GreenEyedTrombonist

It's my first cycle as well, but from what I understand, the answer to your question is basically "it depends."
Some programs interview all applicants they are considering for the program, in which case no interview means your chance of getting in is low. Other programs interview borderline candidates, in which case you are either a clear acceptance or a clear rejection if you don't get an interview. The situation that applies to interviews differs by program, so, though some areas of study tend to do more interviews than others, it's almost impossible to tell what type of interviews any one program is conducting.
I'm in the same boat having seen interview requests come to others who applied to the same program I did, but not receiving one myself. I've recently found out from those who received the requests that the invitation listed them as a finalist, which seems to indicate the program is interviewing all candidates they are considering for admission, but at the end of the day, I don't really know what's going to happen until I officially hear from the school. Right now I'm trying to focus on the work in front of me and making some progress on my Plan B. 
Hope this helps!

@Mugi Mila I'm in an M.A. program for anthro right now so the only master's I applied for is an M.S. in Comparative Media Studies (aligns with my research interests). When you visit Mercyhurst, consider what you want to know. You'll probably want to ask questions that give you an idea of the upcoming research professors are planning, get an idea if the campus and department culture are right for you, talk to students about their workload and impressions of the program, and anything else that might be pertinent to your interests and could help with the decision.  

Thanks @AnthropologyNRT! It definitely helps to have a better idea what's going on.  

Send a pleasant reminder and check-in email at the one week mark. I'd still want some kind of confirmation they got the email, but a lot of professors don't work on those things until right around the deadline so there's probably nothing to worry about.  

Do I think you're overly critical based on the information presented here? Not at all, though this may not be the whole story. It sounds like your advisor didn't fulfill his role by ever actually advising you.
Should you acknowledge your advisor even though they've been absent for most of the thesis process? Yes, you should. Not doing so will raise red flags and, since he is well-known in his field and an established researcher, those red flags will reflect poorly on you. In addition, slighting him like that, whether he deserves it or not, might make him think twice about being your reference for either further schooling or a career. If he is that well-known, this again will look bad for you. Furthermore, acknowledging him doesn't necessarily raise his prestige, but it can raise yours, assuming you meant well-known in the sense he's respected in your field for his work.
That being said, your acknowledgement doesn't need to be waxing poetic about his many virtues. You can simply thank him for being your advisor and helping you through the process (he signed papers and agreed to be your advisor so technically, this is true). A sentence or two and you're done without lying and without snubbing him.
Probably not the advice you want to hear, but I think this is the most likely to get you through without potentially causing backlash. I'm not an expert though. If anyone else has experience with this sort of thing and disagrees, I'd love to hear from them.  

Do I think you're overly critical based on the information presented here? Not at all, though this may not be the whole story. It sounds like your advisor didn't fulfill his role by ever actually advising you.
Should you acknowledge your advisor even though they've been absent for most of the thesis process? Yes, you should. Not doing so will raise red flags and, since he is well-known in his field and an established researcher, those red flags will reflect poorly on you. In addition, slighting him like that, whether he deserves it or not, might make him think twice about being your reference for either further schooling or a career. If he is that well-known, this again will look bad for you. Furthermore, acknowledging him doesn't necessarily raise his prestige, but it can raise yours, assuming you meant well-known in the sense he's respected in your field for his work.
That being said, your acknowledgement doesn't need to be waxing poetic about his many virtues. You can simply thank him for being your advisor and helping you through the process (he signed papers and agreed to be your advisor so technically, this is true). A sentence or two and you're done without lying and without snubbing him.
Probably not the advice you want to hear, but I think this is the most likely to get you through without potentially causing backlash. I'm not an expert though. If anyone else has experience with this sort of thing and disagrees, I'd love to hear from them.  

Do I think you're overly critical based on the information presented here? Not at all, though this may not be the whole story. It sounds like your advisor didn't fulfill his role by ever actually advising you.
Should you acknowledge your advisor even though they've been absent for most of the thesis process? Yes, you should. Not doing so will raise red flags and, since he is well-known in his field and an established researcher, those red flags will reflect poorly on you. In addition, slighting him like that, whether he deserves it or not, might make him think twice about being your reference for either further schooling or a career. If he is that well-known, this again will look bad for you. Furthermore, acknowledging him doesn't necessarily raise his prestige, but it can raise yours, assuming you meant well-known in the sense he's respected in your field for his work.
That being said, your acknowledgement doesn't need to be waxing poetic about his many virtues. You can simply thank him for being your advisor and helping you through the process (he signed papers and agreed to be your advisor so technically, this is true). A sentence or two and you're done without lying and without snubbing him.
Probably not the advice you want to hear, but I think this is the most likely to get you through without potentially causing backlash. I'm not an expert though. If anyone else has experience with this sort of thing and disagrees, I'd love to hear from them.  

In most cases, if you tell them you want to be taken off their contact list they are legally obligated to do so. That doesn't mean they always will, but it might get a few of them off your back.

