TMP

I agree. Be vague at first. They are likely aware of others' standard funding packages as you're not going to be the first applicant to apply to this group of schools. If they press quite hard, then go ahead and give some details, especially if you win a big fellowship. They are likely already aware that they're each other competition if you say that they're in the same sub-field and are colleagues. When you're in this situation, you will hardly lose. Only one person/program will definitely gain you but you will not lose the others as they will become your mentors and colleagues down the road . They will have other opportunities to work with you, especially as you start writing your dissertation. My "other" POI (those of you already aware of my funding situation) was very keen to know of any other offers that I have. She said, "...and please do discuss your various offers with me." At first, I thought she just wanted to be a mentor and help me think about where I want to go. Then over time I realized that she wanted me VERY badly and just needed to know who else is bidding on me so she can find extra money. I tipped her off that I had received a "very generous offer of five-year fellowship..." The response was rather interesting- mainly kept a calm front, urged me to wait a few more weeks, etc. And yes, I agree with teachgrad, another $1,000 can help quite immensely. You'll find that summer support may not be as much as you want it to be, especially if your work is not based in the US and you may have to fund some of the trip yourself.

Hmm... yes... except I'd really like a Yale degree if possible

Goldie, you are being WAY too modest on this board. SCREAM! CONGRATS!!!!!!

OMG, after sitting on the sidelines for two years, now I can actually ask "WHAT WILL I EVER DO?!?!?! THIS IS SOOOOO HARD!!!!!!" (for you, SL and Sparky ) I am basically with Genie Parmesan on many counts. I am happy to be funded for at least four years, given that I have a MA and a list of dissertation fellowships that I absolutely want to apply for for my 5th year anyway. I wish I could say that both will allow me to save little while paying off my student loans but that won't happen. It's tough for me in a way that my subfield is just beginning a transition where the more prominent faculty members are set to retire within the next 5-10 years and young professors like my POIs are going to start making their moves and occupy those coveted spots at top universities. This means that it's going to be hard to figure out which of the programs that younger professors are in are going to be the next "top" programs. For example, Columbia used to be The Place to go but now NYU is taking the #1 spot. What I mean is that I am thinking long term: which program will serve me the best for the job market? Which of my POIs and their colleagues who will be on my dissertation committees have stronger and more active connections that can get me a job? Speaking of job market, that is also going to be something I'll be listening carefully for on both campuses. I want to know what students want to do with their PhDs if not tenure-track and know of other options. I want to know what individual faculty members expect of their students. I want to know if there's respect for "alternative" careers. UW's acceptance letter was interestingly worded. A department in denial isn't going to serve its students well and leave them unemployed if they don't land TT/VAP jobs. One department has 2-3 certain, critical flaws that makes taking its offer quite risky and I hope to see how they will alleviate my concerns. One of the flaws is the lack of a second historian in my sub-field and it's a rather important position if I want to be very well-trained and I've been told that they won't fill the spot for another 2 years. This means that I have to accept the person on my dissertation committee, whether I like his/her work and him/her as a person or not. Last thing I want is to have a dissertation committee where nobody gets along. The other department's flaws aren't as critical but slightly concerning, including some opportunities that the first department is offering. Campus visits will certainly make or break the deal. The second department may have an easier time if the first one can't make me feel better. So we shall see. I'm trying to relax....

Uh oh... two Brandeis waitlistees... Awkward.

I mentioned somewhere else- in another waitllist thread that Brandeis did accept someone off the waitlist last year or two. It's a matter of getting one or two of the accepted students to turn down the offer. I think that person waited until just before April 15th to find out. S/he stayed in touch with the department to check on the status.

*gasp* They stay at the Nassau Inn!!?!?!

hang on sandy! You still have a bunch of schools that won't traditionally let people know until the end of February!

I said that because I did have POIs from various programs in previous cycles who said those things to me, raising my hopes and hoping that they'd be true to their words. So I have every reason to be a bit cynical and take these kind of words with a grain of salt.

Waitlisted by Indiana in the last 2 cycles. And I'm here in my third cycle. Odds are very long as the program does admit more students than it plans to yield. They'll go to the waitlist if it looks like it won't get their targeted yield.

No. Do not e-mail her until after March 15th. Keep your bottom on your hands! You can e-mail her ONLY if she DID ask you to get in touch with her during the admissions process or something like "If you don't heard from anyone by President's Day, send me an e-mail and I'll give you an update." Everyone has a great conversation with a POI one way or another but ultimately nobody really knows until the executive committee makes the final decision based on politics, overall strength of the recommended applicants, and the program's needs.

