TMP

You're not pregnant, right?

About time Cambridge climbs out of the foxhole.

Yale's wealthy enough that it should send all rejectees a box of Swiss chocolates!

FWIW, the GradCafe is seriously the best place to be. Really, this place provides so much support for me... you guys seriously rock, especially the regulars. You guys have seen me stumble and fall into a black hole of despair, shame, and... God knows what else and I don't know how I got out sometimes and just come back here in the fall to start again. I just think of that post I made last April where I used a picture of an exhausted, beaten WWI soldier hiding under some tree branches in a trench after a battle. I truly cannot wait to meet some of you at the conferences and some of the archives. Maybe when we hit up the AHA, we will have our own party to get through the meat market! Very neurotic place but there's an upside to it. We push each other to be the best that we can be. And that's really good thing.

You mean, I have to go back to work? This tab is staying open so you guys can keep entertaining me! Um, so, where are our comedians?

That's the spirit! However... I have a job, as my MA thesis is far behind me. Then again, there's that article covered in my editor's marks hiding under the bed sitting on my desk. Journal article? What journal article?

The days suddenly seem to crawl by. This isn't fun. I thought things would get fun once you're accepted, the days would go faster. But I don't think so. Boo. Maybe it was better to keep waiting and be full of anxiety. I complained to one of my POIs that I've begun to cross days off my calendar.

Am I the only one who's neglected her Google Reader? How did I get almost 1,000 unread blog posts already?

I strongly agree. Let her/him in your circle if s/he shows genuine interest in your work. You want to start building relationships with people outside of your department because everyone is going to help you get a job when you go on the market, not just your department. Yes, they may be disappointed now to have you as their student directly, but they'd like an opportunity to be part of your intellectual development.

Same for you, telemaque.

H&P, look out for your PM.

I'm with vimundi on the support front. My family, friends, and colleagues never, ever gave up and pushed me to keep trying if this was my dream. They reminded me of all the hard work and efforts I've put in to plan for an acceptance into a PhD. There were so many times that I just wanted to drop the ball and move to another country and get a whole new identity. My professors, for what it's worth, went along and trusted me to do what i thought was the best for me. That said about connections, I was going to PM you, Grimm, but I think my experience should be heard. Your comment made me think and I should tell what one can expect in graduate school. Yes, I have professors who are well-connected. But they never, ever introduced me to anyone personally. No e-mail introductions. No handshakes when people came on campus for talks. At a recent conference, my adviser and I barely saw each other. So what did they do, really? As someone who's used to the professional job market and parents who relied on networking, I've been very frustrated that my professors didn't do any of what people do in the "real world." I doubted my self-worth in their eyes many times. I even wondered if my adviser's previous two students were actually introduced because, well, they seemed to be beter than me. Did she even care?! Then while thinking about your comment, it hit me. They are passive. They're more likely to say, "I think you should apply to X and work with A, Y with B, and Z with C" and left it at that. I said, "Um, okay." Then I contacted A, B and C and introduced myself and said that my adviser suggested that I talk to you. Then there's more. One of the qualities that my adviser has that I truly admire is her savvy networking skills. I have stayed behind in talks or stopped in my tracks whenever I saw her talking to someone from outside of my university just to watch her engage with others. I did it because I thought, "Well, she's a big star and I want to be like her and be proud to be her student." It paid off to watch her body language and listen how she talked to those people. She taught me how important it is to be widely read and establish rapport with others who have different methodology or view on a particular subject (especially that our sub-field can be quite political!). All in the act of observation, no conversations on how to talk to So and So. I employed what I've learned from her at a recent conference and... it really worked. I had professors hanging on every word that I said and were disappointed that the conversation was over so quickly. I was no longer just my adviser's student but someone who they'd really like to have as a future colleague. FWIW, when I called my other professor abut my news, I shared that I had gotten into OSU, saving UW-M for when I officially got in. She said, "Well, did you have from Wisconsin?" I said, "Well, how would you know? I wasn't planning on telling you until it was official." She shrugged, "Because I heard from POI saving that he'd give you good news." I was surprised that he called her. I assumed that he also called my adviser. When I talked to her the next day, I asked if she had heard from UW-M, she said "No, I haven't heard anything. What do you know?" Everyone operates differently in terms of networking. My adviser knew that if I wanted something badly enough, I'd take the intitative after she suggested places and names. She certainly wasn't aware that I had been paying attention until I told her and thank her for being a great example. Now that I'm realizing this, I can be a little less frustrated when my future professors are like this. Everyone's different. I hope this makes you feel a little better, Grimm. I know you're very jealous right now. Everyone gets jealous in this process. Even I do get jealous whenever I hear of someone who got a BA from a top 10 history program and I just wonder to myself, why, why, why didn't I transfer to those places as an undergraduate? I don't get jealous of anyone who has a higher GPA/GRE than mine, just because I've done what I could.

