Marcus_Aurelius

This is Awesome!! Congratulations! Well deserved!! ???

I just wanted to update everyone! I was offered unconditional admission at the University of St Andrews, so I'll be going to Scotland in September. I'm still waiting to hear back from any funding schemes, but two are currently with committees, two are awaiting review. I've given a firm acceptance, so now it's all down to funding and logistics of moving. I hope everyone else is getting good news, too! My application apparently took a little longer because they wanted me to have three supervisors since my PhD project was so interdisciplinary but they must have really wanted me there for going through all the trouble of finding the right fits for me. I'm really excited!

Accepted to University of Oklahoma, PhD. 
a: Oklahoma, Minnesota, Nebraska
w: Boston U, Michigan State, Kansas, Cincinnati, Utah
r: Penn, Oregon, Georgetown, UCSD, Wisconsin 
p: Texas A&M 

I'll also chime in to both validate Expositor's experience (and thank them deeply for sharing), and say that their experience doesn't match mine. Mine is much closer to Carta's, esp. about things like departmental culture. But, basically, I think both of them are in different ways highlighting the utmost importance of two factors: economics, and mental health.
On the economic point, I'd say it really depends. Expositor is dead-on, of course, that many people have financial trouble, even at top institutions. But many top institutions do pay reasonably well, relative to local cost of living, for someone with few other expenses. Since it's not worthwhile to accrue debt, it's a reasonable claim that one shouldn't go to a program with a poor stipend (by which I mean under ~30k) regardless of prestige. This is admittedly an elitist sort of claim, esp. for someone who's happy with their situation to say. But I think not worrying about money, and being able to pay undergrad loans and save to some extent, is a major factor in my satisfaction with my program. 
One of the main points I want to push back against is the framing a PhD as a waste of 6 years, or as necessarily a significant opportunity cost. It only is relative to some career or life goals, so it's important for one to be clear on what matters to one. I wrote a longer comment on this last year in the Philosophy forum, in which I was perhaps a bit too rosy, but not grossly so. It's worth adding that a good stipend is close to the median American income (though high-cost urban areas make things difficult). 
The second big point, mental health, can be difficult to predict and manage, but seems to be a huge determinant of PhD program satisfaction, and is strongly affected by many factors, including departmental culture, requirements, and money. I for sure don't recommend excluding those with mental health struggles from academia, and departments should be as understanding as possible, but even an accommodating department doesn't make struggles better, so weighing this sort of risk seems like a crucial part of deciding whether and how to apply. 
EDIT: I want to also respond to Expositor's exhortation to "Do something useful with your life." Academia is often quite problematic, but it can look rather subsersive compared to most private and many public sector jobs. So, if someone is devoting themselves to non-profit work, or volunteering, maybe that will help the world more than academia, but those jobs frequently pay about the same or even less than a good PhD stipend does, in my anecdotal experience from friends in the non-profit sector. Jobs that pay much better are usually not contributing to social good. (And, as an example, something like primary or secodnary teaching can pay more, but also generally requires more education and likely debt.)

Hello! 
I am currently applying to Classics MA programs with Notre Dame as my top choice. I applied on 1/15 and interviewed me last month (2/17), it seemed to go very well and some of the professors' words implied I'd be admitted. However, it's been completely silent since then. I emailed the gradate director last Tuesday to just politely ask if there was any timeline for when decisions may come out and never received a reply. Is there anything else I can do to just find out if my application is still being considered? It seems odd that it's taking so long when I need to have an answer in less than a month, the application portal simply says that no decision has been made. If they had accepted students and were waiting to see if they would reject them, wouldn't I be waitlisted? And if I were no longer being considered, wouldn't I be rejected by now? I just don't see what the delay is and I'm getting nervous. I've been lucky enough to get good offers from other programs and thought that would bode well for Notre Dame but now I'm really not sure. I've checked Grad Cafe and nobody has mentioned being admitted or rejected from Notre Dame's Classics MA, but it's such a small program that they just may not have people on this site. 
I guess my question would be, is this normal for a program to take this long after an initial interview or have I probably been forgotten and they've forgotten to update the portal? Also if anyone happens to know if Notre Dame has sent any acceptances to the Classics MA please let me know, thank you!
 

