bddurham

Nice snark. Perhaps the people who viewed didn't have the answers you were looking for? Anyway, running through your questions: 1. Knock 5 off the list and apply to those. The important things to look at are research strengths in your chosen specialization, job placement rates, financial assistance, and if you're willing to live where the school's located. I can see 5 on your list that would quickly be removed from my own, but it's important to find the program that's right for you, which may be different from me. 2. The GRE seems to not matter too much unless you have a poor score. If it's decent, then you should be fine. However, given how competitve some of the programs you mentioned are, there's a chance your GRE score COULD be the deciding factor. However, I've spoken to plenty of PhD students who had unremarkable scores. 3. Know what you're interested in, and be specific. I'm sure you have well developed research goals, but a huge number of applicants mention an interest in film music. You should indicate in your personal statements/applications that you have ideas that extend beyond a bullet point list of generic "interests". 4. You will get rejected from some schools, probably some schools that you thought you were a perfect fit for, and it feels awful. This is a terrible, stressful time, and I wish you the best of luck. 5. Don't make a decision too early! You never know what will happen.

I decided on Oxford about two weeks ago, and then last week, I got an informal offer from UCLA. It was tough to write that response, let me tell you...UCLA had been my #1 choice when I had thought Oxford was out of the question.

Okay, so now that the humanities letters have gone out, do the intended recipients also get emails, or just a letter?

got accepted to Oxford in the humanities, but i'm not sure about my Clarendon status. How do you know if you're being considered?

No, the website is still showing "no decision has been made" for me (Musicology). I don't think anyone's posted an admit there yet...

congrats to the Columbia theory admit!

I did! I'm a bit confused as to where my application stands at the moment, but there's definitely been some promising developments. How about you? Did you interview yet? edit: I'm also extremely interested in hearing from the UCLA reject. Where on the website did you find out you were rejected?

I posted the Pitts admit. Certainly exciting, although it's a bit disconcerting that they haven't announced their new faculty member in my area of specializaiton (post-1945). It does feel nice to finally get an admit somewhere, though...

congrats on your intevrview! You shouldn't get too anxious about hearing from UK schools just yet, as they follow a much different timeline than US schools. I'm doing a Skype interview with them next week. Can you give me any idea of what the interview is like?

Nope, I'm a Musicology candidate. I suppose I can hope for a good spot on the wait list, at the very least...

May I ask what you mean by this? Did you hear that they've flown out prospective applicant already, or do you mean it in a more informal sense? It's a shame, because I recognize that UCLA is the best fit for me in the US but it appears that it's too competitive for me to be seriously considered.