Josh J.

Anyone have any additional information about what showed up on the results board???

My understanding is that Vandy sends out all of their acceptances at once...

Crises of American Exceptionalism would be an excellent course to teach.

What a great conversation regarding historiography/philosophy of history. It strikes me here that one of the main issues here that we aren't addressing head on, but instead are beating around the bush for, is that of privilege. "Traditional" history, whatever that is (Consensus and military, perhaps), as we probably all know, was dominated by politics, capitalist economics, and supposed "great men." So the so-called dilution of history by the inclusion of those subjects and peoples that were marginalized or just simply ignored by those wealthy white men who were telling the story is simply a corrective force against their hegemony. That said, correctives, in my personal opinion, often go too far the other direction. I think that right now, we are starting to see things swing back the other way a bit. Many historians, I think, are coming to the conclusion that social and cultural history is just uninteresting if it isn't tied into politics and larger cohesive narratives, and so political history is seeing somewhat of a resurgence, but in a non-traditional way. At the same time, I must say that when I was looking at different departments that I was interested in based upon the reputation of their prior scholarship, there were a few where I was just like, do they really need EIGHT historians who more or less study the same damn topic from the same "sexy" methodology that lots of people are into right now? There were a few departments that I have planned to apply to that in the past had great faculty that would have worked well for my topic, but that have packed their faculties so full of historians that study certain niches that I was pretty frustrated. That is, in some ways, connected to this traditional/non-traditional argument, and, I wonder, some of what might be driving this conversation.

I've not heard anything. Was thinking about emailing the DGS.

Congrats, that's great!

Gotta wonder if they aren't trying to prey on the poor self esteem of PhD applicants nervously waiting acceptances and rejections right at this time of the year...

Congrats! That's awesome, if stressful as hell!

So... Does that mean you are in??

Sounds like a good research topic for a literature PhD...

That doesn't work well when your advisor, who is the DGS, advises you not to contact POIs when you apply. I've got another thread on this from earlier this cycle.

jpb, Where did you apply? I am also a US historian with a focus on American religious history. I am finishing up my MTS, and applied to all history PhD's (except for one University, where I applied to both religion and history). Many, but not most of the places I applied to, also have a religion department, but I haven't had anyone try to send me towards their religion department. I'm not sure what my advice is worth since I've not gotten any acceptances, and I have a feeling I won't be getting any, but, is there anything in your SOP that could come across as churchy? In my SOP, I discuss how I am interested in the intersection of religion, social history, social control, etc... I attempted to make sure that adcomms knew I was very much interested in studying history, not religion, even though I did highlight some of my theological research in my SOP, just to show that I had worked with a well known scholar and been encouraged to publish my work. Don't know if that is helpful ​at all, but FWIW.

It stands for "Professor of Interest"

And congrats to the additional UCLA admit. I'm trying to stay positive....ain't working though.

Well, I take back my suspicions. The history department at Vanderbilt sent their admits out today...

Congrats, Heimat! Beautiful state, and great beer there too!

Nothing like going to a school for two years and getting a masters there and then having them not take you for the PhD. That should make going to class for the rest of the semester really fun...

Its possible, but seems somewhat unlikely to me. Campus was shut down yesterday, and again today. The DGS told me they wouldn't be making decisions for probably two weeks after the interview.

And congrats to the UCLA admit.

Someone just reported a Vandy GDR rejection that they received yesterday via email. Odd timing.

Okay, I am a bit weirded out. Someone just reported a rejection from Vanderbilt's Graduate Department of Religion, saying they got it via email yesterday. It is the only religion program I applied for. The GDR adcomm works pretty closely with the History adcomm because they have a large overlap of faculty and often, of applicants as well. Campus was shut yesterday, though, so I find this a bit odd and suspicious...

I'm thinking we need a Facebook page or email list or some such thing for when this is all over.

Anna Leigh, The weather here isn't that bad, but Nashvillians freak out at the slightest bit of snow. Or ice. Or rain, for that matter. People can't drive safely here when its 80º and sunny, so if the weather sucks, watch out! 1/8" of snow causes people to buy out the supermarket! So strange...

Hoping for you as well!