daradara

Congratulations! You can finally rest easy. I am from Michigan and I have visited Ann Arbor before, and it is a great school and a nice town too. It'll be a great place to spend your PhD!

It really makes it a brutal process. At this point, I am imagining that I have been rejected from Harvard History and Chicago History and yet I really have no clue. It would be much better to just receive a rejection letter. The waiting for the last month has really made me inefficient, and sadly they choose to continue to drag it out. Thankfully, I got my first decision today, and it was my top choice so I do not care as much about any of the other decisions, but up until this point it has been miserable! I can completely sympathize, as it grows tiresome fairly quickly and I only hope it is over for everyone soon.

Yes, I did. I assume that we got them from the students currently there studying in our sub-field. At least, that was what happened in my case. I have also gotten multiple e-mails from professors, but I have yet to reply to any of them because I am still in a bit of a state of disbelief. I am waiting until I feel I can be more coherent!

I will definitely be there! Best of luck! I am not sure about Israel, but I know in the United States one definitely could get one in time.

I think maybe Harvard does it to screw with people. After all, this is the same school that released rejections on Valentine's Day. ?

My subfield is the same as potsupotsu's (Japanese history). Thank you all for the kind congratulations. Getting into Yale really means the world to me. Even though I applied to several other schools, this is the one place I truly wanted to be, and actually having it come true is a major validation for me. Like @urbanhistorynerd I am from the Detroit area and a non-traditional student. I grew up extremely impoverished, and was forced to drop out of high school due to family health and financial issues. Prior to going back to college I was working day labor jobs that paid $100 dollars a week for 70+ hours of work thanks to the horrible economy. I seriously never thought I would have a decent future, but now I am heading to Yale History. I know many others on this forum are non-traditional, I just want to say that I am very proud of you all for fighting to overcome whatever barriers were placed in front of you. And of course, to all of you, I wish nothing but success, as you all have been extremely kind and supportive to each other throughout this whole process.

Mine is still there as well (perhaps also tragically!).

Thank you! I cannot answer for Dark Paladin, but I interviewed and I know that potsupotsu interviewed as well.

I'LL BE SEEING YOU THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY TOP CHOICE AND MY FIRST DECISION. I AM SO HAPPY! My fellow student at my current Masters also got the e-mail when you did, and mine took 5 extra minutes to come in and I had thought I had been rejected and was absolutely devastated. I don't think I'd even consider anywhere else after this. WOW!

I got the same thing as the two people above me. How very cruel!

I think most are in the same boat, holding on to (only potentially!) false hope until officially being rejected. The process is not the most transparent after all.

Yes, this is my understanding as well. Hence why I was quite worried until I got an interview offer last week. The great thing about schools that interview people under consideration is that you are not completely clueless from the moment you submit your application until you receive a decision.

I doubt it for a few reasons. First, you never know how the snow storm affected their plans. Second, certain POIs may reach out while others may choose not to. Third, Chicago always seems to roll out admissions in tiers, with the first ones coming out either last week of January or first week of February, and then more people being admitted in mid-February. They seem to keep admitting people all the way until mid-March. They also say as much on their website. The people who received e-mails said it would be official next week, so I recommend waiting until next Friday before you begin to get nervous.

I do not think it is safe to assume rejection just yet. Looking at the reports of informal admission e-mails from Harvard, they seem to stagger them over multiple days, or even over a week. For instance, in 2017, one person posted they got theirs on February 1st, but another posted on Feb. 2nd. This could mean that the person waited a day to post it, but then you have other posters who say they woke up to an e-mail on February 3rd, and then another person on February 7th mentioned they just received an e-mail letting them know they have been recommended. For 2018, people list February 4th, 8th, 9th, and 11th for the dates they received their e-mail. There is still much hope for you all!

Yes, you may be right. As I did not apply to as many programs as you did, my research into other programs was rather superficial. To clarify my statement, I should have said that interviews are not necessarily mandatory the way they are at Yale and that, though they may be included in the process, they may not signify as much. Then again, like I said, I really am not too knowledgeable about the review process outside of a few schools, and I would certainly defer to someone who has more experience such as yourself.

For me, it was just my POI. I have heard that other schools do it with several professors or often surprise you with additional faculty members, but I do not think Yale bothers to do this. As for your other question, mine was held via Skype, but the phone was also an option that was given in the event that the Skype connection was poor.

Yes, this is what I would say as well. From my research it appears that the majority of institutions do not interview for History, so I would not worry very much about it. Certainly, I understand the deafening silence can be maddening.

Thank you for sharing your experiences. Indeed, I think this shows just how varied the experience can be. It really depends on your POI and their personality, it seems. After all, mine did say that they personally enjoy speaking with students at great length and they make it a point to do so, which probably accounts for why mine was so abnormally long.

Because my comment seems to have elicited several worried responses, I decided to make an account to post about this. Yes, it is true--despite some assertions to the contrary--that my POI told me it was standard routine to interview the most promising candidates. If you look at the interdisciplinary studies section of this website, you will also see that several applicants to Near Eastern Studies were all interviewed the same weekend, and someone in the literature section posted the following article about the debate concerning the change to make interviews required in the humanities https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/01/11/grad-school-divided-over-interviews/. (Note that Near Eastern Studies is actually one of the disciplines mentioned in the article, but based on the words of my POI, it seems to go for History as well) The above is precisely why I posted what my POI said, as applicants should know the process for each school. Now, it is not the case that not receiving an interview means that you will not be accepted, and the opposite holds true for those, such as myself, who did receive interviews. Additionally, it is unknown to me whether "most promising" is decided by the first round of a committee, the professors in the sub-field you are applying to, or just the POI. Whether one gets in after receiving an interview or not receiving an interview may be dependent on such factors. Suffice to say, you should not be in panic mode just yet, as you certainly still have a chance, but the speculation that several others who are probably unaware of the existence of the GradCafe received interviews as the same time as I did is probably accurate. For those in the future who may be interviewed, it is best to know that the interview may vary wildly. For instance, my interview was well over 2 hours and featured sections of more casual talk along with more intense, directed questions about my project, various parts of my application, and my views of the field. For instance, questions about my proposed project included how do I see my topic expanding or contracting spatially and temporally, how important are certain elements to my project and how do I plan to enact them, what other directions can I go in with the topic, etc. During the interview, my answers were noted down for review. Someone I know who once had a Yale interview mentioned that theirs was an hour, and was fairly relaxed but was also asked fairly similar questions, though the POI did not take notes. Those interviewed for Near Eastern Studies said theirs were 30 minutes in length, so it seems to be up to the POI how they wish to conduct the interview and for what length of time. I hope this will be helpful, whether now or in the future. If you have any questions (or anyone else for that matter), please feel free to ask.

I also had my interview on the 17th. I had a small back-and-forth (a couple of e-mails) chatting with my POI back in November. As I mentioned on the results page, my POI told me that it is standard procedure for Yale to interview the most promising applicants. Mind you, whether or not "most promising" is deemed by the committee, professors in the sub-field you're applying to, or just one's POI is unknown (to me). I am sure that many people who get in do not get interviews, and getting an interview certainly does not mean that one will get in.