phagocytosis

Thanks for the detailed response. Interestingly, the program is a interdisciplinary PhD that attracts mostly students coming from a political science background, so perhaps these phone calls are more common in that discipline. I was caught off guard by the "where else did you apply" question and spontaneously listed programs that were all more competitive than the program in question, though I doubt that would have led the POI to assume that I'd be accepted into any of those programs. I can't help but think that my rehearsed questions evidenced a lack of familiarity with the program, but I'll always find something to be paranoid about under these circumstances. I agree with the not wanting to "seem desperate" bit. To clarify, I asked an LOR-writer from the MA program that I've already graduated from (who has served on phd adcoms for decades) whether it would be appropriate to send a follow up email. He's not associated with the program that I'm applying to. And he's known to give idiosyncratic advice.

In early January, long before any acceptances went out, a POI from one of the interdisciplinary humanities programs that I applied to called me to chat. He mentioned that my application was "very compelling," and wanted to know if I was still seriously interested in the program, if I had received any acceptances from other programs yet, and if I had any questions about the program "so as to be able to better recruit me." Sounds like a positive phone call. I mentioned that I was still certainly interested, hadn't heard back from other programs yet, and asked a couple of stupid-but-not-trivial rehearsed questions about the structure of the department. POI ended call saying "Well keep in touch, and I'll let you know if there are any updates to your application." Six rejections later, I'm still interested in the program. I asked the chair of the MA program I graduated from if these phone calls are typical and how I should follow up, and he mentioned that they are very typical, might be used for a number of purposes, and that it's completely unnecessary to follow up. This week two acceptances were posted on the survey page. Historically, the program sends out personalized acceptance emails from POIs over the course of several days. Is anyone familiar with phone calls of this nature? Out of curiosity, what could I have possibly said to make myself a more or less desirable applicant? Should I send a brief e-mail of continued interest?