TMP

Aristotle

Agreed. Had a friend who was accepted at UW-Madison last year. They didn't give her any information about funding until March or so. I thought about applying there... And yes, they do run on the old way of funding: If your application looks good, we'll accept you. Then we'll rank our applicants and get the top people funded. If you don't get funding and still want to come on your dime, you're welcome to. Michigan used to go this until things got too crazy among its graduate students for funding. That's why I preferred applying to programs where acceptance = guaranteed funding. So UW was crossed off early.

Dear non-Top 10 school, Being at a top-10 grad school isn't all that wonderful. I need a better fit. You are my ying and I am your yang. Love, me

WTF. A week earlier than last year *bites nails* Not that I didn't apply to Wisconsin but it can't mean that others are going to follow suit by positing decisions earlier. I ran into one of my thesis readers today with his little twins and I was just glad that one of the twins got restless from waiting so I didn't have to say more about how nervous and impatient I was already! He thinks decisions won't be around until March... well, that's probably based on HIS department (English). PS: Starting Monday, I am going to leave my Blackberry in my apartment while I'm in class. I need to be in total concentration on Deutsch until I'm out of class at 2. I really do like my life without my Blackberry. Seriously.

Precisely why I was actually happy about my selection of schools this year- deadlines spread out between December 1st and January 15th! And I really did intend to work on each one of them at a time, and work on the January 15th last and put in around that time. Then I would have *supposedly* three weeks to wait. Except I feel like this is back-firing.

Right. I do agree. I treat these "informal" interviews as a chance for me to really talk with the professors more than I can talk in my SOP and getting a feel of what the department's like and how to adjust my SOP. Also, I used professors' reactions to gauge how well my writing sample might be received (considering it's an important element). Your comment does still make me question one of the professors whom I talked to put out on me- he wanted to know about all the people I'd work with if I stayed at my current university. I had "WTF... I came to talk to you about YOUR school" all over my mind... Only time will tell what his true intentions were with these questions.

More time on us? Don't we feel special already...

Greeks

Ugh. After sending in my last application 8 days ago, all of sudden time is going.... slooooooowwwwwwwwww. DAMMIT! It better pick up pace in the next week for us to move into February! Being second-timer isn't any easier than being a first-timer!

Although it's pretty unlikely that GradCafe attracts trolls...but we can pretend to assure ourselves that this post was, um, a troll

comedy

canals

outlaws

Thank you, thank you so much for posting this thread. This is a second-go for me. I was just telling my roommates last week how amazed I was at myself and the whole admissions process, being the second round. First round, I think I was just really eager to continue being a student and just did whatever I could to make that happen (yeah, avoiding the real world ). I didn't get my first wish- getting in any of the PhD programs. I did get my second wish- having my app transferred and considered for the MA at one of my top schools and an app accepted veryyyyy late at another school that I somehow made an impression on a professor there. Fast forward to today. I do sincerely feel more settled and confident. One of my roommates pointed out that it's because I'm in that academic culture and "know" it. I've been getting different kind of responses to my e-mails. Professors are more consistently interested in my work and research ideas. I know I have a "very interesting"/"excellent" thesis topic that's my writing sample. I worked my ass off to get my language shit together (including auditing a German class this semester!). I'm more attuned to my field... ah, I don't know what else I can do! You see? I'm still freaking out. Especially over this one professor whom I can't... I don't even know how to interpret his responses and questions during my interview. He wanted to know all about my experience in my current program (at a top 10 grad school and his is ranked in the 30's, but his specific department is top ranked in our field). I'm serious... I was like @#$*&. And he asked me about my advisor... Who are we talking about again? Me or my program?! He followed up for me "to stay in touch". WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN? Needless to stay, I worked my butt off on that SOP and in my follow e-mails to demonstrate that, YES, if given the choice between my top 10 grad school and his department, I will give up my top 10 school! I just didn't want to say it yet as there's another top choice (just 2 top choices really) that I hadn't visited or met the professors face-to-face yet. Okay? I'm glad to know what I'm not the only one who's squirming in her chair trying to figure out what all these e-mails and interviews mean and if she's truly any better this time around. I need the paper bag.

I'll start. No pun intended but here goes... Dinosaurs. (We could either attempt to do this chronologically OR just be random, next poster decides)

I think it's pretentious. And it might make some of us nervous to see our competiton's stats. The little we know about others, the better. At least I think so. I'd rather talk about something that isn't related to grad school.

See what the decision is. If it's a complete reject and you still want to go to Yale, it doesn't hurt to ask to be considered for the MA. It's a cash-cow thing that if you were qualified for the PhD to begin with but just didn't make the cut, then they'll take you on the MA... easily, I think.

Look over my post above. They're probably reviewing as a geographical group and need to start ranking people ASAP to pass the folders on. Since someone mentioned that Chapel Hill got over 500 applications, they're trying to do the "cut early, cut fast" method to turn that big pile into a more manageable size.

