Application Thread Fall 2025

[halfanarthistorian]

11 minutes ago, sleepymaterialculturelover said:

anyone know what's up with yale?

I haven't heard anything back from them yet and I haven't seen anyone else post about interviews so idk

[unknownartist]

Has anyone heard from Harvard or UCLA?

[mediaevalknievel]

On 2/10/2025 at 6:20 PM, unknownartist said:

Has anyone heard from Harvard or UCLA?

I heard from Harvard last night. Waitlisted. 

[Maggie Cheung]

<sub>Had my interview with CU Boulder on the 7th and was accepted on the 11th with full funding. Was previously accepted by UC Davis (fully funded), UWM (fully funded) and UW (waitlisted for funding).  

Still hoping to hear back from Williams soon!</sub>

Edited February 12 by Maggie Cheung

[booksandcats13]

Anyone heard anything out of the IFA? Things are very quiet in the art history results…very jealous of all the history decisions that have come back already

[itsmeiva]

I also didn't receive any interview requests from Columbia. Does no interview mean no admission? I'm getting worried. Also, has anyone heard from Brown, Yale or Pitt? 

[alexandradelaurentiis]

On 2/13/2025 at 2:21 AM, booksandcats13 said:

Anyone heard anything out of the IFA? Things are very quiet in the art history results…very jealous of all the history decisions that have come back already

I received a waitlist email from the IFA on the 6th of February. I was also told that they did not interview at all this year and that apparently this year was particularly competitive (rather than the usual 12 offers out of 200 applications they list on their website, they only gave out 6 offers out of 300 applications!)

[booksandcats13]

10 hours ago, alexandradelaurentiis said:

I received a waitlist email from the IFA on the 6th of February. I was also told that they did not interview at all this year and that apparently this year was particularly competitive (rather than the usual 12 offers out of 200 applications they list on their website, they only gave out 6 offers out of 300 applications!)

Thank you!! I will interpret no news as bad news but I'm glad to know!

[purrfectcat1]

Hi! Has anyone heard from MIT HTC, Rutgers, and Pitt (all PhD)? 

[lauvril]

not really here with admission results or anything like that, moreso a vibe/morale check. it seems like a lot of art history applicants are waiting in radio silence. are we doing okay??? i'm waiting on the other program i applied to and i feel like a caged animal 😭 

[sleepymaterialculturelover]

2 hours ago, lauvril said:

not really here with admission results or anything like that, moreso a vibe/morale check. it seems like a lot of art history applicants are waiting in radio silence. are we doing okay??? i'm waiting on the other program i applied to and i feel like a caged animal 😭 

oh yes. silent vibes are making me insane. don’t have much to add but i can’t wait for this to end soon because no matter how much i try to distract myself and relax, i cannot 😭😭 i am also wondering like, what on earth is going on behind the scenes ….

[booksandcats13]

6 hours ago, lauvril said:

not really here with admission results or anything like that, moreso a vibe/morale check. it seems like a lot of art history applicants are waiting in radio silence. are we doing okay??? i'm waiting on the other program i applied to and i feel like a caged animal 😭 

I laughed at loud at the caged animal comment -- I feel so seen...

the waiting is making me insane. I finally got an admit, and almost cried when I received the phone call but I'm still waiting on 7 other programs

[Yikes_for_being_here]

17 hours ago, lauvril said:

not really here with admission results or anything like that, moreso a vibe/morale check. it seems like a lot of art history applicants are waiting in radio silence. are we doing okay??? i'm waiting on the other program i applied to and i feel like a caged animal 😭 

I am feeling so so so out of whack. The caged animal description is accurate. I am waitlisted for USC which is my top choice, and it stressing me out sooooooo much.

[unknownartist]

has anyone heard from the Williams MA program yet?

[gradliz]

2 hours ago, unknownartist said:

has anyone heard from the Williams MA program yet?

not yet!! anxiously awaiting …

[canyoudigit]

Incoming rant:

 

I'm officially done with academia. Got a phone call last night from a program director after receiving a rejection from their school. They told me I was absolutely perfect for their program and that they had been looking forward to supervising me given the similarity in research interests. I was rejected not because I'm not qualified or a good fit for the program but because of the current political situation in the USA. As they are a public institution coupled with the fact that I'm an international student, they have no way of guaranteeing funding for the entirety of the program or if they will even have the ability to fund the students they currently have in the program. Three years of trying to get into a PhD program has ended with this.

