Bactrian

An MA in something other than history will not derail your chances. That being said, you need to make sure that any program you do helps the kind of scholarship you want to do (US foreign policy and a religious studies degree seem like an odd mix to me, but if you think you can make it work then go for it) and helps position you as an applicant to PhD programs. For the study of the Middle East or broader Islamic world languages are a big thing. If you have the necessary language skills already or can figure out a way to get them during your time at UCSB then all is well. If you don't, or you can't, then you'll have a tough row to hoe when it comes to receiving admission. Many people who do MA's use their thesis as a writing sample for their PhD applications because it shows research skills and the ability to think independently. If you do this program you'll need to figure out a way to write a good sample some other way. I would suggest talking to your professor about the kind of training you'll receive in the program and how that maps to what you want for your future.

Dan Richter at Penn.

I'm sorry to say, but this is my exact sense too. Unless your adviser is one of the very, very few to have real cross-field fame, for many members of search committees the prestige of your department as a whole will mean far more than the prestige of your subfield.

UPenn History and History and Sociology of Science are separate departments. I don't, unfortunately, have any information regarding the latter.

I've mentioned this before on these forums, but if you decide make another run try taking a long look at your statement of purpose. The interests you express and the project you pitch are what really grab a committee's attention. You need to walk a fine line where you demonstrate that you have thought deeply about your field, enough to form a feasible and interesting project, while also not coming across as intellectually rigid (they want to be able to teach you). The letters and the tests and the impressive CV are all there to convince the committee that you are able to do what you say it is you want to do. But the project you articulate is what really sets you apart from the other applicants.

Work on your SoP. You've got a great list of accomplishments but even the best candidates will struggle if they don't articulate a feasible, clear, and above all interesting project that fits in with departmental strengths and priorities. Your proposed project is primary. Everything else--GPA, GRE, LoR, languages, pedigree, etc.--are used to convince the admissions committee that you can actually do what you say you want to do. But you have to want to do something cool for them to want to work with you.

I know someone who did this with a few of her options and it didn't hurt her at all. But her top choice was the same university she did her MA at and it had always been far and away her desire to remain there. If it were me though, I'd probably just promptly decline any such offers.

Penn was the traditional way to refer to the university but UPenn is currently being pushed to try and reduce confusion with Penn State among the general public. Most people still refer to it as Penn, but that's changing.

I don't have any inside knowledge but my rejection from UNC-CH was a long time coming last year. I just checked my email archive and I see I got my notification on April 11. While I'm not sure, I don't believe I was waitlisted as I got no official notification.

I don't think having an MA in LAS would hurt your chances at admission to a PhD program in history as long as your thesis (or whatever it is you use for a writing sample) clearly shows you off as a historian, you can get at least one or two historians to write letters for you, and you apply with a proposal that is clearly historical in nature. If I were in your shoes and would wait until the funding situation becomes more clear. If you can avoid taking on significant debt for your MA then I think that is something that should be taken seriously.

Sure.

I was. I got my MA and moved on to do my PhD elsewhere.

A 3.5 at Chicago is absolutely feasible. It's a tough place but the work load and difficulty is not unreasonable if you are committed to doing well. If you haven't been on the quarter system before, though, it takes some getting used to and will feel hectic.

If getting a PhD in history is something you really want, and you haven't been accepted anywhere, then I think you owe it to yourself to try at least once more. My applications improved a ton between my first and second round (with an intervening MA, though). If you've been accepted somewhere, but it's not where you want, then it becomes more tricky. I think asking yourself "Why did I apply here in the first place?" is the way to go. Did you apply because you felt you should, or someone pushed you to, or you wanted a "backup school" (no such thing, but I digress...) but you don't actually respect the school or want to go there? Then maybe you should try again. Did you apply because you want to get a PhD in history and you're truly willing to go anywhere for that? Then maybe you should just take the bird in the hand. I think you should also ask yourself how much your application can really improve in the intervening year. That doesn't mean you need to get another degree or a fancy fellowship or anything. You could work on improving your languages. Or maybe now that you know what you're doing you can write a much better SoP. Or maybe you can spend the year refining your interests and coming up with a more compelling topic. Improving any of these things by a meaningful degree might put you over the edge. There's obviously no right or wrong answer here. But that's how I would approach it.

I meant that too. To clarify: to my knowledge the set of people interviewed is substantially smaller than the applicant pool but also larger than the set of people ultimately given an offer. Also, and this was my real point, don't yet assume you've been rejected if you haven't been asked to interview. My interview came several weeks after people started posting theirs on the results forum.