ElusiveMuse

This is happening in my case as well. People are baffled at some of the rejections I've received. It really makes you wonder what is going to happen in the years to come.

Okay. Mine is American art. Congrats again! Did they mention if they're having any kind of recruitment/new admit event?

And killer rabbits?

Thanks! Congratulations on your acceptance! I called them last week and they said they weren't done with the applications or decisions and to give them two weeks so I had put it out of my mind but now I'm keyed up about it again. Good to know there is a chance of MA funding. What is your sub-field?

Okay, I'm dying to know who posted the U of Delaware acceptance. Did they really phone you on a Sunday, or did you just not change the date when you posted? Also, any funding? Sorry, I'm waiting to hear from them so now I'm kind of freaked out that I haven't heard.

Intros and conclusions are the worst. I'm currently sitting on those for my senior thesis and I'm just sort of at this point that I want someone else to read all my "meat" and tell me what I said because my head is swirling with it.

I agree. What is worse than well meaning advice from friends or peers is well meaning advice from people who are already where you want to be. My friend just finished her exams and is officially ABD. I'm like, do not even talk to me right now I do not want to hear it. I'm very proud of you and you are awesome and let's talk about how awesome you are and not about how the next school will want me and how we can analyze my application/their process/the alignment of Mercury.

Sometimes I go back and read my caffeinated writing and it's like...Huh? What was I thinking?

Thank heaven for Girl Scout cookies.

Does it ever make anyone else annoyed that the Ivy League started out as a football division, or some such thing?

We will need a CS class for Humanities dinosaurs who eschew Facebook for engraved calling cards and cannot figure out their computers. Also known as art historians.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but the way this adviser's connections were described, it sounded to me as though academics were duly impressed with this adviser. Being a super-star in your field, to me, means that you have some clout with your academic peers. I could be wrong, things do vary by field, no doubt.

Mine is more like Shock, Panic, Self-Doubt, Depression, Acceptance.

Well connected adviser, hands down.

Send the postcard and also an email to the grad director or someone you have been in contact with (if it's someone else) just saying a few words expressing thanks for the opportunity.

It is definitely a long shot to not be officially waitlisted but still held onto, so to speak. For me at least, I get some comfort knowing I made it pretty far, if not to the "semi-finals" (expressed waitlist) at some of these top schools who have already sent out a slew of rejections.

This is my take on it, from reading between the lines and asking around. Please note that I am in no way an expert, it's just my analysis of the process. A bunch of applicants will be outright rejected almost immediately. A few will be outright accepted immediately. Maybe these notifications start to trickle out. Then you have the rest. Negotiations continue to fill the rest of the outright acceptances, a waitlist is established, some more are rejected, and then there are some outliers who don't have a strong chance of even getting on the waitlist but aren't completely ridiculous possibilities either. You never know how many of your offers will be accepted, they want to make sure they have options. So if I see a lot of acceptances and rejections and I am not hearing either way, I assume I'm in that purgatory of "snowball's chance in hell but hey, it's snowed in Texas before" category.

Come and chat! I think we need a thread for general art history chatter. What is your specialization in the field? What are your interests in research? Favorite artists, museums? What papers are you working on for your current schoolwork? Personally, amidst all the grad school worry I'm having a hard time with my work and focusing on being a baby art historian. Then the other day I was working more on my senior thesis and opened a book to a page of Sargent sketches, studies for his El Jaleo. It just made me so happy again and I was like "This is why I am putting myself through this." It was a good moment. I need more of them. So yeah, I am totally a John Singer Sargent fangirl. When I went to the Gardner Museum this past summer for the first time, I saw El Jaleo in person. I just started crying it was so awesome (in the traditional sense of the word).

I am going to start a new thread in this section for us to be chatty about art history stuff! Maybe we can keep grad school acceptances/rejections/etc in this thread and rhapsodize about our loves/research/current work in the other.

Anyone else finding it impossible to get any work done? I've got about 8 more pages of one paper to write, 12-15 of another, and a mad final to study for. I allow myself to check this site for every page I write. I wish this section were more active with other threads about art history stuff. I have no one else to chat with about it most of the time. I'd love to hear more about you all and what your interests are, your experiences with research or at museums, good stuff you've read, etc. Can we start other chatty threads in here or are we restricted to this one?

I think we all need some sort of writing class, just to make sure students are on track for dissertating (F-you Mozilla, it is a word because I say it is!) Something along the lines of, how not to stare at Rock of Love Tour Bus and eat frosting out of a can while your laptop hums idle by your side.

Plenty of people have high scores and a good CV. Plenty of people have a chance. Doesn't mean you don't need some safety schools. I'm definitely sending you all the best and hope you get in, but I think that even the best candidates are wise to cast a wider net.

The nice thing about Pasadena is that you can conceivably live somewhere much cheaper in LA and drive to CalTech. I mean, no one in LA thinks that is out of the ordinary. Everyone commutes, everyone drives everywhere. I used to drive 6 blocks to the grocery store. I also drove 30 miles away to work. Yes, there's traffic to a degree but you get to know the city and you'll figure out the best routes. Old Town is kind of a typical promenade with shops and restaurants and is near the Norton Simon Museum.

Who is giving you what amount of money? Where is the faculty most involved with your interests in the field? Where do you want to live?

I am hiding out from all of my classmates because they all think I'm going to get into Harvard or something. Yeah...probably not happening. No one is banging down my door. I think the hardest rejection to take was the one that everyone kept saying was a sure thing. HA! Honestly, I cannot afford this little exercise again. I spent over $1,200. I applied to 11 schools. If I only get into an MA program or none at all, I don't know what I'll do. EPIC FAIL!