tenguru

I really hope today is the day. 
Already got two rejections on Friday. Not super optimistic about this one. 

Ha! I feel you on that. Although, I am trying to get as much writing done as I can before the potentially bad news arrives!

I was really hoping we would get an email at 3 pm ET today. This wait is preventing me from fully focusing on my writing. Ugh.

In 2020 and 2019 the results were released on April 8th. That doesn't guarantee anything for this year, but I'm hoping for tomorrow.

I've heard that rejection letters were sent out - I wish I knew the chances of getting selected out of the finalist pool...
Trying not to get too excited ?

Congratulations!
 
I also got a transcript request and "finalist status." I assume everyone who gets the request has that status?
The evaluation steps are listed on the IDRF website faq.
 
 

Sadly, I got my rejection letter from Fulbright iie (research) today. I was a bit surprised as I put together a stronger application this year and was an alternate for Fulbright and SSRC IDRF last year. Bummed. And, it came fast.
 
 

Sadly, I got my rejection letter from Fulbright iie (research) today. I was a bit surprised as I put together a stronger application this year and was an alternate for Fulbright and SSRC IDRF last year. Bummed. And, it came fast.
 
 

A few thoughts:
- Will the MA program give you the chance to do what you need to improve your applications for a future PhD admissions cycle? Will it give you full funding (stipend plus tuition waiver)? If the answer to both questions is yes, then by all means attend that program and don't worry about rank.
- For MA programs, what you do is as important, if not more important, than where you go. You want to have an awesome writing sample, gain research experience, and start networking with scholars in your field. Ideally, you'll submit something for publication (even a book review is fine), beef up your language skills, get some teaching experience, and garner some kickass rec letters. Any program which can help you do those things is an asset because it will give you the chance to show PhD programs that you can do this academia thing.
- The literature folks have been discussing this as well:
 

Let's see. If you want to live on campus, you'll be living in Hyde Park. There are a number of apartment management companies in the area, though the student apartments are fairly priced and tend to be located close to campus. Hype Park is somewhat isolated from the rest of the city, so it doesn't really have the "big city" feel that the neighborhoods on the northside have. Hyde Park is connected to the city via the Red line and Green line trains. Neither are particularly close... you generally take the bus to the train, which will then take you straight downtown. So if you are looking for a neighborhood with a large selection of restaurants, shops and places to hang out, I wouldn't recommend Hyde Park. However, since Hyde Park is pretty far south, if you don't want to commute then I would recommend living on campus. That said Hyde Park around 57th and 53rd Streets does have a nice little assortment of places to eat. There isn't a whole lot to do in HP, in my opinion, but it isn't totally barren either. And the rest of the city is accessible by public transportation. I lived in a different neighborhood before beginning at U of C so I didn't opt to commute since I knew I was only going to be there 2 years.
Hyde Park itself isn't tremendously crime-ridden, though it does have its share of issues. Break-ins seem to a slight problem as of late, but they are taking steps to solve this problem. HP is surrounded by some rough neighborhoods. HP is around the 5500 block. Woodlawn is the next neighborhood over and it's pretty rough. Around the 6300 block it can get pretty rough. Bronzeville and Kenwood are neighborhing hoods as well (around the 4300 block). They are also fairly rough. Most students find that they do not really need to venture into these neighborhoods, so the threat to students is minimal.
Grad student housing at U of C would be my first bet. Most of my friends lived in grad student housing and had good experiences for the most part. If that housing was not available, I would check with the companies listed on this webpage: http://apartments.uchicago.edu/realtors ... elist.html
Parking is somewhat of a nightmare in the residential areas.
If you are looking to live away from Hyde Park, I'd be happy to share info on the northside neighborhoods as well. From where I live, near Wicker Park, it takes me 35 minutes by car and about 70 minutes by train/bus to get to U of C.
 
