JustChill

I also would take out a loan only if and when "something happens." I'm also on a full-funding package from my university, which doesn't provide much expendable income but covers all of my immediate costs. For now, I'm comfortable without a large savings account if that means avoiding debt. In fact, every day I thank my lucky starts that I have no debt from grad school.

Nah, I think we have at least another month to wait.

I hear Chapel Hill will be sending out decisions soon. Good luck to everyone.

Yep, I agree. Just have to be tactful and not come off as a sycophant.

Go with your advisor's experience-based suggestion. My two advisors also do not enjoy getting random emails from prospective students. This takes up time and, ultimately, has no bearing upon their decision whether or not to offer admission. The writing sample and overall application is what my advisors weigh heavily when making their decisions, not whether or not the applicant has already introduced him or herself to them via email.

I'm gearing up to apply this year. Good luck!

Oxford all the way. In the grand scheme of your entire life, it is more likely to have a lasting impact.

Last year the announcements went out on September 18. Good luck!

No, my background has nothing to do with my research, although the language knowledge has been handy. My personal statement made no effort to tie them together. Instead, it focused on how I, personally, would be a good representative of the US in that (this--I'm here now) country and how my multicultural background made me a better scholar. If I remember correctly, they explicitly say to avoid repeating the proposal or your CV in the personal statement, so I was careful to focus on my non-research related attributes. It's tempting to use the personal statement as an extension of the proposal, but that's exactly what they don't want. After all, this is the Fulbright IIE, not the Fulbright-Hays, which is exclusively research oriented.

I have a very similar background, and also applied--successfully--for the Fulbright last year. And I'm also a historian. I decided to go with option B, detailing my binational identity and its potential for "bringing together" two ostensibly disparate cultures. This worked out well for me.

That does sound like a bit of an odd request, but it also seems like your grade is dependent upon this and she's the only one with the power to change it. If you've been doing solid work in your other classes, this should be a good opportunity to salvage your semester's hard work in this class and not let a small mistake on the final sink your cumulative grade. I would agree to her request.

I definitely did, and do especially now during my year of research abroad. I make the best of Skyping with my loved ones and also try to enjoy what my current city has to offer in terms of entertainment and bars/dining, although going out alone isn't always fun. I was lucky to make several friends in my programs when I first started, which made the separation from my family and home more manageable, but now living abroad for a year is a different story. Hang in there. Remember that this is an investment in your future.

Yeah, I've stumbled into that too, and also I've had two instances where something that was available as recently as four to six months ago is now unavailable without an explanation.

Try to contact current grad students in the department. They often are the best source of reliable and frank info about the program and they will have a good sense of what recent graduates have found afterwards.

Thanks, folks. I'm focusing on nineteenth-century East European history, and so far I've seen just a couple of options, whether in my field or more broadly.

Dissertators: any recommendations for writing fellowships (i.e., post-research), aside from the Mellon-ACLS and one's university? I'm doing a PhD in history.

Dissertators: any recommendations for writing fellowships (i.e., post-research), aside from the Mellon-ACLS and one's university?

I strongly recommend living with your mom/grandmom and saving that money. This would be wise, in my opinion, even if you weren't planning to continue on to a PhD, but since you are, there will certainly be additional costs down the road. If you were planning to start working right after the master's, there might be more sense in living alone, but the PhD will take a few more years to finish after the MA, so I think you'll need all the savings you can gather. Good luck!

In my field, editors always reserve the right to reject a submission before sending it out for outside review. That might have happened here, although I too am surprised at the lack of an explanation.

I graduated from undergrad five years ago, and since then have stayed in touch with those professors by sending periodic email updates. Probably two or three per year. Just keeping them in the loop about my progress in the PhD program, my research, travel plans, etc. It's always brief and simple, but allows us to stay in touch. They seem to appreciate it quite a bit.

Your recommendations from Armenian professors won't pose any problems, as long as they are written in English and they know you well. As far as statements of purpose, try reaching out to specific current grad students and explaining your unique situation. I found grad students to be an excellent resource when I was going through the application process. Finally, no need to annoy the hell out of your potential advisor by emailing them incessantly. Maybe shoot them one more email once you've actually submitted the application, but don't over do it.

ExponentialDecade is right on point. Armenia suffers from two decades of post-Soviet budgetary neglect, and most Western academics view graduates from Armenia with suspicion, unless they excelled in physics at Yerevan State and then went on to work/get additional training in Western Europe. Tnashen: there are no Armenian studies programs in the US, with the notable exception of the one at the University of Michigan, although it does not offer graduate degrees. You should look into contacting people--both faculty and affiliated grad students--from there. I also suggest casting your net wider by considering the multiple Russian and East European Studies (REES) programs throughout the US. Many of them offer funding (such as FLAS fellowships for language study), and their interdisciplinary focus gives much freedom to students. If you're dead set on writing another dissertation, then spending a year or two working on an MA in REES may work to your advantage on multiple levels. Your main focus right now should be on researching the available options and making contacts, rather than worrying about specific GRE scores, etc.

I definitely recommend having each book's thesis written down in your notes above all else. In my experience, it's far more important on comps than the sources, methodologies, or theories used by the author, because it's the book's main arguments that really allow you to weave together a historiographical synopsis.

I was lucky with my cohort, in that they enjoy hanging out as often as I do. We tend to get together a few times a week, whether at someone's house, a bar, or a restaurant. I think this is pretty common across most grad programs at our university. First year of grad school is tough for everyone, and people tend to be far less gregarious at first than they do later on. Just give it some time and keep working on getting people to go out.

The simple and essentialized answer is no. The vast majority of PhD applicants are not published. In fact, most PhD candidates are not even published. Most real peer-reviewed articles come out only at the dissertation writing stage, and even then no more than one or two before the defense. Of course, this depends on what you consider to be a publication, but in my experience few things aside from peer-reviewed articles count for much, at least at this early stage of our careers.