crthomps

@anthropobean Thanks for the kind words. The support of others in this situation has meant a lot through this process, which has, since mid-January, been confusing, exhausting, and downright depressing. Sorry to hear about Chicago, though it seems you have a great growth mindset surrounding this whole situation. Best of luck with Stanford!
 
 

Anyone heard from UT Austin?
Cheers,
Ryan

Hi all! Just checking back in after some time and wishing the best for everyone this week into next. I got my first official decision today, which was a rejection from Princeton. Not how I wanted to start this out, but it's the reality, and now it's up to me to figure out how to process this in a healthy way. 
I still have 2 good chances, so we'll see how it all plays out. This is feeling more and more like playing the lottery though.
Best of luck to everyone in the coming days and weeks, and I'll check back in when I hear more. 

Hi all! Just checking back in after some time and wishing the best for everyone this week into next. I got my first official decision today, which was a rejection from Princeton. Not how I wanted to start this out, but it's the reality, and now it's up to me to figure out how to process this in a healthy way. 
I still have 2 good chances, so we'll see how it all plays out. This is feeling more and more like playing the lottery though.
Best of luck to everyone in the coming days and weeks, and I'll check back in when I hear more. 

I'm wondering if I should take my POI saying they submitted a recommendation letter for me for an internal fellowship as a good sign? ? I have an interview in the department too so we'll see.... fingers crossed!

Hi all! Just checking back in after some time and wishing the best for everyone this week into next. I got my first official decision today, which was a rejection from Princeton. Not how I wanted to start this out, but it's the reality, and now it's up to me to figure out how to process this in a healthy way. 
I still have 2 good chances, so we'll see how it all plays out. This is feeling more and more like playing the lottery though.
Best of luck to everyone in the coming days and weeks, and I'll check back in when I hear more. 

Hi all! Just checking back in after some time and wishing the best for everyone this week into next. I got my first official decision today, which was a rejection from Princeton. Not how I wanted to start this out, but it's the reality, and now it's up to me to figure out how to process this in a healthy way. 
I still have 2 good chances, so we'll see how it all plays out. This is feeling more and more like playing the lottery though.
Best of luck to everyone in the coming days and weeks, and I'll check back in when I hear more. 

Hi all! Just checking back in after some time and wishing the best for everyone this week into next. I got my first official decision today, which was a rejection from Princeton. Not how I wanted to start this out, but it's the reality, and now it's up to me to figure out how to process this in a healthy way. 
I still have 2 good chances, so we'll see how it all plays out. This is feeling more and more like playing the lottery though.
Best of luck to everyone in the coming days and weeks, and I'll check back in when I hear more. 

@sophrodr Not sure about CUNY's timeline, but I've found it (at least marginally) helpful to look back at past years' results trends on this site to find out when interviews and decisions are actually released for schools. In the case of most of the schools I applied to, interviews and final decisions are being released well before the published dates on the schools' site. 

@Anny_anthy Can only speak to my own experience, but no, I do not have a masters. It is my sense, though, that more than a masters, Chicago perhaps values folks with "life experience" beyond the direct undergrad --> PhD route. I took several years off school, for instance, working in an entirely different industry, and have only now, at the age of 34, completed my BA.  It was communicated to me during my interviews that this was a strong positive on my application. 
Then again, this entire process (at all schools) is so filled with opacity that it seems nearly impossible to extrapolate any one persons' experience. 

@Anny_anthy Can only speak to my own experience, but no, I do not have a masters. It is my sense, though, that more than a masters, Chicago perhaps values folks with "life experience" beyond the direct undergrad --> PhD route. I took several years off school, for instance, working in an entirely different industry, and have only now, at the age of 34, completed my BA.  It was communicated to me during my interviews that this was a strong positive on my application. 
Then again, this entire process (at all schools) is so filled with opacity that it seems nearly impossible to extrapolate any one persons' experience. 

My sense from WashU sociocultural is that their mode of reaching out to students for interviews isn't very coordinated/formal, just individual professors/POIs emailing students to set up a time, so I think it's normal that we hear from the department at staggered timings (although that isn't very helpful for our anxiety). Sending good vibes to you that you hear back soon!

@Anny_anthy Can only speak to my own experience, but no, I do not have a masters. It is my sense, though, that more than a masters, Chicago perhaps values folks with "life experience" beyond the direct undergrad --> PhD route. I took several years off school, for instance, working in an entirely different industry, and have only now, at the age of 34, completed my BA.  It was communicated to me during my interviews that this was a strong positive on my application. 
Then again, this entire process (at all schools) is so filled with opacity that it seems nearly impossible to extrapolate any one persons' experience. 

@Anny_anthy Can only speak to my own experience, but no, I do not have a masters. It is my sense, though, that more than a masters, Chicago perhaps values folks with "life experience" beyond the direct undergrad --> PhD route. I took several years off school, for instance, working in an entirely different industry, and have only now, at the age of 34, completed my BA.  It was communicated to me during my interviews that this was a strong positive on my application. 
Then again, this entire process (at all schools) is so filled with opacity that it seems nearly impossible to extrapolate any one persons' experience. 

@updayday Interviews went out from Chicago a little over a week ago. Princeton, there’s been no word. That’s all I know! 

@updayday Interviews went out from Chicago a little over a week ago. Princeton, there’s been no word. That’s all I know! 

