buttress

ERGH. I went to the interview weekend, where they promised us we'd hear one way or the other by last Friday, and I have yet to hear a thing. Total radio silence. No "thanks but no thank," no "waitlist," my online status hasn't changed, and I emailed the DGS (also my POI) yesterday just to check in and have heard nothing. Way to ruin my weekend U of M!!!! Any thoughts on what the heck might be going on here?

Yeah medievalists!! Trying to decide between Columbia and Brown to study with Murray/Klein or Sheila Bonde...also went to the finalist weekend at UMich but I don't know what's going on with them because they said I'd hear one way or another a WEEK ago and no word. Emailed dear old Achim yesterday and have yet to get an explanation for the weird radio silence. I'm interested in pilgrimage routes and the architecture and objects associated and how a medieval viewer might have perceived/processed those spaces/things, East/West trade and translation, especially of sacred objects, and microarchitecture as it applies to sacred objects (particularly relics) and regional ownership. Hoping to also be able to compare pilgrimage from other religions where it plays a big role. Also very in to new applications of digital technologies in teaching art history, particularly under-appreciated fields such as ours! And museum education as a means to making our work more relevant to a broader audience. Anyone else just a little worried about the weird ancient languages we're going to have to master? Right now I only have French, but I anticipate having to tackle German, Latin, Medieval Latin (not to mention paleography), Greek, and (if I had all the time in the world) Arabic...phew!

I was notified that I'm on the "shortlist" for a PhD program in art history. They're flying me out for an all-expenses paid weekend in March. What does this mean? How much do I have to prepare? Are they going to weed us out like on Survivor? Or do they only invite people that they already want? I have never heard of this sort of thing happening in the humanities before, and none of my friends have either...basically I want to know how much I should stress out about making an epically good impression when I go. Any experiences like this before?