Applications 2019

[DanaJ]

3 minutes ago, Ccthomas95 said:

Someone tell me that I’m not the only one finding today agonising ?

I'm refreshing my e-mail every 5 minutes at my desk in the Grad Assistant office, plus keeping my phone by my side at all times! It's painful!

[historygeek]

13 minutes ago, Ccthomas95 said:

Someone tell me that I’m not the only one finding today agonising ?

I've been checking my application portals every hour, refreshing my email, watching my phone like a hawk for potential calls from POI... help. 

[Gotya64]

It's quiet so far today folks - having been through this process once before, I can tell you the best thing to do is keep yourself busy and focused on what's in front of you. Of course, that is much easier said than done. 

[fartsmeller]

16 minutes ago, historygeek said:

I've been checking my application portals every hour, refreshing my email, watching my phone like a hawk for potential calls from POI... help. 

 

27 minutes ago, DanaJ said:

I'm refreshing my e-mail every 5 minutes at my desk in the Grad Assistant office, plus keeping my phone by my side at all times! It's painful!

Just want to chime in and say that one should be really trying to avoid this type of behavior.  This might be a good time to practice a skill (that is, waiting patiently and unobsessively) you will need to get through grad school. There'll be times when you're waiting to hear back for (many) things but need to give your full attention to present tasks. Even if you are still being productive, it just isn't healthy to keep refreshing your e-mail (or gradcafe). Take it from someone who can get obsessive when anxious and has gotten better at avoiding this behavior.  My waiting periods have become less of an emotional rollercoaster. 

Edited February 4, 2019 by fartsmeller

[DanaJ]

2 minutes ago, Gotya64 said:

It's quiet so far today folks - having been through this process once before, I can tell you the best thing to do is keep yourself busy and focused on what's in front of you. Of course, that is much easier said than done. 

Desperately trying to wrap up this final chapter of my MA thesis, but it's just so easy to leave all these other windows open and hit refresh every time I finish working through another section!

[Balleu]

23 minutes ago, Ccthomas95 said:

Someone tell me that I’m not the only one finding today agonising ?

Oh yes. I'm trying to keep focused on my work today. But my mind is consumed by the image of an adcom meeting to decide my fate right this very minute!

[Karou]

3 hours ago, DanaJ said:

10 page limit?! I was whining about programs who had a 15 page limit (Notre Dame). My POI told me not to cut something artificially to fit a page limit, at the same time I selected a chapter from my MA thesis (it flows best in chapter form) that was 24 pages for the sample I sent to most programs. I managed to cut that to 17 for ND and hoped they wouldn't be too upset. Some of these ranges are entirely too short to allow an applicant to feel comfortable with both a strong sample and being sure that it demonstrates their interests!!

Good luck to you on your remaining applications! I've only heard back from 1 of 5, and it wasn't good news... granted they were not my top choice program and beyond my POI, I would really have struggled to find committee members, which is likely why they didn't take the chance on me! I think the next 2 weeks will be big, but 2 of my applications had rather late deadlines (Jan 15 and Feb 1), which might mean I have to wait until March to hear from them, and one is my top choice program!

Many schools I applied to asked for no more than 20 pages, and others didn't really care as long as it was more than 15 pages, so that gave me a consistent page range to work with and I ended up with an 18-ish pages sample. Penn was definitely the odd man out, and the 10-page thing drove me crazy! 

Thank you, and good luck to you as well! And here's to hoping that your schools release decisions sooner than anticipated!

26 minutes ago, Ccthomas95 said:

Someone tell me that I’m not the only one finding today agonising ?

Do you also find mornings terribly long because you know that, because of the time difference, it's the middle of the night in the US and nothing is going to happen for several hours? Because I do.

[Balleu]

Just now, Karou said:

Many schools I applied to asked for no more than 20 pages, and others didn't really care as long as it was more than 15 pages, so that gave me a consistent page range to work with and I ended up with an 18-ish pages sample. Penn was definitely the odd man out, and the 10-page thing drove me crazy! 

I also ended up lucky in this way. Two of my five programs had an max page limit of 25 pages, and that was the the lowest page limit of those on my list. I appreciated having that consistent page range to work with; trying to do a 10 page sample would have driven me up the walls!

[DanaJ]

1 minute ago, Balleu said:

I also ended up lucky in this way. Two of my five programs had an max page limit of 25 pages, and that was the the lowest page limit of those on my list. I appreciated having that consistent page range to work with; trying to do a 10 page sample would have driven me up the walls!

I had 2 at 15 page limits and 3 at 20-30 page requirements. It was a weird gap to have to try to work with 5 pages (give or take) that were required or needed to be cut.