Hello all. I currently work as a grad coordinator in ecology and evolutionary biology, obviously not in the humanities, however, we also admit double the available spaces. For this cycle we had 10 spots and offered 21 acceptances. We haven't gone into our waitlist in the past few years. I should say that our program is top-10 rated at an elite university. I do however, communicate often with coordinators at my university in other programs (including humanities) who utilize the same admissions approach. 

Accepted: Brandeis
Waitlisted: GSU
Pending: TTU, CSULB, U of Houston
I just received an email informing me that I am admitted to the MA program at Brandeis. I probably won't go there because of the cost. So as soon as there is a place for me in GSU, I will decline the offer from Brandeis.

As far as I'm aware (certainly correct me if I'm wrong), most humanities PhD programs accept more folks than they're hoping will enroll. And this system, although it can be stressful for admissions directors, seems far better than if there were fewer acceptances. The people who are currently waitlisted wouldn't be better off, at any rate.

I have declined my Fordham offer, as well as removed myself from UMass and Notre Dame waitlists -- hope this helps some of you all out!

For what it's worth this year was the earliest WL movement in general that I've seen in the last 4 years or so. It looks like, in general, folks are turning down the offers they know they will not accept and that is helping the shuffling start at a few programs. With any luck that will spell good news once the visiting days wrap in another week or so.
A caveat of sorts I want to flag for folks is about yield--some programs (including top programs) will make more A offers than they have spots for with the running assumption that a certain percentage of folks will turn them down leaving them with an incoming class of x (or something). In past years there have been times when folks were confused about why SCHOOL's WL didn't move even though 4 folks had declined the acceptance. If a school accepts 12 expecting an incoming class of 8, there's no movement until the 5th person declines ??‍♂️ It's still not totally clear which schools do this and which don't (gathering the stats on that is a work in progress), but it is something to be aware of since folks can decline in a timely fashion and the WL can still not move at all in a given cycle for some schools ?.

We are about a month away from deadline day. Here are a few thoughts:
1. With a few exceptions, the top 25 (and perhaps even the top 50) programs have released their acceptances (and waitlists). 
2. Prospective student events are taking place now and during the next two weeks. I have already attended a few myself.
Because of 1-2, at this point in time you should not be holding on to 7 acceptances. (I chose  7 because someone on the results page claimed to have this number.) You should absolutely decline a few of those offers asap. If you can honestly tell me that you are considering all 7 offers, then I am extremely disappointed in your lack of preparedness (learning about the programs you are applying to, meeting faculty and graduate students, and learning about the program including financial package) for this application cycle.
For those that have around 3 acceptances. I imagine you are doing your due diligence the next couple of weeks (attending the prospective student event, meeting with faculty, etc.) and should be able to narrow your acceptances down to 2. 
For those that have an acceptance and are waitlisted at multiple programs that they would not chose over their acceptance, you should take yourself off the waitlist asap. This action is trivial to you but potentially substantial to others. 
If you have 0 acceptances and are on multiple waitlists, I hope you are staying mentally well during this difficult time!
Finally, there are surely cases where it makes sense that someone is holding on to multiple acceptances. However, during the next week, I encourage everyone in this category to spend some time evaluating their acceptances and declining those offers that are realistically not in the running (including waitlists offers). I have spoken to a few of the programs I am waitlisted at and the DOG's state that their has been no movement. Since most of the (ranked) programs have released first round acceptances and some holding prospective events, the time is NOW to get the movement started.
 

welp looks like my cycle is complete
A: Boston College, Boston University, UVA, Fordham
W: Harvard, Notre Dame, UMass
R: Chicago, Yale, Toronto, Cornell, UBC, Georgetown, Princeton, NYU
I'm gonna be holding out to see if I get off the Harvard waitlist, but will be declining the other 2 waitlists. still need to decide what my backup will be if Harvard doesn't pull through, but I plan on declining Fordham as well.

