cokohlik

Would this university be willing to compromise with a Skype interview?

Yep! I posted that. Michael Cole told me that there were 250 applicants in Ren./Baroque to Columbia a phone call. Sigh. And he doubted Penn would take ANY Ren./Baroque students this year because he's accepting a permanent position at Columbia and leaving Penn this year.

Also: Dear People of Grad Cafe: I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

OMG! You're amazing! Look at that cake!!! We're slowly getting our registry items in the mail, so I'm totally going to have the tools necessary to make that incredible cake here soon... gahhh. I wish there was a place near my work that sold chocolate cake. Also: I love your post. I cried. I feel like checking into a hotel room by the ocean and getting all my crying done and singing '90s breakup music at the top of my lungs (grief process ) Seriously, though... I do love your post. I took a screenshot of it with my phone so I can re-read it.

Thank you! You're absolutely right.

That's awesome advice! I don't think I did enough of that in my SoP this time - talk about how I would produce knowledge. I have an entire notebook at home full of article, book, dissertation, etc. ideas for my field and I write papers in my spare time... I'm pretty much obsessed with finding ways to re-examine art and artists' lives. I have a lot more that I maybe should have said to "sell" myself as a promising scholar. I did talk about my research interests and talked about my experience researching and coming up with ideas about artists that I want to focus on. And now that I've been rejected from all these schools, I know specifically why I want to go to them. Something about being rejected made me scour their websites... sadistic, I guess. "Hmm, why would I have loved this school to death?" Thanks so much!!!

Yes! Let's have a boat party.

Wow, guys! Thanks so much! I'm overwhelmed (in a good way ) by all of the support on this forum. I feel a lot better... Thanks so much for sharing your advice and stories I'll definitely be working on it! I have three languages. I just need German and then I'll have all my languages. I could probably improve my SoP somehow, but I'll have to brainstorm long and hard about that... As for professors, there were only three schools that were perfect fits, and two of them rejected me. The other is Yale. There are definitely other PhD programs in America that have professors whom I would love to work with, so this time around I'll be applying to work with them, too, at "mid-level" universities. Thanks SO much everyone! I feel like I was just given a Godiva chocolate cake with three layers of chocolate and chocolate shavings on top with candles on top...

Well, it seems like I've been rejected from every school I applied to. (I haven't heard from Yale yet, but it's a long shot.) This is my first round of applications, so I'm going to try again next year. I just feel so discouraged. I'm going to apply to around 10 schools next time and retake the GRE. Any other tips or success stories for those of you who have done a second round of applications? Thanks.

Hah! Yes! I feel the same way. I think for me it is definitely fear of being rejected - again - from the only 2 schools I have left... I told my fiance if I do get rejected from both of them, I will definitely be going through the stages of grief. Good luck!! Eat some chocolate

Haha! That's brilliant! I do that too But I also like to refresh the Results page on Grad Cafe and try to find some meaning based on what programs have already been done, comparing GREs/GPAs of accepted applicants to my GRE/GPA, comparing this year's data with previous years' data. I thought I would get letters on March 1, but nothing came, and so now my prediction system is completely thrown off the rail... *sigh* The programs I'm waiting for sure do like to take their time.

I've noticed that at first, my fiance was the practical voice of reason: "The schools you're applying to are highly competitive and don't be hurt if you don't get in to any of them." Then as I started receiving rejections, he became more compassionate: "We'll try again next year. You'll get in eventually." And now that all hope weighs on 2 schools, and I've been extra hopeful this week, he's become super hopeful alongside me! He's hooked on the Grad Cafe Results submissions. We both really feel that my dream school is the perfect school for us - perfect city, perfect program, perfect values, very family-oriented (so it seems). He can hardly wait to see if I get in, but he's anxious because he's not sure what the future will hold... If we're staying in our current busy city, with our tiresome jobs... Here's to hoping for an acceptance, and starting off our new life as a married couple in a peaceful place!

YES. I feel exactly the same way. In fact, if my dream school rejects me, I already have an evening planned of PJs, chocolate ice cream, and angry breakup music. Seriously. It would suck.

LOL!!

Seriously. My work wouldn't give me the time off. I'm a little obsessed with CAA.

How fun!!!! I wanted to get to Madrid but didn't have time. You'll have a blast and I bet you won't even worry with grad school because you'll be living an art historical dream! Yay! I've come to that realization, too, but chin up - there is still hope. We aren't rejected 'til we're rejected! I bet they're all just overloaded and they're just taking their good ol' time sending out those acceptances. Maybe part of the delay was the EPIC Centennial CAA conference in NYC this year. That shaved off a week. I wanted to go to that so bad. Epic!

Oooh! I love Spain What city? I've been to Barcelona and I took a day trip to Figueres to go to the Dali museum. For some reason,everything was closed when I went to Figueres, except the museum, 2 restaurants by the museum and the train station. (Granted, I didn't walk around the whole city )

That'd be awful! Where are you headed? Somewhere exotic?

I have no Plan B, either. I've wanted to go to graduate school for half my life so the thought of a Plan B is agonizing.

SERIOUSLY!!!!!! But I've come to tell myself that the date really doesn't mean much; it can vary from year to year depending on the amount of applications, etc. That is, of course, just something I tell myself to comfort myself, because it's my dream school... We'll see.