TMP

sra08- Stanford accepted you for PhD? But it's a private... didn't they offer 5 year funding package? Good luck with UCLA if you do definitely decide to gamble with it!

Given the info from the other thread you did, I think you might be best served to wait until you start your graduate courses so you can work from a paper and expand it into a research project.

Dang, NYU waitlisted their own students? Kind of makes me glad that I didn't push for MA consideration when I applied for PhD. I don't know whether it's enough of a reason that MA students ought to be accepted, or at least be on the very top of waitlists, that they worked their butts off and paid all the money to make their dreams happen. Was your envelope actually sealed? :mrgreen:

Regarding MA thing... I doubt it. I applied to NYU last year straight towards PhD from undergrad. I had hoped that they would at least consider me for a MA in Judaic Studies but no such luck.

I don't know. I'll see how far I get with my thesis! Temperature is a relative thing, I know, but the wind chills are another story. They're what really gets to me. I don't mind 10-15 degrees if there's a calm wind...

1) For most leases, they want your driver's license and some places want credit score. Others ask for parents' signature (in case you can't pay...). I THINK that they do want social security....Internationals definitely need to show their visa form. But it's dependent on the landlord- apartment complexes require more documentations. Individuals not so much. 2) On-Campus parking is a nightmare, especially if you're looking for free parking. There is parking in the structures but it takes forever to find 30 open spots in a garage that holds 450 cars... You do need to pay (it's relatively cheap compared to cities). I think permits are given to faculty and staff and students living out of Ann Arbor. If you can use the public transportation, you will be in better shape and less stressed. I'm not jealous of anyone who has a car at UM. 3) There aren't any UM affiliated apartments. UM does have an apartment complex- Northwood- for grad students. Preferences tend to go for families and internationals. But my roommate, an international, lived there last year and thought our apartment was a much better deal. So you're best off looking at Willowtree Apartments, the Courtyards (brand new, luxury, more expensive), and Broadview (allows pets) which all are within 10 minutes walk to North Diag on North Campus.

Strange, I wrote a post last night... and it's disappeared! But blukorea's comment is what I was going to say. My UG didn't have a PhD program and the department has had slew of new faculty in recent years. One of the recent faculty members that I had a class with (he was the first one to speak up that I should go to graduate school LOL) highly suggested that I do my MA first just to get my feet wet and get a gist of graduate school so that I can become an experience graduate student when I go in for my PhD. Another younger faculty member couldn't seem to give me a straight advice as she explained that she came from an unusual background (working as a journalist for a couple years? People write!) and couldn't relate to my situation. Um, thanks. But the older members, as blukorea pointed out, were a bit more out of touch with the realities of grad admissions and pushed me to apply to straight PhD. My UG adviser discouraged MA programs unless it was in something else like museum studies, partly because of funding issues, but she also had very high opinion of me. So take that into account as well- what do professors REALLY think of you? Faculty members, especially those at LAC, have been sugar-coating so for long that I think they forget to look at things a bit more objectively. To prove a point how times have changed, when I got rejected from PhD programs, I told my advisor what the grad programs said my major weakness was- language preparation. Nothing against her department in terms of coursework. Just ya know, little things. And then she gasped, "Is that why Michigan took me?! Because I'm fluent in Russian? I mean I remember other students struggling with the readings in original text... man, I can't believe that languages are THAT important..." Now I'm telling her that it's smart to encourage people to at least minor in a language if they're serious about graduate school in history. Then she sort of just resigned as to say "Oh I give up. I don't know a thing about graduate admissions, okay?" At least she remembered how tough grad school was and proceeded to kick my ass for the rest of the semester on my UG thesis to prepare for my MA program that I am in now. I do also advocate for MA programs. They may be cash cows but it's worth looking into it and figuring out which ones will give you the most opportunities to succeed while doing it as cheaply as possible. Even though typically MA programs are 2 years, with mine, if you plan right, you can finish in 3 semesters.