[historygeek]

22 minutes ago, fartsmeller said:

 

Just want to chime in and say that one should be really trying to avoid this type of behavior.  This might be a good time to practice a skill (that is, waiting patiently and unobsessively) you will need to get through grad school. There'll be times when you're waiting to hear back for (many) things but need to give your full attention to present tasks. Even if you are still being productive, it just isn't healthy to keep refreshing your e-mail (or gradcafe). Take it from someone who can get obsessive when anxious and has gotten better at avoiding this behavior.  My waiting periods have become less of an emotional rollercoaster. 

Usually I'm not like this at all-- I pretty much completely forgot about my grant application, I forget my journal submissions, and I even forgot my college applications. I'm not sure why this has been such a thing for me.

[historygeek]

I'm kind of relieved it's been so quiet on the grad school front today so far in terms of the results page. It's good to know I'm not alone in today being radio silence. 

[I_Am_In_Paine]

This is totally not based in any real factual knowledge, but it seems in the past couple weeks decisions have come out later in the day, like 3-5pm EST (at least for the schools I've been tracking).

[DanaJ]

1 minute ago, villageelliot said:

This is totally not based in any real factual knowledge, but it seems in the past couple weeks decisions have come out later in the day, like 3-5pm EST (at least for the schools I've been tracking).

I mean, if committees are meeting on a Monday morning or afternoon, that would make logical sense. It's not like they made a decision on Friday and then made the applicants wait until Monday to hear a decision, at least I hope not. That would just be cruel.

[Karou]

1 hour ago, DanaJ said:

I had 2 at 15 page limits and 3 at 20-30 page requirements. It was a weird gap to have to try to work with 5 pages (give or take) that were required or needed to be cut.

That sounds very frustrating! Technically, Tulane wanted a 20-30 page sample as well, but I sort of decided to 18 pages should be fine, hopefully I was right about that.  (They also wanted me to send a physical copy of it to the department, which I thought was a little strange, but I complied).

 

13 minutes ago, historygeek said:

I'm kind of relieved it's been so quiet on the grad school front today so far in terms of the results page. It's good to know I'm not alone in today being radio silence. 

I agree that it's kind of calming. The quiet before the storm.

[Balleu]

I have a big work meeting this afternoon that's three hours long, which seems like excellent timing to me. Something to keep my attention elsewhere and to keep me away from my computer and its temptation of constant refreshing.

[I_Am_In_Paine]

Does anyone have knowledge of William and Mary's procedure? It seems that in past years (including 2018) they notified admits by phone. Is that the norm still?

[latecalifornia]

waiting is getting tougher

[TsarandProphet]

I had an interview with UPenn today, where they said we still have 2-3 weeks of waiting ahead of us.

[psstein]

2 hours ago, DanaJ said:

I mean, if committees are meeting on a Monday morning or afternoon, that would make logical sense. It's not like they made a decision on Friday and then made the applicants wait until Monday to hear a decision, at least I hope not. That would just be cruel.

Nobody, especially faculty, wants to meet on a Friday afternoon. I have a general sense of how many offers are going out, but I can't tell you anything substantive like sub-field/advisor/etc.

[I_Am_In_Paine]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJGykmmBjP4

This is me every day waiting.

[elx]

4 hours ago, Karou said:

Do you also find mornings terribly long because you know that, because of the time difference, it's the middle of the night in the US and nothing is going to happen for several hours? Because I do.

I oscillate between finding mornings the only time I can relax and being super anxious. Usually the latter, ngl.

50 minutes ago, TsarandProphet said:

I had an interview with UPenn today, where they said we still have 2-3 weeks of waiting ahead of us.

Ah, any chance you know if everyone under consideration are interviewed? Hope your interview went really well!

[OHSP]

3 minutes ago, elx said:

Ah, any chance you know if everyone under consideration are interviewed? Hope your interview went really well!

Penn is rare in that it uses its interviews as a vetting process. They don't admit anyone without an interview. 

[I_Am_In_Paine]

Well, looks like that's it for today (for east coast schools at least). Here's hoping for news tomorrow!

[daradara]

3 minutes ago, OHSP said:

Penn is rare in that it uses its interviews as a vetting process. They don't admit anyone without an interview. 

Yes, this is my understanding as well. Hence why I was quite worried until I got an interview offer last week. The great thing about schools that interview people under consideration is that you are not completely clueless from the moment you submit your application until you receive a decision. 

[The Last Byzantine]

Does anyone know if Brown has only sent out acceptances via personal email with POI's so far? In other words, if we haven't received one of those emails, is there still hope that our POI just doesn't send out personal e-mails and is content with just letting official e-mails announce results, or can we assume that we won't be getting an acceptance?