aecp

We're close. Maybe by the end of the week, almost certainly by the end of next week unless something unexpected happens. Weather hasn't affected anything, although it is unpleasant.

So, I just got an external, sizable scholarship. Who do I contact at the different schools to tell them about it?

Sigh. Chicago has traditionally had a bad reputation with how they treat applicants during this period but this is some real shit. "As I am sure you are aware?" Well, Chicago, I am aware that you are truly bad at treating applicants you don't immediately love with any kind of respect and understanding. Seriously they have a rep of waiting for a very long time, and sometimes not even bothering to reply or replying with this kind of snarkiness. It made me not wanna apply actually. My favourite proff at undergrad did his Phd at Chicago and spoke wonders of it and really he is the reason I applied.
 
Well thanks for asking for all of us, I suppose. We'll wait till the 18th. Here's a toast to you hoping the next correspondence with them makes them seem a lot less like the dicks they seem right now, cos they're coming back with an acceptance for you.

Stop it, IRToni! No news is just that - no news.

Don't feel nervous! They like you. They are strongly considering admitting you. They would like to talk to you to learn more. You're ahead of probably 85% of the people who submitted applications at this point. Be confident! 

Please NO negativity allowed...!

I like this rule.

Please NO negativity allowed...!

Please NO negativity allowed...!

Please NO negativity allowed...!

that's exactly my philosophy. I only applied to one program (crazy, I know, but I did my MA there and have a pretty good sense of my fit, chances and my would-be advisor wrote my letter) and if they don't take me this year, I'll keep applying till they do.

I fully agree.  Too many egos in academia.  An abundance of quirky norms known only to insiders.

I should have been more clear. You won't get a bigger stipend - those are usually fixed based on your type of appointment. But you might change a two year TA guarantee into a four year TA guarantee. Or you might bump a four year TA deal to a first year fellowship plus a four year TA.
 
Absolutely play one program against another. A couple people here have especially nice deals because they used the leverage. If Illinois offers you a four year TA package and Minnesota offers you your first two years of fellowship and next two of TA, tell the Director of Graduate Studies at Illinois that Minnesota gave you this better offer. Sometimes the DGS will be able to match it. The worst that can happen is that they do nothing. On the other hand, I wouldn't recommend bluffing. Dishonesty is an especially bad way to start a graduate career. 
 
It's not about playing "hardball" or even being all that strategic. Just be honest and direct about what your options are.

My beef with visitation is mostly the evasive discussions of placement. I was accepted at 2 places. I visited both. Both programs that otherwise have a very quantitative focus (particularly in my subfield - American) suddenly became very qualitative when the topic of placement came up. Anecdotes of great placements are quickly recalled, but no one mentions the other great students that didn't get any offers and are now on their second post-doc.
 
The reality when you are in a program like this one (upper teens / low twenties in the rankings) is that about two thirds of a cohort will defend dissertations. Of those, about half will find tenure track jobs. Most importantly, it varies quite a bit by subfield and by advisor. When you visit, ask specific questions about subfield placement. "How many Americanists were on the market last year? How many placed and where?" You might have a very good idea of who your advisor might be. Ask her about her placement record. "Who was your most recent student to finish? Where did he go?"
 
When you are visiting you are in the driver's seat. Ask for more money. Ask for a longer guarantee. Unless you set fire to the building during your visit they won't rescind the admissions offer. After the admission offer and before you accept is the only time for the next six years that you are in the dominant position.

I fully agree.  Too many egos in academia.  An abundance of quirky norms known only to insiders.

Any reasonable expectation besides professionalism and common courtesy, you mean. * Climbs on soapbox * I've noticed a permissiveness towards unresponsiveness in academia that I don't think would fly in a lot of other jobs. Sure, people are busy and all that...but so is everyone. A quick: "Thanks for reaching out, it is my policy not to speak with applicants until after decisions are made. Best of luck, X" or "Thanks for reaching out, I look forward to working with you--I'll be in touch in the upcoming months as the 2014 fall term nears. Best, X" doesn't take THAT long. But oh well, different professions have different norms--and there are certainly awesome professors who are just the worst at emails. *Departs soapbox *
 
I wouldn't take the lack of response as anything other than an insight into the POI's working style--not a reflection on you. At the end of the day its just a little more information to plug into your decision-making process.

Man I leave gradcafe for five minutes and... WTF! Can everyone just agree to refrain from the life advice tit-for-tat until late March when we'll all have to make critical life decisions? Can we all go back to the happy, supportive and insightful forum that literally saved me from going crazy a few times already this January?

Age is tearing my gradcafe family apart.

The sad part:  in a few years' time, you will find yourself dancing in your desk chair because of how a ROC curve ended up looking.  GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN, KIDS.

With a heavy sigh of relief, I claim one of the Duke admits. Thanks to the many posters who have shared words of encouragement, and I hope that the roller coaster ride I've experienced today can provide some encouragement to others: a first rejection doesn't equate to a lost cycle!

I don't want to get too far down the rabbit hole of answering questions here, given that I risk accidentally overstepping what I'm allowed to reveal publicly. Generally, I'd say that if there are other components that make admission unlikely, all other aspects of the application will still be read, but possibly skimmed. Anyone who's graded papers before probably knows you don't need to read the whole thing in detail to assign a grade. GRE and GPA are basically never sufficiently good or bad to make admissions likely or unlikely on their own; indeed, we've had many people with near perfect scores and GPA who were eliminated, and many people who were much weaker on those dimensions that have moved on. 

Re New Questions: Every stage of the process introduces randomness, and we might have had tie-breakers if we didn't end up with 120 applications that had been recommended for admission. We had hoped to narrow it to about half of that with the first round. Realistically though, if there's a member of the committee who wouldn't have recommended you for admission, it's unlikely your application would make it past the final round even if you made it to it.

Re Q1: If either member who reviewed your application gave you a rating lower than "excellent: admit" you would not make it to the round two. Many great applications were eliminated in the first round.

Re Q2: We do not screen on any factors. Every application is read at least twice in full.

At some point, once the cycle's over and I know what I'm allowed to discuss publicly, I'll probably write something up with a few of my thoughts on the admissions process. For now, a quick thought following this point:

In admissions at my top 5 program, applications go through an initial round of review by two commitee members, after which we decide between those applications that have been recommended for admission independently by both members. This year, we had about 120 applications that were recommended for admission independently by two members of the committee, and have to narrow that down to less than 40 (probably closer to 30) to actually make offers to (which constitutes a substantial increase in the number of offers we intend to make this year relative to previous years). All that is to say that even if two commitee members really liked your application and thought you were good enough to enter the program, there is about a 75% chance we won't be able to make you an offer. So if it turns out we don't make you an offer, you really shouldn't take this as saying anything particularly harsh about your application, as things inevitably get a bit mercurial when we're at this stage.

I went almost 10 hours without checking the site or my email! (But still nothing)
 
Also, I see congrats are in order for several of you within that time-frame I've been gone. You guys are so amazingly terrific, astute, intelligent, charismatic, bright, creative, hard-working, innovative, insightful, and any other accolades that will give me karma points so that I will receive some admission decisions soon, preferrably acceptances.