aurora borealis

I was rejected from Cornell's Comparative Literature program but had my application forwarded to Medieval Studies and ROSE FROM THE ASHES LIKE A MF PHOENIX, LADIES AND GENTS WITH THAT ACCEPTANCE FROM THEM! Super thrilled about this offer even though I made the DGS uncomfy by sobbing on the phone at him when he told me. 

I'm deeply relieved to contribute to this board after receiving acceptances from both Yale and Georgetown (MA)! I got my Yale acceptance an hour before I started a Friday night double shift. As a bartender, I get asked about 900 times a day how I'm doing or how my day has been and since Dec 15, I have wanted to say "I spent a sh*t load of money to put my future in the hands of several strangers and am currently waiting to receive judgment on an application I have spent years and hundreds of hours developing, and now I'm just waiting on the confirmation that I'm a full POS. What can I get you?" One of my friends yelled to the whole bar that I had gotten into Yale and everyone clapped and I didn't cry so...Today was a good day.

Absolutely brilliant

I received the letter of acceptance of supervision from my advisor for my PhD !

EDM music.
People in my apartment building play it at night and I can hear it through the walls and the ceiling

I dreamed I got into my top program, woke up, knew that couldn't be right, went back to sleep, dreamed I was waistlisted.

This is a bit late... but I was accepted to Columbia yesterday!! 

HUSBAND GOT INTO HARVARD
 
I CAN'T EVEN CONTAIN MYSELF HOLY OMGGGGGGGGGGG IS THIS REAL LIFE?????!!!!!!!!!!!

I just got an acceptance from University of Oregon. They have some great faculty in my field. Feeling really blessed and grateful. 

HE'S IN AT DELAWARE! The call from the DGS was super nice. They said he gets to shadow a class in his first year then it's 2-1 teaching (and something about him possibly getting to teach a material culture course?). Stipend is $20k guaranteed for six years with a $4k "top-off" that he could get each year (but that isn't 100% guaranteed). SO EXCITED OMG

Just got wait listed at Minnesota and accepted at West Virginia ( with fellowship nomination). SO PLEASED!

Just saw this on the admissions board - loved it.
 

Hey khigh! Not sure if you're going to still be reading this but I figured I'd post about my experience in the hopes it helps.

Two years ago I applied for Ph.Ds for the first time, though it was in a different discipline. I didn't have a high enough GRE Quant score (it's all about numbers there), and after a particularly long and drawn out applications cycle I didn't get into anywhere accept for 1 masters program I applied to as a fluke.  A year into that program and I realized that the other discipline wasn't really for me and decided to go back to history, something I always loved but was advised against because of the job market (as I'm sure we all have). Yet again I was rejected from every single Ph.D program I applied to, getting into yet another masters program. Please understand when I say I know EXACTLY how you feel getting rejected from every place you've applied to. I had that same feeling again when Penn sent out interview requests a few weeks ago and I didn't get one. 

I tell you this, and post it here instead of doing a PM, in the hopes that others who are in a similar position to where I was to know that many others also know what this feels like. That being said, I humbly offer the following pieces of advice:

1) Get off Gradcafe: I'm saying this for your sake. You need to get away from this environment and the constant reminder. At this point it may have become a habit, checking your email every 15 minutes and Gradcafe every half hour, but no matter how good your intentions are, seeing other people getting into programs just twists that knife. You can certainly come back! The advice on this thread really is useful and it's great meeting people who understand what going through a cycle is like, but you need time for you right now. 
2) Treat yourself: Go see a baseball game (do they have baseball games now? Idk), get a nice dinner, watch RuPaul's Drag Race,  do something you've always wanted to do, surround yourself with friends and family. Even the smallest of things can make a big difference.

3) Let some time pass, maybe a week or maybe two, but give yourself time. Then start reaching back out to POIs and see where you went wrong. 

I think that at this point of the application season tensions are running a bit high, and it's easy to forget that we're all going through this together. Hopefully this helps!   

Got two offers so released!

I can't believe I received an email on super bowl Sunday, but I just got an acceptance email from my POI at the University of South Florida. The email said that the DGS should reach out in the next few days.

Hey all! Lurker, but wanted to chime in. I was admitted to Penn State this morning and am over the moon excited! Still in disbelief. The reason I wanted to chime in is to give hope to those that may get rejected from all of the schools they applied to; a horrible, but possible reality. I applied to nine schools, mostly top 20 schools, last year and was rejected from all of them. It was devastating, to say the least, and left me feeling depressed and confused about my life direction. But I decided I wasn't giving up and reapplied this year, shortly after finishing my M.S. in Sociology. I was given advice from a dear professor that my fatal mistake was not reaching out to faculty members at the schools I had applied to and to try this tactic for round two. I emailed faculty members at multiple schools, receiving some positive and other neutral responses, but had really positive feedback from Penn State, including a phone convo with the director. So, to those that may not receive an offer this year, don't give up if it's what you really want. It's really tough to get rejected, I feel your pain, but tenacity can pay off. Good luck to all, and I am excited to meet my future colleagues of sociology throughout our careers! 

Hi all, 
Wow! Inundated with good news on this forum! 
I've been crazy busy the last two days so I couldn't post anything on the forum. 
Congratulations to all of you on the acceptances, the interview calls and the campus visits! 
I got my first acceptance from UI Bloomington for their PhD program too  theirs was my first application and they're a good fit so I'm really happy! They will send a more details about funding etc soon. 
I got a reject from Yale and Chicago. So just waiting for what the others have to say. 
Has NYU sent all their decisions? Rather impatient about that. 

I wanted to post the following to the results page but discovered that lengthy notes are moderated. Nuts!
 
Highest weighted and unweighted GPA in the history of mankind. Perfect GRE scores, including for subject GREs both inside and outside of my field (just for fun). Exceptional LORs from the most acclaimed professors in the entire universe (3 from Earth and 1 not of this planet). A bajillion published first-author papers, short stories, full-length novels, and a zillion forthcoming. Volunteer experience out the wazoo. Hardly surprised. I knew 100% I wasn’t going to be accepted but applied anyway just to have options. Had I been accepted, I wouldn’t have chosen to go here fo’ sho’ as it would have been a TERRIBLE fit. In any case, I got way better offers (six-figure guaranteed scholarships + health insurance + deluxe flex meal plan + reserved parking spot) from every top-ranked school in the galaxy, including ones I didn’t even apply to, along with very personalized congratulatory hand-written letters from all the faculty and their immediate and extended family members, plus gold-leaf-framed oil paintings of their pets to boot.

Honestly, I consider any of my interactions with technology successful if the doohickey doesn't catch on fire or explode while I'm using it. So I can commiserate. 

Humor is a defense mechanism damnit! I just emailed Chicago some knock knock jokes.

Totally true, but don't you come over here with your logic unless your logic comes with honey-mustard sauce so I can stress-eat it.

Just got an acceptance letter from one of my PhD schools, and an invitation for an all expenses paid visit out to them!

I admit that I don't watch much academic YouTube but I'm going to go watch videos from all these over Christmas (and tons of Netflix... very productive use of my parents' super-fast wifi )
I would also suggest Simon Clark, who vlogs about his PhD in atmospheric physics (if I remember correctly he handed in his dissertation a little while ago so he's almost done).
Does anybody have any recommendations for History PhD channels? I've looked but haven't found very much.