boomah
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Posts posted by boomah
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1 hour ago, not@prof_yet said:
Well your post is actually calming me down! It's nice to know I wasn't alone in that decision. How's results season been treating you so far?
Still waiting for my schools! I hope to see some results later this week!
1 hour ago, bigdummy said:For what it's worth, I did the exact opposite and I'm getting really anxious about it. I started with a 1,000 word SoP template and then trimmed it down depending on how each school framed what they were looking for in the "Please explain...." prompt on the application. As a result, I didn't really give much of a narrative about my choice to pursue grad school, didn't really propose a project (more just said: here are the questions that motivated the thesis I just wrote and I want to go to grad school to work with a POI who is motivated in their work by these types of questions), and didn't really expand on any of the stuff that comes when one deepens that narrative/proposed project side of the application (e.g. detailing why you really are a fit, showing that you are more well rounded than some vague research interests).
My point would be, I guess, it's a trade-off. There might not be enough in my short SoPs to distinguish me from all of the excellent candidates that apply. And the only way to remedy that is perhaps by risking what you risked--namely, giving too much detail. The SoP is such a tight-role walk! I guess we just have to wait and see what happens. The best is probably just to stay calm and wait, though that's definitely hard to do.
Best of luck!
(Edit for solecisms!)
Yeah the SoP is such a tricky genre--it's difficult to know which side to err on. Best of luck to you as well!
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1 hour ago, not@prof_yet said:
I think U of Chicago is a very important one for me this week. They have a longer limit for SOPs (2500 words compared to the usual 1000) and my SOP came out to around 1250-1300. Like I said earlier, I took the calculated risk to keep my SOP over the limit, so if it does go well with Chicago then I can perhaps connect my rejections possibly (but not entirely) to that risk. If I don't get in to Chicago then I know I have a more structural problem in my application profile (especially since UC was supposed to be a "safety" school; not to say I wouldn't be happy to go there, but it does seem risky to go there for comparative).
I did the same thing with my SOPs (they were about 1,200 words). I did ask the graduate adminstrator at each of my schools if that would be okay, and they all said yes. But your concern is making me also anxious now (since the admin doesn't sit on the admissions committee and I'm not sure if the committee would agree). I really hope it's not counted against us!
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2 hours ago, Comparativist said:
I'd say it's dropped out of the top 10. Comparative is weak there. They aren't losing some blood, they already have lost blood. Chicago used to have one of the best comparative facilities in the country. Now it's a shadow of its former self.
That being said, it's still an excellent program. They have a great mix between qualitative, quantitative, and formal. I'd say their funding and placement are better than places like UCLA, UNC, and UCSD. Their placement is better than Duke. So yeah, it gets fuzzy in that 7-12 range, it doesn't really matter if it's 'top 10' or not.
What's the current view on Berkeley? How is it doing in its various subfields?
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24 minutes ago, Clytemnahstra said:
Burst of UCLA. Any claims?
I wonder if Berkeley might also release soon...
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4 hours ago, buckinghamubadger said:
Okay so next week here is what to expect:
in the likely for SOME decisions to come come next week column I have:
Texas
Northwestern
Colorado
Washington
Arizona State
UCI
UCSD
Pitt
The Bulk of Stony Brook
And possibly more from Rice, Ohio State and Penn State, Arizona
In the wouldn't be surprising, but not exceedingly likely column:
WashU
Princeton
Michigan
Harvard
UChicago
Notre Dame
Again, this could be a HUGE week
I'd say that Chicago is exceedingly likely, given past years' results... and Harvard is quite unlikely. They tend to release toward the end of February.
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35 minutes ago, ComparativeStreak said:
Does anyone think Chicago, Berkeley, Princeton, Northwestern are out this week? I rate all as having some (but widely varying) chance of coming out in the next few days.
I was actually thinking the same:
last year Berkeley admitted on January 31/February 1, Chicago on February 2, and Princeton on January 31. If they stick to the same schedule, we might be seeing results this week.
Of course, they're not consistent: in the previous cycle, for example, Princeton admitted around February 9. So it's unclear if they'll actually release this week... but there's hope! Good luck to all!
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18 minutes ago, Hamb said:
There's also 3 Columbia acceptances on the results page, but nobody claiming them either. More than likely still just a troll. The poor grammar in both of the Yale descriptions is eyebrow raising.
