IvanBezdomnii
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Posts posted by IvanBezdomnii
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Applying for my visa next month, haven't even looked at accommodation yet. Is that bad?
For Chapel Hill, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I would try to find a place by the end of May, but on the whole housing is plentiful and affordable.
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The guy is just being a prick. Probably hoping to distract from the fact that Penn's history department is quickly becoming a dumpster fire. Anyone who got rejected from there--you dodged a bullet.
- TMP, navyblackmaroon and L13
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Well, it was a tough decision, but I decided to go with Georgetown over Toronto. So I guess I will be seeing some of you in the fall. Look forward to meeting Wullbluomen and others in person soon!
- hanlin, HistoryMystery, dr. t and 1 other
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Based on your experience, I went and gave my own former advisor a phone call earlier today, and she helped me make the final decision. I just submitted my enrollment acceptance to the Georgetown portal -- my hands were shaking, I was so nervous! Thanks to you and Gambaosaka for your help.
Funny enough I just received an unexpected acceptance to Georgetown PhD program in history to work with Dr. Michael David-Fox on Russian/Soviet history. I now have an unexpected and ridiculously difficult decision to make between Georgetown with only about three days to mull things over. What sub-field are you in? And (I haven't read the whole thread back, so sorry if you have to repeat yourself), what made the difference in your decision and what impressed you about Georgetown?
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@ultrafiche - I third (or fourth) Indiana - their Russian program is excellent, especially for language offerings and acquisition. I'm not sure how their history department fares for modern Americanists, but, after speaking with some students there, I hear there's a funding preference towards American and Asian history. I personally am a little wary of Penn because of extreme funding cuts with regard to Russian history, and their Slavic department is extremely tilted towards lit/lang. U Chicago has Eleanor Gilbund, who works on cultural history and exchange in modern Russia, so I would give a look. Yale also has really strong faculty in US Cold War and cultural history (Matthew Jacobson, John Gaddis).
I thought I'd chime in here since we're in the same subfield. I'm with you on Penn--they took no one in Russian history last year.
I personally think Chicago and Indiana are also on the way down. But it depends somewhat on who you want to work with.
If you're interested in funded MAs I might try looking at Russian Studies MAs at UNC-CH and UT-Austin. Good programs where you can make really good connections and hone your language skills. That's what I did before my PhD cycle last year. I ended up going to Toronto and had another offer.
Good luck.
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I am just finishing up at UNC,a great place and town. I recommend living in Carrboro. It's where most grad students live.
Also some may find this helpful: www.heelshousing.com
- Gambaosaka1 and NYCBluenose
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Hi all,
I'll be starting a PhD in history at Toronto in the fall. I'm an American, originally from NY and I am currently finishing up my MA at the University of North Carolina. I'm excited (more so for the program than the weather, haha). Although, I admittedly know very little about Toronto and Canada in general. Are there any significant differences between the Canadian and American university systems y'all are aware of? I imagine there pretty similar, but I suspect there are key differences at the same time. Either way, I'm excited to be moving to the Great White North!
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Got into Toronto today! Ecstatic! Late in the game but finally got that first acceptance! You only need one!
- cscruggs78, dr. t, ashiepoo72 and 7 others
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It's not over until 4/15! Never despair!
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Whoops wrong thread sorry.
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Clearly a case of copy and paste gone wrong...
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"I write to give you an update on your application to the PhD program in History at the University of Toronto. We were EXTREMELY impressed by your application, which combined what many of us thought to be an important and interesting project with an impressive and unique background. It goes without saying that the University of Toronto would be a wonderful place to pursue your research, particularly given our depth and strength in Asian history. As Graduate Coordinator, I read all the PhD applications, so I can say with confidence that your application and proposal really jumped out.
Unfortunately, because we are a public university, the Ontario provincial government sets extremely strict limits on the number of international students we can accept each year. This rule forces us to turn away many quite brilliant applicants who we would otherwise love to admit."
Uh, liiiiiiiitle problem. So much for a personalized email. (Waitlisted, btw)
Lol, got the exact same e-mail minus the Asian snafu.
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If any international applicants turn down Toronto or anyone at all turns down Georgetown, please let me know.
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Waitlisted at Toronto. That completes my cycle. 3 waitlists and 3 rejections. MEH!
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Well pending Toronto sees something in me the other schools didn't or a slot opens at G'town I struck out this time round. Good luck to everybody on here, I think it's time I devoted my gradcafe time to looking for jobs. Maybe I'll do this again next year, haven't decided yet.
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Email the graduate coordinator for the history dept. I dont want to put name and contact info on here though.How did you do that?
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Managed to confirm my rejection by Harvard via email this afternoon. Better than waiting another week honestly.
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Apologies for double post, but is anyone else just assuming Toronto won't take any students this year if they go on strike on Tuesday?
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I dunno. As I said, shit's random.
My last cycle, Harvard rejects came out first week of March. With the snow, who knows.
