getitlow

Thank you crazyCatLady! now that I have gone through an application season of ups and downs and everything is almost settled, with a bit of free time on my hands, I would love to do some good deeds for the next year's applicants.

Guys, I'm thinking maybe we should follow the footsteps of those in English, rhetoric and composition to have a spreadsheet of funding packages for the programs that we are admitted to. I figure this will be really helpful for the next application season when applicants consider different programs. With that said, I have put up a spreadsheet here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgQb-LRJLpvYdHM3VE1QaHJsS2dQZVRuTDF1eHgwNlE#gid=0 hopefully, we can build up some information!

There is a prompt on every department's website and while the requirements remain generally consistent across different schools, pay attention to the specificity of the prompt. For example, UC Santa Cruz asks for a personal history statement so you will not need to incorporate that information into you SOP, NYU requires double-spaced SOP and just address several specific information that the department is interested in knowing, etc. So don't reply too much on formula and be flexible. One thing I would add to your list would be a brief discussion of a theory or historical figure that influenced your ideology, and how you are going to use that to guide your research (If that is what you meant by academic history and scholarship, excuse me for the extra info)

This is awesome. I this we should do a similar survey for history as I guess many prospective applicants will benefit a lot from the data.

Sometimes you don't need graduate students majoring exactly in European history to TA an introductory European History class, for example (TAs will assist in teaching for several years in mostly introductory level or general ed courses). At SUNY Buffalo where I received my PhD offer, All TAs will alternate among courses from World History to Asian His or European His so that your teaching experience will be diverse. I also heard when your TAship is over, you can teach your own course by being an adjunct and pay for your fourth or fifth year fees and so forth. I guess by cutting down the number of admits school won't generally have too many problems in terms of TA-ing.

Yeah I forgot to mention the NYU offer sent to me this morning stated that they received over 350 applications this year and accepted somewhere around 4% to 5% for the Fall cohort. My undergraduate advisor, who is a NYU graduate from the department, exclaimed to me how incredible that number of application is compared to her application season 6 years ago. So I guess it should be very normal that even the most qualified applicants stand a good chance of being denied admission. I'm positive that the PhD admission battle will continue to intensify in years to come and no less. Congrats on making it through the top of the list and getting in Cornell ! May I ask what is your focus?

It's funny how just one day after I wrote my post above, NYU sent me an offer to their MA in History of Women and Gender today. I'm just sad that there is no financial suport for this and given the living costs in NYC, even if I take out loan, I won't ever be able to pay off this debt. I just really like the program at NYU and the professors I have been in contact with.

Also me. If I paid $90 application fee, at least reject me properly with a letter....

Yale has a great MA program in Chinese studies if that is your regional focus. I know U Washington has an excellent MA program in history (with possible regional focus on China). I'm just not sure you are considering Asian studies or History for your MA, or you are flexible about this.

From my personal exchange with some professors across different departments, politics of gender and oral history are pretty hot in my subfield (Modern East Asia/ China). I have heard a lot of discussion on digital history (as in how to digitalize the conventional way of going about doing oral history for example) so I guess it is rising in terms of popularity. In Chinese history, transnational historiography has been quite the trend for the last few years for it shifts the orthodox historical paradigm of analyzing china as a lone entity separated from the world to be among the main players on the world's stage. More and more historians are paying attention to the history of the borderland in Asia as opposed to frontier because the former points to an allegiance of fluid identity subject to changes while the latter holds a more restrictive connotation. I would say borderland history, cross-ethnic, cross-cultural history are also pretty hot right now especially in the context of what is going on now in the South China sea between East and South East Asia. The politics there is a total chaos.

I was admitted to the History PhD program and invited to the department's admit weekend in the first week of April. The history graduate association will be hosting a conference on that day. It is very likely that I will choose to enroll at Buffalo. If you are admitted to SUNY Buffalo and consider going, please join this thread and get connected! I'm thrilled to get in touch with fellow BU grad students!

Hey I got my U of Maine offer today. Postmarkerd March 5th. I was slightly elated, but information on financial aid still pending. Most likely, I won't go but I'm a bit curious about the financial package. Have you heard anything from the DGS?

