GCUSER2025 Posted January 17 Posted January 17 I have used last year's LORs for this cycle. Will that negatively impact my application? Any idea on candidates who used old LORs and received admission offers?
Silsmh Posted January 17 Posted January 17 8 hours ago, voxanonyma said: I was invited to interview with Harvard. I received the request from their graduate chair earlier today. I am absolutely stunned, in the literal sense of the word too. My Michigan interview I think went very well too, I felt great after. I don't mean to impose this upon you all, but my sweet dog I've been with since childhood died yesterday, he got sick incredibly suddenly and we had to make the horrible decision, and I was and still am just struggling with everything; he was my best friend, and I wanted him to come with me wherever I went next, wherever I settled to earn my PhD. And I still can't honestly accept he isn't going to be there. My first thought when I saw the message was how much I wished he were here to celebrate with me; I shared so much with him. So, in all, this news is something that is astounding to me. In both senses of what I have related, I really cannot believe it. So stoked for you about both Michigan and Harvard! Congratulations! Also so incredibly sorry for the loss of your pet and family member and best friend I understand. Sending strength. voxanonyma 1
GCUSER2025 Posted January 17 Posted January 17 I have used the LOR from the last cycle for this cycle, will that negatively impact my application? Any idea of candidates who used old LORs and received admission offers?
voxanonyma Posted January 18 Posted January 18 18 hours ago, GCUSER2025 said: I have used the LOR from the last cycle for this cycle, will that negatively impact my application? Any idea of candidates who used old LORs and received admission offers? One of my recommenders has written for me since undergraduate. I think it depends on your relationship to them. If it's someone whom you haven't really worked with in several years, as is my case, I think it's only helpful for them to write if they can speak to your qualities as a person outside academia, e.g. your track and growth that they've observed over time. But even in this case, you still want to make sure they are updating the letter at least a little; I don't think it would be a good look to use the same letter from prior years, especially if, let's say, it has a date on there that identifies it as old.
GCUSER2025 Posted January 18 Posted January 18 10 hours ago, voxanonyma said: One of my recommenders has written for me since undergraduate. I think it depends on your relationship to them. If it's someone whom you haven't really worked with in several years, as is my case, I think it's only helpful for them to write if they can speak to your qualities as a person outside academia, e.g. your track and growth that they've observed over time. But even in this case, you still want to make sure they are updating the letter at least a little; I don't think it would be a good look to use the same letter from prior years, especially if, let's say, it has a date on there that identifies it as old. True. I am also uneasy because of using the old LORs (since the universities I applied to said I could use it). I am just hoping that it won't affect my application.
balkanhag Posted January 18 Posted January 18 (edited) Has anyone heard from UC Berkeley's AHMA program? I think they usually send out their interview requests pretty early but I haven't seen anything on here or on the results pages (and obviously haven't heard anything myself lol) so I'm just wondering if anyone has any info? Edited January 18 by balkanhag
JMAurelius Posted January 18 Author Posted January 18 On 1/17/2025 at 3:50 AM, GCUSER2025 said: I have used the LOR from the last cycle for this cycle, will that negatively impact my application? Any idea of candidates who used old LORs and received admission offers? I applied three times and one of the recommenders was the same all three times: all rejections the first round, a funded MA offer the second round, and a couple PhD offers the third round. So i really don't think that would be a factor in the decision process. Best of luck! voxanonyma 1
GCUSER2025 Posted January 18 Posted January 18 1 minute ago, JMAurelius said: I applied three times and one of the recommenders was the same all three times: all rejections the first round, a funded MA offer the second round, and a couple PhD offers the third round. So i really don't think that would be a factor in the decision process. Best of luck! I see. My last cycle's application was not successful, so I applied to the same universities again this cycle using the same LOR I submitted last year. So that was my concern, but thank you for your response, feeling better now. JMAurelius and voxanonyma 2
voxanonyma Posted January 18 Posted January 18 2 hours ago, balkanhag said: Has anyone heard from UC Berkeley's AHMA program? I think they usually send out their interview requests pretty early but I haven't seen anything on here or on the results pages (and obviously haven't heard anything myself lol) so I'm just wondering if anyone has any info? I have not heard from them yet or from Stanford. balkanhag 1
Imphoteppie Posted January 22 Posted January 22 (edited) Hey! Congratulations to everyone on getting their interviews! Fingers crossed! I was wondering, did anyone hear back from Columbia's Classical Studies? Also - to the person that posted CUNY interview decision, how did it go? Edited January 22 by Imphoteppie
voxanonyma Posted January 22 Posted January 22 I saw a Princeton interview result! Congrats to whoever you are! Am I wrong in remembering Princeton doesn't send out all their interview invites at once, unlike a lot of other programs?
