Karou

Dressy casual is always a good bet. I wouldn't do a pantsuit; much too formal and aging. A nice oxford shoe or a dressy flat is good enough if you don't wear heels.
Do you use Pinterest? It's an excellent resource for example outfits for various occasions. 
And honestly, you should put your best foot forward--that is, show a bit of your own personal style, not some stiff suit and heels that will only make you feel uncomfortable. 

@Sigaba was giving you advice, and that advice was well meant. That's why those of us who have already gone through this process stick around. Ignore it to your own disadvantage.
Also, disparaging the ivory tower while applying to PhD programs is... special.

The admins are the ones who field calls from individuals looking to hire graduate students, who pass along important, actionable information about the department, and forward messages to professors who are ignoring their email queue.
If you don't find it in yourself to dial down your attitude and increase your situational awareness, the staff will figure you out and extend to you none of these courtesies. 

So much good news today, congrats you guys!!
I also got some good news today, I got into the MPhil in Medieval History at Trinity College Dublin! Very happy about this, although they've given me until the end of the month to give them an answer and I'm a little anxious about this because I won't have heard back from all of my schools by then. I've asked for an extension and hopefully that works out. Still, I am extremely grateful and stunned that I already hold three offers, I never thought I would actually have the luxury to get to choose between schools!
Also, @nhhistorynut, can we talk about how much I love your profile picture??!

This dog is actually every single one of us. I love it.

So much good news today, congrats you guys!!
I also got some good news today, I got into the MPhil in Medieval History at Trinity College Dublin! Very happy about this, although they've given me until the end of the month to give them an answer and I'm a little anxious about this because I won't have heard back from all of my schools by then. I've asked for an extension and hopefully that works out. Still, I am extremely grateful and stunned that I already hold three offers, I never thought I would actually have the luxury to get to choose between schools!
Also, @nhhistorynut, can we talk about how much I love your profile picture??!

Lol thanks. This is the actual pic:
 

I'm also in at Wisconsin-Madison! Received informal email admission via email from  the DGS

Update from Wisconsin Madison - I just received an offer via email from the DGS. It's a great fit for my work so I'm very happy - it looks like this is a week for hearing back. 

I woke up this morning to the good news that I've been accepted to Columbia! This is my first acceptance of the season, and I wasn't expecting an offer this early, so I'm pretty happy

Aaaaah I got into NYU's history and french studies joint phd!!!!!!!!!! I am over the moon to have gotten in anywhere. I had myself convinced I might not make it this cycle. 
I don't have any details on funding yet because I only got an email from my POI saying that the two departments recommended me for admission, and that I'll be getting a formal acceptance email w/all that other stuff soon. 
Did anyone else hear from NYU? Is anyone else doing the joint phd w/french studies?

@Sigaba, ah that makes more sense, apologies for misreading your previous message! You're absolutely right that it would be better to send my thanks after having made a decision. However, they contacted me unexpectedly fast (10 days after I sent in my application -which by the way is going to spoil me for life) and I know for a fact that some other schools will not notify me of a decision before mid to late March, and it just seemed like a long time to leave an email unanswered. But point taken, thank you!

I am not saying that you shouldn't say thank you. I'm recommending that you say thank you in a way that indicates that you're respectful of other peoples' time in ways that they'll appreciate. Two email messages, no matter how well-written, heartfelt, thoughtful or thankful, are still two email messages to read among a stack of periodicals, books, essays, thesis and dissertation drafts, manuscripts, blue books, committee reports, and departmental memos.
Moreover, given your desire not to give an indication of your decision in a thank you note, you're running a risk, no matter how well intended your note, of sending a different message than you intend. Thank you for your offer...I'll let you know when I make a decision. IME, historians don't exactly appreciate that message when they get it from established professors following an offer of an endowed chair. The prospect of rejection doesn't always become easier to endure. YMMV.

