OHSP

Don't look at messaging, talk to students. What schools are you applying to and what's your field? Don't trust lists of current students to work out who's in the department, they're not always up to date. 

That's relatively standard. My program has admitted max 3 Americanists in the past four years. 

No -- just send a thank you email.

No. If you send a second email it should ONLY be to thank them.  

It’s fair to be nervous! My advice though is that you just have no idea what’s going on in a dept, and the admissions season is not over until it’s over. Covid obviously makes shit worse but departments are always somewhat unpredictable. There have been more posts this year in which people begin to despair prematurely. Despairing will just make everything worse—see if you can just tell yourself that the probability of hearing anything before the end of Jan is very unlikely, and then get on with whatever else you need to do. It’s definitely harder said than done but let the admissions cycle run its course before you assume that you’re out of the running.
 
**this isn’t really a response to @QuarantineQuail, just following on from their post.

Sorry to reply twice but what's up with all of the wild assumptions this year. This waiting period is unpleasant but some schools are probably only just beginning to download applications. 

It's way too early. Many schools won't start getting back to people until late Jan to early-mid Feb. 

Sorry to reply twice but what's up with all of the wild assumptions this year. This waiting period is unpleasant but some schools are probably only just beginning to download applications. 

It’s fair to be nervous! My advice though is that you just have no idea what’s going on in a dept, and the admissions season is not over until it’s over. Covid obviously makes shit worse but departments are always somewhat unpredictable. There have been more posts this year in which people begin to despair prematurely. Despairing will just make everything worse—see if you can just tell yourself that the probability of hearing anything before the end of Jan is very unlikely, and then get on with whatever else you need to do. It’s definitely harder said than done but let the admissions cycle run its course before you assume that you’re out of the running.
 
**this isn’t really a response to @QuarantineQuail, just following on from their post.

It’s fair to be nervous! My advice though is that you just have no idea what’s going on in a dept, and the admissions season is not over until it’s over. Covid obviously makes shit worse but departments are always somewhat unpredictable. There have been more posts this year in which people begin to despair prematurely. Despairing will just make everything worse—see if you can just tell yourself that the probability of hearing anything before the end of Jan is very unlikely, and then get on with whatever else you need to do. It’s definitely harder said than done but let the admissions cycle run its course before you assume that you’re out of the running.
 
**this isn’t really a response to @QuarantineQuail, just following on from their post.

I think it's because there is a steady stream of "interview offers" recorded in the results database. Many of the interviews are with programs that don't say anything about an interview being a part of the application process. Hard to say whether all of the "interviews" being noted are formal or informal, standardized or unique to specific professors, but it sure does exacerbate one's nerves to see the list grow. 

Sorry to reply twice but what's up with all of the wild assumptions this year. This waiting period is unpleasant but some schools are probably only just beginning to download applications. 

Not to be a Debbie Downer but this is a very good indication of what this year's admissions will look like. This is from Harvard.  My program at Ohio State will admit only 5 students.
 

Sorry to reply twice but what's up with all of the wild assumptions this year. This waiting period is unpleasant but some schools are probably only just beginning to download applications. 

Sorry to reply twice but what's up with all of the wild assumptions this year. This waiting period is unpleasant but some schools are probably only just beginning to download applications. 

You can also try prompting faculty to talk about the one thing they always really want to talk about: themselves.

No. Not at all a safe assumption. My advisor didn't respond to the emails I sent before I applied, they're not the kind of person to do so and it means nothing that they didn't respond. People have different styles, personalities, and boundaries. Meanwhile some profs who responded with interest never got back to me post-admissions season (at schools I got into). Professors are just people.  

No. Not at all a safe assumption. My advisor didn't respond to the emails I sent before I applied, they're not the kind of person to do so and it means nothing that they didn't respond. People have different styles, personalities, and boundaries. Meanwhile some profs who responded with interest never got back to me post-admissions season (at schools I got into). Professors are just people.  