clodiametelli Posted January 22 Posted January 22 2 hours ago, Imphoteppie said: Hey! Congratulations to everyone on getting their interviews! Fingers crossed! I was wondering, did anyone hear back from Columbia's Classical Studies? Also - to the person that posted CUNY interview decision, how did it go? I haven't heard anything from Columbia myself. I keep reminding myself silence is not bad news, but the silence can still be so hard!
alexandradelaurentiis Posted January 22 Posted January 22 I have also not heard anything from Columbia's Classical Studies yet. This is a long shot - but if any classical archaeologist has applied to the IFA (NYU) for their PhD in History of Art & Archaeology, have they heard back?
Unmoved Orpheus Posted January 22 Posted January 22 3 hours ago, Imphoteppie said: Hey! Congratulations to everyone on getting their interviews! Fingers crossed! I was wondering, did anyone hear back from Columbia's Classical Studies? Also - to the person that posted CUNY interview decision, how did it go? I applied to the same program and have heard nothing from them yet. I am terribly nervous these days...
Dontjumponthesword Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Has anyone heard anything from Yale, Chicago, Virginia, UNC, or Ohio State yet? Getting a little nervous because I keep seeing so many people already getting interviews. Silsmh 1
Unmoved Orpheus Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Also, I was wondering if anyone heard back from UChicago? Their deadline is the earliest, and it has been over one month and a half since then. It is wonderful to see everyone receiving good news!! Best of luck with everyone's interviews! Silsmh 1
voxanonyma Posted January 23 Posted January 23 49 minutes ago, Dontjumponthesword said: Has anyone heard anything from Yale, Chicago, Virginia, UNC, or Ohio State yet? Getting a little nervous because I keep seeing so many people already getting interviews. 47 minutes ago, Unmoved Orpheus said: Also, I was wondering if anyone heard back from UChicago? Their deadline is the earliest, and it has been over one month and a half since then. It is wonderful to see everyone receiving good news!! Best of luck with everyone's interviews! Yale has sent out their prospective visit invitations. I have not heard from Chicago yet. Looks like Columbia just started sending out interview invites too. Unmoved Orpheus 1
doingmybest123 Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Hey guys! It's my first time applying so I don't really know what the process is like. Are there any schools that send out multiple sets of interview requests on different days or are you pretty much rejected if you don't get an interview immediately?
Unmoved Orpheus Posted January 23 Posted January 23 10 minutes ago, voxanonyma said: Yale has sent out their prospective visit invitations. I have not heard from Chicago yet. Looks like Columbia just started sending out interview invites too. Ha, thank you for the update. Hopefully the Classical Studies program would send their invitations later than those from Classics program...I have a serious problem with calming down and concentrating on other tasks these days, especially when I seemed to have a lot of negative surprises in terms of financial stuffs recently....... voxanonyma and Silsmh 2
voxanonyma Posted January 23 Posted January 23 (edited) 2 hours ago, doingmybest123 said: Hey guys! It's my first time applying so I don't really know what the process is like. Are there any schools that send out multiple sets of interview requests on different days or are you pretty much rejected if you don't get an interview immediately? I would like more information on this too. I believe that Harvard, Yale, Duke, Cornell, and Brown have interviewed/invited to visit everyone whom they are going to interview/invite. Edited January 23 by voxanonyma caveat
MatildaMedievalist Posted January 23 Posted January 23 2 hours ago, voxanonyma said: I would like more information on this too. I believe that Harvard, Yale, Duke, Cornell, and Brown have interviewed/invited to visit everyone whom they are going to interview/invite. So here's the thing--and the answer is dissatisfying--it really is going to depend. You can't say one school always does this or that because it varies from year to year. Scheduling interviews is hard, so depending on the structure of the interview (ie if someone like a DGS is on them all) they might stagger the invites just so they can give candidates a narrower range of times to pick from and not have too many people trying to schedule the same time. This is the case for Princeton, I know, for the one who was asking about them in particular. Furthermore, the reason schools don't reject until after they've accepted is because they want to keep their options open. Say they're interviewing 10 people for 5 spots, but they get halfway through those interviews and the first 5 people have all had red