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Hi guys! If you have questions about Wisconsin, feel free to send me a message! (spoiler alert: its awesome) Congrats to everyone who got in!

I am absolutely loving it - I'm taking an independent study with my advisor that is just awesome, and a travel narratives course that is turning out to be super neat. I'm even learning to embrace theory (maybe, a little). Telkanuru, I have an article you should read that was given to me (as someone who is Not. A. Fan. of theory). It's great for medievalists, and you might find it thought-provoking at least.

Telkanuru has already given some great advice here, but can I ask what it is, exactly, that you want to study? This could make a huge difference. If there are vernacular languages involved, you may also want to add those to your list. Do you have paleography skills? As an example, I came into my current program with solid Latin and decent French. My training for Latin was originally classical, but my MA program was all medieval paleography. If your writing sample shows that you are able to work with Latin sources though you should be good, in terms of acceptance (in that it won't be a red flag). I also have a smattering of vernacular things I picked up along the journey to avoid German (Anglo-Saxon, Scottish Gaelic), but I am taking a German reading knowledge class anyway this semester - these are offered by a lot of universities, and can usually help you avoid a test. If you have a good grasp of modern French, Baker's dictionary should see you through the Norman version for most things. In terms of Medieval Latin, however, it will depend on what you're working on. The Latin I read for my sources is completely different than those that Telkanuru uses, so expect a learning curve there (though perhaps less so if you are working in ecclesiastic sources, T might be able to speak more to that). i also have to agree with Telkanuru -- I don't necessarily think a quick MA in Europe is a great idea. You should use an MA to develop your skills, rather than pad an application. There are a lot of avenues in the states for this, whether through religious studies or history, where you will have the opportunity to learn the languages and apply them in research. Don't think of this as a sprint, think of it as a marathon.

It is not, no. I think they were made aware of it well in advance, and no one I've met seems to hold any negative feelings about it. From what I have gathered, Madison puts a lot of emphasis on applying for all the outside funding sources possible. It seems that a significant number of the students have been - and likely will continue to be - successful in those applications. Someone noted somewhere that he was surprised that UW grads placed as well as they did, without funding - I think this may come into play there as well.

Hey there, As a new medievalist at Madison, I can tell you that as far as I know, neither Shoemaker nor Lapina have any plans to leave, and the medieval community seems to be as robust as ever. Walker's policy changes won't affect funding, because the department has scaled back its acceptances and begun funding for five years as of my app year. Feel free to send me a PM - I would be happy to answer any questions you have! Good luck!

That awkward moment when you have a whole conversation with a professor at recruitment weekend and have no clue who he is. That's what I get for being a medievalist, I guess. Super nice guy though!

Yeah, from what I understand, 2015 is the first year that every student had a full five years. I believe they only accepted around 20-24 applicants this year.

One of my good friends, also a veteran, just graduated with his PhD from my MA school. He was in his fifties, and very much the department dad, and I have no doubt that he will find a job. Another friend also just graduated from my MA school with her PhD, and her degree was from UCF. The things you are worried about are not the issue. You are never too old, and I think that you are in a unique position to be able to do whatever you like, because you don't have to worry about how to finance your life. You have good grades and great language skills - I think you should speak to trusted professors about what your options are, and get great letters of reference. You should develop a topic that you feel is viable, and write the hell out of an SOP.

From what I have gotten from the Wisconsin DGS, things are perhaps not quite as dire for the history department as they could be. From now on, funding for accepted students will be for a full five years guaranteed, and they have adjusted their admissions quotas accordingly. This has not been the case before. Additionally, from what I hear, no professors in the history department have any plans to leave. Make no mistake, it is a very serious issue, but this history department seems to have planned for it. I will know more when I get there I suppose.

My ultimate topic came out of a masters thesis that was torture for me. Now, I am looking at legal manipulation in the 14th century common law, and it's so, so interesting. What would you study as a medievalist? What about as an early Americanist? I think the most important thing would be to have a viable topic for which you are familiar with the sources. If you are interested in the medieval period because you've romanticized it, you may have a tough time writing an SOP that would get you admitted.

That is super awkward :/ If I were that professor, I would be mortified right now.

This is the first document I worked on when I started my paleography instruction: http://aalt.law.uh.edu/E3/KB27no360/aKB27no360fronts/IMG_4605.htm My experience is a little different, because I work on medieval legal documents. My advisor and I went through this writ line by line; I would tell him what I thought it was, and then he would make me figure out why I was wrong. It was awful at the time, but by the end of it, I could pretty much sight read any of the writs in the plea rolls for this general time period (13th & 14th century). I honestly think that the best way to learn is to jump in, work with someone who knows what they are doing, and get accustomed to the idiosyncrasies of the hands. This will be easiest for someone who is a visual learner, and to be fair there is a certain amount of general similarity in the court hands that you don't see in the scripts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. I have no idea where my documents may fall on a scale of difficulty, but one on one instruction seems to work well, if you have it available.

Ivan, I really hope you get that call from Toronto! Good luck!

Ivan, This is actually my second go round in the PhDs app process since getting my MA. The first time was an unmitigated disaster for a number of reasons, but one of the things I am still a bit bitter about was how things shook out with Notre Dame. I was, at that time, thinking that I wanted to change subfields, and initially applied to their brand new anthropology program to work on historical archaeology. The DGS emailed me, and told me that I should also apply to history, and cc'd the history DGS with my dossier. He also suggested that I apply, so I did. Weeks went by, interviews were requested, and I never heard a thing from either of them. Soundly rejected, without any kind of contact from either, and wasted both fees. Of course, I wouldn't have thought that I would get in just because they told me to apply, and after the fact some things changed within the history department that would have meant that I had no one to advise me. That is a very sad story, in itself, but I think it would be silly of me to assume I would have gotten in if things had turned out differently. That said, the entire episode left a bad taste in my mouth -- I definitely know how you feel.

Gambaosaka, I feel the same way about Madison and the Rutgers waitlist. Even though I know I want to accept the Madison offer, I still want to know about Rutgers before I do. It's making me nuts. Edited to add: at this point I am assuming rejections from Michigan and Vanderbilt. Fordham doesn't seem to notify until mid-March.