That is cool. So you will still have a POI to guide your research? It seems in China subfield only JH's research interest may intersect yours at first glance.
Rejection wave of Yale is ongoing. Not sure if my application material was reviewed due to lack of TOEFL score. It is unusual that no exemption of TOEFL for applicants with MA degree and without BA from US universities.
Thanks! That is interesting. Is your research area China or Japan? I guess within a region the program may give priority to allocating quota among countries, instead of time/periods .
For the acceptance, did you already receive an email from POI before you got the email asking you to check the website? It seems every offer was notified by POI or the dept first based on the reported acceptances, and no acceptance was reported after checking website at gradcafe.