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Contate

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    History PhD.

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  1. I have heard that top programs negotiate the candidates they offer admission to. In essence, if one student applied to several top programs and school X says that they really want a given candidate, then the other schools agree to reject or waitlist that candidate provided that X agrees not to admit other candidates which schools Y and Z might be interested in. Occasionally, many schools really want a given candidate and they all go ahead and admit him/her, but most times one student does not really get admitted to many top programs. According to what I have heard, this happens particularly among programs where the faculty at each school are good friends and usually talk extensively about the process as it unfolds. For schools that worry a lot about ranking, it actually makes a difference how many of the admitted students accept their offers. What do you think about this? Is it plausible? Is it true?
  2. Just a reminder: Princeton has a stellar placement record by all accounts. Whatever they are doing, it seems to be working. I am sure they have a very good career advising system in place.
  3. Hello, If I am not mistaken you can choose to TA if want to after you finish your course work. I think this is an advantage. It is certainly not a good idea to have to teach while your take intense classes and study for your examinations. I my mind, At Princeton you get the benefit of being able to completely focus on your studies and then teach whenever you feel ready. I know people who had to teach (and I mean teach not TA) their very first semester in graduate school just to survive; it was not pretty. Moreover, as you may have noticed in the acceptance letter, if you choose to TA after finishing your coursework you get money above and beyond your regular stipend; not even other Ivy leagues give this kind of money and opportunity. Let me also say that it seems to me that when history departments hire new people they pay more attention to your actual research and historiographical production than to your teaching experience. Many of my professors have confirmed this to me. Perhaps this is not smart, but it is how it mostly happens. Last year I was present at interviews for a new hire in the history department of my undergraduate institution. All candidates presented their work, and the person who got the job was the person with the most exciting and thoroughly researched dissertation. There was one person who handed out 10 sample syllabi and had extensive teaching experience, but the other people just had better research and a better dissertation. In my view, do not be afraid of Princeton; you can focus on producing good research and writing and then choose to TA if you wish and as time allows. Best.
  4. Contate

