LeatherElbows

A couple of questions ... How healthy is the current part-time job market, especially near U of Washington's campus? Also (and this may sound strange considering Seattle's weather), are there many apartments with balconies?

I would take a good look at their graduate course offerings and compare that against a school that you consider to have a desirable ranking. Publication history, especially for your potential advisor, is another thing worth looking into. See how much of it is recent. I also agree about looking at job placement lists. If they list them by year, compare the number who got jobs with the number of students who enter the program each year.

I'm also waiting on Chicago and Stanford. According to Stanford's FAQ page, they invite 20-25 with a target cohort yield of 15. This is purely speculation, but based on the number of acceptances posted here, widely spaced response dates from past years, and the fact that rejections haven't arrived yet, I'd say they're likely still in the decision process. No news is good news. Cornell, on the other hand has had a very low admission rate in recent years. I did some number crunching from their current student page and assuming no one dropped out or transfered, and I can do basic math (dubious), the recent admission breakdown is: 2012 (12), 2011 (9), 2010 (8), 2009 (8), 2008 (8), 2007 (7). Admissions by study area are also very regular each year, suggesting targets or region-specific funding. Given the number of people already offered admission, I think all that remains is waitlisting. Anyway, I guess my point is don't assume rejection or give up until you are holding the small envelope (or small email, if such a notion exists).

Thanks, herstorian and czesc. Much appreciated, and cheers to you both!

Conrgats again to everyone who's been freshly accepted! Has anyone gotten an official email from the Cornell dept yet, or just the POI calls that went out Friday?

I'll echo the sentiments about feeling good about returning to an academic lifestyle. It was something I took for granted as an undergrad. But coming from a koala who spent a few years in a pine forest ... my cordial invitations for fall to come all the faster. And to Kyjin, I'm with you on the weather. I know I shouldn't choose a program based on average winter temperature, but anything over 50 comes with some serious bonus points.

While we anxious historians are waiting to hear back from programs, release some pressure. What are you all looking forward to the most about graduate study? It doesn't necessarily need to be something deeply academic or profound. (Just what your mind wanders to while you refresh your inbox every 3 seconds.) Ironically, two of the things I am the most excited about seem rather trivial. I've spent a few years working abroad since undergraduate and ... I missed JSTOR access heaps. Also am quite stoked about reemerging as a member of the college town cafe/coffeeshop clientele.

Thanks for the advice folks ... quite helpful. Does anyone know about couples housing through Hawaii Manoa? The housing website requires a student ID, so I have no clue. Also, how extensive is The Bus? Is it possible to go around Oahu for free with a student ID, or is there a range limit?

I agree about the networking aspect and it's sometimes a nice side-effect of these POI emails. There were two professors I corresponded with who discouraged me from applying to their schools for different reasons, but provided some pretty extensive advice about other programs and invited me to contact them about research in the future. There are definitely some very nice history professors out there and I probably wouldn't have met them for years if ever, had I not sent the emails.

I know people who did and some who didn't. I think it depends on what you want to do, where you are applying, and how you craft the email as to whether or not it is a good idea. Since I have a pretty obscure research area, I only found a few close matches and ended up contacting all of them. It was nice because I found out one was retiring and another would be on leave. However, at one of the more exclusive schools, I got the sense that I was only annoying them with extra inbox clutter. Counterbalancing that, I got a really warm and friendly email from a professor I really respect. Case by case, maybe?

I agree that fees average about $100/program. The GRE also rolls in at around $200 a crack, plus the $25 sending fee. (You can send 4 free at the testing site after you finish, so it's good to plan first.) Official transcripts seem to average $10 each, although if you did a study abroad program the shipping and money orders can add up to much more. Then there are shipping costs if a program requires a physical copy of anything. All told I spent about $900 applying to 5 schools, although about $100 of that was getting transcripts sent from Japan.

My thoughts on this week are a little less cerebral. I think Han Solo's "I have a bad feeling about this" sums things up nicely.

Seems like today is a big response day for a lot of schools. Good luck to everyone and cheers to the two who heard back from Cornell!