maelia8

I live in Europe, so morning/midday US emails reach me at night. I was sitting at my computer watching TV and had just finished dinner when I heard my inbox ping. I saw that it was my first grad school notification link and immediately clicked on it as I was expecting a rejection for sure (my first choice and first-ranked school). The link led me through to the website and at the top it said "admitted." I just stared at for it for about ten seconds, checking to make sure it was real, and then I started laughing and screaming alone in my apartment at 9pm and I am sure that my neighbors all thought I was crazy. I called my mom and said, "I GOT INTO BERKELEY!!" and she said, "you're shitting me. FOR REAL?" The next day at work I couldn't pay attention to anything anyone said, and it was like I was walking around in a golden haze.

By the way levoyous, I also love your google doc - I am impressed at your devotion and I'm sure that many people are grateful for it! Are you updated your results based only on the results list on this website, or also comments in the forums?

I honestly think that the whole POI thing is rarely a deciding factor, and may lead to a lot of false hope in general because the profs want to seem encouraging but can't actually commit to anything before the committee meets. I was told by my academic advisor to write private emails to POIs at schools, but I decided not to do so, because I honestly felt that it would be at best a pretty meaningless gesture, and at worst an annoyance for busy profs who can't really help much. I did of course mention profs I'd like to work with in my SOP, but that was the only place that I did so, and I received a private email from one of the profs in mentioned in my SOP a couple of weeks ago wanting more details about my application. I kind of think it's better to make them come to you rather than going to all that effort to catch their attention when they usually can't actually do much for you. I have had one acceptance so far, and I hope that it's a sign that you don't need to contact POIs in order to be accepted to a high-ranking Ph.D. program.

I can't believe that they expect you to make a decision so quickly! I have only heard back from two of the six history programs I have applied to, and one is a wait list, so I definitely couldn't make that decision based on what I've heard so far - I'm still waiting on four other programs! How many other programs are you waiting to hear back from, just the one?

To anyone else on the wait list for Chicago, or hoping to get on the wait list for Chicago: I just received a response email from their admissions department saying that there are less than 10 people on the unranked wait list for the history Ph.D. program, but that they do not automatically dip into the wait list pool when someone else refuses an offer (it depends on the area of specialty, as they want a balance of concentrations). In 3 out of the last 5 years they have gone over to the wait list, so it's not a given that if you're on the wait list you are a lock to get in, even if someone refuses. That being said, your odds do go up substantially (if you're only competing with 5-8 other people for 1-3 spots). They told me to email my professor POI expressing renewed interest and sit back and wait. For those who haven't yet heard from Chicago, I have heard that they usually send out their admits and wait lists last week and this week, and their rejections in the first week of March - although this could of course change from year to year.

UChicago sent me an email. To quote the pertinent part: "We are writing to share with you early news of our admission and aid fellowship competition. You should expect to receive an official notification of your status in an e-mail from the Dean of Students by early March. On our department's recommendation, the Dean of Students in the Social Sciences has placed you on a wait-list for admission" It did NOT include an official link to my application status, which still simply reads "submitted." The email was also not from the Dean of Students, but from the Chair of Admissions. The whole thing seemed very unofficial, so I assume that if many people accept or drop out soon, I will receive an official email from the department one way or the other. @barricades: I already sent an email back to the admissions contact and am waiting for a response about my chances/placement on the list.

Hi, I got my acceptance letter from UC Berkeley yesterday, for the history Ph.D. program, and I got in! Very happy I was curious though, a lot of people write about getting an offer right with the acceptance letter, but as far as I can tell from Berkeley's online interface, nothing about funding has been posted. Anybody know if I have to wait to get this info, or where I have to look to find out? Another question: I am also as of yesterday on the wait list for the history Ph.D. program at UChicago, and I was confused about it because apparently Chicago doesn't usually have wait lists, or very short ones? Anybody know more about this/what are the chances of getting in from the UChicago grad wait lists?

Yesterday I got my admissions letter from my #1 program - Berkeley - and I got in! However the letter and the online login have provided no information yet about whether I got funding and how much. It's been so long since the application that I can't remember what was said about how that process works, so if anyone who knows about this topic in general, or at Berkeley specifically, could let me know what to expect/if there's anything more I need to do, that would be much appreciated.

So I checked the fine print on several of the admissions websites, and none of them said there is actually a minimum - they just showed an average spread for admitted students so that applicants have something to measure themselves against. Taking this into consideration, I think it will probably be alright if I just stick with the scores I have and hope that my other strengths (in areas that are actually relevant for studying history) will be enough to pull me through

If it really does take two weeks to get the scores and two for them to be sent to schools, then I don't think that I can retake it anyway because I have to wait 21 days before I am allowed to take it again ... I guess what I really want to know is, is it likely that I would be rejected from a history program due to my slightly low math score, even though my verbal and writing scores were phenomenally good, I had a 3.9 GPA within my major and 3.85 overall, I received the highest possible grade on my undergraduate honors thesis, and have done several competitive internships related to that major? Or would it be likely to affect funding I receive if I do get in?

I JUST took the GRE yesterday and don't know my writing score yet, but based on practice tests and my feeling at the test I expect about a 5 or 5.5. I scored a 167 verbal (97th percentile), but only 148 quantitative (very low percentile). I looked at the average ranges for the top ten history grad programs , several of which I am applying to, and most prefer at least a 152 on the quantitative section. It is worth it for me to retake the GRE just to bring it up the quant 4 or 5 points when my verbal was on the high end for the ranges at the programs I'm applying to? Is it possible to just retake the math and not the other sections? How important is meeting the average range for quant scores when you're applying to a history program anyway?If it helps to know, I barely studied for verbal but studied math intensively for three weeks (knowing it to be my weakness), and felt about as well-prepared as I ever do for a math test (which is NOT very). I always end up guessing on a few questions and having little or no time to go back and rework questions I wasn't sure about. I wanted to ask for opinions on retaking or not because I have to sign up immediately if i want to get the scores sent for a Dec. 1st deadline.