Oh my god. I just cracked my personal record for my 20 mile training run...finished 7 minutes faster than what i should be finishing. I sure hope that I'll still have energy for my marathon in a month if I keep using it up because I've been so excited! (Not to mention I've lost some weight...haha). Re: Submitting an article to a journal. Only the top journals. No less than that. As Sparky says, make sure it's in a place where you will still be proud of it when you go on the job market years from now. I considered submitting my airtcle to a mid-tier journal but something happened and it wasn't considered. Then I decided that if my professors from a Top 10 program thought my article deserved to be in a top journal in my subfield, then, dammit, so be it. I used it as my writing sample this year as it was already "revised and resubmitted." To be in a journal with my (more, more senior) colleagues would be a huge privilege. Think really hard when you choose to try and publish. I do think that the process of publishing is more brutal than the PhD admissions. I'm not kidding. Remember, people still get in without publications or attended conferences. It's a luck of the draw. I swear that this was just a really unlucky year with Indiana but very lucky with UW-M and OSU with my POIs in the right position. As for Skype interviews, they are great!! I did them with one of my POIs who accepted me and I think just having that face-to-face interaction is just as good as meeting in person. You can see the person's facial emotions and see his/her immediate reactions. For psycholocail reasons, Skype interviews can certainly replace in-person meetings as some POIs can actually develop emotional connections with their prospective students and vice-versa. They do them for the job market as they're just as effective (not only because they save money). If you're offered one and you just can't make it to NYC, take it! (Really, there's that "classic" look that they have on their face when they realize that they really do want you)

Google for the commencement speech video. I just LOVED it. I listened to it while working on my SOP for this year last spring. At the time, I just had nothing. I had nothing to believe in and was looking for a new voice. When I heard her speak, I thought, well, I'm going to try and do what she says. She's own heck of a woman, I tell you.

Seriously, hang on and I agree with Pugs. There is something to be said about being out of academia for a bit. I promise that I'll write a post of my own. I want to reflect for a bit. And, I agree with someone who said that POIs can get emotionally attached... and it's FUN! I'll explain in my post how to get that done... I promise. Go easy on yourselves this weekend. It's only just the 2nd weekend of February. Go Valentine's Day shopping or something.

Extremely important. This cannot be stressed enough. And I'm saying this as someone who's been on these boards for the last two years or so.

Grimm, I mentioned a few pages back that, reading between the lines in my POI's e-mail, it seems like they're still making funding decisions at UW-M and helpful have them finalized within the next 10-14 days (I'm looking at the calendar, maybe after President's Day). PM me for the specific situation. H&P- Just hang on. Funding isn't great of course at UW-M but I would wait and see. If you get something decent (at least for 2 years when you do the MA work) and you really want to go to the program, definitely ask your POIs during your visiting days about future support and how successful their (own) students have been in securing funding.

Guys, really try to be patient. Everyone operates on their own schedule. Some programs won't tell anyone until they've heard from the Graduate School about university fellowships and awards before notifying all. I know that's why Michigan waits until the end of February (not that it applies this year). It is really a very, very dragged-out process, just like anything else in academia. Just hang on. As dealing with choices you didn't expect, sometimes it's for the best. I have to admit that I realized that my adviser's picks of schools are actually working out so far- Wisconsin and OSU while my picks of NYU and Indiana have failed me. I didn't apply to NYU this year but have been waitlisted and rejected there in the past. I have to say that, though I was stung by Indiana's outright rejection, a few seconds later, I felt relieved because my decision just got a lot easier (as with Goldielocks' with Northwestern and and Yale). Life is funny that way. Remember, those with acceptances, cherish them no matter what. Those still hanging there, just keep hanging there until the end.

Wow Stanford... congrats whoever got it! It really is a beautiful campus and I've heard wonderful things about the History program. One of my favorite history professors in undergrad was from Stanford so I got a little bit of "Stanford" education. Just be aware that Palo Alto is NOT cheap. * frantically checks e-mail and re-reads the SOP to see if it was good as Wisconsin's*

Best thing, IMHO, is to say thank you to the DGS and, if Princeton is truly your top choice, say so. Ask how the waitlist will work. Indiana's was ranked so there was no way for me to beg for admission if I said top choice (which I did anyway). If the DGS doesn't suggest any kind of ranking, then you need to do what you can- say it's your top choice and contact your POIs. And then wait again.

WOW!!! Congrats! Yeah, I recently moved and when I went to change my address on my OSU account, I realized that I put down the wrong state. Oh goodness gracious, I e-mailed the graduate assistant right away to tell him.... I think they still haven't sent out stuff yet, at least. I just wanted to make sure that my acceptance packet didn't get sent back to OSU! I'm still so stoked... And it's been barely 48 hours since that last piece of news from UW...

I agree with you, Goldie, on the fit thing- I'll elaborate on it later. Believe it or not, UW-Madison and OSU were my adviser's picks. My own picks have failed me miserably. I was actually thinking "wow, so much movement this week. I haven't seen that in my four years on this board." last night. for UW-Madison acceptees, judging from my POI's e-mail, they are in middle of deciding funding right now and will finalize everything in 2 weeks. So, just keep waiting for that e-mail!

FIXED. At least I didn't make that mistake on my SOPs

God, Safferz. You're like one of our posters last year who applied for East Asian history and got 8 straight acceptances. I think s/he ended up at Berkeley. (not kidding, had zero rejections) You are THAT person this year with the richest choices of schools

Safferz, I am going to give you my crown of laurels that I've been wearing since I got into OSU and Wisconsin (with AMAZING package) because, god dammit, you deserve these incredible acceptances! Now, go get drunk Congrats to other Yale and Columbia acceptances. Wow, programs are really moving this week to claim their top students! As for the rest of you, February isn't over yet. You may not get in your dream programs but what do you really what? Simply a funded acceptance anywhere, or wait another time to try the top programs again? (I'll start working on my inspiration essay...).