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Yes, those dates seem right! I was mostly just trying to make the point (not very clearly at all haha) that we shouldn't freak out if we didn't get a phone call, like the person on the results page did, because applicants seem to have been notified through a range of different mediums in past years! Phone calls, emails, website, etc. Good luck everyone!

Right there with you! Really curious as to what's going on with Yale right now, from past years, the ways in which applicants are notified seem pretty inconsistent!

I haven't really kept up with this thread because I've mainly applied to History programs, but wanted to shoot some congratulations to those of you who have gotten admits and/or waitlists!! Waiting on Yale American Studies on my end, hopefully they will start releasing decisions this week. Good luck everyone!

@historygeek, you've gotten some wonderful advice already, and it looks like you've made peace with your situation and are making some very sensible decisions, but I just wanted to share my experience as well, on the chance that it may help. I'm currently doing an MA and I cannot overstate how important this experience has been for shaping my research interest (perhaps the effect was more dramatic in my case because I didn't do my undergrad in history, but I think it can certainly also be very valuable for people who do have a background in history, especially in terms of what @gorgogliante mentioned above). Also, I'm sure that your professors will be a much bigger help than myself, but I started out as an early modern Italy person (slowly made my way into early modern France, and then colonial North America) so maybe I can offer a few reading suggestions or answer some questions you may have. I know you're also interested in women's and gender history, and that's what I was doing (in a few words, prostitution in early modern Venice was my thing) and I can certainly dig up my old reading lists/bibliographies if that's something you're interested in. Shoot me a PM if you are!

Congratulations @Jericho and @Tigla!! Very happy for you both! And good vibes to anyone still anxiously waiting.

Congratulations @gorgogliante!

Thanks for weighing in on the ApplyWeb system everyone, I find it kind of confusing, so that's good to know!

I think this is going to be a big week for most of us, but I also feel like we're all a little bit calmer than last week. Perhaps it's just me? I can see the finish line looming in the distance. Good luck everyone, we're almost there!

I just wanted to add, I absolutely agree that mentors are so, so important! The reason why speaking with POIs was more helpful in my case was because none of my current professors are experts in the field I hope to contribute to as a doctoral student. That being said, their help and support throughout this process was still very valuable and cannot be underestimated. On a similar note, if you're an international applicant, I think it's important to have someone that is familiar with the system in the US on your side (this is assuming of course that you're applying to PhD programs in the US. Adapt it to your own situation, if you're applying to a school in Australia, same thing, try and find someone who is familiar with that particular system). For instance, my professors here in Europe only had very minimal comments on my statement of purpose, which left me feeling pretty confident about it. However, when I sent it to a US professor (after they had offered to read and review it), I ended up *significantly* revising it. Now I don't know if my current professors were trying to spare my feelings, or if it comes down to cultural differences about what a statement of purpose should or should not say but, just to be on the safe side, I would recommend having people who are familiar with the educational system from wherever it is you want to apply look through your application materials.

I agree about setting up a timeline, I made one for myself with a rough estimate of what i should accomplish each week in terms of applications, and spreading the tasks out over several weeks really helped! I also alternated between heavy-duty things like working on the SoP or writing sample and smaller tasks like dealing with the administrative side of things, filling in application forms etc, which require less brain power (and which can be done while listening to music for instance, and thus make it feel a lot less like work!). That way you can feel like you're giving yourself a little break while still doing something that needs to be done. A few things I've learned from my own mistakes: I'll echo what @historygeek said above, be really honest with yourself about where your interests lie. In my case, it wasn't so much that I wasn't being honest with myself, but I was immensely intimidated by the field I really wanted to engage with (which I had engaged with before but never in the context of History; in the end, I went back to what was essentially my "first love" in academia and I'm so, so glad I didn't let my fear stop me). Bear in mind that I had been a history student for barely a year when I started working on my applications last summer, so my interests were a little bit all over the place, you may have a much better grasp of what you want to engage with, so take what I say with a grain of salt! My point being, try to flesh out your interests as early as you possibly can, and contact POIs early. If you're lucky, they will prompt you to think about your proposed project and will be honest with you if they think that it's not particularly original (it's a little brutal to hear but very helpful in the end!). Also, try to allow for the fact that your interests may naturally evolve as you go through the process of applying, whether it be through conversations with POIs, or the research you're doing in a Master's program, or anything, really. This happened to me very late into the process (mid-November) and while the changes I made to my project weren't so significant that it would automatically rule out the schools I had decided to apply to, it did make my fitting into many of these programs a bit more of a stretch. I'm very lucky that it worked out for me and that I got admitted into my top choice program (which I added to my list very late in light of the shift in my interests; it was all very fortuitous really, I instantly fell in love with the program and made the very spur of the moment decision to apply despite the deadline being fast approaching), but I wish I had had more time to put together a more coherent list of schools. In a nutshell: time is your friend, give yourself as much of it as you possibly can. And as a side note, I can't predict how active I will be on this forum in the future, but my PMs are redirected to my inbox, so I will get those and I am always happy to help! I can't promise groundbreaking advice (I'm hoping at some point I'll feel like I know what I'm doing, but for now the imposter syndrome is still strong!), but I can at least promise a sympathetic ear and insider info about my own program. Also this cycle isn't over yet, don't lose hope!

