guineu

I gave you a positive vote, not because I am glad you did not get in, but to thank you for sharing. It is good to have this information already, even though it is certainly not good news for me. That was very kind of your POI to spare you the two weeks of waiting.

Remember that it's only 9:45 am in the eastern US right now. It is true that multiple schools released results on the first Thursday in February in previous years. But it seems likely that some results will come later today, and many were released the second week in February last year, too. Try to find something to do so the wait doesn't kill you. I am currently in the middle of a very long walk to explore a part of town I have never been to.

The early January severe weather did affect U Chicago, delaying the start of winter term classes, which if I recall correctly was scheduled for January 7. Who knows if that affected the admissions process, though. Like you said, it could be anything. Many schools on the semester system that start two weeks later release results around the same time.

I looked into the requirements and found that I was not eligible for any of these fee waivers, and I am a U.S. citizen. I believe they are generally available only to students currently enrolled at an American college or programs like Americorps.

I did not apply to Berkeley, so I don't know if the fee is higher for international applicants. But applications for PhD programs in the United States are rarely free and are frequently in the $100 range for top programs. You should complain about them mismatching your GRE scores, though. Do you know they mixed them up because incorrect scores appear on your account? I'd imagine the program would be glad to alerted that something is wrong with this part of the admissions process.

I just saw that posting, too. Based on previous years' results, January 31 is 1-2 weeks early for notification from the University of Chicago. I suppose it is possible that some decisions are known that early and that a professor was eager to contact an admitted student. If last year is any indication, Princeton and Columbia are among the top programs that might send out acceptances later this week. Chicago was a week later last year, but in 2012 acceptances went out February 8.

No, it would not be appropriate. Every department has a different timeline. If you are applying to history programs, you should know that only a handful of schools have already sent out admissions results. You got in to one of them. Celebrate that, and hope for more good news in the upcoming weeks.

I find the notion that one's verbal score should "match" one's AW score rather odd. They are two different tests. My verbal scores on ETS tests have always been about 20 percentile points higher than my writing scores. As a Master's in Public Policy student I imagine you'd be writing papers, and perhaps taking essay exams on material that you have studied. Neither of which is anything like a 30-minute GRE writing test on a random subject. A 3 is low, but you seem to be a native English speaker and if you can prove elsewhere that you have the necessary writing skills for the program, you should be fine (as long as there isn't a strict cutoff higher than your score). Did you study for the writing test? I am a hopeless case with the issue essay, but I think studying definitely improved my score on the argument test. On a 6-point scale a .5 increase is worth a lot.

Thanks so much! I am sure I am not the only person who will find this helpful. I got a set of A1-level textbooks from the library and I'm working my way through the grammar and written exercises. They are written entirely in German, which works well for the way I learn languages, but once I am done with the basics it would make sense to switch to "German for Reading Knowledge." Meanwhile I am learning useful phrases for historical research like "How much does the sofa cost?"

Thought I'd revive this thread rather than starting a new one... How useful is reading knowledge of German? I'd love to hear from current grad students in European history. I can pass language exams in French and Spanish, both of which I need for my research, so I wouldn't have to learn another language to meet requirements for the programs I applied to. I don't study German-speaking Europe, but I am interested in the history of European integration, and of the languages I don't read German is definitely the one that I come across most often when looking for books and articles. I'm wondering if it would be worthwile to study a bit on my own (I've already started, but I haven't gotten very far) and maybe take a reading course when I am in graduate school. Would a program even allow me to sign up for a German course if I've already passed my language exams?

That's what I thought, so I was really surprised to see people taking about interviews here. Thanks for the response!

How common is it for history programs to interview? I was under the impression that this was not at all usual in our field. Are these interviews not posted on the results search because they are informal interviews with a potential advisor rather than a formal step in the application process?

Yeah, I don't think you can defer acceptance to a PhD program to attend a different graduate program. But doing a master's in the UK might be really helpful if you are planning to study British history and haven't spent much time there yet. Not helpful enough to turn down your top-choice PhD program if you are admitted, though. You will have other opportunities to spend some time in the UK and meet British historians in your field. I, too, thought about applying to one-year master's programs in the UK when I was an undergraduate, but once I figured out what part of Europe I wanted to study it obviously made more sense to go there instead to get to know the area and improve my language skills. I finished my master's thesis a few months ago. I am thoroughly familiar with local libraries and archives and have strong ties to the academic community here. All of this should make developing a dissertation proposal and setting up a research year abroad much easier once I get there. But most American PhD students in European history haven't spent that much time abroad when they start graduate school and they are fine.

Thanks for the recommendation. It's been a while since I followed the Québec scene at all and I really ought to start again. This video never fails to make me smile: Antònia Font - “Wa yeah!” Three more upbeat songs in Catalan: Blaumut -- "Pa amb oli i sal" Anna Roig i l'Ombre de Ton Chien -- "Je t'aime" Manel -- "Ai, Dolors"