Can you spin the jobs or volunteer experience in a way that does relate to your research interests? I noticed your profile says history. Are you interested in the history of a particular region or a time period that relates to where you've traveled? 
If your CV doesn't look super empty without that information, I wouldn't bother adding it unless I could show how it relates to my future interests. Honestly, even at that point I'd probably just relay some of the highlights in my SOP if I wasn't comfortable with adding it to the CV.

I'm not sure if Irvine is a school that interviews everyone they're considering accepting. However, looking through the last two years of interview invites, it looks like emails were sent out over 2 or 3 days by the school, so there's still time.
I'm in the same freak out boat, just trying not to think about it...

It depends. I'm doing a project rather than a traditional thesis, but it's because I'm partnered with two companies so creating reports, toolkits, and more accessible deliverables makes more sense. You may need to talk to the program coordinator and get a better sense of what's meant by Directed Study to have an idea if it could hurt your chances of getting into a PhD program. 
I think, if you're able to show your research produced something structured and based in the methodology and theoretical frameworks of your discipline, you'll probably be fine. 

I would frame it as a request without any type of pressure. Even though it's likely the case that your app hinges upon her willingness and action to write on your behalf, frame the request in such a way that implies that her decision won't be the ultimate factor despite the fact it's likely all the other materials will be in except her rec. Maybe it's not the best way to go about it because she won't know the urgency of it, but you also don't want her to begrudgingly agree to do it and for that to come across in the letter. You might want to call the school and ask for an extension as a courtesy for all your recommenders also.
I wouldn't include any material in the initial request either. Just something along the lines of: "There's this one other school that looks like a really good fit for me that I didn't consider until very recently, but unfortunately the deadline is in a few days. I apologize for asking so late and I completely understand if you have other commitments, but would you be willing to write a recommendation for me if I applied? Regardless of your response, I want to thank you again for your previous recommendations." I'm not sure if this is your only school or not or if she's even written other recs for you - but either way, something similar to that.
And then respond immediately after her positive response with all the materials and info, or a polite "I understand, thank you very much for considering anyway" if her response is negative.

I read 106 books last year because the goodread challenge.  Right now I'm working on 1984. Have you read Gilgamesh? Can't get more classic than that.

I'm writing my primary deliverable right now. I teamed up with two organizations on Twitch (a livestream platform) and an online community that frequents their channels to understand how online communities form, make certain values central to their communities, and how organizational practices can affect community interaction. My primary deliverable is a toolkit for organizations looking to start, maintain, and grow their online communities.  

That sounds really interesting. I'd be interested in reading your final report or an article or something.  

Me too. I'm considering just moving my phone far away from me. I have about 10 paragraphs or so left to write for my M.A. project today but I just keep checking. x]

Based on the last two years, people being invited for interviews at UC Irvine should hear this week. Most admissions that I've seen seem to come very late Jan or the first week of February at the earliest. :/

That course sounds awesooooome. Definitely add Fahrenheit 451 to your list then. 

I'm actually reading Brave New World next.  I'm taking a course next semester called Thought Control in Contemporary Society and both 1984 and Brave New World are on the reading list. 

GreenEyed thank you and I hope you don't mind I stole the signature too

Have you looked for any information about how the admissions weekend has gone in the past at that school? My gut feeling is that it's more of a meet and greet type of thing to let you get a feel for the campus, but the school could be using it as a term for interview weekend.

And my last rec letters came in yesterday (the last school sent a confirmation email today). Now all I need to do is wait...and finish writing my grad project, write abstracts for conferences, plan my Twitch streams and final deliverable schedule, and, and, and...

I should probably go do all that, haha.

Hugs to all those now playing the waiting game!

same here, I'm hoping to get a draft done by the 1 Feb so then I have edits and formatting 

If you have not discussed the course with the professor at all, then you should just drop the course and not say anything. If you have mentioned it in passing and told the professor you would be taking their course, then drop the course and politely let them know that although you discussed it with them before, you decided not to take the course this semester. If the prof had encouraged you to take this course and expected you to be enrolled, then you should explain the financial situation and they will understand. It's up to you whether you talk to the prof before or after dropping it. I think if the financial cost is too much then you should definitely drop it. If you still might take the course if the prof says something convincing to you, then try to have the conversation first. Personally, I wouldn't pay $2500 for a course so I'd drop it and take it as a PhD student if you get in!
Edited to add: I forgot to say that all of this is indeed irrelevant to admissions and I wasn't suggesting that you talk to the prof since it could affect admissions. Instead, I think it's polite and professional to personally let someone know that you decided not to take their course if you had previously told them you would take their course

And my last rec letters came in yesterday (the last school sent a confirmation email today). Now all I need to do is wait...and finish writing my grad project, write abstracts for conferences, plan my Twitch streams and final deliverable schedule, and, and, and...

I should probably go do all that, haha.

Hugs to all those now playing the waiting game!