As a whole, the university and the area immediately surrounding the school is not too problematic. Campus security does routinely patrol the campus and there are the obligatory emergency boxes. The university is bordered by rough neighborhoods but few students have any real need to venture into the areas, so it is generally not a problem. Things do happen in the vicinity of campus, however. Woodlawn has its share of community violence, as do the neighborhoods to the north of the school. But this is generally self-contained and does not really impact the students much. So it is a presence, but not generally a reality that students will encounter as they are communting to and from classes. There have been reports of break-ins and forced entrances into apartments. The best advice is to just be mindful of your surroundings and use the campus buses late at night when commuting. Lock your doors and windows. Walk with friends at night. General tips for living in a big city.
 
It depends on the neighborhood. Chicago is an interesting place that has areas of very high rents and very affordable rents. And sometimes these areas are only blocks apart from each other. In general, there are some neighborhoods that are more expensive: Gold Coast and surrounding hoods, Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Wicker Park and Bucktown (in parts). UK Village, East Village, Logan Square, Lincoln Square tend to be more affordable. Hyde Park is mixed - there are some expensive places, but a fair number of reasonably priced small apartments and studios. And U of C has very fair grad student apartment prices. If you are considering Chicago and wish to live on campus, I would check into these first. Their rents are quite affordable. I also posted a link above to some rental management companies that generally have pretty fair prices.
It is more expensive living in a city than in a suburban and rural area. Groceries are a bit more costly, but I think this is likely because taxes are higher. Gas prices are pretty high. Commuting is about $75 for an unlimited CTA pass. When I first moved to Chicago, I was able to make it on minimum wage working FT. Course I lived in a rough hood and had a roommate. But I have several friends in my program with me at U of C that have made it work off of part-time employment and their school loans. Students with stipends should fare ok since Chicago is, for a large city, still fairly affordable.

I live in Chicago and have for many, many years. I'd be happy to provide information (and opinions!) to prospective Chicago residents. I'm also pretty familiar with the major universities (U of C, UIC, Loyola, DePaul).

On edit: I am going to include a whole bunch of helpful info about Chicago right up front, and then people with specific questions can feel free to ask away.
The city of Chicago is divided into 77 distinct community areas. Each area is pretty unique, and the cost of living varies depending on which area you live in. To make it more confusing, some community areas have neighborhood names that mark a certain set of blocks. For example, in the community area LAKEVIEW, there is a neighborhood called BOYSTOWN, which is where there have historically been larger numbers of GLBT individuals and businesses.
1. This link will take you to a map of the 77 community areas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_areas_of_Chicago
2. This link is an excellent overview of the different neighborhoods within the designated community areas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_of_Chicago
3. Here are the community areas for some of the major universities within Chicago city limits:
IIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas%2C_Chicago
UIC and Rush Medical College: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_West_Side%2C_Chicago
U of Chicago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Park%2C_Chicago
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, DePaul Downtown Campus, Roosevelt University, Columbia College, John Marshall Law: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Loop
Loyola University Chicago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Park%2C_Chicago
DePaul University Lincoln Park Campus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Park%2C_Chicago
4. Here is the link to the Chicago Transit Authority. A monthly unlimited pass (trains and buses) runs $75 a month.
http://www.transitchicago.com/
Be sure to check with your university to see if they participate in the U-Pass program. This generally allows you to pay $75 per semester, and it is generally added directly to your tuition bill. U of Chicago does not participate, sorry to say.
5. Many people are concerned about crime in a large city like Chicago. When you have identified an apartment that you like, you can always check the neighborhood crime stats at the following websites:
http://www.chicagocrime.org/
http://12.17.79.6/ctznicam/ctznicam.asp
6. Finding an apartment is a challenge, but nowhere near as challenging as in most major US cities. The rents vary depending on neighborhood, as do the amenties and whatnot. Chicago is a pretty dog-friendly city and the rental market is not brutal. Parking, on the other hand, can be very brutal in some neighborhoods. Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Wicker Park and the Gold Coast will make you rue the day you ever bought a car. But, in these areas, you can find parking arrangements with parking lot comapnies, and if you can afford it, you can generally rent a parking space for $99-200 per month.
Some of the best online resources for finding an apartment:
http://chicago.craigslist.org/apa/
http://classifieds.chicagoreader.com/ch ... n=oid%3A8&
7. This page should give you a general idea of the cost of rent in some of the more popular Chicago neighborhoods:
http://www.apartmentpeople.com/ranges.asp
Incidentally, the Apartment People are a good resource for people looking to live on the North Side - particularly Lakeview, Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park. They will help you find an apartment at no cost to you: http://www.apartmentpeople.com
If you are interested in Bucktown, Wicker Park, UK Village or East Village, I might recommend North Clybourn Group: http://www.northclybourngroup.com/f-forrent.htm
For other North Side neighborhoods, I have heard some good things about the Apartment Guys: http://www.myapartmentguys.com/id77.html
I did all my apartment hunting through craigslist, but then again, I am very familiar with Chicago, so it was easier for me.

