herstorian

Ahh, I'm still waiting on Chicago as well. Did you receive an email from the department? Also, I just received my first waitlist (at UVa as well) and wanted to know whether it's too early to ask to be taken off the list, since I'm fairly certain I will be choosing another school anyways. Plus, it sounds like there are tiers of waitlist, and I don't want to prolong another applicant's agony. Anyone else hear back from NYU ? That's the only other school I'm waiting on at the moment.

If my undergrad years there are any indication, it really depends on the subfield and the professors. Some of the nicest and warmest professors are there along with the famous and hands-off faculty. And most grad students I've spoken to seem to be quite content with the department itself. I suspect that the overall stress of Columbia (apparently ranked #1 stressful college) and NYC in general tend to create most of the problems. I am in a similar boat. Both of the POIs at both schools are very welI matched in terms of research, which is amazing since it's a very narrow field and I've been thinking of ways to differentiate between the two. I had a long conversation with one POI over the weekend. What I found really helpful was asking her questions about funding international travel, asking how she advises her grad students (how often, what sort of schedules, etc), where recent grads of the field are and general questions about interdisciplinary work and working with other faculty members (I was very pleased to hear about co-advising).

As someone who's lived in NYC all my life and other big cities for short periods, I am with you! I have no idea how I will adjust to a non-city life. But looks like I will have to choose between two collegetowns.

Same here. Nothing from Chicago yet as well. Actually, I only heard back from three schools. This wait is awful!

I received an email from the graduate coordinator earlier today with links to websites and such, and a copy of the acceptance letter that is being mailed out.