TMP

Look for a program that has a strong Environmental/Medical history field. Ohio State is one place to look at-- there are already 2 professors who have published on the history of food and several current grad students working on related dissertations.

What's been discussed is that so much depends on how the undergrads feel. If most come back in the fall when the in-person option is available, then it's a signal that undergrads WANT that brick-and-mortar. If undergrads come back in the fall when campuses are still shut down, then it's a signal to the admin that online education is preferable. In an ideal world, we'd like for campuses to re-open for in-person interactions so undergrads can demonstrate that they prefer that over online. Apparently student evaluations will still be used this semester so the admins will definitely see a poor showing there. Personally, I'm not the kind of person who would go for online education myself.... if I was 18 all over again, I'd just defer my admission/take a leave of absence.

Have you spoken with your thesis adviser or the DGS? You're not the only one struggling to figure out how to make the best of the COVID-19 situation. Even PhD students can't go abroad this summer-- and many who had been abroad have had to come back early. PhD programs, I think, will be more understanding if you intend to finish your MA next year and don't have the kind of thesis you're hoping for.

Then that suffices for now. Just get in first.

It doesn't hurt to ask programs directly. Last I heard from my department, it's still holding into the April 15 deadline. We're just hoping that our Zoom visitation day helped people to make a decision.

This just cracked me up!

Yikes! Even so, one of our French historians (a native speaker) actually holds his independent studies in French with those with proficiency. Notwithstanding, most profs are just happy to have you "check off" the box ASAP so you can focus on your coursework but may set the bar higher during exam preparations (i.e. my major field examiners wanted me to use the original language of translated terms in our one-on-one conversations and my writtens. For escape, Sonderweg instead of "special path" and Kaiserreich instead of imperial Germany/Second Empire. Honestly, "language exams" are very adviser-based. I wouldn't lose sleep over it as you apply to PhDs.

Skip NYU. Take that funded masters or apply for the PhD in the fall.

Just ask the students how safe they feel within the department and interacting with others. Ask how women are treated.

One thing to DEFINITELY ask is the future of funding and jobs given the strong possibility that this COVID-19 will have serious financial impact as the 2008 financial crisis that changed the academic landscape from then to now.

Given the circumstances in this country, I just wouldn't come from abroad. Best to keep travel to minimum, especially in a population dense place like NYC.

Ohio State has cancelled visitation day as well. We'll be moving to teleconferencing. Just announced and details TBD. Definitely reach out to any graduate students in your areas of interest by email and ask about doing a Skype/phone call. We don't really get the lists ahead of time and can't reach out to anyone ourselves

Use the search function. This topic gets revisited every single year. Mind you, you won't be as prepared to enter in the PhD program if you reapply in the fall. Other than the acceptance into the MAPSS, what will be new that will increase your chances of getting into the PhD?

You'll be fine. just do your homework.

What are your plans after this semester? If you're planning to finish with a master's, see if you can take historiography in the history department to get a sense of how the discipline works and if that's really the route you want to take.

I doubt it. It's an individual initiative, I think. It has to come from the applicants themselves.

Having done that myself, it's fine to reach out to POIs but frame your request as a means of strengthen your application so you can get into a PhD program somewhere to fulfill your career goals and interests in the craft. If you never made contact with anyone in that particular program, don't. Just do what you can within your control. As @AP said, you're not going to get feedback at all from fellowships and grants when you apply. Even for big ones like ACLS-Mellon Dissertation Completion Fellowship that claims to have feedback if applicants want them after a certain date. I asked for it and I literally got nothing. Getting that email saying that the readers left no comments was frustrating because it was a huge application with multiple parts. This experience showed me how much academia sucks, that readers are already so overburdened with their research/teaching/service that they don't have spare energy to make a few comments. Comments come only because there's a connection between you and the reader (i.e. your POI).

Agreed with everyone above. Cohort sizes won't matter too much on the long run. The composition of cohorts' interests and the professors' research agenda usually drive course offerings at a given semester. If you are going to be the only early modernist, definitely expect to do a lot of learning on your own (even if your adviser is very hands on). I speak as someone with a field that doesn't offer classes at all and my adviser will do independent study only one semester per year per student/advisee. You can make up for this "isolation" by taking classes in medieval/early modern literature over in the English department or/and find workshops and conferences to connect with other grad students. I studied for my exams with another grad student at a different university in this field as we had a number of books in common and it worked out quite nicely.

When I applied to AU years ago, they let me know around early March. Accepted w/o funding.

In your case, wait until after March 15. Keep yourself busy with other things as hard it'll be.

Procedures vary from one program to another. You should ask the DGS at Emory how it works there AND cc your POI. Be sure to emphasize your interest in the program and how it's your top choice. If they say it's a ranked waitlist, ask where you stand. Stay in touch, especially after visitation day at Emory (whenever it is...).

Good lord, same for British historians. Please get off the little isle and engage any aspect of the Empire/Commonwealth, especially in Asia and/or Africa. The two people I know who do transnational/imperial turn in British history got tenure-track jobs immediately or shortly after graduating with PhD (and they're women to boot) whereas my grad colleague, a white straight male, did not and he's on his four year on the job market. During all that time, he got only two Skype interviews.

I did it all in the summer before my first year at the advice of a friend and maintained that spreadsheet. No shame in doing it at all. You gain more than you lose and you can plan ahead of time to make sure you qualify for those grants/fellowships (i.e. I did not go to Israel at all when I knew I wanted to apply for the Fulbright, which stipulated that they did not want you spend significant time in Israel in recent years/months. After I applied (and got rejected), I finally went to Israel for research). This is key for international/national fellowships requiring language evaluations so you can get them when you need them, and this means getting in touch with the people in the relevant language department on your campus (Fulbright, SSRC, Fulbright-Hayes DDRA, etc.). Online present/social media is a mixed bag. I keep an academia.edu profile for the sake of checking out where people were googling me from.

Take the tenure-track offer. They are seriously far and few. But try to maintain a high research profile and do very interesting work in the process. VAPs at R1 don't necessary get anywhere except in exceptional circumstances (i.e. diversity hire, sudden departure of the person whose classes you're covering, etc.)

What is scary and pathetic about this observation is how this kind of trend will mirror that of law schools. You have to get into Top 14 to land a solid lawyer job right out of law school (or so I've heard). Isn't this pattern the crticism that political science was heavily criticized for several years ago? I think Economics as well? Even a Harvard or a Berkeley PhD isn't a guarantee ticket ('m thinking of two people who I just looked up with stellar CVs including an ACLS-Mellon dissertation fellowship who didn't get tenure-track jobs right out of grad school).