I got an invitation to the PhD prospect weekend first week of April ! What is the most convenient way to reach North campus from the airport?

The biggest difference is that Buffalo State University is not a flagship university in the SUNY system and it is not a member of AAU (Association of American Universities) while BU or SUNY Buffalo is flagship campus and a member of AAU. You can see the link here: http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476 I hope that helps distinguish the two schools

Staging the World: Chinese nationalism at the turn of the 20th century by Rebecca Karl from NYU. Very interesting take on Chinese nationalism in the context of globalism/transnationalism. I know one interesting book on the Treaty Port. I have yet to read it (I'm planning to). You can check out: No Dogs and Not Many Chinese: Treaty Port Life in China 1843-1943 by Frances Wood.

Hey I should have said SUNY Buffalo. Sorry for being unclear because I assume that I put it down there in my signature. By the way, I think I ask this too much but I wonder if anybody hear back from Penn State? Got my Harvard rejection in the mail today but still no news from Penn State. Please PM me if you have got any information from them. I appreciate it!

I got a call from the DGS of the State University of New York yesterday. The DGS invited me to the PhD admit weekend early April on their sponsorship. I got a generous financial suppirt package including TAship and fellowship from them so I'm really considering going. Anybody thinking of joining next year PhD cohort at SUNY?

Thank you. This is really helpful for me. My problem now is that I know that the department I got admitted to is pretty good but it bothers me every time I think how it's going to look on the job market. Your thoughts will give me ideas to ponder on. By R2 universities, what range of university ranking are you talking about? Like top 200 or 300 ?

I got the official letters in the mail today and I was about to ask the department whether I can visit campus. Phew such a long wait! I just don't get why they don't communicate through email though. Maybe they think they have sent me the print letters so I will see them soon. Anyway I have been off-track about my minor issue for a while let's keep talking about the city! What are some ways I can look for an apartment in Buffalo? I'm gonna be a pure first-timer in BU so I'm not familiar with everything. Are there any trustworthy sources of information? I'm not used to dealing with housing issue from a long distance either. I appreciate any of your advices!

This thread is really useful as I will have a lot of information to think ahead of what I should take into consideration when making decision. I have a question though, especially for those who have been attending grad programs for a while. When you pick a program to enroll in, do you choose based on the professors in your field, or you choose based on prestige? In my field, Modern China, for example, some leading scholars in my subfield (gender and women) belong to lower-ranked department while schools like Princeton and Yale had no one for me to work with. For my subfield, actually UC Santa Cruz has a very prominent scholar I really wanted to work with (for some personal reasons I did not apply there) but the school itself is not highly ranked within humanity ranking. I'm just confused. Does going to a lower-ranked department with a professor who really excels in what he/she does help with the job market as I finish my PhD (I know the job market for humanity is pretty bad) or should I consider prestige more if I get into a school like that (given the condition that I will not research the exact topic of interest or research something that is just close to my original interests)? I really appreciate it if somebody can give me some advices on this!

Thanks for letting me know. That's okay. Here goes my presumed rejection !

Hey I do Chinese history so I totally feel you on the language part. Some professors even stressed that if you cannot read Chinese as comfortably as you read English, don't bother applying this year. Some I think is more flexible as they care more about my writing sample, understanding that language proficiency can be built up quickly if you have a good linguistic foundation. Japanese is even harder in terms of writing because they are all traditional characters. Congrats on the UCLA acceptance by the way !

Thank you. I actually misunderstood your message! Now that I know I have to watch out for U Maine decision in the next few days.

Hey I applied for the MA at U Maine. When did you get the notification from them? I'm getting really impatient with Penn State and NYU. I hope no news means good news is coming. Has anybody heard back from these schools yet?

Does everything just happen within a week? I don't want to call or anything because I don't want to appear desperate but I did send an email ( without any replies back). Yeah I received the first letter you mentioned, plus the status changed. Just no official papers yet. I guess I will enjoy the excitement of knowing I got admitted and getting an award for a while ^^ and thank you for the details. Hope you enjoyed your morning coffee!