OHSP

I think it's normal / I think we're all probably super high on the neurotic spectrum. In the middle of the night I received a request for a skype interview and I immediately replied to say, yes, I could make that time and date. Then, in daylight, I realised I'd agreed to be interviewed at 3am my time. I emailed them again. Fun times.

Oh god. This is my life. I am overseas and most of the US business day happens while I should be asleep. Twice in the last week I've woken up at 4am to emails from POIs, which I know is a good thing but STILL, it is leading to totally erratic sleeping patterns.

@voforange You can get a sense of when schools might release decisions by searching the grad results page and finding out when they interviewed/accepted/rejected people last year. It was more like early Feb than March, last year.

I sent emails to POIs at most but not all schools - so far I have received an offer from one school where I emailed no one, and a "you're well in the running, I'm excited to work with you" from a POI who I emailed in October and who never responded. I.e. I think it depends a lot on the school/person/etc.

Congrats!! Also, excellent funding. Who are you hoping to work with at OSU? I last minute decided not to apply, but their faculty is great.

Sorry to increase anxiety! I wouldn't take the lack of contact as a bad sign - to me the email felt more like they are just finalising their list and trying to scope out more info on some students, i.e. the how much do you really want to go here question. If you've already made it super clear that you're keen then an extra email might be unnecessary. My field is modern US/gender and sexuality.

To those also waiting on Wisconsin Madison, I received an email from my POI that says they are close to making decisions, they are only selecting a small incoming group from a pool of very competitive candidates, I am in the top bracket, and they want to maximise the chance that candidates will accept their offers. There's also a more personal note from my POI re how it's a great fit etc - U-WM's faculty is like a dream given my interests. Did anyone else get this email and also does anyone have any tips re responding? It's definitely not an admission - seems more like an opportunity to convince them that I want to go there.

Hey @catofthesecondstreet - first, congrats on the interview and, second, if you search for Yale history interview there are some useful comments from past years. What's your subfield by the way?

Then again, a school with a mid-December deadline got back to me 3 Jan - and I think this had to do with that school's deadlines for fellowship nominations- so you never really know what's happening. How reassuring...

I know :/ I completely underestimated how painful it would be to wait for news. Even MFA, sociology, political science etc are hearing back. According to my "when schools released information last year" sheet we still have a few more weeks, but that isn't making it less stressful.

Congrats! UNC Chapel Hill is known for being a tight-knit supportive program and I've met a few faculty members who were extremely nice - i.e. I wouldn't worry too much and it's a really good sign that they're considering you for a position - maybe just read through your application and remind yourself why you applied there. Good luck!

Looks like it's changed again - I have to stop checking it... may the next weeks pass quickly. :/

@bigbangdeux mine has changed as well and looks the same.

Congrats on yours @xypathos. Mine was oddly accompanied by a formal acceptance letter and details of funding, totally out of the blue - I'm now compulsively checking emails in case it happens again. I think it must have been a case of unusually good fit.

I am also amongst the "waiting and seeing and lurking" crowd - I've applied to eight schools and received an extremely early (and very personal) acceptance email from one of them earlier this week. I have no idea how typical/atypical this is and while the school is a great fit and is offering me excellent funding, it's not my top pick. So now I am in the "waiting and seeing and slightly confused but happy to have something" camp. I'm applying from Australia so at the very least it's nice to know that I'll definitely be moving to the US this year.