hypervodka

I was accepted to Rutgers as well! This is all so unnerving.

I was accepted to Rutgers as well! This is all so unnerving.

I was accepted to Rutgers as well! This is all so unnerving.

I was accepted to Rutgers as well! This is all so unnerving.

I was accepted to Rutgers as well! This is all so unnerving.

This information is from 2012, which one could make a note of on the spreadsheet, but Michigan received 408 applicants for 12 spots. I was wait listed there for the F13 cohort, and based on my experience on the waitlist and my acceptance this year, I don't think they over admit much at all.

I know that the cohort size remains 12 this year, but that said, the number of applicants could be down--I haven't heard a number. ~500 for Columbia (which I believe I read earlier in this thread) would be less than the ~700 applicants they've seen in the past.

I know it doesn't show the current cycle, but UVA does provide the past several years. You could extrapolate that they receive 225-300 applications and give 20-25 offers or there-about. Found here: http://gsas.virginia.edu/sites/gsas.virginia.edu/files/Profile-English.pdf(I find their GRE statistics surprisingly high). 

I know you've since followed up on this, but I just want to weigh in, since I've actually been on the academic job market ... I don't know if I'd call the hope of getting a good TT job an entitlement. I think that even calling it a "dream job" is problematic. So many of these jobs--even the really good ones--are just not that great in terms of what they offer us materially, i.e. the ratio of benefits/salary to expectations of productivity is crappy. The pay scale for TT professors is absolutely appalling--and I say this as someone who previously worked in nonprofit (so I know a thing or two about being "low-balled" in the interview room).
 
I know that's not what you were talking about, and I know that no one goes into this line of work for the money, but I did just want to make this point if only because the "dream job" argument is one that university administrators make to deliberately keep the pay scale so low. It's all "well, this is the dream job! A TT job! So you should be happy to take whatever we're offering because you love to do this! And by the way, we have people lined up around the block, so if you make any noise about wanting more, we'll just rescind your offer!" It's pretty awful, actually. I know someone who got a really low-ball offer from a school in NYC, and they tried to justify paying him so little with the argument that the city offers such "cultural riches" so he should just be happy to get the opportunity.
 
So, I just wanted to clarify this point, because I think that so many of us get into this mindset where we think we'll be just so lucky to land that "dream job." And truth be told, you ARE lucky if you land a TT job--really lucky. But it's also okay to want more. it's okay to say "I'm worth more than this," or "just because my position is teaching-focused, it doesn't mean that I shouldn't get paid as much as my research-focused colleagues." Yeah, there definitely are the really entitled people out there who have skewed expectations about the job market, and they are f'ing obnoxious. But we should be careful not to tilt to far to the other side of the spectrum, which might set us up to be exceedingly accommodating and deferential to the neoliberal university, i.e. "just be grateful that you have a job."

You should really ask your professors. Personally, however, I'd err on the side of USNWR. USNWR rankings are crap, but they do sort of have a ring of truth (a hollow ring, but a ring nonetheless). Yes, program reputation is still the most important currency on the job market, and many of the schools that USNWR picks out as good are generally regarded as good schools, and people coming out of them get good jobs. There are few surprises there.
 
NRC has been sort of dismissed--not just because it's already out-of-date, but because it's difficult to understand and interpret. It also threw some wild curves that had people scratching their heads. I know that people at my institution didn't really take it seriously.

does berkeley really take so few per year? they have close to 150 grad students listed on their website. if they were taking even 15 a year, some of these grad students would be like ten years in. 

I was just waitlisted at Princeton. WUT IS GOING ON. Pinch me. Hard. 

Thanks, InHacSpeVivo.  
 
One of the things that occurred to me last night, after I heard from UMD, is how crazy-narrow the funnel is into these programs.  UMD is accepting 8 people out of about 200 applicants.  In that context, just being seriously considered is an accomplishment.    8 out of 200 is 4%.  How on earth do admissions committees even meaningfully assess 200 applications?  I mean, 4% of people think the world is controlled by lizard-people. http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/03/poll-4-percent-of-americans-believe-lizard-people-control-world/  (Sorry for the Daily Caller link, but you have to admit, great story.) 4% is not an uncommon sampling error.  You stand as good a chance of being falsely sent to death row: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/28/innocent-death-penalty-study_n_5228854.html  My point, of course, is that to some extent the decisions are out of our control.  
 