First acceptance this year: Chicago!
Congratulations to all the other admits and wishing acceptance for everyone else at good programs!

First acceptance this year: Chicago!
Congratulations to all the other admits and wishing acceptance for everyone else at good programs!

First acceptance this year: Chicago!
Congratulations to all the other admits and wishing acceptance for everyone else at good programs!

Just thought I would chime in and express my anxiety here. I got my first rejection (Northwestern). I had an interview, but the fit was not quite there. Still, got a nice followup email from the POI stating that there were no early modernists accepted in my sub-field this year. I cast a fairly wide net, but all the programs are competitive. At this point, I just want my current school to offer me admission and funding for the MA to PhD track so I can stop stressing. Even that is not guaranteed, so I have been checking email compulsively for a week now. It's quite distracting and eats into my time I should be spending on my research and translations. Sigh.
Everyone here has been a big help in terms of application preparation and sharing a sense of camaraderie. Thanks for that! I wish the best of luck to you all as we wait for the good news.

Just thought I would chime in and express my anxiety here. I got my first rejection (Northwestern). I had an interview, but the fit was not quite there. Still, got a nice followup email from the POI stating that there were no early modernists accepted in my sub-field this year. I cast a fairly wide net, but all the programs are competitive. At this point, I just want my current school to offer me admission and funding for the MA to PhD track so I can stop stressing. Even that is not guaranteed, so I have been checking email compulsively for a week now. It's quite distracting and eats into my time I should be spending on my research and translations. Sigh.
Everyone here has been a big help in terms of application preparation and sharing a sense of camaraderie. Thanks for that! I wish the best of luck to you all as we wait for the good news.

Just thought I would chime in and express my anxiety here. I got my first rejection (Northwestern). I had an interview, but the fit was not quite there. Still, got a nice followup email from the POI stating that there were no early modernists accepted in my sub-field this year. I cast a fairly wide net, but all the programs are competitive. At this point, I just want my current school to offer me admission and funding for the MA to PhD track so I can stop stressing. Even that is not guaranteed, so I have been checking email compulsively for a week now. It's quite distracting and eats into my time I should be spending on my research and translations. Sigh.
Everyone here has been a big help in terms of application preparation and sharing a sense of camaraderie. Thanks for that! I wish the best of luck to you all as we wait for the good news.

Since you don't have a History BA, I'd recommend looking at some MA programs. You might also want to look at some East Asian Studies/East Asian Languages and Cultures MA programs. (That could allow you to take more history courses and also work on your Korean language.) The fact that you're already fluent in Japanese is extremely helpful though!

If you guys want to get a sense of how the application process is going for those of us on the '14-'15 cycle, here is a link to our spread sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsJrSSHnssqFdHNPell4VVZwWDgtWUpQcTVVeWM0bWc&usp=sharing.
 
Just please don't mess with the info there! We spent a lot of time on it to make it as useful as possible.

Woah, you get to pick!?

IMO, if one finds the process of looking through faculty listings as "tedious," being a graduate student in history may not be one's cup of tea in the long run. As many of you will find as you begin graduate school in history, knowing who is who and where they sit and how they came to sit there can play a vital role in learning about the profession.
 
