm waitlisted. If one of you suckers aren't gonna take that offer, GIMME!

Turns out one interview was enough! I'm celebrating with beer and popcorn for lunch instead of working!! (aka: yet another excuse to not write my thesis)

MTV's the real world. Putting a lot of eggs in that basket if this doesn't work out.

Smoke pot, drink beer, and fish.

I'm a little late with a reply--but thank you! I received notice of "unofficial" acceptance with two fellowship nominations. I am very excited as Minnesota is one of my top choices, but I also know that I need to wait and see if I get other offers. Because I also need to consider the best interests of my children, things like funding, schools, and location, will play a huge factor in my final decision.

I accidentally mailed a random receipt along with my SOP letter to the chair. He emailed me and asked what the receipt's purpose was. Thoroughly embarrassed.

@aegis921 @Extra Espresso I just got a call from Stanford guys!!!!! For those of you that were staring at your phone all day during class like I was, fear not! Calls are still incoming from Stanford! Also, if it helps, my application still says incomplete even though I sent them official transcripts twice. The interview does conflict with HST MEMP. The person I talked to said that it would be ideal for me to visit on the Monday-Tuesday of the week, so that I could go interview in Cambridge on Thursday-Friday. Hopefully everything will work out for all of us!!!

If it's getting published by a reasonable (read: Peer review) academic place or a fairly well respected periodical (Paris Review of Books) I wouldn't hesitate to let your POIs know about it ("Hey just FYI I did this Thing that shows you I am a solid investment and am capable of projects [LINK].") If it's a review on a blog (unless a substantial one), I'd be less inclined to do so.

Congrats to everyone who has been accepted so far! I'm still here, just patiently waiting and re-checking my inbox for emails.. Seems to still be all quiet all around for me..

Hey! I'm one of the Penn interviews, which will be held by Skype—I'm sorry if I caused any any extra/avoidable anxiety by posting it! From previous years, (the key search terms being penn* history -art -state), it seems like there's usually 2-3 interviews recorded in the last week of January/first week of February, and then 6-7 acceptances in the last week of February, followed by more sporadic decisions, including the bulk of the rejections. (As per the results search; I have no idea what percentage of the interview/acceptance pool those capture). So, I'm excited, and the interview sounds se

I have lots of friends with Humanities PhDs who really don't see any other option outside of academia (thus, less lucky than us). There are a number of ed think-tanks, research firms, policy groups, etc. that we can work for. There are also educational content developers (traditional and digital), school districts, and many other organizations that can make use of the skills and expertise of Ed PhDs.

Hey all, I don't know if this has been posted before, but I found this Council of Graduate Schools "Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars, Fellows, Trainees and Assistants" on Cornell's website while checking my application status and thought it might be helpful. It basically states the conditions of accepting offers (they refer here specifically to financial offers) and affirms an agreed-upon acceptance deadline of no earlier than April 15th. At the bottom of the resolution is a list of schools in agreement with the resolution. Take a look! Council of Graduate Schools Resolution

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't know of a single history program (I am not including history of science, about which I know little) has formal interviews. This means that getting an interview doesn't mean you'll get admitted and not getting an interview means you'll get rejected. Interviews are generally done because a potential adviser wants to know more about you. They are a good sign, but not every POI will do them, so not getting one isn't necessarily a bad sign. It is human nature to freak the F out at this time of year. Don't assume you're rejected before you actually ar

Yes, thanks! Waiting to hear back from grad schools is made SO easy, because we all know exactly what/when to expect. Amiright?

Gingin, your application is probably too impressive for them.

I have yet to hear back from any schools either way, but my back-up plan throughout this entire process is to go into history. I'll likely get my teaching license and teach HS history. Maybe I'll eventually work up to the college level. But regardless, I'll probably stick with academia. The Marxist in me hates the corporate world too much.

Just received acceptance from FSU through email, although my online status is still pending. Also, received email invitation from NEU about future campus visit and meeting faculty. (Not an acceptance, but a good sign I guess.) The email also mentioned that doctoral decisions are made in early March.

Plan B: study for and take the LSAT, go to law school, become lawyer, keep reading and writing philosophy on the side. Plan C: brush up my tech skills, work as a software developer/engineer. Plan D: linguistics. OPTIONAL BONUSES: Plan A1: finally succeed as an independent fiction writer. Plan A2: convince Tesla they need a Chief Executive Philosopher, ???, profit.

we have almost the same name, so hi! good luck!

Just as an update, I was officially admitted to UT Austin and the University of Michigan this past weekend, all for solid-state electronics/nanotechnology. Good luck, everyone!

I know, right? Checking your e-mail 30,000 times a day is so much less romantic than dramatically opening your mailbox after a day at school.

Keep it short and cordial. No one has time to read a lengthy email about you gushing over the school. My template was along the lines of "Thank you for taking the time to interview me at [X school]. It was a pleasure meeting you and getting to discuss [insert: general school stuff, specific research stuff, etc.]."

Nearly impossible, impossible, and difficult are very different things. Only you will be able to decide not only which one of these it is... But weigh it against the quality, happiness, and likelihood of your success vs other locations.

Is this the calm before the storm? Hoping for a big week for everyone here!