@tundratussocks Have you been in contact with this recommender? Two of mine waited until the 11th hour to submit for all four of my schools, so I don't think it's out of the ordinary!
And don't stress (too much). You're gonna do great!!! This also being my first cycle, one of the things that's helped keep me sane has been to only allow myself a specific 15 minute period each day to refresh things like r/gradadmissions, gradcafe, and my admissions portals. That has helped at least to minimize the negative thought spirals. 
Another thing that I think too few of us recognize is the incredible accomplishment in simply submitting these applications. Those of us who have been through a cycle know the toll it takes on us emotionally and intellectually to get to the point where they're ready to submit.  So congratulations!!! You've done an amazing thing just by getting here.

@updayday Thanks for asking! I had two, one with a newer associate prof. and the other with one of the heads of the department. They were each about 40 minutes, and were back to back yesterday morning.
Not too much to report. I think they went quite well, all things considered. Nothing really out of the ordinary was asked, and neither was as scary as I feared they might be. They were both mainly interested in learning more about where my project is headed in light of COVID, and how serious I am about attending Chicago. We talked a  bit about funding and the difficulty of this cycle. They both confirmed applicants' fears that there are fewer spots available this year, as well, in fact dramatically so. The numbers are depressing, tbh -- both the size of the applicant pool and how many they will ultimately admit. 
I don't have any solid timelines from here, but expect all admits will hear back within the next month. 

@tundratussocks Have you been in contact with this recommender? Two of mine waited until the 11th hour to submit for all four of my schools, so I don't think it's out of the ordinary!
And don't stress (too much). You're gonna do great!!! This also being my first cycle, one of the things that's helped keep me sane has been to only allow myself a specific 15 minute period each day to refresh things like r/gradadmissions, gradcafe, and my admissions portals. That has helped at least to minimize the negative thought spirals. 
Another thing that I think too few of us recognize is the incredible accomplishment in simply submitting these applications. Those of us who have been through a cycle know the toll it takes on us emotionally and intellectually to get to the point where they're ready to submit.  So congratulations!!! You've done an amazing thing just by getting here.

@updayday Thanks for asking! I had two, one with a newer associate prof. and the other with one of the heads of the department. They were each about 40 minutes, and were back to back yesterday morning.
Not too much to report. I think they went quite well, all things considered. Nothing really out of the ordinary was asked, and neither was as scary as I feared they might be. They were both mainly interested in learning more about where my project is headed in light of COVID, and how serious I am about attending Chicago. We talked a  bit about funding and the difficulty of this cycle. They both confirmed applicants' fears that there are fewer spots available this year, as well, in fact dramatically so. The numbers are depressing, tbh -- both the size of the applicant pool and how many they will ultimately admit. 
I don't have any solid timelines from here, but expect all admits will hear back within the next month. 

@tundratussocks Have you been in contact with this recommender? Two of mine waited until the 11th hour to submit for all four of my schools, so I don't think it's out of the ordinary!
And don't stress (too much). You're gonna do great!!! This also being my first cycle, one of the things that's helped keep me sane has been to only allow myself a specific 15 minute period each day to refresh things like r/gradadmissions, gradcafe, and my admissions portals. That has helped at least to minimize the negative thought spirals. 
Another thing that I think too few of us recognize is the incredible accomplishment in simply submitting these applications. Those of us who have been through a cycle know the toll it takes on us emotionally and intellectually to get to the point where they're ready to submit.  So congratulations!!! You've done an amazing thing just by getting here.

Good luck to everyone during this weird application cycle! I'm sure we're all in for a ride...
I decided to focus on maritime archaeology and narrowed my apps to East Carolina, University of Southampton, and Florida State. Luckily they're all taking students in for the Fall. They all had super late deadlines, (Jan 15th, and Florida is Feb. 1st!). I also threw my hat in for a Fulbright to fund a year at Southampton, but that's wishing on a star. I should hear if I made semi-finalist by next week...
Just tryna not be a bag of nerves as I refresh my ECU app status page saying they don't have my transcripts (I submitted a month ago) and my one reference is MIA. Her time zone is technically still within the deadline, but it's already the next day in East Carolina. Can you tell this is my first app cycle?

Hi all! Seems like a thin crowd in here these days. 
 
I too threw my hat into the ring for this years’ application cycle, and applied (all cultural anthro) at Chicago, Stanford, Princeton, and UT Austin. 
All deadlines were Dec. 1 and things have been quiet so far, aside from Chicago, which reached out and offered me an interview yesterday morning. 
 
good luck to everyone and please feel free to connect if y’all need support or just someone to chat with! 

Rough year for sure!
I applied to cultural anthro at UCLA, Stanford, UF, UT Austin, and UNC Chapel Hill. I had informal Zoom meetings with prospective advisors at UF and UNC in Nov/Dec but did not hear back from professors at UCLA or UT Austin (Stanford does not require/suggest outreach to prospective advisors). 
I had to nix UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, Arizona, and Duke as a result of COVID (UCSC, UCB, & AZ were all top choice. Duke was moderate).
@crthomps Congratulations on your Chicago interview! That is huge. Did you receive feedback from outreach to professors at UT? They were pretty adamant about reaching out to multiple potential advisors in their virtual open house but I never heard back from anyone I wrote to ☹️

Hi all! Seems like a thin crowd in here these days. 
 
I too threw my hat into the ring for this years’ application cycle, and applied (all cultural anthro) at Chicago, Stanford, Princeton, and UT Austin. 
All deadlines were Dec. 1 and things have been quiet so far, aside from Chicago, which reached out and offered me an interview yesterday morning. 
 
good luck to everyone and please feel free to connect if y’all need support or just someone to chat with!