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gildedProgressive

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About gildedProgressive

  • Birthday 12/14/1986

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  • Gender
    Female
  • Program
    Southern/Alabama History

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  1. I only applied to 4 schools to begin with. Two of them were questionable from the get go, and I ended up being rejected from them both (which was ok for me). The other two schools were both in state schools, and they couldn't've been more different experiences. The first school I was accepted to (School A) got back to me within a couple weeks of all my application materials being turned in. Needless to say, I was excited that I would at least get to go somewhere. From that point on, however, the "customer service" I thought I SHOULD get was nonexistent. I was definitely a number and not taken seriously. I was at a conference a couple weeks ago, and another student said they got the same treatment from School A. After suggesting I take out an insane amount in loans, I finally got a letter from the department, telling me they weren't going to offer me any funding. I am pretty angry with the way they handled their admits. Luckily, the school I am SO HAPPILY attending (School was consistently in contact with me throughout the app. season. They took a little longer to make decisions than I thought they should, but the acceptance letter I got was personalized for me, and they offered an exceptional amount in funding, in addition to an assistantship. I was lucky to meet many of the faculty at a conference this past weekend, and they were all super (had lunch with the department head, but didn't know it was him until a few minutes into the conversation). I even got recruited for a particular track within my program. Meanwhile, at this same conference, there was nobody in attendance from School A, even though this conference was in state, too. It's just amazing how my experiences were very night and day. I feel lucky to have gotten the offer I got. I'm very excited to move and begin school.
  2. War Eagle! I grew up an Auburn fan. The stars aligned, and out of 6 schools and two years, Auburn offered me everything I wanted! Glad to hear of someone else from Alabama!
  3. I've posted on this thread before, but I'll be at Auburn working on my MA this fall. I think most of my interests are vague, at best, and I'm hoping they get more focused once I actually get in school.. :/ Though, I'd potentially continue work in some capacity on the CCC in Alabama. It's a project I've been hacking away at for a while now.
  4. I'm in my second round of applications. My last semester was the summer, but since my school doesn't do summer commencement, I actually ended up walking in December. For the fall, I got two new jobs, both of which are extremely pertinent to my future goals. Upon the suggestion of my mentor, I continued to take some classes at my undergrad institution. I'm in a class now on the American Civil War (missed taking it for my UG), which will end in March. The same professor is hopefully teaching a class this summer on Alabama history, and I'm thinking of auditing it. With one admit already, I'm definitely going somewhere, so the time off after March will be great (to get things together, etc.). Going to Hawaii, hopefully, to stay with my best friend who's out there. I'm beginning to feel the sting of leaving my undergrad because my department is so SMALL, and I've developed such good relationships with all the profs and my fellow classmates..
  5. I've hesitated answering this question, but I'll just be extra cautious.. My undergrad mentor/current supervisor has really worked his way up. One of his stints was working in a resort hotel, the locale of which many of you would recognize almost immediately, based on its usage in a popular movie. Another of my undergrad mentors has had probably every job known to man, including working on the railroad, used car salesman, and pizza deliveryman. Not to mention the fact that the two abovementioned persons refer to THE hotshot in my proposed field on a first name basis. I just can't wrap my mind around it, when I get all squiggly when I even SEE the guy. I also had a great professor who could've gone pro in darts--it's actually a great story. This guy worked his way through grad school as a butcher.
  6. Sorta! The other day when I checked the mail, I saw a letter with my top choice's logo (very very recognizable) on it. It just so happens that my DAD went to this same school, and the letter was an Alumnus letter for him. Frustration!
  7. Sorry, I found this post on the recent posts, and I didn't realize under which subforum it was posted..
  8. However corny this sounds, I've always wanted to teach. It wasn't until I got to college, however, that I learned of an illustrious career in academia. I majored in English. After a couple minors that really, really just did not work for me, I returned to a discipline I had always enjoyed: history. It seemed I still enjoyed it once I got into it. My mind was still set on English, even after I decided to double major in history. So I applied, naively, to two schools, hoping to get a masters in English. After all, what else was I going to do? I only had two semesters left. I couldn't POSSIBLY go into the work force. Of COURSE I was going back to school--except I wasn't. Rejected by one, waitlisted by another, I fell into angst (not quite depression). All the while, I was studying and enjoying every opportunity afforded me in my history major. I come from a small school, and so I got to work closely with all my instructors. They were extremely tough and gave me the kind of experiences the English department seemed to deny even existed. I realized, while still waitlisted, that I didn't want to go into English. All the while, I got two more jobs, both VERY VERY relevant to a future career in academia (one ESPECIALLY for history), got accepted to my first big conference, and gave more time to researching schools and whatnot. Now, I've only doubled my number of apps from last year, but I feel much better this year. What I thought was the most miserable occurrence has helped more than anything to focus my interests and reaffirm my future goals. Here's hoping I don't have to wait another year.
  9. At my tie for first choice school, two of my LORs have very strong ties. One of these guys is buddies with one of the deans of the graduate school (and worked at this institution for a while), and both of the recommenders know well a majority of the people in the department. Hoping this is favorable, as was the intent.
  10. What I thought of when I first looked at this thread is obvious, but it works: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, "The Waiting." 'Cause, well, it IS the hardest part.
  11. I study American history, but this description hits the proverbial nail on the head. Thank you for making me lol--literally. You also might appreciate this: My friend, who has changed majors several, several times has now decided what she wants to do. She is still having to take some introductory courses, and right now she is taking music appreciation online. One of their discussion boards was for them to choose a movie set in the medieval/Renaissance period and describe the music used in the movie. According to her classmates, apparently 300 and Troy are great medieval/Renaissance movies.
  12. History's not exactly a mysterious profession, but I do run into situations where people think I should just KNOW EVERYTHING. They have no concept that history is so BIG, and there's no way I can possibly know EVERYTHING they ask. So I'll have people asking me specific questions about history I had years ago and cannot, for the life of me, recall. Also, when I try to explain my research projects, people don't seem to understand why I can't just write what amounts to a compound book review. Probably my favorite, though, was when we took a "field trip" in a class I took about gathering local history. We went to the County Administration Building, and as the lady was helping me find some Incorporation papers for some work I was doing about a local hospital, she turns to my professor (one of my LOR writers, present supervisor) and asks, "So, do you just have them writing about old stuff?" Yeah. We had a good chuckle about that afterwards.
  13. I'm hopefully going to Hawaii on my spring break. Here's hoping that I'll have good things to celebrate. If I really don't get in, well, I'll have gotten to go to Hawaii, and I'll buck up and try again next year.
  14. Gilded Age/Progressive era women and women laborers in the South. Also particularly interested in Alabama history (politics), and that could really be for any era, but I prefer post WW2.
  15. Just throwing my two cents into the ring, the same is true for myself (and has been for some time). I actually sent another round of transcripts because they SAID they didn't have them. THAT being said, I gave this app my best shot, but I essentially did it for fun. :S
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