Sitting on a couple of waitlists, and hearing the variety of experiences here, I want to say to myself, and others, not to take it personally, or to glean any meaning in particular about ourselves and our ambitions, if we don't get in.  I write a lot of grant proposals in my work, and a truism there is that getting turned down is often an invitation to a conversation that will improve your proposal next time around.  The funders often want to fund you; they just have limited resources, and sometimes you're just not asking the right way.  I suspect there's an analogue with these programs / committees... as hard as it is to wait a year and come back around.  For what it's worth....

I had entirely given up on this season. I had so given up that I ALREADY SIGNED UP FOR THE APRIL SUBJECT TEST.
 
And here today a UCSB acceptance lands in my email.
 
I'm so happy and so relieved. I was considering quitting academia! What nonsense!

Emory I actually found out about from the Results Search. They wrote as much in the rejection letter sent to applicants. Vanderbilt volunteered that info (which is 350 applicants, not 300) when I inquired about the status of my application a couple of months ago.

UNC-Chapel Hill (PhD): 15 accepted, 266 applied.
 
Columbia (PhD): 19 accepted, 543 applied.

FWIW, the number of students accepted vs target cohort size can (and often does) differ considerably. In my experience, acceptance/rejection emails often mention the number of funded spots rather than the total number of acceptances. The programs I visited during my application year (Fall 2013), including the one I currently attend, all accepted significantly more students than they thought would come. Most schools have a good sense of their yield rates, and can strategically over-admit without too much of a problem. While this does carry some risk--as lyonessrampant notes--this is still a very common practice. 
 
All this to say: visiting weekends can be a good time to get a better sense of the number of acceptances. Though not everyone can make any given open house, you can usually get a decent idea of how many students were accepted. 

I'd love for us all to work together to demystify the acceptance rates of these universities for this application season. 
 
Rejection letters and acceptance letters often use the same language. "Congratulations! From a qualified pool of 240 applicants, you were selected..." or "Unfortunately, we received over 240 applications, rendering the decision process extremely competitive..." "You were one of eight applicants selected!" or "We were only able to offer admission to eight applicants this season..."
 
If you feel comfortable, I would appreciate it if we used this thread to compile as much information as you've been able to gather regarding how many applicants (for example, 300 at Vanderbilt) and how many offers (4 at Syracuse) each of your target institutions entertained, whether it be for a position in a PhD program or an MA program.
 
Here are mine:
 
Emory (PhD): 7 accepted, 170 applied.
Vanderbilt (PhD): 300 applied.
 
As the decision process winds to a close, I'll begin compiling them in an openly editable Google document (closed for now). By April 15th, we'll have a PDF version (hosted on pdf.ly or a similar website), that is infinitely share-able for the next generation of prospective applicants! 

I'd love for us all to work together to demystify the acceptance rates of these universities for this application season. 
 
Rejection letters and acceptance letters often use the same language. "Congratulations! From a qualified pool of 240 applicants, you were selected..." or "Unfortunately, we received over 240 applications, rendering the decision process extremely competitive..." "You were one of eight applicants selected!" or "We were only able to offer admission to eight applicants this season..."
 
If you feel comfortable, I would appreciate it if we used this thread to compile as much information as you've been able to gather regarding how many applicants (for example, 300 at Vanderbilt) and how many offers (4 at Syracuse) each of your target institutions entertained, whether it be for a position in a PhD program or an MA program.
 
Here are mine:
 
Emory (PhD): 7 accepted, 170 applied.
Vanderbilt (PhD): 300 applied.
 
As the decision process winds to a close, I'll begin compiling them in an openly editable Google document (closed for now). By April 15th, we'll have a PDF version (hosted on pdf.ly or a similar website), that is infinitely share-able for the next generation of prospective applicants! 

YES YES YES YES YEAAAAAAAAHHH.
 
And you have a promising side career as an alchemist (or conjurer of any kind, if you're not too picky).

I am dumbfounded and crying with happiness. My first choice, Tennessee, accepted me, fully funded, with three additional fellowships and a nomination for a fourth. 
 
And there's snow on the ground outside. It's like the best day of my life.

Sorry about the rejection, but I'm going to concentrate on this part and say that, extensive reader notes to me signal someone is invested in making your research better and stronger because they believe you have the potential to do the work it needs. That said, take some time to breathe and cry a little bit, and when you return to your work I'm sure you'll see it doesn't sting as bad as it does now.

I got a phone call from Princeton a few hours ago and I totally hadn't been expecting to get in. I've been in a daze and haven't really been able to do anything all afternoon. Oh my goodness. Me!?!?

Accepted at UT Austin. I'm totally disoriented and I think I'm going to have to chug a beer. I am so happy. 

that was my gut feeling too---thanks guys! I hate negotiating so I wanted to make sure my gut feeling wasn't just a reticence to negotiate.