Meglet

I just asked this in the "faculty perspectives" thread ...  I hope someone with authority pipes up about it!  I'd love to know!

Here is a series of questions that have been haunting me for the past two weeks: 
 
How often is it that programs interview only some of the applicants in their close-to-final list? Do you know of anyone who got in without an interview to a school which interviewed other applicants? Which schools interview ALL semi-finalists, and which only interview when they think they're better off if they interview certain people? Of course, anthropology-specific. 

THIS x 10000000!
 
When I load the page, I am pretty sure I am feeling all the emotions.
 
Unrelated, but damn, there are a LOT of Princeton sociology rejections! Pour one out for the sociologists.

...that moment when your relief that none of your schools are showing up in the results section yet turns to despair that none of your schools are showing up in the results section yet.

This 100 million times.  Even "a few people have gotten interviews at X, and I haven't heard anything, so I'm not getting in anywhere."

I wish I could just be put in cryogenic refrigeration until April. 

This 100 million times.  Even "a few people have gotten interviews at X, and I haven't heard anything, so I'm not getting in anywhere."

This 100 million times.  Even "a few people have gotten interviews at X, and I haven't heard anything, so I'm not getting in anywhere."

Not only rejected, but we'll all be asked  to not reapply.....ever.

Now I have that much more reason to drink the anxiety away on Friday

A few people have been accepted to insert school here, therefore we have all been rejected by all schools we've applied for

I, too, have been looking at apartments, and plenty of the programs I applied to don't notify until mid-late February ...  

It's super fun and practical IF you're getting in. 
 
If.
 
.....if.

I think it depends on what you want to do.  I did an MA in Middle Eastern Studies, with only a vague idea that I wanted to increase intercultural understanding.  Without a political background and internships, the degree wasn't enough to get me into think-tank, NGO, or government jobs.  I really wanted to be a professor, but couldn't admit that to myself at the time, so now I'm applying to PhD programs in anthropology (with a focus on the Middle East).
 
If you have the other background to do what you want to do, a degree might pay off, or it might not be necessary.  Or it might be worth getting a degree in a more traditional discipline but focusing on the Middle East - I figure that gives me more options for finding jobs, because I qualify for 2 departments.
 
I'm not sure what my PhD chances would be if I hadn't done the MA, but the whole thing is definitely less of a financial risk if you can get your degree paid for, which is more likely at the PhD level.  But if you don't want to be a professor, a PhD might not make the most sense.  
 
If you don't know more specifically what you want to study and/or what you want to do career-wise, the suggestion to take (or audit) a few classes at a local school might help you figure it out, as well as strengthening your application if you decide to go that route.

A thousand times this. 
 
I'm even worse though. I'm on craigslist, and zillow, and trulia, looking at houses and rentals and floorplans and street views and thinking Oh! This place will be perfect! Look, the cats with love the view! Ooo and look, here's the cafe we can go to on the weekends! And OO! LOOK!
 
Surely none of this can lead to disappointment and/or heartbreak!

Preach. My coworkers today got seriously disgusted with me. 
 
Coworker: "Hey, you must be pretty happy that all of your applications are in, right? What are you doing with all that energy?"
 
Me: "Um, it's all condensed into a black hole of anxiety and compulsive email checking."
 
Coworker: "... are you serious? What the hell? Why would you do that to yourself?"
 
Edit: for what it's worth, I HIGHLY recommend the Chrome Page Monitor plug in. Now instead of manually entering all of my programs into the Results Search over and over, I hit one button to check for all of them.

I'm personally a fan of "Sent from my smartphone, so please excuse any hippos" and "Sent from my phone, so beware of typhoons."
 
Nothing at all to worry about.

I'm with FaultyPowers - married with cats, and in my earlyish 30s.

THIS is exactly how I feel.  I guess I'll try again if I don't get in this round, but just at the moment I don't feel like I can handle this whole process again.
 
And Daisy123, it's really hard to define 'too long'.  The requirements for my applications were between 750 words and 5 single-spaced pages.  Ultimately, I did 2 single-spaced pages for everywhere but the 750 words (CUNY).  As long as you didn't go over the requirements for that school, I wouldn't worry about it.
 
I think I'm going to send my recommenders a card, green chile (the state specialty), and cookies.

THIS is exactly how I feel.  I guess I'll try again if I don't get in this round, but just at the moment I don't feel like I can handle this whole process again.
 
And Daisy123, it's really hard to define 'too long'.  The requirements for my applications were between 750 words and 5 single-spaced pages.  Ultimately, I did 2 single-spaced pages for everywhere but the 750 words (CUNY).  As long as you didn't go over the requirements for that school, I wouldn't worry about it.
 
I think I'm going to send my recommenders a card, green chile (the state specialty), and cookies.

One minute I think I wont get in anywhere and the next I worry about having to choose where to go cause I'll get in everywhere.  Ultimately, I'm just tired, just fucking tired.  I tried re-reading my SOP an hour or so ago.  It made me ill.  Not cause it was bad I just couldn't handle it anymore like looking in the mirror on a BAD morning. I'm relieved by tomorrows deadline. UCHICAGO is done cause it has to be regardless of how I feel about it.  I tried.  I gave it a go.  That's all that can be expected at this point.  Who will do this again if they don't get in this round?

Mmmm, whiskey.

I sent all my applications in yesterday.  Maybe it looks good to get (some of them) in early?  Also, I just couldn't stand to look at them anymore, and if I changed something on a later one it was going to make me paranoid about submitting another application the other way.  I should be more relieved to be done, but I just feel...empty.

That was my thought process when submitting stuff last week for applications that are due in January and February.  I figure it's better to be super early than super late.  At least now the (supposedly) hard part is out of the way...I feel like waiting around for a decision might end up being the real hard part.