For the most part these tend to be a bit of a vibe check -- can this person work with you and are you relatively the same irl as you are on paper etc. Read through and think about your application materials again so that you can explain and/or expand on anything. Be keen to talk about what you find exciting in your field(s) at the moment. Have some questions to ask about the department, but make sure they're not extremely generic -- good questions might be things like, have students taken independent studies with you lately and what do those look like because once I get closer to exams I'd really love to do an independent study in x; (if you and the POI are more interdisciplinary) what kinds of networks are there across blah and blah department/field/institute etc etc (but don't make it sound like you would potentially be a better fit for the English/geography/whatever department). 

For the most part these tend to be a bit of a vibe check -- can this person work with you and are you relatively the same irl as you are on paper etc. Read through and think about your application materials again so that you can explain and/or expand on anything. Be keen to talk about what you find exciting in your field(s) at the moment. Have some questions to ask about the department, but make sure they're not extremely generic -- good questions might be things like, have students taken independent studies with you lately and what do those look like because once I get closer to exams I'd really love to do an independent study in x; (if you and the POI are more interdisciplinary) what kinds of networks are there across blah and blah department/field/institute etc etc (but don't make it sound like you would potentially be a better fit for the English/geography/whatever department). 

For the most part these tend to be a bit of a vibe check -- can this person work with you and are you relatively the same irl as you are on paper etc. Read through and think about your application materials again so that you can explain and/or expand on anything. Be keen to talk about what you find exciting in your field(s) at the moment. Have some questions to ask about the department, but make sure they're not extremely generic -- good questions might be things like, have students taken independent studies with you lately and what do those look like because once I get closer to exams I'd really love to do an independent study in x; (if you and the POI are more interdisciplinary) what kinds of networks are there across blah and blah department/field/institute etc etc (but don't make it sound like you would potentially be a better fit for the English/geography/whatever department). 

Just an FYI that I was only offering this for the OP, otherwise it's too much sharing of my own info. If you want advice from the people on this forum I do recommend posting on the forum -- I understand the urge to lurk but you may as well ask advice, and that way people are more likely to chat about your application in DMs as a follow up to your post.  

Don't start your SoP this way -- decenter yourself. I do not know how many times ppl have to stress that an SoP is about demonstrating that you can ask robust, interesting, historical questions. Do that. Start with the questions. Do NOT begin with a bunch of vague stuff about how you identify, what you might be interested in working on, even what your senior thesis was -- professors are not going to read "I am open to a variety of topics" and think "well that's the kind of exciting work I want to be involved with". Sorry to be blunt but it needs to be said. In order to get into a program you need to write a very clear, very strong SoP. It might help to just write down (in very clear, plain English, without any frills) exactly what it is that you are hoping to ask in grad school (in coursework, research, and maybe, eventually your dissertation). A quasi-prospectus is not going to impress professors -- your project will change (and needs to) and that's the point of coursework and early years spent in conversations with profs. 

**If you DM me I will send you my SoP from 2017. I'm not sure you've seen enough examples and that might help. 

Don't start your SoP this way -- decenter yourself. I do not know how many times ppl have to stress that an SoP is about demonstrating that you can ask robust, interesting, historical questions. Do that. Start with the questions. Do NOT begin with a bunch of vague stuff about how you identify, what you might be interested in working on, even what your senior thesis was -- professors are not going to read "I am open to a variety of topics" and think "well that's the kind of exciting work I want to be involved with". Sorry to be blunt but it needs to be said. In order to get into a program you need to write a very clear, very strong SoP. It might help to just write down (in very clear, plain English, without any frills) exactly what it is that you are hoping to ask in grad school (in coursework, research, and maybe, eventually your dissertation). A quasi-prospectus is not going to impress professors -- your project will change (and needs to) and that's the point of coursework and early years spent in conversations with profs. 

**If you DM me I will send you my SoP from 2017. I'm not sure you've seen enough examples and that might help. 

Yeah, I might have overstated the "put your specific project plan aside" line because it's SO concerning to see SoP drafts that do not foreground the questions. Have a project, sure. But make sure the plan you lay out is an enquiry into something -- some SoP drafts are borderline telling us what the author intends to find, and that's a mistake. Tell profs what you want to ASK not what you plan to illustrate.