I developed my list of schools by looking through the hard-copy of the AHA's Guide to Departments of History. I looked at the roster of every department listed that has a graduate program. If a department appeared strong in my areas of interest, I did some background research on the historians with whom I'd probably end up working. Concurrently, I focused on where potential POIs had earned their MA's and Ph.Ds. For me, the process was useful because it taught me that the top schools programs overall may be nearly as good as the top schools within one's primary and secondary fields of interest.

My process was something like this (I am not claiming that it was the most thorough, but it worked for me): I went on the AHA website and looked at their interactive map of history Ph.D. programs by state. I went through it state by state in all of the states that had Ph.D. programs (in locations I could imagine myself living) and marked off the ones that had "European" listed under their specialty concentrations (the AHA website provides a concise list under each university profile). I cross-referenced this list with a rankings list of the top 25 schools in European History (based on reputation and publication rate), and came out with a list of about 12 schools. For each of these, I went onto the school's website and read through the faculty profiles of all of their Europeanists (in my case, more specifically Germanists) to see what they have worked on and find out who has interests that overlap with my own. At 6 out of 12 schools there was either no professor researching in my interest area, or that professor was retiring/going on sabbatical, so I crossed those off my list and ended up applying to the other 6, which was about how many I'd been expecting to apply to in the first place. 

What recent books have you read (in the time period you mentioned) that you like? That's a good place to start. Find out where they work, check out their profiles, etc. Look around in the bibliography to see if you can find anything else in there you like, find out where they are. Browse the websites of some of the 'top' schools in medieval history, see what they have to offer. I'm assuming one of your advisers/mentors may have worked on a similar time period. Have a sit down with them and listen to their advice regarding starting points. 
 
I just noticed you are also in Knoxville! Perhaps you should have a sit-down with Rubenstein, Burman, or Bast (I think he may actually work on the middle ages, so I may be wrong on that one).

Please keep in mind that as a graduate student, you will spend much more time studying historiography than you have as an undergraduate. Do what you can to frame your writing samples within the context of ongoing historiographical debates.
 
 
It depends. Is your intent to patch things up with a professor because it is the right thing for an aspiring historian to do? Or do you want to patch things up because you want this professor to write a LoR on your behalf?
 
If it is the latter, I suggest that you give long and careful thought about how you intend to comport yourself as a graduate student in history. IME, the word quickly gets around among the Powers That Be when a grad student approaches relationships with established academics as resources to be leveraged to advance his/her ambition.
 
If your intent is the former, initiate a conversation with the professor in question so that you can find out how/where/why things went off track. Take all remarks that seem like criticism on the chin but do not tolerate abuse. Acknowledge and accept responsibility for the role you played in the relationship going off kilter but think very carefully before you offer an apology.
 
 
The following recommendation is offered as a respectful counterpoint to thedig13's suggestion in post 39.
 
Spend a significant part of your summer reading up on the historiography of your three areas of interest.  I recommend that you start by identifying the three most important, if not prominent, journals for each of the three fields. (That is, nine journals total.) Once you've identified the journals, read selectively from cover to cover each journal's run over the last ten years (or longer). Give yourself one week for each of the three fields to complete this task.
 
Attempt to develop a reading list of works in which your areas of interest closely intersect and/or of works that really grab your attention (as in, you slamming your hand on the table at a coffee house and saying "That's the kind of book I want to write one day!")
 
Spend the balance of your summer working through your reading list, adding and removing works as you become familiar with the historiographical landscape of each field. Maintain a reasonably comfortable pace in your reading, say, three books a week. Along the way, take a stab at writing a couple of review essays in which you establish a dialog among the books you're reading.

Seminar Name: The US during the Age of Empires
 
In the period from 1860 to 1930, many Europeans countries, along with North America and Japan industrialized.  In turn, these countries went out and colonized much of Asia and Africa.  The United States is often seen as anomalous industrial power in this period. By the early twentieth century it had the largest economy in the world, but in comparison to its economic predominance, its empire was relatively small. This seminar explores how international contexts and consciousness shaped US development in this period.
Readings
 
1. Rethinking American History in a Global Age Thomas Bender
--The first book is a series of essays that explore methodologies for globalizing American history.
 
