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Wullbluomen

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  • Location
    U.S.A.
  • Application Season
    2015 Fall
  • Program
    History PhD

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  1. Congratulations! And I'm glad you have even a little bit more time to think about your decision, rather than being forced to choose by 11:59 p.m. on the 15th. I study Russo-Japanese relations dating from the late 19th century to the end of the Asia-Pacific War, with a focus on the Sea of Okhotsk region. Georgetown and UCSB both offered very compelling offers (the funding packages were similar, the faculty were supportive and enthusiastic), but I was tipped toward Georgetown because the university has sent more history graduates on to careers in the State Dept. It also has much stronger support for Russian/Soviet history, which I would have missed at UCSB. Please let me know if you have any specific questions about the university -- I have a slew of informational materials that I received during my campus visit, and I'm sure I have answers for you!
  2. Based on your experience, I went and gave my own former advisor a phone call earlier today, and she helped me make the final decision. I just submitted my enrollment acceptance to the Georgetown portal -- my hands were shaking, I was so nervous! Thanks to you and Gambaosaka for your help.
  3. I would be working with ann-elise lewallen at UCSB, with additional assistance from James Brooks and Tsuyoshi Hasegawa in the History department. In fact, I applied to their History program, but was transferred to EALCS due to Professor Hasegawa's upcoming retirement. At Georgetown, I (along with one other student, if they choose to enter the program) would be one of Jordan Sand's first advisees. The university recently received a grant from the Japanese government to add a new faculty member, and Professor Sand is gunning for a Tokugawa specialist, but nothing's set in stone yet. Georgetown has a solid Russian presence along with a department-wide focus on transnational history, which was why I applied in the first place. While the History department focuses on preparing its PhD students for academic work, I would definitely be able to take advantage of Georgetown's connections to governmental organizations in DC. All of us visiting students were given a list of recent job placements for graduates, and several got work in the Department of Defense and the State Department, both as Foreign Service officers and as historians.
  4. The 15th is upon us! ...and I'm having a lot of trouble with this decision, so I would greatly appreciate any input you guys can give. I was accepted to both Georgetown and UC Santa Barbara, was offered very similar funding packages (tuition waver, medical insurance, ~$25000 stipend), and was given a very warm welcome at both schools when I visited. Both of my potential advisors were excited and knowledgable about my planned research topics. But I'm getting a lot of family pressure to stay on the East Coast, and I'm finding it hard to work up enthusiasm about either program. (For the record, I'm clinically depressed, and I don't want my depression to make this decision for me.) Unless there are Russian and Japanese historians representing in this thread, I think it would be best to leave the nitty-gritty of my research to my current advisor and just ask: what are your honest impressions of the history programs at these universities? I honestly don't know if I should take program rankings/reputation into account, because I intend to work in either the Foreign Service or the U.N. after completing my doctoral research.
  5. Wullbluomen

