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I like the "good news!" line also. Just imagine that popping up on your phone! I wonder what their reject message says- I hope it's something equally kind/personable, like "I'm really sorry" or "it's okay if you cry"?

I'm gonna agree with wlkwih2 on this one. I feel like I'd want to post happy news so I can share it with my family and friends/bask in my all-encompassing joy and relief. On the other hand, I really won't want to post unhappy news. I mean, mostly I jut want to forget about it, but also I imagine it would be awkward for my friends who see my status, too. Its not like they can "like" it, they're either limited to making some comment, or just staring at it awkwardly online until it gets moved down by new statuses. Eh, either way I'm not a fan.

My boyfriend is the same way. He's a numbers person, and always asks what my statistical probability is of getting in anyplace. Incalculably small? Statistically insignificant? Barely plausible that I'll get in anyplace at all? Argh.

Good call for starting this thread cokohlik- Otherwise I would have just kept sitting and stewing. I wilt under the silent treatment in everyday life (seriously, I usually can hold out against the silent treatment for about 35 seconds before totally giving in- one miraculous time I withstood 40 minutes of the silent treatment before cracking under the pressure)- I definitely cannot take this LOOOONG silent treatment from schools. At least we can try and tell each other stuff (or not- since I don't have anything to tell yet?). On a different note, does it seem to anyone else like some schools that usually do interviews earlier are lagging behind this year? Seems like Duke and UMich interviews usually pop up before now, but I haven't seem them on the results board. Not that I'm obsessing or anything.

I know! I ususally distract myself with frequent NHL standings/stats checks but this whole week is the All-Star break! Bahhhh. Also, I like your use of "genii", but is it the multiple of genius or genie? I figure either would work.

Complete and utter (maddening) silence on my end.

I worked on an excavation last summer as well. I also spent a bunch of time trying to find art history programs that were "friendly" to archaeology and aarchaeology based research.

I just discovered Fruit Ninja. Judging by the amount of my day that keeps disappearing, I think it will help pass the time.

Haha! My roommates are definitely planning a GradCafe intervention on me. There's already an apartment-wide moratorium on application talk, now I have to sneakily check gradcafe when they're not looking

Try to find a Banana Republic outlet! I loooove their clothes for looking like a put-together, professional-type person, but the regular stores are absurdly expensive. The outlet stores, however, carry pretty much the same clothing, but are constantly having really great sales and have a well-stocked clearance section.

I think it would be wise to get back into contact with a professor/advisor/mentor/someone you feel comfortable asking from your former history department as you can ask them the basic questions (e.g. page length). If you've kept in contact with any people from the program, you might think about getting in touch with them and asking them a few question (how did you get started?) As for picking a topic, there's more than a few ways of going about it. You can start with a specific person/event you know you like or are interested in (Battle of Crecy, the Duke of Wellington, etc.), or you get work with a broader period and some "thing" (ex. Naval ship building in the late 18th century). Also, you could start with some historical problem or question that has bugged you before (Ex. How did King Leopold's Congo get out of control? How did the Vatican manage its finances throughout WWII?). Alternatively, you could watch the History Channel until something catches your attention (there was a great documentary recenty on the Little Ice Age), then google the people who were interviewed in the documentary/tv show and check into their research, and maybe get into contact with them. There's lots of a ways to go about it, and if you pick something and then decide that after a few months/weeks of research, you're more interested in a side question that has developed, that works also. Additionally, there's different types of research projects that can result in a thesis. You might want to do something where you look over an entire genre of documents during a period, or you might want to go the historiography route and look over how something has been researched and written about. Just a few suggestions- hopefully this helps!

Yep, a medievalist! I want to work with Bruzelius soooo much- I've heard tons of nice things about her (from real people, besides research-stalking).

Haha this is me also. What keeps going through my head is the scene in Harry Potter where Mr. Dursley is taunting Harry. "You know what the best part of Sunday is Harry? Why, there's no post on Sunday. *cackle*"

Haha, I defected to the lit/english board because I like their comraderie (and they're too nice to throw me out!). In other words, I totally agree Artofdescribing! We can be comrades, even if there are only two of us. As for me, I'd sell all my non-essential internal organs to get into Brown. Or Duke. But seriously, I would totally lose it if I heard back happy things from them. There would be jubilant shouting and jumping up and down, followed by my brain exploding, then more happy noises and jumping. Its all I can do to not check the results page every single waking moment of every day. I have to try and hold out ("wait ten minutues....or finish 5 pages of reading...then you can look!"). Wake up in the morning, force myself to read the BBC news headlines, then I can go look at the results page. I have also obsessively tried to construct some sort of timeline (i've got everything mapped out on my phone calendar). I keep checking my imaginary timeline and counting down the days til my perceived doom- it cannot be healthy. Obviously, my fears and anxieties center around not getting admitted anyplace and having to pick up the shattered pieces of my hopes and dreams (ok, hyperbole, but you know what I mean) and figure out "what am I going to do?!". Dream: get in to any of the shcools I applied to, finish off my undergraduate studies, move to new city, begin life as grad student- yay!

I'm struggling to find museums that will pay me enough to live on. I've been scouring museums' job/employment pages, and it just seems like everything either requires a PhD, or is unpaid.

You can buy lordships from/of Sealand! (I looked into this as a Christmas present for people I know haha)

You should check out Seborga. Its an Italian town that thinks its a country. They even elect a prince.

I like to collect fun facts to fill those open moments (to ease my social anxiety?). Anybody have any fun fact gems? I figured we could share them, you know, maybe as a way to briefly distract us from refreshing the results page (...can't....stop...). For example: The youngest pope was (probably) Benedict IX (1012-1056), who got the job either at age 11 or at age 20 (information is a little sketchy from the 11th century). It was either him or Pope John XII (937-964), who was voted in at at 18. Also, Benedict's pre-Pope name was Theophylactus, which is a kicker.

Bow ties are cool. Like Fezes.

Yeah, but this time they added the sentence: "This message will be sent on a regular basis, whether your application is complete or not, until you have received a final decision on your application." Which, you know, makes it completely different.

People are starting to hear back in my field, but not at the schools I applied to. Barely together mental state: totally blown to bits.

My plan C: become an MMA prizefighter. I suggested this to my parents, and their response was: "Couldn't you have told us this before we paid for braces?" Thanks guys