2. Blessed Among Nations: How the World Made America Eric Rauchway
--In Blessed Among Nations, Rauchway does not argue against American exceptionalism. Instead, he argues that the unique place with the global economy explain unique American institutions of warfare and welfare in this period. These institutions, however, left the United States ill prepared to lead the global economy after the European collapse following World War I, and Rauchway argues that poor US global leadership in the 1920s contributed to the Great Depression.
 
3. Modernity and National Identity in the United States and East Asia, 1895-1919 Carol Chin
--This book is a comparative history looking at how China, Japan, and the United States forged their national identities in the period between the first Sino-Japanese War and World War I. Chin argues these nations all grappled with the same issue: the push to embrace a universal standard of modernity while maintaining their distinctive cultural identities. Their understandings of national identity were shaped by how they thought about their place in the world.
 
4. The End of American Exceptionalism: Frontier Anxiety from the Old West to the New Deal David Wrobel
--Another book that deals with American identity, the End of American Exceptionalism deals with how Americans dealt with the perceived exhaustion of the frontier, and with it, the basis of their cultural distinctiveness. Solutions to this problem included creating "external frontiers," which entailed trade and empire.
 
Also: Global West, American Frontier: Travel, Empire, and Exceptionalism from Manifest Destiny to the Great Depression David Wrobel
--Through his analysis of Travel Writings about the American West, Wrobel explores “the west in the world and the world in the west” in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
 
5. The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Cultural Expansion, 1860-1898 Walter Lafeber
--In The New Empire, Lafeber shows how economic causes drove America to become a world power in the late nineteenth century.
 
6. Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines David Kramer
--The Philippines was the only formal colony of the United States. Kramer's book looks at how America's experience with empire shaped its own notions of race during this period.
 
7. Financial Missionaries to the World: The Politics and Culture of Dollar Diplomacy, 1900 to 1930 Emily Rosenberg
--In Financial Missionaries to the World, Rosenberg shows how private loans were used to export American civilization and to extend American hegemony over foreign governments. She also explores the domestic debates over foreign lending.
 
Also: Spreading the American Dream: American Economic and Cultural Expansion, 1890-1945 Emily Rosenberg
--From the book description: “In examining the economic and cultural traits that expressed America's expansionist impulse during the first half of the twentieth century, Emily S. Rosenberg shows how U.S. foreign relations evolved from a largely private system to an increasingly public one and how, soon, the American dream became global.”
 
8. All the World's a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876-1916 Robert W. Rydell
--From the Book Description: “Robert W. Rydell contends that America's early world's fairs actually served to legitimate racial exploitation at home and the creation of an empire abroad.”
 
9. Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age Daniel T. Rodgers
--This book explores how American progressives borrowed from European models of reform.
 
10. Consumer's Imperium: The Global Production of American Domesticity, 1865-1920
--From the inside flap: “Shifting attention from exports to imports, from production to consumption, and from men to women, Hoganson makes it clear that globalization did not just happen beyond America’s shores, as a result of American military might and industrial power, but that it happened at home, thanks to imports, immigrants, geographical knowledge, and consumer preferences.”
 
11. Bound in Twine: The History and Ecology of the Henequen Wheat Complex for Mexico and the American and the Canadian Plains, 1880-1950 Sterling Evans
--Farming and wheat, the basis of the heartland. Nothing could be more American. Industrialization was often seen as a shift away from the more wholesome activity of farming. As Bound in Twine shows, wheat production was embedded within a transnational and international economic system of dependence.
 
12. Origins of the Federal Reserve System: Money, Class, and Corporate Capitalism, 1890-1913 James Livingston
--In this book, Livingston argues that the movement for central banking in the United States reflected an emergent class consciousness of a new corporate managerial elite that sought to make itself the authority on all economic issues. Special attention will be paid to the arguments about the necessity of central banking for international trade and investment.
 
Assignments: Weekly 2-3 page informal reviews. Each student will lead at least one and most likely two class sessions. A final 15 page historiographic paper focusing on a particular theme (economics, politics, society, gender, race, empire, trade, dependency, etc).