Louiselab

Does it count if you feel like they're contacting people, they just haven't gotten to you yet? I know one school is apparently accepting people through email/phone, but that was one person so what does that mean? I know it could mean a lot of things... But this all just brings back memories of middle school when you knew a bunch of people have been invited to the uber cool party because someone casually let you know invitations went out so you're just hanging out at your locker waiting for yours thinking "but I'm cool too!!! I want to go to the Spice World birthday party!!!" I mean, um.... yeah.

I'm not proud. I will only admit this anonymously: Jonas Brothers. Oh. My. God. If I don't get into grad school, maybe I could, like, totally date Kevin. :roll: Someone better take me. soon.

That does not prevent me from being neurotic! there isn't enough chocolate to take the edge off impending rejection!

ummm... any school names for the interviews? I just want to know how badly I should be nervous now.

Larry is a god... They need to bring him back. soon.

Amen.

The LIFETIME MOVIE. When someone's husband is cheating and then his new girlfriend plots the death of his wife when he refuses to leave her... it all makes grad applications look so petty and undramatic. til the commercial.

If you're thinking Jersey... Check out the NJ transit train maps and if you live close to a station the commute is not bad at all. I know a lot of people who commute from Rutgers in New Brunswick to Manhattan along the northeast corridor line. Going to Columbia it helps to live on the West Side. NYU is easier because it's more centrally located so westside trains stop at w. 4th st and east side at Astor Place, but columbia is out on the west side and, as someone who went to NYU, columbia can be a pain to get to compared to its neighbor to the south. Upper East side from around 72-92 is great too. not the irritating gentrification of the LES, but mostly people in their 20s and early 30s, cheap restaurants, nice brownstone walk ups too.

All the graduate students i know are married with children. or women. This is disconcerting, although my friend and i discussed how responsible it is to judge a program based on the number of cute, unattached, male, grad students... not responsible, but tempting.

I don't know why, but I remember all rejections coming on Fridays just before 5:00 last year. This could be because that's when I got home from work or class, but I just remember it always ruining my weekend but being ready for Monday. Fortunately I leave for work at 7:00am and don't get home til well after business hours and no access to a computer... it's a mixed blessing. I also have a friend check the results with specific instructions to call me if anything is posted about history... He doesn't want the responsibility though!

I'm so excited that it's almost february! How thrilling that we've almost arrived at the moment... this magic moment. Is anyone else really excited about turning the calendar from January to February??

Yes it is free on your birthday! I would totally go to Disney World in two seconds. and get a giant Mickey for my new home.

I was informed by an advisor that it is "very bad form" ie super tacky to call and ask about anything regarding your application and they might not have contacted you yet because a) decisions haven't been made, decisions were made, but your application is in the second round so they haven't gotten to you yet c) they got to you but are still weighing other options so they're holding out on notifying you d) they notified everyone who was accepted and the rejected people... well, they can wait and be the last to know about their rejection.

To keep my mind occupied until February rolls around and the history people don't seem as chatty as last year, I'm curious what field everyone is going for/interested in studying? I'm partial to 20th century U.S. with an emphasis on social and political history.

I predict rejections across the board. The exciting part though is that I don't remember about 1/2 the schools I applied to, So it will really be like Christmas opening up rejections from schools I don't even remember applying to and then suddenly thinking, "oh, wow, did I really apply to UPenn? Was I smoking crack at the time?"

oh my god that's so great! My mom would do something like that! haha... I love it.

As someone who has been rejected across the board (for phd programs at least, I'm getting an MA now), I will say this to those are fretting about what will after such a catastrophic event: The world actually doesn't fall apart. Well, okay, for a few minutes when it sinks it it kind of does, but other than that the world goes on, the sun still shines (granted shining suns made me want to puke). Although the economy tanking did happen to closely follow the rejections, I'm sure the two events are not related. or are they? It's nothing to be embarrassed about, either. I was mortified telling people until one of my TAs said "oh yeah, because no one ever gets rejected from YALE." I actually found out that a few of my TAs were second (or third) round admits, so that's helpful. And here I am, still plodding along. It sucks having to reapply, and be unable to get in on the first try, but c'est la vie. Although after hearing the things some profs say to grad students, learning to accept rejection gracefully and be able to bounce back is a valuable lesson. Naturally this does not preclude me from sitting at night with my fingers and toes crossed, eyes closed chanting "please god, make SOMEONE TAKE MEEEE!"

nightmare... Being rejected from every school. (check) Having to tell everyone I told that I applied to graduate school that I was rejected from every school and having the woman who works in the post office where my application stuff was mailed say, "so you hear from any of those schools you applied to? You applied to so many you must have gotten accepted somewhere!" (check) Sitting in my advisor's office as she enumerates why I did not and never will be accepted to a program. (check) Finding out four days after the deadline that I never submitted the online application to one of my favorites and most likely to be accepted to schools. (check) I've lived the nightmare, so hopefully this year won't be too bad of a repeat.

I am the most socially awkward person when it comes to talking with professors, especially acting them to do something for me, but even I could suck it up and be a big girl for long enough to ask for a letter of recommendation.

I'm an mls person now, and from the people I've talked to about post-school employment, the school you attended is not important. they care about job experience.

Did you mention the unfinished thesis in the statement part or just totally omitted it?

Hello all- I'm evaluating my writing sample options now for fall '09... I have two options: 1. a paper in the history field and general time period I want to study but not directly in my field. There were more sources so it's much better researched, an overall better paper that I've already gotten a lot of compliments on and would re-work anyway for publication. -or- 2. a paper in the field I want (suburban history) but a dearth of primary sources, I planned on doing more research over the summer, but had a really hard time finding sources and it's not coming out the way I anticipated with classes starting in a week and I don't think I have the adequate time to devote to it. I'm not really sure which one to choose because it says I should pick one that's ideally in my field... but I'm not sure if they mean "20th century us history" just a "history" paper or "this is totally the first half of my dissertation..."

I'm trying to evaluate how specific i should be about the research interest thing... I mean, should I say, for example, "i want to study 20th century us history, postwar period, consumer culture, auto sales." or can i leave it at 20th century us, consumer culture?

I'm doing that for history again... When did you email the graduate director to ask and what was their usual response? After I applied last year I did a survey of why I was rejected, so I kind of have an idea of where I could/shouldn't try again... The personal statement killed me last time, but I still have no idea how to write a good one. Any advice?

ets IS really douchey.