thismortalcoil

I'm sorry! But I am still crossing fingers for both of us! Who were your POIs?

I'm a 20th century Americanist. I work at the intersection of post-war poetry, book history, and science and technology studies.

Omg no, do not apologize at all! I'm rooting for you. Fingers crossed some more good news comes your way!

No! Don't say that! The DGS told me that they extended offers to 14 students out of 500 applicants, which means phone calls will take some time. Fingers crossed for you!

Thank you! I started to suspect I was accepted when, out of the blue two nights ago, I started receiving emails from a UPenn listserv...

Just got into UPenn! Finally, some tangible news.

I feel the same way RE: Stanford. My POI said that while waitlisted students cannot officially attend visit day (which is so weird lmfao), if you are in the area, professors would be more than happy to meet, etc. So if you end up visiting Berkeley and want to make a bit of a trek to Palo Alto, I'm sure you'd be welcome! None of my schools are in California, so I won't be visiting.

Congrats! There's a thread on the forum about waitlist etiquette that I found helpful, and I followed its tips when speaking to my POI at Stanford. I'd recommend taking a look there!

Interesting. Maybe? I know Stanford tends to have smaller cohorts (5-8 ish) because their department is rather tiny. So perhaps the additional reduction is a result of the job market now...

Just got a lovely email from my POI at Stanford... The English cohort is apparently even smaller this year than previous years! Hopefully the waitlist moves some.

If any of y'all are in Paris over the summer (June-late August), I'll be there working on some research at the Sorbonne. Would love to meet up irl!

If it's anything, your interests would also be well supported at the University of Toronto, I think. From what I've looked into in their department (so large! like 70 full time professors or something), there's a number of great people doing work in maternity, psychoanalysis, women and gender studies, and performance.

Berkeley!

In addition to what was said by @trytostay, historically, it would seem that interviews are conducted for certain periods of study, e.g. for students who apply as Medievalists. My friend who was admitted last year without an interview focused on the long nineteenth-century. So, do not lose hope!

Isn't it weird! No email! It's just on the portals. Fingers crossed this wait list moves

You as well? Congrats! I'm SHOCKED right now, just flabbergasted, also I'm like a little tipsy and super worried this is a fever dream

I have a friend who interviewed with Columbia last year and did not get admitted. She told me afterwards that the questions asked of her were with respect to her project and its suitability for the school. I have another friend who did not interview with Columbia and was admitted directly to their PhD in English. It would seem, then, that Columbia does not interview all prospective candidates. (It should be noted, however: she was an American student, he was Canadian. Perhaps they do not interview international applicants? Hard to tell.)

No way! I will definitely hit you up for some recommendations!!

Thank you! Very excited because it corresponds with a research trip I'm making to Europe anyway, so I'll actually be able to *go*!

I don't know whether this is the place to say as much, but: I think I have a paper accepted to the 2019 Digital Humanities conference in Ultrecht, Nederlands! I say think because while it has yet to be officially accepted, the blind jury gave it an almost perfect score, and apparently—so says my supervisor—the score dictates participation... Very pleased, this Saturday afternoon, especially since the wait period for PhD acceptances has been brutal thus far!

Totally did not mean to pit the two groups against one another. There has just been a lot of speculation across the boards by those who have not been contacted for interviews — and for those who were contacted, but did not receive a Skype time — and I wanted to provide information that would make these individuals feel slightly more comfortable in their application status. That, for me, is what this information contributed, and I apologize if you feel otherwise.

I can't speak for other schools. The only reason I have this information about Chicago is because I discussed it with a professor yesterday. That said, I believe a similar process occurs at Columbia; while I had a few friends who interviewed there (and were not accepted), the friends I have who were accepted to their PhD cohort were accepted straight away. From a logistic standpoint, it makes sense: if the candidate is a good fit, if she has an interesting resume, and if she has strong LORs and has demonstrated excellence in some way (whether through conference presentations, winning grants, extracurriculars, etc.), why would one waste their time interviewing? The language of Chicago's emails seems to ratify this perspective. After all, not every candidate who signs up for an interview gets an interview—and if the school based all their acceptances on these interviews, would that not be unfair, or at the very least myopic? As an aside, I also do not like interviews, and am grateful most schools seem to function off application materials alone. I interviewed Charles Bernstein a few days ago for a book chapter and essentially sweat through a shirt because I could not hear him but pretended I did, rather than say "could you speak up," etc., ad nauseam.

Longtime lurker, just making an account to reply to this. A professor of mine was supervised by Berlant, and this professor told me Chicago would not interview candidates they were certain they wished to accept; doing so, after all, would be a waste of resources. She said that the candidates who are interviewed are candidates which the university is "on the fence" about—candidates with, say, a lower GPA or GRE, but an interesting SOP. (Or vice versa.) Hence why, on another forum, an individual who called Chicago said something along the lines of "interviews don't indicate application standing. They're for extra questions about projects." This is all to say: the candidates that the University of Chicago accepts are not always the candidates that are asked to interview, or who receive interviews. So, don't fret if you have not received an interview; if you have, good luck. Rejections are rejections only when they're finalized.