CONGRATS GOLDIE!!!!! cooperstreet- it may be your SOP if not your writing sample. If this is only your second time, get some serious feedback from your favorite POIs. Remember, it also may be that this year still isn't the year for your particular subfield. Third time's the charm.

Wait... wait... is that an Indiana acceptance up there?! Oh man. I guess, maybe they really didn't make a mistake. Congrats to whoever it is!

NNNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have to see their gorgeous libraries and go up the towers... No, seriously, what if Harvard disappoints you?! *sigh* I hope that you will forge great networking connections with those Africanists though.

Six weeks in Paris isn't going to do you any good as opposed to spending 3 months if you can. You didn't mention what's your field anyway. FWIW, my subfield requires at least three languages just to be competitive enough for the job market. I picked up Language #1 during my junior semester/summer abroad and continued it in my senior year. I picked up Language #2 in my MA program as my proficiency in Language #! wasn't high enough for classes to be counted for graduate credit. I completed all the necessary grammar and vocabulary in Language #2 with 4 semesters plus 1 summer. When my coursework ended in my 3rd semester of my MA program, I TOOK advantage of my gigantic university's language offerings but picking up Language #3 in an intensive first year course and I absolutely LOVED it and it was really The Research language that I needed to make my project "super cool" as SL put it. After the MA program ended and didn't succeed in PhD applications, I went abroad in the country where Language #3 was primarily spoken for 5 months. I took 3 solid months of intensive classes and they were just SO great. I've applied as an Americanist at a place like Wisconsin, it was my facility of languages that probably helped me to stand out from the rest given that I work on a multi-lingual ethnic group My POI at OSU was thrilled that I had 3 working research languages (plus Spanish), even if I wasn't fluent in any of them. There was just an understanding that I wouldn't need to devote so much time to studying languages at the elementary level. So I'd urge you to find a culture that you're interested in, and study the language for the heck of it. Russian's pretty cool.

So 34? Then that's about 566 applications. Just a little below the average but largely unchanged, really. FYI- not a Columbia applicant. I'm just generally amazed by any department that has to review over 500 applications. It's like... being a needle in a haystack.

I disagree. Make the most of your time in college! Take courses in other departments. Curious about how the sun was born? Take astronomy. Take courses in other disciplines that complements well with history such as philosophy, English, foreign languages, geography, sociology, etc. At a top program like Michigan, they do require students to take one field outside of the department to ground them a bit more. Also, it really can't hurt to take at least one quantitative thinking course like stats as those kind of skills will be the new norm for historians down the road. There is a reason why I love history so much: it complements with so many disciplines well that the other disciplines really do make a difference in my own work in terms of methodology and perspective. For example, I've taken literature courses and listening to the professors' methodological approaches to the language of the text, many it be in English or a translated work, helped me to be more critical of my primary sources (in English or another language) and how I understood them. You'll gain better analytical skills this way.

6% really? That would mean that the applications went down this year at Columbia. I mean, let's be generous here. If they offered 20 admits, that'd yield to about 330 applications. I really doubt that they would get anything less than 300 given its prestige and location (it's NEW YORK!). I can't imagine Columbia admitting more than 30 students (which, then would yield to about 500. So we can be looking at anywhere between 330 to 500 applications. So if we really hope for any further Columbia acceptances, we can lean more towards the 500 application guess for 30 offers.

teachgrad, YAHOO!!!! You know who to turn to here teke- that is a perfectly legit question to ask your advisers during your campus visits. See how they respond. If they seem quite flexible, either the program is really flexible (you can check in with the students) or they're really willing to bend over backwards for you so you can come to them. I've always heard from my POIs that they're perfectly okay with students changing directions- it's a matter of making sure that they've got the grounding. Like for example, I've heard of a student who was doing primarily US history until he became fascinated with Italian history and had to do his MA coursework all over again to prove himself that he could do European and Italian history. Just don't switch too late in the process!

*growing envious of the possible Indiana acceptees... the lucky 10 people out of 300 applications* Now I'm tempted to e-mail my POIs there to make sure that they didn't make a HUGE mistake.

Aedes, are are SO on the same page about treating history more like a social science field... I am quite excited to integrate GIS into my work! FWIW, I'm in middle of setting up a database for my project so I can get the hard numbers.

Aedes, those are amazing diagrams! How do we bookmark these for the future? Seriously, do you have anything else productive to do?

We are the eye of the storm. It is eerily calm, isn't it?