I’m happy to have even been waitlisted! Congrats to those who got in :)

To the post below: which specialization did you apply for? I thought UMich campus shut down due to the snow storm.

Checked the admissions portal. This was posted: Jan. 31 update: Our admissions committee has extended interview invitations to everyone whom we anticipate interviewing, and we have now received confirmation of receipt from all of them. We will most likely admit from this pool of applicants, but are not sending out final admissions decisions to the rest of the applicants in case the committee decides to extend interview invitations to a few more applicants. We expect to email final notifications to those who were not interviewed by March 11.

ugh. just ugh.

I also was invited to participate in a webinar geared toward recruitment of diverse students. I don't think this is related to admission status.

Really disappointed, but I knew my chances were slim.

The Graduate Studies Committee of the USC Department of American Studies and Ethnicity has completed its review of applications for the doctoral program. I regret to report that we are unable to offer you admission for 2019-2020. We received close to 100 applications from students throughout the United States and abroad, but could admit less than 15. The deliberations were extremely difficult given the high caliber of the files we reviewed. Many qualified applicants were not admitted simply because of limitations of space, funding, and available faculty mentors. We thank you for your interest in USC and wish you success in your future academic endeavors. Due to the high volume of applications, we cannot comment on the merits of any individual application. But if you have any questions about our process, please feel free to contact me via email after April 15th.