Hey everyone, checking in to keep everyone motivated on the best possible outcome! Fingers crossed ... let's keep our heads up. It isn't over until we receive that final decision.
This might be an appropriate place to share my own experiences with this issue. Several years ago, as a starry-eyed undergrad at a small state school, I applied to three programs and was rejected from all of them. Fortunately, I was able to get some good feedback and was able to polish up my applications for submission to seven programs ranging from top tier down to fourth tier. Again, I received rejections across the board, bringing my two-year total to ten. This was the most difficult year because the first time around I didn't really know what I was doing, wasn't fully committed to the process, and hadn't spent as much time as I should have on the applications, but this second year I had worked hard to rethink my interests, hone my application to a fine point, and had even met with a professor, all for naught. In retrospect, this series of rejections was very painful, but I decided to make one last-ditch effort at applying to graduate schools. So, I stopped working, travelled to meet with professors, took courses, read and researched, asked everyone I knew to read over my statement of purpose, and then almost destroyed my long-term relationship to go develop my language skills. The payoff for this herculean effort was, out of nine applications, five outright rejections, three unfunded offers, and a single funded MA offer at a state school below the top fifty. Once again, the litany of rejections was a damaging blow, but that one glorious funded acceptance, even if just for a MA, fueled my hopes. By this point, I had received fifteen rejections in three years and three unfunded offers (which were basically rejections), versus one solid offer. Two years later, as my MA was drawing to a close, while taking a full course load, doing language training, teaching, retaking the GRE, contacting POIs, and writing a thesis, I scrambled to pull together another series of applications, again for nine schools. In breaking with my previous experiences, however, in addition to four rejections, I received five PhD offers, four of them from top-ten schools. However, to get there I had to endure nineteen rejection letters.
In short: 1) if getting a PhD in history is really, REALLY what you want to do, then don't let the rejections discourage you.
2) A rejected application is not a judgment on or rejection of you; it is merely a statement that at that particular point the department's short-term needs and yours are misaligned.
3) The process can obviously be painful and maddening, so keep track of those who care about you and don't be afraid to lean on them.
4) When dealing with bad news, I recommend a good drunk, preferably cursing out the offending department to your friends over shots, and then waking up early in the morning to start studying again.
5) If you find yourself striking out this year and want to try again, be sure to contact the department's that you applied to asking for information on the decision, i.e. shortcomings and areas for improvement. Not all will answer, and you don't want to seem incredulous, but an earnest and humble request will often yield solid responses on what you can do to improve your application.
@chojo @puffy Someone posted this on Friday and also posted a while back that not everyone who gets into Penn gets interviewed. Apparently they only interview people if they need another professor to come on as a secondary adviser or if they are bringing that candidate off their unofficial waitlist. Either way, judging from this post on Friday, hopefully the wait will be over soon (though I don't know if this post applies to all subfields at Penn).
Thank you so much for the update! Congratulations!!! I have yet to hear back from Princeton, hoping for some good news next though although not so sure anymore. Best of luck for your remaining apps!
Anyone applying to PhD in sociocultural anthro at Princeton?? Based on previous years it seems we should hear back tomorrow or early next week. Good luck to all!
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.
chojo got a reaction from ShadyG in Fall 2019 Applicants