    Columbia

    The director of graduate studies told me: "I'm afraid the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences has been slow sending out their responses. You should be hearing soon." Who knows what it really going on. They seem to have given us each a different response. I am confused. On one hand, it is plausible that they make decisions on a rolling basis and are still evaluating applications, but on the other, it is quite suspicious that they mentioned that they have a list of admitted students.
  5. I just learned I was waitlisted at Cornell. Letter came through snail mail. Disappointing!!!
  6. Thanks for your insightful remarks StrangeLight. I think you are right about Michigan; it is indeed a very strong and more complete program for Latin American history. The problem is, and I have already confronted this, that many Latin Americanists, in the US particularly, see political/intellectual history as an elitist kind of approach. And even though Rebecca Scott does do intellectual history, her work is highly centered on race, a topic which is dear to many Latin Americanists. I do not want to dismiss it, but I think that all too often Race becomes so central to the work of many Latin Americanists that they leave other important topics out. Most significant, however, is the fact that many use race as an analytical category which they define a priori without inquiring what this meant to the historical actors they study, and how people constructed identities. I believe that this over-emphasis on analytical categories ends up reproducing anachronistic and a-contextual narratives. For instance, can we really assume that people have always related to each other based on race, or even that the transatlantic salve trade was always justified by a form a racialization? I am not quite sure, but this seems to be the general agreement. I think that Spanish enslavers more likely initially justified slavery by labeling Africans as foreigners, rather than categorizing them as an inferior race (Maria Elena Martinez's book, Genealogical Fictions, and Tamar Herzong's Defining Nations offer significant clues about this issue). Of course, one can say that to use Africans' foreigner status as the basis for social, political and legal exclusion is just racism by another name. But to do so, in my opinion, would be to dismiss the historicity of the very thing we study, and to reduce the study of the past to a mere function of our present moral standards. I may be wrong, but I think my position would be viewed with suspicion at Michigan and I do not want to confront this devastating specter. Maybe I am being unfair with Michigan, but my experiences have proven that the general trend is to see my position with disfavor among students of race in Latin America. All things considered though, another important factor that is at this moment making me prefer Princeton, is its location. Ann Arbor seems like worlds apart from who I am, and I do not think I will be able to be happy there. Thanks for all your responses.
  7. Yes, Michigan accepted me and offered me a pretty good package, but I just do not know whether I can deal with Ann Arbor, and whether the faculty can help me develop my research interests. I study nineteenth century Dominican history of political thought; In this regard perhaps Turits and Jesse would be helpful since they are Dominicanists. But, I do not think that either of them is very fond of intellectual history. Perhaps this does not say much about how good of a mentor they could be, but I do not think they would be able to help me much. History of Nineteenth century political and conceptual history is pretty big in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico; it seems to me that the scholars at Michigan do not follow this line of research or debates. I may be wrong; who knows. In any case, Adelman does follow these debates, and is very knowledgeable about the historiography in Latin America, even if he ultimately disagrees about many of the positions of these political and conceptual historians. I think that Columbia would also be a good fit for me. Although Piccato is mostly known for his study of crime in Mexico, recently he has turned to study the construction of the public sphere in nineteenth century Mexico; his last book, the Tyranny of Opinion, is a clear example of this.
  8. Thank you very much for your insights. This only further confirms that Princeton's doctoral program in history is fantastic. Adelman is certainly a good person to have as an adviser; he is well versed in many fields and even teaches courses on World History. His work on Buenos Aires and and revolutions in early nineteenth century Latin America is also impressive. What I like the most about his work is how engaged he is with the historiographical debates of historians in Latin America. Too often Latin Americanists in the states bypass a whole range of invigorating debates in Latin America, to just write for an American audience. I probably will be engaging with the debates on Political/intellectual history in Latin America to a greater extent than most would recommend; what better person than Adelman to help me do this. As far as funding and support for their students, Princeton definitely seems like the best option. To be fair, the town of Princeton is pretty expensive, but I still think their package is great. It is true that you basically have no Teaching responsibility. I probably will TA, but it is nice to know that you do not have to. I am still going to wait for responses from Cornell, Columbia and NYU, but I doubt they could match the Princeton offer, and at this point I think I probably have been rejected from these schools
  9. Hello, I was offered admission at Princeton and I am trying to learn as much inside info as I can about the department. What do you know about the faculty and students there? Is it a collegial and welcoming environment or is it extra competitive and cut-throat? Since I work on Latin America Jeremy Adelman will probably be my adviser (I will probably also work closely with Rob Karl), but I am also interested in having minor fields in French political history and intellectual history, which means I will be working with Philip Nord and Anson Rabinbach as well. Most people I have talked to have told me great things about the department and their students. After exchanging messages with some professors there, it certainly seems like it is a very friendly yet challenging environment; I am thrilled about this, but does anybody have any other Insights?
  10. did u get into Stanford ECE PhD ??

  11. Contate

    UPenn?

    I heard of two people being invited for an interview on March 27th. I do not know what this means, but I assume that if you have not been invited to this event either you were a candidate which they no doubt will accept, or one which they no doubt will reject.
  12. Congrats on being accepted. I guess this means the rest of us who have not heard anything yet were rejected .
  13. Contate

    Columbia

    I called the history department and the said they would finalize decisions by the end of this week. It seems to me that they still have not informed students that applied directly to the history program. All the acceptances and rejections I have seen have been for joint programs. So, don't despair. Maybe I am just being to optimistic; who knows.
  14. I have not heard from Cornell, but good to know that they are sending decisions by Friday. I called Columbia and they also said I should hear by the end of this week.
  15. If it's any help, the only schools I have received official letters from (by email) are Princeton, Yale and Stanford. I have either not heard from other schools or been admitted informally with a phone call.
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