You are definitely right in your supposition about languages after the second getting easier. Part of this could be if the languages are related but I think part of it is just knowing how you best learn and doing that. Your plan and goals sound totally doable. I'm a first year Africanist. All programs are different but in my own, I need an African and European language (only a reading test at the outset). I had taken Swahili previously and had worked on French for reading so was able to get both of those out of the way off the bat. I am actually continuing with both though because I am focused on the Congo and thus need both. French on my own and Swahili in a class (an advanced class so conversation and discussion rather than classroom learning). I added Lingala as well this semester so I am attempting to juggle the three with around 1 to 1.5 hours per day in each. Working so far! 

Congrats! I'd actually recommend just sending a reply that says something along the lines of, "Thanks for the email, I was very happy to receive the offer and to hear from you. At this stage I have received one other offer and am waiting to hear back from a few other schools - [maybe any questions that you have about the school]. Thank you for getting in touch and I look forward to speaking with you further -" I've sent two emails along these lines and I've received very friendly replies - it's something they're used to. Also I don't think I'd ever leave an email unaddressed when the person's taken time to write to you - perhaps especially in Britain! 

Congratulations on the acceptances! 
In response to your question, I think it's fine if you just let them know you appreciate the acceptance and leave it at that. That way you don't explicitly commit to anything. But even if you do I don't think it'll be that much of a problem, as they know the kind of stuff students do when applying (e.g., it's always more than one place and then it's weighing various options before finally committing to one place). 
Hope that helps!

Hi guys!
As of last week, I've officially applied to all of my programs. I'm only applying to masters programs this cycle, which I suppose is less stressful than applying to doctoral programs, but I am nonetheless awaiting decisions anxiously!
I've been following this thread for a bit, and thought it was time to join in. Congratulations to those of you who have received acceptances, it's truly great to see! And best of luck to all of you still waiting to hear.

I have a cold and I have to teach.  Ugh.
Also, can we talk about pet adoption for a second. Completely unrelated to academia, but hey, so are a lot of things.
 I am a conservationist and have three rescue pets and think it is important to take care of our environment and the animals we bring into the world.   However, I think the adoption scene has gotten ridiculous.  They have lost sight of the goal.  And the adopt don't shop rhetoric is great, until you think of the ramifications.  The end goal is not to get everyone to adopt pets.  The end goal is to not have a need to have an animal shelter because pets are being kept by responsible pet owners.  In which case, we will need responsible breeders who care about the health and well-being of their dogs to breed puppies.  But currently, it is seen as morally reprehensible to even consider buying a puppy from a breeder rather than a shelter, and breeders are looked down on as worse than Trump supporters.  And the only thing in our shelters is pit bulls and Chihuahuas because for whatever reason irresponsible people keep breeding these two breeds of dogs.  We can't even have pit bulls in an apartment so you can't adopt them.  So, what if you want a dog of a specific breed?  "Go to a breed specific rescue" people will say.  Well, my friend did just that.  She is looking for a mini poodle and the poodle rescue in our area actually had one that would be perfect for her.  She is a single woman with no kids or other pets and plenty of time to spend looking after a dog.  But, the rescue only adopts to people who have had prior experience with poodle hair.  So, how could she get experience without owning a dog like that beforehand?  She can't.  So, she has to buy a dog from a breeder in order to gain that experience so that she can adopt some day down the line.  Well, that is convoluted.  They should offer classes in poodle hair care or something, but just disallowing the adoption is crazy, imo.
That rant probably didn't make sense.  All I am saying is that I see problems down the line for pet ownership if we continue to go down the road we are going down, and while it is important to shut down puppy mills and the like who torture dogs for money, we need to focus more on responsible pet *ownership* rather than just where you get your pet from.
Also, since I am already pissing off everyone who owns pets... I like purebreds as much as the next person, and I think we should keep breeding purebreds because you can get an idea of temperament and stuff from a specific breed, but the people who are mixing the dogs to make "Chi-weenies" and "Shi-poos" are probably doing us a service, as most purebreds are inbred and have health problems. 
I don't mind if you argue with me.  I just see these problems and I don't see anyone even talking about them, and I want answers, haha.

