Have you been in touch with admissions staff at your big four?  If not, and you haven't been making a pest of yourself otherwise (and it sounds as though you haven't), give them a phone call politely requesting an update on expected notification letters.  Also, if you've been in close touch with any faculty you'd likely be working with, you might consider emailing with and equally polite and respectful I-wonder-if-you've-heard-anything message.  (Don't do this unless you've established some rapport already.)

I don't think I heard about my applications until April, if my rusty memory serves...

Best of luck!

Also --for what it's worth-- I've committed to teaching a new course in the Fall, but could very well be fully employed elsewhere by then.  If that occurs, I certainly would let the department know ASAP.  But no one really expects you to turn down a crucial life opportunity for a part-time teaching gig.*

*This certainly might ruffle some feathers, and you should always do your best to keep employers abreast of major changes as soon as you know them.  But, just as teachers can be caught unawares by administrative decisions to cut and change plans at the last minute (Lord knows!), so administrations must accept the basic arrangement in reverse.  It's the way of the academic world.

Thanks for starting this thread, Dani. I've also been trying to get a sense about notifications by reading the M.Arch thread since I have yet to hear back. There's not much on gradcafe for architecture PhD applicants, so I've been going back and forth between thinking it is far too late to hear back with any good news and then optimistically hoping programs are still deciding who they'll accept. I agree with citizen that you could contact the programs to inquire about your status and could also add that you need to make a decision about renewing a teaching contract. 

I would be curious if people have heard back from programs or if most are still waiting to find out.  It seems like HTC at MIT and Princeton have informed at least a couple of people, but I didn't apply to those programs. 

Thanks Citizen! I feel much better now knowing all is not lost! I'll definitely give each school a call. I think I wouldn't feel so much pressure from my boss if he weren't a new department head, he's been pushing to make changes to our hiring system, one being identifying the adjuncts before April or May.

@medium, i agree, there is surprisingly little about architecture phds on gradcafe! I actually applied for a PhD in Planning. I had applied for Arch last year and all the schools told me to reapply in Planning.

To my knowledge, Berkeley has already contacted everyone, but I don't think any other schools have, other than the usual trickle of rejections/acceptances from MIT.

as far as i know upenn has notified everyone, although i think that you have to log into their admissions website to get your letter... my wife was waitlisted for the planning phd program there...

Just learned I am wait listed at Columbia. Any advice from people who have been wait listed in the past? 

@medium  ...  From what I've experienced over the years (I am a 5th year PhD student at the moment), the wait lists will take a couple of weeks to settle. Hang tight.

After some disappointing news, I've been led to wonder: what really makes a strong PhD application?

Resume? Proposal? Already knowing people on the PhD committee? Since I am the first person in my family to ever attempt getting a PhD, I feel very much in the dark about all this. I might be looking at five rejections despite already having research and teaching experience. Any thoughts?

My first round of applications was declined, and I was severely disappointed.  The whole experience led to another round the following year, which were successful in getting me accepted.  The prime differences in the 2nd round:

• I had corresponded with, then met and talked to, the faculty whose work aligned with my interests.
• My essay/statement had progressed beyond a tentative "I want to do a PhD about X at your school" to a much more focused and decisive "I'm a mid-career professional  fascinated by A and B, and have identified questions C and D that  I plan to pursue academically.  I've met with Professors Y and Z in your program, and find an excellent fit between their work and my interests."

By the way, my eventual research did somewhat align with that outlined in my application, but only partially.  No one expects your application to be a preview of your dissertation.  What they needed to see (in my case, at least) is that I had decided on an academic career and a research direction, and was out to pursue them. 

The moral of the story (that I neglected to highlight above) is that the first set of noes, while painful, helped force me to really think about 1) how much do I want to do this? and 2) how can I best demonstrate that I'm a viable candidate who already has specific ideas about research and scholarship in the field?

My second set of applications was far stronger as a result of the previous rejections.