nevermind

Every day that goes by without hearing anything is a day where I'm feeling slightly more nauseated.

Not just you! I don't think my two programs notify until early-mid February. (For better or worse.)

I don't think you're wrong at all, @ashiepoo72. My interview was very informal...the person who contacted me happens to be working on a book related to my very niche interests, which is why they wanted to contact me and find out more about my work/preparation. I don't think that the interview process is required to gain admittance to the program and I certainly don't expect more interviews from other programs (Most other programs don't advertise interviews...I know UPenn does interviews for History of Science, but I didn't receive one!). I wasn't given any information of being unofficially rejected/admitted (and certainly no off-the-record mentions of fellowships or the like). I think it was mostly a curiosity thing, as in "oh this person has a oddly specific background that may help me with my work...maybe I should talk to them." @bettafish - It's not a guaranteed acceptance, but I would be cautiously optimistic if I were in your position.

I had a Skype interview...so no good West Coast food for me yet. :-/ Castlewood and Hawn State Parks are pretty good for hiking, though it's kind of a mushy, muddy mess outside right now.

@123hardasABC - Congrats! If you want any info about moving to/living in STL, I've lived here the past 3 years, so I can answer any questions.

I'm lucky that I'm moving with a partner, so we'll (likely) live off-campus (I have a dog, so it would be tricky to find one with an inclusive pet policy anyway). Financially, I want to try to stretch my stipend as much as possible (since we're moving for me to do this), but he might be able to work remotely (he's a computer programmer), so I think we'll be in a decent (but obviously not independently wealthy) position. We also are older (late 20's / early 30's), have our own transportation, and probably want to be somewhat isolated for our own sanity.

I definitely have my anti-social tendencies too. Being around people just drains me. My boyfriend and I want to get a 2 bedroom apartment (which won't be possible in some places), so we each can be anti-social yet still coexist.

I was like this. I lived 5+ years without roommates and swore I never would have a roommate again. Then, I decided to get a roommate so that I could save money (to switch form a very lucrative job to a less-paying-but-more-creative job). Now, my boyfriend and I are planning on moving in together wherever I get accepted and I'm really glad I had that adjustment period of living with somebody else first.

It would actually be in history, not history of science (just a science studies emphasis). But yes, usually that's the case.

I applied to the joint history/science studies program.

I can claim one. It was for a very specific subfield by my POI. I don't think you should go into panic mode yet. I'm not sure a shortlist has been made (I certainly wasn't given an offer yet!) by the department.

Just reiterating interest in attending the program is fine, I think. "Due to our discussions on [topics], I am even more interested by the prospect of attending ABC program at X University."

My thank you was about an hour after the Skype interview (our interview ran long and I had to be somewhere...so it was after my next appt.). It basically said: "Dear Dr. ___, I just wanted to thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me today. I enjoyed our discussion on [research] and I am excited about the opportunity of working with you in the future." After the interview, he wanted another Skype session to finish our discussion, so I just made reference to setting up another time after that. Hope this helps.

My interviewer just sent me 5 articles of his to read (including a chapter from his upcoming book) and we're going to talk more about them on Thursday. I know it's a positive sign, but it doesn't make me less nervous. (And it seems very a-typical of an interview.)

In my interview, I was basically asked, "what exactly do you want to do here?" I said that my goal for a Ph.D. is to gain a depth of knowledge (not necessarily breadth...) so I can build theoretical / methodological frameworks to study [my research project] appropriately. (I can make my own reading lists...but going through the process of comps would really force me to *know* a lot about my historical/theoretical fields.) I don't know what list you need to generate. I feel like people's research interests shift and change once they're in a program..you basically should have a research trajectory and maybe 1-2 examples...but I'm not entirely sure that you need to be so specific. (but my experience is very limited to my field.)

I hope so! Mostly, I think he was excited to talk about his own research to someone who was willing to listen.

Thanks! He's a big name in a *very* niche field. So I'm flattered he liked my work. Even if I don't get in, it still is very encouraging.

We'll see. I feel like I've been in academia long enough to know that even if your POI really really wants you, sometimes things don't always turn out that way. However, I do hope it is the first sign of many positive things to come.

At first, nothing was going right...Skype kept shutting down my browser...but eventually, everything kind of fell into place. It sounds really promising. It went an hour and a half and my POI wants me to work on a particular project. He was very generous in how he described my work and so it seemed really positive. We'll be picking up the conversation later to talk more about research (because an hour and a half was just scratching the surface!). It's an exciting opportunity, but I haven't been offered it yet, so fingers crossed!

Oh man! That's part of what I am most excited about doing for a Ph.D.! One of my programs only requires 1 language (which I've already met the requirements for), so I want to take advanced classes + learn more about my second language (which I've only done 1.5 years of).

Congrats Neist! I always had a blast with TA-ing....the best part? Reading your reviews at the end--they can be hysterical.

Until you get all rejections back, there is still hope. Honestly, I would seriously consider your job offers. Sometimes, as an adult, you have to work in fields where your "heart" isn't--just to pay the bills while working toward your goals. I would wait a couple of weeks (after April 15th) and ask the programs where you were rejected how to improve your application. I suspect that you probably applied to too many prestigious programs and not enough "realistic" ones, especially with low(ish) GRE scores. In terms of "somewhere you don't want to live in the U.S."...that's really going to narrow your choices. You've picked: Cambridge (MA), New York (NY), San Diego (CA), and Palo Alto (CA). There are plenty of prestigious programs in equally nice parts of the country (the U.S. is a big place), and certainly climate isn't an issue because Cambridge and San Diego are pretty different. Be open minded about where your research fits and try again. Many people apply to programs more than once and are more successful on their second rounds, if they are open to constructive criticism and feedback.

Yay!!!! Congrats! Get off GradCafe and go celebrate! P.S. 5/12 schools so far? It's been encouraging to watch your admissions cycle!

Thanks! I plan to...though if not, I'm Skyping in front of my big bookcase to provide sufficient distraction to academic-types.

I have a Skype interview this evening. I'm going to have earphones ready in case it's really hard to hear (it shouldn't be), but I'm not going to automatically start wearing them. I'm also going to have water somewhere off-screen in case I have a problem with coughing fits or something else entirely unflattering. I apologize to everyone where I thought, "at least you got an interview, you lucky bastard" when I was just compulsively checking my email and nothing was there. I'm just trying to prepare the best way I know how: drinking coffee and watching Netflix. (After I re-read abstracts and drafted questions for my POI, of course.)