histdee

Seconded. I was an undergrad (a few years back now) at a university with a top history department, worked on my senior thesis for a year with a well-known, more-publications-than-i-can-count professor who urged me to go into a PhD program when I told him I wanted to go to law school, and all to no avail. All the professors that I talked to who I'd worked with in undergrad or doing historical stuff in law school thought I would have "choices" among the programs I applied to -- and I've come up empty. This stuff is just tough to predict even for those "in the know."

Agreed. I'm a law student in a top program (who was eager to give up a 6-figure starting salary at a law firm to go into academia), and I'm 0-4 with only Columbia left to hear from, and that looks like likely a no at this point, so will go 0-5 overall. There's very little rhyme or reason to this process, from what I can tell. Certainly many more qualified applicants and some less than myself, but patterns? Hard to say.

Harvard reject letter in the mail today. I live in Cambridge, so I'm guessing they might be on their way this week for others who haven't heard anything positive from Harvard.

I sadly think I'm probably out if nothing comes through in this round. I admittedly applied to a small group of competitive programs, but I was advised (by a jd/phd prof) that since what I really want to do is american legal history and law-types tend to be a bit snobbier about academic pedigree, the benefits to be gained by applying more broadly were minimal. May be wrong but unfortunately makes me think broadening the net isn't a viable strategy. Oh well, fingers crossed for everyone!

Out at Princeton too.

I'm already in law school (graduating in June), so I think that option may be out for me. It sounds like I'm perhaps in a slightly different position than a lot of folks on the board in that I don't actually have a job at present, so I don't have the immediate option to keep doing what I'm doing for a while. Does anyone happen to be on their second application cycle?

not to be a downer (and huge congrats to those who have heard good news already!), and i realize there's still quite a bit of decision-making left to happen, but has anyone considered what they will do if they don't get an offer from any of the programs they applied to? consider reapplying next year? just curious where other people fall on this as the possibilities start to dwindle and i start thinking about my options...