This varies from person-to-person and from institution-to-institution. There's no secret rule. As a thought exercise, prospective grad students should read this paper on how feeling a lack of personal control increases illusory pattern perception (e.g., superstitions, conspiracy theories, patterns in noise). I think the application experience primes people to look for patterns in everything.

Just received a call from Stanford and was invited to interview! Wasn't expecting to receive anything (especially a phone call) on a Sunday.

I found this article online while I was trying to figure out what questions I should ask graduate students and what things I should pay attention to during program visits. I think it's pretty helpful: https://tenureshewrote.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/prospective-students-and-lab-culture/

I can't speak for all programs, but I don't think this is true at all. I've never served on a committee, or heard of a committee, where we already had a spot filled before the committee read the applications and voted. It is in these meetings where there might be discussion of a particular student who we've met or know or whose advisor made a personal call, but those are not shoo-ins, it's simply additional information to consider. Also, programs accept more people than they have space for, so if they want 6-10 people, they're making offers to 12-30 (or more, depending on how many they net).

Just a heads up, I recently learned it's an expectation to send thank you e-mails to the profs you interviewed with, at least that's what other interviewees told me

Just got an email from ND HPS informing me that they want to interview me to get a better sense of my specific research interests, as they felt that what I'd indicated as my areas of interest in my personal statement were fairly broad. I'm still alive! WOOHOO!!!

This is a great idea! I love being outdoors. Yesterday I went scrambling at Charon's Garden Wilderness here in Oklahoma. I'm terribly sore today, but it was fun! Here's what most of the area I was in looks like. This is exactly what I've been doing, too! Adventuring is all I can do to keep from going crazy waiting for schools Luckily I'm in Colorado so there's a lot of good options. I went snowshoeing in the Rockies last weekend for the first time and it was the best distraction. If you don't have the outdoorsy options, exploring new places in the city you're in is also a

Thank you Alment, don't worry about it. I think faculty of performance program viewed faster than others. I also apply other programs in SAIC, still no feedback.

You can also apply to national fellowships like those through NSF and the DoD.

Also a long time lurker. Got into Georgia Tech BioE a couple weeks ago! Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear back.

I mention them because I miss them too There hasn't been a day where I don't crave a California burrito......

Baylor does do formal interviews. They take 1 to 3 people per year, and interview about six people for those slots.

It's a brutal day for Northwestern Applicant. Guess it's not meant to be

Sending academic messages through email accounts that are not @.edu can look very suspicious for professors. Most of mine would skip over them immediately, especially if it was @hotmail.com!

@Swann @nonexistententity Just based off of the last few years, it looks like Northwestern sends out acceptances and wait lists over the course of a week or so (especially notable in 2013). They also seem to have sent out rejections around the same time (2015, 2013) or a week after acceptances (2014) and there have been a few notifications of a wait list or two a few weeks after the first acceptances came out. I wouldn't worry just yet because the first claimed acceptance came out on Thursday and the first gradcafe wait list came out Friday. In the past four years, Northwestern hasn't rel

*gets notice of Emory rejection* *Calls husband over* Me: Is it too early for a beer??

I'm fortunate... some of my roommates were pretty clean, and quiet for the most part. Although I did have to teach a roommate once how to use the vacuum. Not that she ever did... but it's the thought that counts. Oh, and one left the gas for the stove on all day. Thanks, I didn't want to live anyway.

Awesome, I got into Mich also, but for e-mag stuff. Who else are you waiting on?

To put into perspective from an ABD, you will continue to get hits as long as you maintain that academia.edu page. I've gotten hits from a variety of places over the years, and most often during fellowship review seasons. You'll also get hits in your local area where you're working on your degrees and that's usually graduate students in your program stalking you (because they're too insecure to talk to you to learn more about you). Seeing the analytics page on academia.edu is fun but also makes you more cognizant of your internet footprint.

You say the "bubble in which academics live", but I think this is a case of the opposite. Most people offering an interview for a job wouldn't put up with this much rescheduling, not when they have plenty of candidates who want the spot. Frequently job interviews, even on the other side of the country, expect you to be able to drop what you're doing and show up when they want you to. If you can't do that, chances are you won't get the job. I even know companies that assume that about half of the applicants invited for an interview won't show up, and use that as a way to weed out th

No. But if you look at last year's thread. Japan was the first to hear back at the end of January, and the others follows through the beginning of March. Dates of Tentative Offer from last year: Japan - January 29th Australia - February 10th New Zealand - February 24th China - February 26th Singapore - February 27th Korea - March 2nd Taiwan - March 2nd

Hope everyone is doing well. Just wanted to chime in on a few things. Yale - I am also interviewing with Yura. Got an email last week with details. From what I can tell, not everyone always interviews with Liz Diamond. I have friends that interviewed before with other professors, so I don't think it necessarily means anything. DePaul - I didn't apply their this year (was waitlisted last year). Main reason I didn't apply was because of the money. I had my finalist interview in New York. We were split into groups of two, morning and afternoon session. I checked in and had an informat

Hi, I thought you might find this helpful. Here are the other schools I considered aside from Salem State that accept lower scores. Good luck!!!! School State Apply Accepted Enroll Avg GRE Avg GPA Univ of New Haven CT 120 75 35 150/150 3.3 Fairfield CT 15 12 10 NA East Carolina Univ NC 72 24