[unknownartist]

15 hours ago, canyoudigit said:

Incoming rant:

 

I'm officially done with academia. Got a phone call last night from a program director after receiving a rejection from their school. They told me I was absolutely perfect for their program and that they had been looking forward to supervising me given the similarity in research interests. I was rejected not because I'm not qualified or a good fit for the program but because of the current political situation in the USA. As they are a public institution coupled with the fact that I'm an international student, they have no way of guaranteeing funding for the entirety of the program or if they will even have the ability to fund the students they currently have in the program. Three years of trying to get into a PhD program has ended with this.

Thank you for sharing your frustration! I feel you. As a fellow international student, I understand how brutal this year's admissions cycle has been. I only applied to programs that were an excellent fit to my research interests, and all of my professors told me I had a strong and compelling application. Yet, I only received rejections. I feel so hopeless about the future and drained at the prospect of applying yet again for a third cycle. 

[halfanarthistorian]

I'm still waiting on Master's program decisions for UPenn, Columbia, the Courtauld. The waiting is killing me. I was rejected from PhD programs which is understandable as I was coming straight from a BA. But I have only been accepted to one other school and I am starting to feel defeated.

[asipasi]

Has anyone heard from NYU IFA or Columbia for PhD decisions? Is it bad news if I haven’t gotten an interview?

[thesisgirl]

Hi everyone! Just sharing my updates for the Art History MA 

Still waiting to hear from: GW, Williams, Tufts, Penn, Georgetown

Accepted: SAIC, BU, American, Temple,

Good luck to everyone ❤️

[Imphoteppie]

Hey! I’m sure most of you saw this:  http://www.thedp.com/article/2025/02/penn-graduate-student-class-size-cut-trump-funding

 

Any idea whats actually going on? Is this Penn only, or will this reflect to other Universities as well

[Boschbabe]

1 hour ago, Imphoteppie said:

Hey! I’m sure most of you saw this:  http://www.thedp.com/article/2025/02/penn-graduate-student-class-size-cut-trump-funding

 

Any idea whats actually going on? Is this Penn only, or will this reflect to other Universities as well

I've heard rumors that other universities are also limiting/pausing their admissions until they can be more certain about budget cuts. This is one article I read. https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/19/trump-funding-freeze-grad-student-postdoc-acceptances-paused-nih-research/

 

I'm so sad. With many schools losing NIH funding, I feel that they will need to support STEM by cutting funding to other departments. I have a feeling humanities will be hit hard.

I applied to UCSD and USC, haven't heard from either. I was really sad about USC because I so wanted to work with my POI. I know I was denied at this point since I haven't heard anything. I'm not sure about UCSD. It sounds like they may have paused admissions, but at this point, those are just rumors. Either way, it's looking grim. 

[stitchwitcheryy]

This is my first PHD app cycle, and it’s kind of a mixed bag. I’m still waiting on decisions from half my applications (one being my top choice), but it seems the general consensus is that this long of a wait for an answer is a no… Starting to think about things I can do better if I apply again next year. Any advice for reapplying or doing this all again a second time?

[Dash3]

On 2/22/2025 at 7:57 PM, canyoudigit said:

Incoming rant:

 

I'm officially done with academia. Got a phone call last night from a program director after receiving a rejection from their school. They told me I was absolutely perfect for their program and that they had been looking forward to supervising me given the similarity in research interests. I was rejected not because I'm not qualified or a good fit for the program but because of the current political situation in the USA. As they are a public institution coupled with the fact that I'm an international student, they have no way of guaranteeing funding for the entirety of the program or if they will even have the ability to fund the students they currently have in the program. Three years of trying to get into a PhD program has ended with this.

I am so sorry!!! I have been wondering if that would happen a lot this year. Are you comfortable sharing where said this? Still on pins and needles waiting to hear from 3 more... 

[wemberly02]

1 hour ago, stitchwitcheryy said:

This is my first PHD app cycle, and it’s kind of a mixed bag. I’m still waiting on decisions from half my applications (one being my top choice), but it seems the general consensus is that this long of a wait for an answer is a no… Starting to think about things I can do better if I apply again next year. Any advice for reapplying or doing this all again a second time?

One of my professors told me that any “good” program/department will tell you what you need to improve in your application if you ask. Also, if/when you get a rejection or waitlist notification, sometimes they’ll tell you why you weren’t initially accepted. For example, when I was waitlisted at Tulane, they told me their Renaissance program was shrinking and that’s why I was waitlisted.