wjd

*walks in* *looks around* *walks right back out*

I'm glad for you -- hoping for more good news!

Anyone want to shed some light on these Harvard acceptances? It's the only AmSt program I applied to -- my other applications are to history departments.

let the panic begin

I see an Indiana report on the board....anyone have information? IU could either be a great fit for me or an awful fit for me.

I'm not entirely sure that you should give up hope yet -- they explicitly told me that they were only contacting me early (3rd week of Jan.) because they were nominating me for university-level fellowships. I am not sure if they have sent out all of their acceptances yet. & thanks for the congrats. We only need one acceptance, right??

I'm a 20th century Americanist with an atypical admissions profile, so I cast a wide net at the advice of my mentors. They said that I was good enough to be competitive anywhere, but my application just had to get lucky and fall into the right set of hands. What did that translate to? 11 schools. Right now I'm 1a(UNC-CH)/4r/0w/6?, which means that barring a serious winning streak, my advisors weren't wrong. I'm just happy to have a spot somewhere!

Congrats, congrats, congrats! PM me if you have any questions about Nashville or Vandy -- I'll answer them as best as my undergraduate self can.

Meh, I'll take what I can get. Whatever helps me sleep at night, right?

Congrats!

Well, my rejection letter came from Stanford, but my POI chased it with an email explaining the madness. Asked him if he could offer come criticism of my app, so I can be more aware of areas that I can work to improve my image, and he said that he couldn't, because my file was great. As for why I was still rejected, and I suspect this is relevant to many of us... "But the competition for admission this year was just brutal. Not only did we have an abundance of brilliant candidates, we also faced a reduction in the total number of places we were allowed to offer -- in fact, the lowest total in our history. We are looking at just a dozen new admits into our PhD program next year -- and that isn't a dozen Americanists, but a dozen students overall, spread between the department's thirteen different PhD granting tracks. In these circumstances, we had to leave many abundantly qualified candidates behind, particularly in the US field, which always receives the largest number of applications."

I'm not sure if your criticism is directed at me, but I understand the admin's role in the department, and I never expected more than a two line response -- if any!

From the graduate admin at UC-Santa Barbara: looks like the reported acceptances may just be a first wave. "Hi _____ Decisions will be made in the next 6 weeks or so. Thank you for your patience. "

Lol undoubtedly. A significant part of this process has been coming to terms with the fact that this path is an all-in bet on myself. Get tenure or die trying.

cynical take: at least the job market will have fewer PhDs competing for positions when I finish?