@MaytheSchwartzBeWithYou I could not agree more with what you are saying.
Northeastregional - I called you out on this a while ago and it seems like your responses are continuing to impress. This is not meant to be a negative forum. You continue to troll here, posting comments that are exceedingly negative. You are not even an applicant! So why are you here? The level of intelligence of people who have contributed to these 11 pages is not low and people do understand the gravity of being a grad student and that the job market is far from ideal. No one here is a fortune teller and no one knows if applying a second or even third time will bring them to the right school but it has for many in the field of art history, so unless you are going to offer actual advice pertaining to this, keep your opinions to yourself. It is absolutely none of your business to assume whether or not people are the exception or the rule. Being married to someone in the field does not make you an expert, it makes you a bit more knowledgeable than the average person but beyond that there is nothing. If you were genuinely offering people valuable advice in a respectable manner I would have no issue with the statements you are making what so ever, but all you have done is be exceedingly rude. If you are not going to offer anything of actual value or perspective that can be put in a positive way, then please stop commenting in this forum.