Thank you for sharing, it's great to hear the perspective of someone who has been through this!

Thank you @elx and @DanaJ for sharing your thoughts and/or experiences! I don't feel compelled to reach out to everyone I've spoken to either (as in, some professors may not even remember our interactions because they were quite brief - although still pleasant and helpful!), but some professors really went above and beyond to guide me through this process, and it would feel wrong to not even acknowledge that. A professor at Yale even offered to look at my SoP and then sent me substantial notes, which was incredibly helpful. I cringe to think I may have sent my SoP as it was before I revised it according to their suggestions!

I don't know for sure, but I would assume they would only contact students that they've established some sort of rapport with already, but it most likely depends on their personality/inclinations as well. Perhaps professors who have relatively few students who applied to work with them can afford the time it takes to email all of them, perhaps others can't because of sheer numbers and only email those that were strong contenders etc. I think it's one of those things that's really hard to determine! On that note, is it appropriate to email POIs at universities you've been rejected from? For instance, I'm pretty sure I'm rejected from Harvard at this point, but the person I spoke with when I was preparing my application was so kind and helpful, and I still want to acknowledge that. When the official rejection does come, would it be okay for me to email that professor and say that although I have been rejected, I'm still very grateful for them taking the time to help me out etc?

I'm fairly certain that they have, yes, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I have no idea how their waitlist works though, so there may still be a chance that you'll be offered a spot on there!

My tinfoil hat theory is that I get things a little earlier because my last name starts with one of the first letters of the alphabet haha. I may be completely off the mark though! Edit: @villageelliot I posted this before I saw your post, looks like we have the same theory!! Best of luck to y'all still waiting! Fingers crossed! I've been communicating with Duke for the past few hours about travel arrangements, so it's definitely making rejection easier. I'm too busy being excited that I'll be flying out there in just over two weeks!

@historygeek, somewhere in between the "Welcome applicant" thing and the checklist of application materials. If it's there on your own portal, you'll see it!

Official Columbia rejections appear to be coming in, I just checked my portal after seeing the post on the results page, and there it was!

That's incredible, so, so happy for you!!

Haha, I admit, it is more entertaining to speculate!

Mine has disappeared. I agree that it's probably just a technology glitch! Confusing as it might be, I don't think we should try to read anything into it.

Agreed, it's so nice to see so much joy on here today!!

Congrats to the Yale admits!! That's amazing!! Waiting on them for American Studies, likely won't hear for another week or so! And I've also been punked by Harvard with the 503 error. ?

Thank you for letting us know @urbanhistorynerd! @DanaJ, what a roller coaster of emotions! So glad it all worked out in the end, congratulations!

So nice to read about everyone's research, all of this sounds fascinating! I'm embarrassed to stay I had to look up what French Azilum was, but that is so interesting. I'll look into it more if I find the time! Very rough summary of my own interests: right now, I'm focusing on French settler-colonialism in 18th-century lower French Louisiana (roughly, present day Louisiana and Mississippi) and on Franco-Indian relations, especially in terms of sexual behaviors. I'm generally focusing on the many aspects of the sexual component of colonization (ie imposed sexual norms, sexual violence, etc). I've also been looking into Spanish settler-colonialism lately and I'm hoping to expand on that a lot more during my PhD. Like many of you, I'm very interested in issues of perspective (whose 'side of the story' are we focusing on? whose voices have been left out of traditional narratives? etc). Generally, in the context of these interests, I've really enjoyed the works of Jennifer Spear, Juliana Barr, and Patricia Galloway. At the moment, I'm doing research for an essay about declension narratives, as it relates to indigenous history. I have a bunch of articles and book chapters lined up, but I think I will pick up David Weber's Bárbaros: Spaniards and Their Savages in the Age of Enlightenment next. (Also Homelands and Empires by Jeffers Lennox sounds really interesting, adding it to my reading list!)

In the same boat as many you on the not feeling a whole lotta love coming my way from Columbia, I feel prepared for the rejection as well, just wish they'd let us know. Me and everybody else, I know, I know. I'm trying to stay away throughout the height of the waiting period, but I hope everyone's holding up okay!