Brr... this winter was very cold. The temps wouldn't ordinarily bother me but good grief, I hated the winds. I hated the winds. I can't wait to graduate with my MA in December and live with my parents in upstate NY for the sake of better weather (and free food). When things quiet down, I'll go back to A2 and enjoy the spring and live out the rest of my lease unless i get someone to sublet my place. I'm fairly frugal but live quite a comfortable life. Maybe that's just me- I'm pretty low key person. So I can live a minimum of $800 a month with a roommate in a 2 BR apartment across from North Campus and pay only electricity and cable/Internet on monthly basis on top of other expenses. But I would say I'd be a little happier with $1,000 so... a $!6,500 stipend is more than enough for me! Not to mention, that you just need to look very hard and be extremely patient for housing on central campus (as I did for next fall, yay!!!). I'm not kidding about housing, people, start looking once you've accepted Michigan's offer. If you don't have a car, it's worth bucking up a bit for higher rent prices around central campus because the public transportation system here SUCKS at night and on weekends.

I do not care one bit. I'm flexible enough that I'll work wherever I can find a job that won't reject me just because I'm overqualified with a history PhD. If I get an offer to be a professor, then great. If I get an offer as a research fellow at an institute, then great. If I get an offer as a historian in a museum, then fantastic. Whatever gets me a job that involves some historical research when I'm done with my PhD. I just want the opportunity to do research and study what I love for 7 years.

I got the sense from my Michigan history professor when I asked about accepted students in our field the other day that they've pretty much notified everyone by this point. So if you didn't get a phone call or a letter, it's pretty much a rejection, or wait-list at best case scenario. 18 acceptees, a bit of a wait-list, and many, many rejections.

Cornell07 and everyone else so far- congrats on your acceptances! For those of you on the verge of resorting to Plan B, don't give up. Some of us here are applying for the second time and as you can see... you learn a lot in the admissions process. It's so... subjective that no one can really write a book about applying to humanities grad program like Princeton Review can for undergraduate schools. Remember to e-mail with feedback- you will make a very good impression on the professors- ask for honest opinion of your file. You will, then, target the weakness and work on those. If they say that your writing sample was wonderful but your GRE score sucked, well, then work on that, not do more research and writing. Although I am not applying this year, my friend (who's my current adviser's second MA student, and I'm next in the line) was quite successful with three acceptances so far and is still waiting out on.... no surprise, NYU. Based on her success this year and we are similar in our interests, I'm looking forward to next year (although I know that I'll still be deathly terrified and nervous). But I may have to compete with her first MA student... who now has a year of teaching experience...uggghhh! As for that NYT article today, history programs are extremely slow to recognize that the PhD is quite versatile. (AHA basically slammed doctoral programs a couple months ago on this issue) Those who are quick to recognize the problem of tough academic job market are already training their PhD students to be "broad" historians, rather than just specifically for academia. I'm definitely targeting those schools and I'm open to jobs beyond the academia. I'm not too worried myself, really. If I can get a job at a SLAC, then great. If not, so be it. I've worked in public history before and I loved it so I really don't care where I end up as long I get something that pays my bills and student loans. If I wind up in a program that's not *there* yet, I'll just have to keep my mouth shut and say "yes, sir, I want to be a professor at a R1. Yes, sir, I will publish as much as I can..." Ha, right. My undergraduate advisers never dissuaded me from entering grad school, in part they believed I should be there, and in part, they saw that I had experience of working with history profession outside of academia and was open to other possibilities. If anything, I know that if I talked to one of them again a year later, she'll still lobby for me to work in the public forum. She went to a historian's conference last spring and wrote to me essentially implying how jealous she was of all *those* people and I would be so lucky if I go down that road.

Not everyone REALLY wants to go to Harvard.... I was told that Michigan marticulated 18 out of 35 offers. So 50% yield isn't all that bad.

Oh wow. Unlucky 13 for Penn applicants... wow. Did Penn put this down on purpose? I don't think Ben Franklin would've liked it given that he lived in the 13 colonies. Enough of history nerdiness Really, I feel your pain. Congrats to the Chinese history person- what a day... especially if this was the same person who got accepted by UCLA but rejected by Harvard! Weird!