Hi guys!
As of last week, I've officially applied to all of my programs. I'm only applying to masters programs this cycle, which I suppose is less stressful than applying to doctoral programs, but I am nonetheless awaiting decisions anxiously!
I've been following this thread for a bit, and thought it was time to join in. Congratulations to those of you who have received acceptances, it's truly great to see! And best of luck to all of you still waiting to hear.

http://www.theonion.com/article/report-today-the-day-they-find-out-youre-a-fraud-35133

Stop worrying, guys. Just assume the committees laughed at your application then threw it in the trash. Assume that afterwards they went out for coffee to discuss how pathetic you truly are for thinking you stood a chance. After coffee, they returned to the office. They dug your application out of the trash for another laugh; your statement of "purpose" had them rolling. They took selfies of themselves with your application, posted the photos on Twitter, and watched as even the school chancellor retweeted them. Your POI crumbled up the application once again and shot it like a basketball into the trashcan but missed and didn't even pick it up. Making their rounds the next morning, the janitors picked it up and read it. They laughed harder than the admissions committee. "What a waste of time, money, and energy this person would be for the History Department," said one of the janitors. The other janitor agreed, noting that the time, money, and energy would be better spent on purchasing new toilet paper. Your POI returned home later that night. Family members asked about the applications and whether or not any of them stood out. "Nope. Not a single one," said your POI from the comfort of a home that tenure affords and that you'll never experience. "Not a single one."

@Karou while departments set the requirements and one's research interests establish priorities/needs, please keep in mind that professors often decide if a graduate student has satisfied a requirement. You can ace classes/programs and you can speak/read a language like a native...and the professor who you want to be your dissertation committee chair can set the bar in another place and at a different height than you expected.
So when you look at departments, your areas of interest, and your aptitude for learning some languages more efficiently than others, please also do research on the specific historians who might test your proficiency, up to calling their ABDs and asking point blank What was the language exam like? In these conversations, skirt around the assessments of the level of difficulty. Hard/easy have different meanings to different graduate students at different times. Instead, try to get a sense of how the exam was administered and evaluated.
HTH.

I'm sorry you guys, all of that sounds really upsetting. It always astounds me how completely out of line some students can be. I see it happen at my own school (nowhere near as bad as what you guys are describing, maybe the real ugly stuff goes down in private?) and I'm just sitting here like "Oh god, I'm going to have to deal with that one day!". I still want to teach more than anything, but jeez, some people really do make me question my life choices sometimes! But then again, I'm sure I'd have to deal with awful people at one point or another in any career.
For a slightly more lighthearted bout of venting: winter in the city is awful because the sidewalks are basically icy death traps and I almost fell on my face about 4 times when going to the store earlier today, thanks Canada! Although I did meet a real cute dog named Mustache on the way so I feel like it was a pretty successful outing. 

There isn't just one correct way to do things, and at the end of the day you should only list things that you are comfortable having on your CV. It sounds to me like you got some very good advice, and I'm sorry if some if it was conveyed in a way you found offensive. Keeping a high GPA while working to support yourself is more telling about your character and abilities as a student than if you'd kept your high grades without also working, so I understand that advice. That said, it might also simply be something that you mention briefly in your SOP or some "do you have anything else to tell us" section of the application, if you are so inclined, and there is no harm in leaving this out if you don't want it on there. You can also choose to only mention some jobs but not others -- you are not obligated to mention them all. Same goes for the volunteer bit (which is fine to have, I think), and the travel bit, and that one I would be much more inclined to not mention at all because it's less obvious what it would teach the adcom that is relevant to their decision. An "interests" section is an odd one to have on an academic CV, in my opinion.
Overall your goal with the CV is to present yourself the best way you can, but it's also perfectly fine if your CV is quite short for an undergrad who is just applying for a Masters now. "Padding" won't do you much good, so instead the question to ask yourself about each potential entry is whether it presents an aspect of yourself that you want the adcom to know, and whether it supports you application or might help the adcom reach a positive decision in your case. That decision is up to you, so just do whatever feel right. If something doesn't help or you just don't want it there, then keep it out.

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.