I wouldn't read too much into the letters' wordings. Most of them are generic and are not tailored to specific applicants. If you are really interested in seeking feedback for your application, you can try emailing the department to ask for one. I am not hopeful that they will provide useful feedback though. A remarkable exception is when Alexander Guerrero (Rutgers' Director of Graduate Admissions) personally provided quite comprehensive feedback for rejected applicants.) This was quite a massive effort as he sent out 103 such feedbacks! I doubt most programs will put nearly as much effort into providing feedback as Guerrero did. But hey, who knows, there might be more Guerreros out there, so perhaps worth a shot!

Accepted: NIU, SFSU
Waitlisted: UW-Milwaukee
Pending: TTU

received a waitlist offer for Harvard this morning (after assuming rejection -- goes to show you can't assume anything until you hear from them!). if anyone is interested in doing me a favor, please decline your acceptance ? it's my top choice, but i'm too much of a pessimist to assume i'll get a spot 

Turning down my waitlist at Cincinnati sometime today or tomorrow. I hope that helps some of you! 
 
Now I'm just waiting for some of you Arizona and UNC folks to decline haha

Heya, it was Minnesota. I was offered admission and have accepted. I had Penn, Wisconsin, and UCSD highly ranked as well. 

Waitlisted at UIC and Cincinnati. Both programs inform me that it is likely that they will be able to offer me admission. I'm cautiously excited. 
1a/2w/4r/2p

got slammed with rejections last night -- who let so many schools release decisions within an hour?!? now i'm just ready to start making my decision..
A: BC, BU, UVA, Fordham
W: UMass
R: Yale, Chicago, Toronto, NYU, Princeton
R (assumed): Notre Dame, Harvard
P: UBC, Cornell 

A:
W: Toronto, UVa, Colorado-Boulder, UConn, Syracuse
R: Rice, UW-Madison, Boston U, Brown, UNC, UMass
P: Rutgers, CUNY, Notre Dame, UBC, Miami
Except for Rutgers, all the other programs that are pending have already sent out acceptances, so it'll be another waitlist at best or rejection at worst. I hope I get admitted off the waitlist at one of those programs.

A: 
W:
R: UC Berkeley, NYU, Fordham, BU, BC, Georgetown, Stony Brook, Oregon, Penn State
P: Columbia
 
This is my first cycle of applications, and I received quite a shellacking, despite my referees saying that my application is very strong. Not sure what the reason could be, but I'll apply again next year with a different SoP and perhaps a different writing sample. 
@you'll_never_get_to_heaven, hilarious posts, BTW!

Maybe this is a blatantly stupid question, but I was wondering how much I should care about QS or undergraduate rankings that are generally known to the public.
I know that if you proceed into academia after graduation, recommendation letters and your academic work are the only factors that affect your job opportunities, but I was worried about a situation where I end up leaving academia and finding a new job in a general field. 
If that's the case, should I also care about the QS rankings? For example, if I should compare between schools, should I choose so-called lower-ivy over public/state universities that rank higher in PGR?
In addition, I was also wondering if "prestigious" schools also have impact even on the philosophy job market. I heard anecdotally that prestige also matters, like, Harvard-MIT can sometimes have merits over NYU when you apply to international universities after graduation.
I feel uncomfortable with direct comparison, and I feel sorry if this comparison makes someone feel bad, but I have no one around me to give realistic advice on such matter. I'd appreciate any thoughts on this. 

i'm neurotically checking my email and the spreadsheet every hour -- these schools are really making us wait ? hope everyone is doing as well as they can
A: BC, BU, UVA, Fordham
W: UMass
R: Yale, Chicago, Toronto
P:6

Hopefully this creates some movement for someone here, I have declined my waitlist offers from University of Kansas, and the University of Cincinnati. At Cincinnati I was on a waitlist of 5, so maybe that opens up something for someone. Take care all! 

i've declined offers from the northern illinois university masters program and from the university of arizona phd program
good luck to all