    New York, NY

    The Teachers College actually offers family housing in a safe neighborhood, but it's $7500 - $9000 per semester -- I'm unsure if that's okay for your budget. If I could ask, how much would you be able to spend each month? For what it's worth, the 116th St. subway station is located right outside of the gates of the Morningside Heights campus. So long as your apartment is within comfortable walking distance from a subway station, you'll never need to worry about a long walk. I bring this up because $2400 is pushing the limit for an apartment near Columbia, and so you may want to look into more affordable neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn. You can also look around Harlem, too -- it's closer to Morninside Heights, and the rental rates seem to be within your range (though they'll definitely be shooting up soon). You can definitely commute from New Jersey to Manhattan on a daily basis -- a lot of my professors do it, and so do some friends. I bet you've already looked into it, but the PATH trains run from as far west as Newark, NJ up to 33rd St. in Manhattan. It's a short walk from the 33rd St. station to the CUNY Graduate Center. You can look up the station locations and schedules here: http://www.panynj.gov/path/maps-schedules.html
  6. SilverSoul, the hardest part about living in NYC will be finding an affordable place to live. If you decide to go to Columbia, you can apply for housing close to the Morningside Heights campus through UAH (http://facilities.columbia.edu/housing/how-apply), but it's hard for MA students to get housing assignments. I live with family in Brooklyn, and I know several other students in my cohort who decided to get off-campus housing. If you live within walking distance of campus, you won't need to worry about transporation costs until you take up an internship (or just want to explore the city); if you need to commute to campus, you'll pay at least 5 USD each day for subway/bus fare. The MTA will be implementing a fare hike soon, so please keep that in mind, too. The Columbia Center for Career Education makes finding (unpaid) internships easy! There are a lot of on-campus recruiting events, and you can search for and apply to internships online via the LionSHARE system. WEAI also has its own list of available internships here: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/weai/internships.html
  7. Thank you! I'll be attending the prospective students day at Georgetown later this month to get a better feel for the department, so I think it would be best to postpone any decisions until afterward. This is going to be a very difficult choice. On another note, what are everybody else's plans for the next few months? I'm all but done with my MA program, and so I have about six months to take some work and beef up my savings. What I'm concerned about is finding something that would be relevant to my planned research or career goals. There aren't many jobs out there that 1) could draw from my research and language skills, 2) don't require a long-term commitment, and 3) aren't unpaid internships. (I can apply for an unpaid internship to get relevant work experience, but I'd like to get a steady income first!) Is this even something to worry about at this point in time? Should I just go for a job that pays my bills?
  8. Congratulations on getting accepted to FIU, JTE! I finally got my last rejection letter today, from Wisconsin-Madison. It came under weird circumstances: the envelope arrived in a plastic bag printed with an apology from the post office for damaging the mail, and it apparently had been opened with a letter opener! My mail has never been tampered with before (to my knowledge), so why in the world did that happen? That said, this is the end of this cycle for me, and I'm happy with my acceptances. I only opened an account here less than two months ago, but I wanted to thank everyone here for being so thoughtful, helpful, and sympathetic toward each other. These threads were a great source of advice during the application process, and I think there are many students out there (like me) who quietly browse the forums and find humor, relief, and inspiration during stressful times. You people are awesome!
  9. RE: UCSB: I think I just missed you, since my application was transferred to EALCS and the department had its visitation day on the 26th. I got the opportunity to speak to some faculty in the History dept., and everyone was so welcoming, I felt like crying. (It doesn't hurt that UCSB has such a beautiful campus -- even though I'm entirely unused to stucco, palm trees, and perma-spring!)
  10. Hang in there, Josh and JTE -- each cycle is going to be an improvement! I got the same rejections today, too. To be honest, I just feel relieved at this point.
  11. That's a good suggestion, but my cellphone can't access the internet and hates receiving messages from my email service! I'm out of the loop when it comes to mobile technology.
  12. I know it wouldn't be the individual professors' fault, but I got heated over the sitatuation due to keenly feeling the application fee burn this past fall. I hope you get better news soon. And thank you for your well wishes -- it's gratifying to hear that from a fellow Russianist!
  13. I'm the exact opposite -- I'm too anxious to check my email, so I put it off day by day. Of course, this makes my anxiety worse, which makes me even more afraid of checking my email, resulting in a feedback loop spiralling down into Hades! If anybody has ideas or coping mechanisms to share, I'd greatly appreciate it.
  14. Are you asking for reference purposes, or just out of curiosity? I would just call it an unauthorized unofficial compilation, but I'm interested in who compiled it and when! That sounds awful -- and I'm shocked, too, since nobody ever suggested that to me during the application and interview process. Since I study Russia from an East Asian/North Pacific perspective, I applied for the Trans-Regional subfield, which is why I suppose I was lucky enough to get waitlisted (which I'm accepting as a kind rejection). It was incredibly inconsiderate of the department not to warn the applicants beforehand, and I'm really sorry that you were told so long after the fact.
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