curiouser and curiouser

frankly, the tone and/or intention of queenofprussia's contributions to this conversation (many of which have been quite welcome) are irrelevant. once her insight became personal -- and by letting us know there would be no modernists in this year's round of admits, by taking it upon herself to deliver, anonymously, some of the most important news many of us will ever hear over the course of our academic careers, it's personal -- i think a line was crossed. to offer a sneak-peek into the schedule of a school's admissions process is one thing; to deliver the results of that process, unambiguously but anonymously, is unprofessional.

as much as this bunch of masochists may think they want to know everything right now, no matter the cost, i'd venture to say this brand of sneak-peek, from the "source" info isn't helpful, and at this point verges on taunting. as painful as it always is, at least an official rejection letter has the benefit of not being delivered anonymously, via some web-based forum. i'm happy to know when/if a school makes their call, but if i'm gonna hear that i didn't make the cut at chicago (again), i'd much rather hear it from the "source" itself. thanks, queen, i know you're trying to help, but as a current student, you couldn't possibly understand.

not a single modernist in a class of 11? chicago trying buck the trend, or what? stake through my heart, that is. whatever the case, is "what I hear" reliable, or should we modernists give up hope now? thanks for the insider info.

last year, the art history (phd) acceptances didn't start coming in until around mid-/late february, so you've probably got a couple more weeks of agony ahead of you. different departments handle admissions differently, even within the same university (and often within the same division), to say nothing of how differently each school approaches things. rejections and waitlist notices may or may not lag behind acceptances by a few days, or even weeks. best of luck!

For what it's worth, I was waitlisted at UChicago last year, though not eventually admitted. I received a hardcopy letter informing me of my waitlist status on about February 28 or March 1, so one can assume the admit notices had been sent out a little while before that. Kudos to the person who was asked to come visit, by the way -- I contacted the department in November to ask if I could schedule a visit, and was told that the committee made a point of not meeting with prospective students until after admit letters were out. However, I was also told that persons/profs of interest were free to meet with whomever they liked, though many would probably defer to the other members of the committee. Anyway, best of luck to everyone!

Howdy, folks. I've recently set up "meetings" with two professors at my top choice program, but coming from outside the field of art history (my background is in architecture), I feel like I have no idea what to expect at these things. I applied last year, got wait-listed at a couple places, but came away with no acceptances, and I really want to make sure I cover all my bases this year. Anyone have any priceless advice for me? How should I prepare? Thanks!

Thanks to everyone for their advice on tackling the wait-list issue. I'm diving in, with fingers crossed!

So, does anybody here have any advice for how best to deal with being wait-listed? I've now received three full-on rejections, I've every reason to expect two more any day now, and I've been wait-listed at two schools, one of which is my top choice program. What's the etiquette in a situation like this? Do I fly out, meet with people (again), and make myself as conspicuous as possible? Or would it be more prudent just to sit, wait, hope, bite my nails off, and drink heavily? What do people think?

Regarding the University of Chicago, I was wait-listed at the end of February, but haven't heard anything since. I received a letter in the mail, dated February 25th, telling me they expect to admit a number of applicants from the waiting list, and that they would contact me if and when funding becomes available (i.e. when however many admitted students accept spots at other schools). The letter also said that, even though they hope to be able to finalize their list by mid-April, they might be making admission offers beyond then, depending how things pan out. Needless to say, I'm pretty anxious! Anyway, I don't know what this might say about your own admissions status, but I hope it's helpful.

Thanks for the optimism, Ritualist. Fingers are crossed!

Did anyone else on this board apply to MIT's History, Theory & Criticism program? I'm guessing it's a lost cause at this point, but I'd be curious to know what people have heard.