Should I Have Heard Yet...?

[Unimpressed3D]

So my field is English Literature, and I applied to...well, the schools that are in my sig. I only heard back from OSU yesterday, saying I was accepted and that I'm being nominated for the Provost's Fellowship. There was no mention of an interview.

Are interviews common in my field? Does anyone know if my other schools are already contacting people or holding interviews? I didn't think I was supposed to hear anything until February, and I'd given little thought to the dread Interview at all. I somehow got the impression they'd let me opt out if I couldn't afford to travel. I'm the kind of person who tends to freak out and get really nervous about important social things, but it's even worse being nervous about whether I should've heard back or not by now.

I'm financially unable to travel (there is no question of priority here...it is impossible), so they'll have to be over Skype or the phone...would that count against me???

[fuzzylogician]

Some fields/schools do interviews, others don't. You could check the Results Survey to see if your schools did interviews in previous years and to see when they sent out their acceptances. That should give you an indication of when they might make decisions this year. 

If you got an email saying you've been admitted, there won't be any interview. You might get invited to an admitted students event, which I would advise you to go to even if you are afraid of social interactions, because the information you'll get about the school would be too valuable to give up. If they invite you to such an event, they would usually offer reimbursement. If you can't afford to go, then I think it's entirely fair to say it's impossible for you to travel and to ask to have Skype meetings instead. Same would go for interviews -- if you can't travel, the vast majority of schools would be understanding and agree to hold a Skype interview instead of you flying out to meet them in person. 

[haltheincandescent]

Interviews are not terribly common in English (comp. lit. is a different matter, though; also, I have no clue about the process in the UK--my experience and advice here is US only)--my advisors were very surprised and slightly confused themselves when I told them I was invited to one. As far as I know, though, Chicago and Duke are doing them this year (so far just via Skype, which seems to be the common route; any that I have that aren't have paid for everything), but many others (including WashU and Brown, from your list, which are the only ones I'm for sure familiar with) haven't before and, likely (though don't quote me on this) aren't still. 

So, you're probably mostly right in expecting for-sure decisions from most of them in mid. Feb. (OSU just notifies early).

[hippyscientist]

Just chiming in that UK universities rarely tend to interview across most fields at the masters level.

Relax You have one in the bag - with a fellowship no less! Congratulations. The rest will come when they come, and it's really painful to wait! 

[Unimpressed3D]

Thanks, all! What a relief! About the interviews, and especially about travel. And yes, if they're willing to reimburse me, of course, I'd love to go check out these schools before I commit myself to one for ~2-5 years. I'm sure that's too much to expect for the UK schools, though. But I'm highly appreciative of their rolling deadlines, without which I probably wouldn't have been able to apply at all.

Yes, I am certainly very thankful that I already have one in the bag! OSU is a good school, and I think it would be a good fit. Of course, I want to know my options before I make a decision, but it certainly makes waiting for the rest less painful than before.

 

[hippyscientist]

@Unimpressed3D Just to add, I don't think I've ever heard of UK schools flying people over. It's just not done here, in my experience. 

[Unimpressed3D]

Thanks for weighing in on the UK schools, piglet33. I didn't really think international schools would insist on in-person, and that seems rather unreasonable, anyway. I'm hoping they'll agree to Skype or phone interviews, or better yet, they'll forego the whole interview thing altogether...*fingers crossed*.