I've seen you around and given you advice on another board. But someone mentioned what else you could do for your summers. Aside from intensive language training, you could MOST certainly apply for internships to museums (with strong preference to work with the historians or collections or archives, stay away from visitor services and muesum administration) like Museum of American History, some places in NYC, and smaller museums scattered around the coutnry like Hyde Park (FDR Library). Often these internships are not paid although if you return for a second summer, they just might pay you. Anything that gets you hands-on research is great for your CV. I had 3 research/msueum internships and my experience was the biggest compliment that I received from PhD programs last year when I asked for feedback. They were very impressed with my CV but just disappointed at the lack of focus on my SOP and language preparation. (Oh those will be remedied!). I didn't know that I actually wanted to get my PhD until I worked with a senior historian in my second summer at a certain museum (first summer was in a different department) prior to entering my junior year. These places will give you an eye opening experience to see the world beyond the academia that you can use your PhD for. History is just as flexible as the hard sciences- can be used in the industry or government. Unfortunately, most history professors are rather old-schooled and don't really see the opportunities beyond the academia for PhDs. AHA had to blast programs back in early January for not preparing their doctoral students enough to be "broad" historians. I imagine that the top 5 history programs are some of them. Personally, I am not too concerned about trying to find a job- I loved my internship experiences and would not trade them for anything. So I'm pretty open about job opportunities and just want to focus on my own research while I'm in PhD.

It meant nothing. There was a bit debate over this among the applicants. Some went to the interview weekend and got rejected. Others didn't get invited but got in.... or did go and got in.... I wouldn't worry too much except to make the most of the weekend!

Sorry to hear that! But... *snickers* What would I rather have? A "speedy" but "impersonal" rejection letter, or a "slow" but "personal" rejection letter? Ohhh tough choice. Congrats on UCSB though! You won't need to leave Cali!

Congrats to all! I'm sorry to all the Yale admits... that definitely has to hurt more than seeing that slew of Penn rejects last year. (My goodness, am I really that scarred for life? :oops: ) Update on Michigan according to my prof: "It's mad crazy, it's hair-raising! Professors are fighting with each other... we're turning away so many excellent candidates.. it's just insane that we have 370 applications for 35 invites to yield about 18 people!" End of story. Sounds to me that Michigan's going to take a little longer this year.

I did ApplyYourself for Penn and they sent my decision via e-mail that gave me a link to a site that gave a PDF file of my rejection letter. So you might either hear via e-mail or actual postal if the school doesn't have a page for you to check your status. Fantastic day for all Penn applicants last year, I remember... 15 people had posted REJECTED before I did.

Yay, congrats on UCSB! I feel the pain of being a SLAC applicant having applied last year to a couple of PhD programs. Well, that's pretty much part of the reason why I'm in a MA program at a top 10 grad school... apparently, i need the damn name, the damn big-name professors, the damn resources, the damn classes that my SLAC didn't offer... and having to pay money for all this! This better be worth it when I re-apply next year... I still feel that it's unfair to be penalized for this even though I'm glad to have the experience now. I'm still active on these boards for the sake of my friend who is applying in my field... and she hasn't heard yet.... *crosses fingers* If she doesn't get in anywhere, I'm screwed if I apply for Fall 2010.

To habu987- it's only your first round of PhD admissions. There's been an increase in number of people applying for second time the following year. Often if they're proactive, they learn what went wrong and work on remedying those problems during their year off. Most of the time they will succeed. So don't fret, work on Plan B, and keep your eyes on the end goal Some of us here back here again from last year or so. (Not me actually, I'm in middle of my MA program and will apply for Fall 2010). Somebody here got into Minnesota....

Ditto. Why only two PhD programs?

A request for a writing sample in foreign language??? HOT. No seriously... be glad that you're actually fluent enough to write one comfortably unlike the rest of us Americans :oops: Even if I got my Hebrew up to par... dunno if I'd still have the guts.

I suppose that chocolates seem to be the food that would reduce anxieties around here... I have some chocolate covered pretzels here, any takers? Anyone want to start a betting pool on who's going to come next- Stanford, Yale, or UCLA? :mrgreen:

Louiselabe. Seriously. Your schools don't do interviews! You've applied to one of them already.... and the other knows you already.... Give yourself a break

Ehh... maybe as an adjunct if you're lucky... PhD is really preferable these days.