dr. t

Maybe, maybe not. You've certainly missed the point. I have nothing else to add.

You may not have, but others have since joined the conversation, and they certainly did. Ain't all about you.

You seem to be under some misapprehensions about what is meant by privilege, how it operates, and how the use of criteria such as race in admissions attempts to counteract the disparity created by privilege. Here is a good read to get you started on understanding what is actually at stake: http://qz.com/257474/what-riding-my-bike-has-taught-me-about-white-privilege/ You should read that now, and then finish this post. Done? OK. Because of the color of your skin, you may or may not have had access to more resources and opportunities. However, because of the color of your skin, you are much less likely to be stopped by police. When you are stopped by police, you are much less likely to be arrested or ticketed, all because of the color of your skin. Because of the color of your skin, it is easier for you to find an apartment. Because of the color of your skin, it is easier for you to find a job. Because of the color of your skin, you were less likely to be singled out as a "troublemaker" in school. Despite the challenges you have almost certainly faced and overcome in your life through your own intelligence and force of will, you were more likely to succeed because of the color of your skin. That is our reality, and an admissions program should take reality into account when making its decisions. Further readings: http://gawker.com/my-vassar-college-faculty-id-makes-everything-ok-1664133077 http://documents.latimes.com/investigation-ferguson-police-department/ http://www.redstate.com/2015/03/15/many-conservatives-blowing-it-ferguson-doj-report/

To be fair, in the 1960s a PhD was not nearly as necessary as it is now.

I'm blanking on your field, but these past two weeks were huge conference weeks for medievalists & early modernists. Sometimes emails just get lost or forgotten. Was it clear you expected a reply? If so, I'd just re-send it.

I would be very surprised if the universities you mention don't beat a $12k a year stipend.

Congrats! Formal email, or informal? And has your status on the page changed?

I have also heard about the bar - will report back next weekend.

1) Harvard housing will be pretty decent for where it's located, but there are cheaper options available. It makes sense to use Harvard housing for the first year and find something cheaper for the second, since the Boston-area housing market is brutal enough without trying to close a deal while out of state. 2) Certainly get rid of one car; you can probably do without both. 3) The job market's pretty robust, particularly in tech.

Or someone's just full of shit. Occam's Razor

The specific department is not what worries me with the current strike.

Well, there are two types of paleography, really: technical paleography, which involves analyzing hands and script features to determine place and time of production, etc., and practical paleography which simply means reading the text. I assume that we're talking about the latter, here, and if that's the case, I wouldn't really recommend a formal course. If you want to practice reading, you should first check out Derolez's The Paleography of Gothic Manuscript Books, paying particular attention to Gothic cursive, French Bastarde, and Anglicana, the scripts that become 17/18c. cursive. The point is to learn to see how the writer formed his or her letters and thus reconstruct them, even if they're horribly distorted. If you want to PM me some things to look at, I can probably help with that. Some links: http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/scripts/scrindex.htm http://ciham.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/paleographie/index.php?l=en http://www.hist.msu.ru/Departments/Medieval/Cappelli/ http://ciham-digital.huma-num.fr/enigma/

Actually, the ductus does not change radically between the 15th and 17th centuries, but 17th c. cursive is one of the hardest things I've ever had to read. Still, "paleography" as a discipline usually does not extend beyond the bounds of the medieval period, at least in my (fairly extensive) experience. Your best bet is simply to read documents, preferably with someone looking over your shoulder.

Hey Chiqui74, did you see this https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/11/nyu-graduate-student-union-says-new-contract-includes-historic-gains

Honestly, the way UT seems to be treating its students would make any decision I might have to make a lot easier.

Both French and German would be useful for reading books in the theory and history of religion, as many such works do not exist in translation. More languages are more better, though!

It does. I haven't heard anything yet, but it's only been two hours!

I just emailed Toronto with a '¿que?'

Woah. A blessing and a curse, I guess.

Are there actually any US programs out there where you can make it through all 5 years without a teaching load? I don't know of any.

Mine still says under review.

Still nothing from Toronto, eh?

Yeah, several recent studies suggest that top tier programs have the best placement rates, hands down, simply because it's very difficult to find a job at a school ranked higher than your PhD institution. The higher up you go, the more options are open to you.

The advice I got from others is that this is a (if not the) major deciding factor, even more than adviser fit. After all, you're going to see your fellow students much more often than your professor.

The honeymoon is over already, eh? I wouldn't sweat it. Some professors just don't do email well.