Honestly, Michigan's process isn't all that different from other big history departments. Remember that part on the form where you had to specify your field? Your app gets thrown in that pile. Professors are broken up by geographical field. They read all the applications in that pile. If one application suggests transnational history, then that application gets read by both groups. Each geographical group ranks their preferences and passes the list to the executive committee. If you didn't specify anything- geographical field or professor, then it's up to the administrative assistants to figure out who the hell you are. If they can guess from your SOP, then they'll throw in a pile. Otherwise, you get thrown out. Finally, the executive committee has the big job of whittling down the now-combined list of all applicants "recommended for admissions" from various groups. From there, the executive people decide what the program needs. For example, according to a grad student at Michigan, a number of Early Americanists left the program last year for various reasons, so there will be more spots for them to fill in that area this year. If there are already enough labor history people, then they're going reject anyone who's in labor history. However, there is a trick when there is an affiliated department that offers funding. So say, Latin American studies has money to fund 2 new PhD students through a joint package, then the executive adcoms has to choose the top 2 Latin Americanists to receive that money. An additional student may be considered if s/he is particularly strong as well and there's a spot. Funding from outside sources tends to complicate things a bit but it gets done. So if you're looking to be affiliated with a well-funded department, your chances have increased just by a bit. (This part is another reason why if you can say that you will pay for your own PhD, your chances of getting in have been increased.) Unfortunately for any applicant, nobody knows what the department will need until the executive committee gets that combined list. I had a friend on this board who was recommended for admissions to Michigan but had been told that Michigan didn't need another urban historian. She was disappointed but elated that she even got recommended. Still, no geographical group knows how many spots they'll get to have for that year. It all depends on the balance. Generally, it's fairly consistent from year to year. This is why it's important to ask professors about graduate students in your area. If it sounds like there are awfully a lot and none of them are going to finish their dissertation soon, then you might not have a good chance of getting in until somebody graduates. Hence, another reason why my friend got rejected- her potential advisor already had 5 graduate students. While it's terrific to see a professor with several grad students in tow, he just won't stand much of a chance as someone who's down to one second year and is about to graduate his seventh year in getting somebody new. In terms of what order they'll read your application, each professor has his own preference. Usually they will look at your SOP first, then the LORs or writing sample, and then everything else. This is another thing you can gain from conversations with professors- if they seem to emphasize SOP or languages when you guys talk about applications, you better meet the standards. I talked with one professor who seemed unhappy that I hadn't taken German yet so I had to mention to my advisor and in my SOP that I would be taking intensive German this semester. If he's going to take my application for what it is, then I can assume it's part of the reason why I would be rejected. There's no way to "game" PhD admissions because of the subjectivity on the executive committee's part. The least anybody can do to help your application is to give you specific instructions on how to write your SOP, get your languages in order, and choose an interesting, well-written writing sample. If you follow the professor's application instructions, you're only helping him or her give reasons why you should be accepted. Everybody wins some and everybody loses some each year. And also, remember that this "jobless recovery" is sending the number of applications up because people can't find a job... in which this "influx" will be mostly poorly written ones by people who haven't quite thought much about their interests.

Well, I can give you Michigan's process if you REALLY want to know... I had this conversation with at least 4 professors because I was applying for transnational history and I wanted to be sure that my app was on TRANSNATIONAL pile, not US HISTORY pile.

Actually I'd really rather not know where my application is in terms of stages... If I hear that School X is reviewing my application right now, I won't sleep. (Actually I had a crazy dream last night about getting into School Y because it offered $22,000 stipend while School Z didn't have anything in time for me to make a decision so I went with School Y and... um, the dream got really messed up from there! So I wanna know anytihng that will make my dreams even weirder. )

I am with you on that. The trick with SLAC is that the candidate has to WANT to teach. Getting a degree from an Ivy is nice. Getting a book published already is nice. But you have to WANT to teach. That's the WHOLE point of LACs of any size- to have excellent professors willing to mentor students continuously. I had one post-doc from an Ivy whom I came to dislike quite strongly because he couldn't figure out how to interact with students on a more personal level without coming off as a snot. The departments who hired him came to feel this way as well (I've heard) and couldn't wait to let him go at the end of his fellowship. I suspect that my LAC is having trouble filling its spot for Latin Americanist is not because of applications but the RIGHT candidate who fits in the LAC culture. They spent 3 years looking. So, when you're out on the job market, be honest with yourself.

I knew I was contradicting myself. I just had to post #2 if the OP really want to figure out what's "wrong" with his/her application instead of accepting the fact that everything's out of her/his control.

1) You're in that "OMG I'M GONNA FREAK OUT!" phase like everybody else (including me!). That's why you're posting your "chance me!" thread now instead of back in the fall where you might've gotten some suggestions (as above). At this point, nobody can help you. Only you can help yourself to believe that you can do this process and you've given your best at this point. I can tell just from the way you wrote that paragraph. If you had told this to any professor, the first question one will ask you is, "Well, what are your research interests?" completely ignoring what you just said. 2) Did you study abroad in France? Might raise a few eyebrows if you didn't....

Interestingly, it'll also depend on the approach the department is taking towards historical research and methodology. "Old-school" (Harvard and Yale) vs. innovative (Michigan and Indiana). I've heard both sides and how they perceived some of other schools.