djp2

I get the sense that it's dependent on your POI. It isn't an official interview by any means. I exchanged e-mails with this professor before applying, but I've never met him in person, so he probably just wants to get a better sense of who I am. From what I can tell, most schools don't do Skype interviews, and even those that do leave it up to the individual POIs as to whether or not they want to interview prospects. So don't sweat it!

Just got an email from my POI at Harvard requesting an informal skype interview. If I don't post back here again it's because I had an anxiety attack over the next couple of days and actually died.

You're right, it does seem unrealistically early. But I have to wonder why someone would bother doing that! Oh well, I'll keep the dream alive.

Welp, there's already a Michigan PhD acceptance on the results page (but nothing in my inbox, sadly). Seems awfully early.

Hopefully you're right! I've read so many different SOP examples, many taking completely different approaches, but it's hard to say what will ultimately be successful.

Two more applications to go. I'm running out of steam and starting to think I approached the SOPs wrong, but it's too late to start from scratch. Anyone have an opinion on the relative amount of space one should devote to research topic vs. personal development/qualifications/why you want to study with Person X at University Y? I devoted most of my space to the former, with a couple tight paragraphs going over the latter. I guess it really depends on who is reading it.

I submitted my application to Michigan last night. That's one down, three to go -- although I've just realized that the other schools I'm applying to want SOPs no longer than around 1000 words, which sucks because my Michigan SOP was about 1800 words. I really have no idea how I'll cut that down. Speaking of which, is anyone interested in exchanging SOPs? Medievalist here, if that's relevant.

For what it's worth, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver tends to fully fund its entire MA cohort (which can be quite small). It's an incredibly welcoming department with great faculty.

Congrats!! I'm feeling the same way!

Accepted to the MA program at UBC with $17,000 for two years. Pretty excited! Congrats to all and good luck to those still waiting for answers! They will come soon.

Re: UBC March? I thought decisions would be going out a bit earlier than that. Richard Unger suggested as much when I saw him last week at Green College. Hmm, I hate waiting.