flags. Then, they'll go back and send a few more interview requests, to give themselves options. Schools (like Brown Classics) that do interviews in-person are less likely to send out a second round of interviews. HOWEVER, Brown Classics has had major recruitment issues the last several years, so they very well might decide to do more interviews if, by the time their in-person interviews come around, their top choices already have offers from other places (as it has happened the last several years). So all-and-all, the only real advice I can give is this- don't let anything you see on here lead you to despair, because it doesn't guarantee anything, but yes, if it's been more than a week since others got interview requests and you haven't, the odds its coming are low, though not zero. Sincerely, A first-year-PhD who doesn't know why she's back on this site and anxious considering she's in a program and not applying. Silsmh, clodiametelli, Sisinnes and 2 others 3 2
Silsmh Posted January 23 Posted January 23 5 hours ago, Dontjumponthesword said: Has anyone heard anything from Yale, Chicago, Virginia, UNC, or Ohio State yet? Getting a little nervous because I keep seeing so many people already getting interviews. I am still waiting to hear from Virginia and UNC! Literally just anxious at this point. I heard from Brown (going on a visit in March) and Michigan (interviewed) so far, but not from Penn or Princeton (so I am counting myself out there). It's so nerve-racking 😕 Unmoved Orpheus 1
Silsmh Posted January 23 Posted January 23 42 minutes ago, MatildaMedievalist said: So here's the thing--and the answer is dissatisfying--it really is going to depend. You can't say one school always does this or that because it varies from year to year. Scheduling interviews is hard, so depending on the structure of the interview (ie if someone like a DGS is on them all) they might stagger the invites just so they can give candidates a narrower range of times to pick from and not have too many people trying to schedule the same time. This is the case for Princeton, I know, for the one who was asking about them in particular. Furthermore, the reason schools don't reject until after they've accepted is because they want to keep their options open. Say they're interviewing 10 people for 5 spots, but they get halfway through those interviews and the first 5 people have all had red flags. Then, they'll go back and send a few more interview requests, to give themselves options. Schools (like Brown Classics) that do interviews in-person are less likely to send out a second round of interviews. HOWEVER, Brown Classics has had major recruitment issues the last several years, so they very well might decide to do more interviews if, by the time their in-person interviews come around, their top choices already have offers from other places (as it has happened the last several years). So all-and-all, the only real advice I can give is this- don't let anything you see on here lead you to despair, because it doesn't guarantee anything, but yes, if it's been more than a week since others got interview requests and you haven't, the odds its coming are low, though not zero. Sincerely, A first-year-PhD who doesn't know why she's back on this site and anxious considering she's in a program and not applying. Thank you so much for this incredibly in-depth answer, even if at the end of it all, we still won't know for sure....which...is just the pain (I am discovering) of applying to PhD programs. The wait and the wondering is brutal as well as the second-guessing yourself (very impostor-feeling) if you don't get an interview (cry emoji). Sending congratulations to recent interviewees and good vibes to all!! It's an anxious time clodiametelli and Unmoved Orpheus 2
Dontjumponthesword Posted January 23 Posted January 23 24 minutes ago, Silsmh said: I am still waiting to hear from Virginia and UNC! Literally just anxious at this point. I heard from Brown (going on a visit in March) and Michigan (interviewed) so far, but not from Penn or Princeton (so I am counting myself out there). It's so nerve-racking 😕 Definitely very nerve racking! Hoping we both hear back from Virginia and UNC soon. Also, congrats on your interview and best of luck with this process! Silsmh 1
Silsmh Posted January 23 Posted January 23 8 minutes ago, Dontjumponthesword said: Definitely very nerve racking! Hoping we both hear back from Virginia and UNC soon. Also, congrats on your interview and best of luck with this process! I hope so too!! I just keep sending good vibes to this whole forum. You may have mentioned it already, but are you applying to languages, archeology, ancient history? And thank you so much! The interview with Michigan was my first ever PhD interview and I don't think I have been more nervous in my life. Now I am just waiting while it feels like my entire life hangs in the balance ha ha.
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