Personally I think for top 10 schools until someone comes in to claim their result in the thread the standard operating procedure until mid-February should be to ignore them and not even ask for anyone to claim it in these threads. While there is a small chance Yale decided to break the norm for every top 10 program and go a month earlier than previous years somehow, I think it's fairly unlikely.
Every time we talk about these more outlandish results on the board we're just feeding the troll more.
In hindsight, you're probably right--it does seem to be a troll based on the style of the two acceptances. (One further indication: "Deparment Of Political Science").
Ahh all this waiting is making me jittery and overly gullible
I think it's probably best practice that we don't check the results board until February, when the normal acceptances are out. No need feeding the trolls. Good luck everyone!
- megabee and DreamersDay
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1 hour ago, boomah said:
Would anyone like to claim the Yale acceptance?
The Harvard one seems off (MLK day); but I think the Yale one could be legit. Yale does have a new DGS this year, so it's not unreasonable that he's doing things different by notifying outstanding applicants early, as the poster said.
There's another Yale acceptance out, with a similar story. Good luck to all the Yale applicants!
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Would anyone like to claim the Yale acceptance?
The Harvard one seems off (MLK day); but I think the Yale one could be legit. Yale does have a new DGS this year, so it's not unreasonable that he's doing things different by notifying outstanding applicants early, as the poster said.
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Hi everyone!
I hope y'all are doing well with your applications I'm finishing up my SOPs and writing sample in preparation for the December 15 deadline, and I had a few quick questions:
1. Some of my schools have a 25 page word limit for the writing sample and others have 20. Mine is around 23 pages. Would it be okay if I slightly tweaked the font or margins to fit these 23 pages into 20 pages? (Currently it's Times New Roman, size 12, double spaced, one inch margins).
2. SOPs: double spaced, right?
3. When mentioning potential advisors in the SOP, how do you name them the first time?
a) Professor John Ferguson
b ) Professor Ferguson
c) Dr. John Ferguson
d) Dr. Ferguson(assuming they're the only Ferguson in the department).
I know these are sort of silly things but I'd really appreciate any responses. Thank you!
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Thank you all so much! All of your responses were really helpful, and I think I'm getting a sense now of how to approach and what to expect from an email conversation
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Hi ltr, thank you so much for the response! I'm so glad to hear it's been going well for you. And I should have clarified that I am applying to PhD programs.
I guess my concern is that my emailing will come across as unnecessary and therefore annoying. Especially at the more well-known universities, I'm worried that the professors receive a ton of email and thus all the prospective students' emails might come across as pesky, and these professors would much rather people just apply directly. I remember a friend of mine applying to anthropology doctoral programs reached out to POIs, and at one school he got a response saying that they don't really discuss much before the admissions are out so as to not give an unfair advantage to anyone. So I guess I don't want to come across as doing that.
But I think you're right that the potential benefits outweigh the negatives. Thank you so much for your response, and I'd love to hear from more people who've had good/bad experiences
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Hi everyone,
I know there are mixed feelings on this forum about emailing POIs. I was wondering about the experiences of those of you applying this year, or recent applications such as last year's etc. Did you get in touch with POIs beforehand? Why or why not? For those who did, I'm wondering how the responses were and whether or not you'd recommend it.
I'm quite on the fence about reaching out to professors and would love to hear some recent experiences to help me decide
Thank you!
Edit: I'm applying to PhD programs
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What would you guys say are the best programs in intellectual history in the UK? Specifically to do a master's... So far I've got Cambridge's MPhil program and the University of London's MA program (with Quentin Skinner et al.). I'd appreciate any other suggestions!
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On 7/14/2016 at 10:18 PM, telkanuru said:
Really? The criterium seems straightforward to me: are you or will you be useful to them?
Individual definitions of "useful" vary, of course.
Would it be possible to expand a bit on this, please? How can a lowly graduate student make himself/herself useful to an eminent historian who's read everything in the field, and more? I'd appreciate any advice
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16 hours ago, Wyatt's Terps said:
and have already talked to my three letter-writers,
Hi @Wyatt's Terps, just curious, are your three letter writers for this round from your MA program? If so, I was curious if you thought a year was sufficiently long for them to get to know you enough to write you a detailed rec letter (I really hope so, because I'm in the same situation--need to get three letters from my MA program).
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Hi everyone,
What happens when you discover that someone else is working on the topic you were originally thinking of researching?
There was a fairly specific topic I was considering proposing for my PhD (the effect of X on Y in Z setting), but then I came across a professor in the same general subfield whose webpage says that she's working on exactly that as her next book project.
