bonesandbakes

A bit overdramatic but this is this month's mood
 

Just so folks know, Penn anthro is making their decision as we speak. They'll be finalized and sent to the Dean today. The Dean is expected to approve those decisions by mid-week next week.
I have really no info about how the wait-list is generated or whether they let wait-listed people know at the same time, but if you haven't heard from your primary contact at Penn by the end of next week, touch base with them. They'll likely have some insight for you one way or the other.

Hi @Ethy60! Don't want to disagree with @pmcol, but my experience was a bit different so I thought I'd share.
I studied hardcore the first time I took the GRE. Bought and read the whole Kaplan prep book, learned Greek and Latin roots for the verbal section, and did it all in the summer so I wouldn't be "distracted" by work back in school. The score I got was good the first time (v159/q161/w4.0), but I was disappointed because I got almost the exact same score as I got on a practice test I took before I started studying. I then took the advice of my professors and took it again. The second time, I was in school and didn't really have time to study, but somehow it worked out. I was doing more critical thinking in my every day with doing biochemistry homework and reading articles for my anthro classes. Even though I only cracked my prep book once between taking the GRE the first and second times (to read some examples of essays) my score improved quite a bit.
I guess my advice would be to take advantage of the "real life" critical thinking experiences that can prepare you for the GRE, rather than trying to memorize every piece of advice in a prep book (like I did the first time).
Hope this helped and good luck!

I still think it's a mistake and it will be revoked or something...but I was accepted to UNC! I...I can't believe it. I thought there was no way. Went there for undergrad and will be thrilled to be back on campus. Go Heels!

"Alas, Harvard isn't ready for this jelly."

Thanks @RepatMan, good to know! Good luck, @pmcol.

@pmcol and @bonesandbakes, Penn doesn't require formal interviews, but usually does them when they need someone to be interested in something like a secondary adviser role (like someone that would be interested in advising the studying if the primary faculty member left) or when they're bringing people in off their informal wait-list. Not getting an interview doesn't mean much at this point, but I believe the department had the goal to make initial offers in the first week of February.

@bonesandbakesWelcome to hell! I did not apply to Penn or know any Penn people but I looked at the Penn results for past years and I don't really have a concrete answer for you. I did notice that the person who did specify what area they were interested in said they were BioAnth and others have mentioned  being on a (long?) shortlist. Based on previous years it doesn't seem like they're formal interviews but maybe potential supervisors reaching out to applicants that really stood out? Also the Penn Anthro Website doesn't say anything about interviews as part of the process, so I wouldn't think that not getting an interview request implies a rejection. I think that very few schools do formal interviews as part of the application process. Off the top of my head I can only think of CUNY, Berkeley, Duke, Notre Dame, and maybe Harvard (the website does say that you don't necessarily need to be interviewed to be accepted but previous years' results kind of say otherwise)?
Also when did you Skype with your potential supervisor? Did you reach out to them? If they reached out to you that could count as an interview.
I think it would be useful to have a thread where we make a list of schools that formally interview and like what it means to get an interview for schools that do not usually interview? What do you all think? Is there already a thread like that? Idk.