mementomoria

As an update: I emailed the DGS as well and got a letter back (today, March 3) saying basically the same thing--in the top cohort, but not in the top ten, consider the terminal masters if nothing else comes up, etc. It's nice to have made it into the pool of people given more consideration, at least, but I'm not going to pin my hopes on IU rushing in with an offer on April 1st or somesuch. In the meantime, I'll work on the assumption that I'll be joining up with the program I have been offered clear admission to (Michigan State) and begin investigating future plans accordingly. I'm attending their recruitment event later on this month, and I'm guessing that what I'll find out then will dictate how early I'll make a final statement on where I'll be attending. Weirdly enough, the two things that were most appealing to me at IU weren't technically in the history department itself: I liked the easy accessibility to the wide range of Eastern European language programs there, and I had a good experience with someone at the law school who was willing to help me dig in on the legal theory side of my project. Language acquisition is mostly a matter of personal motivation (at least, it is in my case, and MSU's language options isn't half bad either...that and Indiana is still, uh, directly south), so I can make up that half of the equation on my own/with summer study. I think that while I'm at MSU for the recruitment event, I'll see if I can work in a few meetings with con. law professors at the law school to see if anyone there has any interest in my project--if there is someone there who does, then MSU would probably actually end up becoming the better of the two options. I got the impression from speaking with people in IU's history department that they're trying to move away from nationalism stuff, and nationalism is honestly still something I still really want to address in my work. < /self-pep talk > I hope you're doing well/continuing to hear back good things!

Heh, I'd actually never heard about reviewer #2, so I went and enjoyed a good 15 minutes worth of memes on the topic. I'll try to keep this in mind. I've gotten to the point of being mostly okay with the reality and inevitablity of rejection...I'm still working on coming to terms with the arbitrary nature of it, though.

I, unfortunately, haven't heard anything yet. I was planning on waiting it out until the middle of March, since I don't need to accept at my other school until mid-April. But, hearing that your reply from the DGS was so thoughtful, I might reach out next week. I'm guessing (well, hoping) that I'm in a similar position to you, since it seems like the flat-out rejections have already been sent. I'd be sort of bummed to hear that a school so renowned in my (tiny) specialization wanted nothing to do with me. Here's hoping for both of us, and here's a big yay for getting into other institutions too!

I study the Balkans, in particular the constitutional/legal history of Yugoslavia. IU is one of a few places that actually offers Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian on a regular basis and at higher levels. Not to mention all the rad Eastern European scholars there! I sort of have a different academic background (I have a JD as well as a MA), and I had an awesome convo/exchange with IU law's constitutional scholar, but I'm sure that counts for just about zero when it comes to getting the nod from the history admissions committee. The DGS at my current school was actually telling me about how a JD would hurt more than help at getting into PhD programs...? Don't know how true that is, though. But yes! I'd take anything at IU that was funded too. I just can't do an unfunded terminal MA. I would have even probably taken that, if I didn't already have 150k in debt from law school...I'm honestly not sure whether I could even get more loans at this point!

IU as in Indiana, yes? (Think I'm remembering things correctly...) I'm still waiting on them. I'm fairly sure it's waitlist or unfunded Masters at this point for me. I'm kinda disappointed. I got into another program that I'm 100% a-ok with, but IU was such a good fit for me...at least I thought so, anyway. Meh. Can go there for the intensive summer language program I badly need regardless of whether I get into the PhD program.

Agreed--I'd never tell someone to skip the PhD unless I could genuinely tell their heart wasn't in it. Or if they were ambivolent about it, I guess. But if the excitement's there, I'd be right there cheering for them. ...law school, on the other hand...law school ruins lives. It's an abusive, horrid ordeal. Too many people I know went into law school just fine, but came out horribly depressed or anxious, completely done with the world and 100k in debt to boot. Never, ever again.

Thank you for the information! And congrats on your admission.

I haven't heard back from them yet either. Don't know how to explain the two early admits, but it makes me nervous anyway... I have somewhere to go (Michigan State), but I'd feel less like I got accepted due to some freak accident if I got more than one positive. XD