What now? Should I let it go and work on something else? Anything still salvageable?
Thanks!
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@dani8023 and anyone else familiar with Oxford:
I'm considering a master's program at Oxford but I was a bit concerned about the academic calendar. From what I could make out from Oxford's website, there are three short terms, each of about 8 weeks. Is that it? That would mean that the majority of the year is vacation, right? (Is it worth spending all that money on 24 weeks?) Do people stay there during off periods? Are there opportunitities for research and study during the off period?
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
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On 3/28/2016 at 9:08 AM, Cpt Jo said:
The remaining funding schemes are the Clarendon, the Ertegun and the Rhodes scholarships; they are open to internationals, but the competition is really tough.
There's also the Marshall and UK Fulbright, but they're just as difficult to get.
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Thanks so much, alain and ashiepoo!
7 hours ago, alain said:consider the journal of the history of international law.
Somehow I never knew this existed! I'm going to pore over it now.
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Hi everyone,
I need to read up a bit on the history of international law, international relations, etc. I'd appreciate it if you guys could recommend scholars who work in that area / books in that field. I'm looking for scholars/books from any geographic range and time period.
Thank you!
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15 hours ago, YoungQ said:
In this area, we have radical leftists like Edward Said, Rashid Khalidi, Lila Abu-Lughod, and Joseph Massad who attempt to distort history to attack the West and promote Palestinian political aspirations. ... It is the more traditional scholars - like Norman Stillman and Benny Moris - who come to these debates with more objective and moderated views that actually contribute to our knowledge on these subjects.
Said, Abu-Lughod, and Massad aren't historians, and none of them claim to be so. Despite your discomfort with them, they've all contributed to their fields in incredibly important ways, especially Said and Abu-Lughod. Abu-Lughod barely even works on Palestine in her professional work; you might be thinking of her colleague Nadia Abu El-Haj (another respected anthropologist).
Khalidi is indeed a historian, and quite a widely admired one at that (he's currently Chair of Columbia's History department). His work--due to the subject area--is obviously politicized, but he has contributed important research on the history of Palestinian nationalism, and on pre-1948 history of the region more generally.
And finally, Benny Morris is hardly "objective" (not that such a position exists).
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I'd suggest going for an MA in Middle Eastern studies, and focusing on Middle Eastern history during your time there. Most schools that offer standalone MAs in history aren't very strong in the Middle East. And there are plenty of students who first go for an MA in Middle Eastern studies and then move on to excellent programs in History, since many schools offering Mid East studies are very strong in Middle Eastern history.
Here are some of the top places for an MA in Middle Eastern studies: Harvard, Chicago, UT-Austin, Georgetown, NYU...
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Hi,
I hope everyone's application season is winding down well!
I'm very new to the academic study of history, so I'm asking what I'm guessing is a very basic question: how do you find unanswered questions? Suppose there is a geographic area/time period/theme in history you're interested in... how do you find that unexplored aspect that you can address in a thesis or writing sample or grad school application proposal?
Emailed a professor and he didn't respond. How to proceed?
in Officially Grads
Posted
Hi everyone,
I'm in the first year of a PhD program. Recently, I emailed a professor asking to meet to discuss research topics, noting that we have similar interests. This professor is in a different department, so I don't know him personally, but because our research aligns, he's a very potential member of my eventual dissertation committee.
Now, the professor didn't respond to my email -- which is fine, I get it: professors are often busy and forget to respond to emails. Had it been any random professor I would have moved on. But since this is someone who could be very important for my future research, and thus someone I want to develop a good relationship with, I'm trying to think of the best way to follow up. Here are the possibilities I'm considering:
1. Follow up via email: this might be the simplest approach, but it seems somewhat awkward to double email, especially to someone who doesn't know me at all at this point.
2. I can try to find his office hours and go introduce myself then. But I'm afraid that might seem like I'm forcefully inviting myself after never having heard back.
3. I can meet him at a talk or event or workshop etc. This might be a good option but I don't want to seem like I'm cornering him in public and making him apologize in front of everyone else!
4. Wait long enough until he would have forgotten about the first email, and then email as if I'm emailing the first time. This would prevent any awkwardness, but there's the slight risk that he does in fact remember and that would be weird ?
Okay I know I'm way overthinking this -- but that's why I thought it might be best to turn to you guys. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thank you very much in advance!