Word. I may just call tomorrow to see if they have my decision. Worst thing that will happen is that they won't. Not really worried about leaving a negative impression as I'm sure they'll forget my name five seconds after I hang up anyway.
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Ivan,
This is actually my second go round in the PhDs app process since getting my MA. The first time was an unmitigated disaster for a number of reasons, but one of the things I am still a bit bitter about was how things shook out with Notre Dame. I was, at that time, thinking that I wanted to change subfields, and initially applied to their brand new anthropology program to work on historical archaeology. The DGS emailed me, and told me that I should also apply to history, and cc'd the history DGS with my dossier. He also suggested that I apply, so I did. Weeks went by, interviews were requested, and I never heard a thing from either of them. Soundly rejected, without any kind of contact from either, and wasted both fees.
Of course, I wouldn't have thought that I would get in just because they told me to apply, and after the fact some things changed within the history department that would have meant that I had no one to advise me. That is a very sad story, in itself, but I think it would be silly of me to assume I would have gotten in if things had turned out differently. That said, the entire episode left a bad taste in my mouth -- I definitely know how you feel.
Thanks for the commiserations. Being rejected is one thing, but these type of situations leave you feeling deceived don't they?
In unrelated news, when is Harvard going to get round to dropping the hammer? Still no decision available on my applicant portal.
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Yeah, and as I said, I think you're entitled to that! (And my rambling digression above is not meant to be a criticism of your feelings or anything, just my own way of thinking about this kind of situation.)
That being said, I'm sure some departments do actually skim over applications and misplace files and stuff, which is why I spelled out the refund scenario. It makes me angry to think about because processing fees are exorbitant and to suspect they didn't even buy you a cursory look must be soul-destroying.
No they definitely gave me a serious look, suggested they were taking applicants, and interviewed me. But that makes it all the more frustrating.
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I'm sure that decisions of this nature depend, at least partly, on the perceived quality of the applicant pool in each subfield, so it would be impossible to make them without considering all the shortlisted applications first, or at least getting feedback and recommendations from faculty members in each subfield.
And I'd only consider asking for a fee refund if I suspected my application hadn't been processed or reviewed in full despite meeting the submission deadline. That is to say, if you had reason to suspect UPenn simply decided to throw out all the Russian history applications without reading them this year, sure, I think you'd have a good case. But, as I said, I imagine it was more complex than that.
Which is not to say that I don't understand your frustration! It does feel unfair to fall prey to the caprice of departmental intake decisions and I fully sympathize with you.
On a personal note, my prospective advisor at Harvard did warn me that the department only admitted one or two medievalists per year, and sometimes none (which is what happened this year, according to telkanuru). I think it was very decent of him to point out the arbitrary and competitive nature of the selection process before I submitted my application. However, it feels arrogant to 'blame' my (assumed) rejection on the vagaries of grad school admissions. I'm sure that if my application had been stronger, I would have stood a better chance of admission.
Obviously, I'm not seriously considering asking for a refund. My post should be read as my purely emotional reaction and nothing beyond that.
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Eeh, these things shake out in the faculty negotiations every year. I am sure when you first talked to your POI, they had every intention of making an offer in the subfield, but others won out at the Council of Doom. I don't know how it works at Penn, but here, the faculty in each sub-field select a handful of candidates to forward on to a small committee which makes the final decision. My POI (and supervisor) here encouraged me to apply, but the department ended up not making an offer to a medievalist after the dust settled.
I know it wouldn't be the individual professors' fault, but I got heated over the sitatuation due to keenly feeling the application fee burn this past fall. I hope you get better news soon.
And thank you for your well wishes -- it's gratifying to hear that from a fellow Russianist!
I'll admit that my initial reaction was pretty heated. I think I forwarded the letter to my current adviser with the addendum "bull shit." Be nice if the council of doom could make these decisions before soliciting applications though. Or at least give a refund to people.
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Are you asking for reference purposes, or just out of curiosity? I would just call it an
unauthorizedunofficial compilation, but I'm interested in who compiled it and when!That sounds awful -- and I'm shocked, too, since nobody ever suggested that to me during the application and interview process. Since I study Russia from an East Asian/North Pacific perspective, I applied for the Trans-Regional subfield, which is why I suppose I was lucky enough to get waitlisted (which I'm accepting as a kind rejection). It was incredibly inconsiderate of the department not to warn the applicants beforehand, and I'm really sorry that you were told so long after the fact.
Thanks for the commiserations. I don't blame my POIs, since I am sure they were operating under the assumption that they would be able to take students (why go through the bother of interviewing me otherwise?). Nonetheless, very frustrating although I don't take it personally.
On a sidenote, your field of interest sounds fascinating. The far east is a big lacuna is Russian/Soviet studies. I had played around with the idea of studying the short-lived Far East Republic during the Civil War, but ended up writing my MA ona completely unrelated topic. I wish you best of luck in your research, it is sorely needed.
Fall 2015 Applicants
in History
Posted
Not excited. It's just the rejected first draft of Mockingbird. It was found by an auctioneer years before it was supposedly rediscovered.