ashiepoo72

It's easy to put out positive vibes here...you guys are all so freaking awesome. I just know you will all end up somewhere incredible. I'm looking forward to having you guys as colleagues!!

I'm going to faint. I just got into Davis!

Congrats to the Yale admit!! That's awesome And holy crap, 21 people are viewing this page right now.

Congrats to the Davis admit!

Keep in mind people who received early acceptances may not be posting on the results board. In the next week or two, it's going to really heat up. I know it's impossible to enjoy the calm before the storm, but I doubt our anxieties will diminish until April 15th arrives and we all know, one way or another, where we are going to be come the Fall term.

Congrats L13!! And congrats to the Purdue admit!

You might want to peek at a recent thread called "Advice for Undergraduate Preparation," which gave lots of useful advice. I get that you're nearing the end of your undergrad career, but I'd give you the same advice as someone at the beginning. Languages. If you want to look at immigration, language is relevant. Also, many US historians get away with not knowing a bunch of languages, but knowing one or more relevant ones makes you more competitive when you apply to grad programs and to jobs later on. Get in contact with 2 more profs. You have 2 years to build good relationships. You need to use those. Weak LORs can be--and often are--the death knell of applications. Find people who you've taken a class with, try to take another. Go to their office hours to talk about research and grad school. Since you have a narrower area of interest, read the literature for your field. Get acquainted with the historiography and major debates. Try to write your senior thesis within these debates. GRE--it's not the end all be all of your application, but take it seriously. If I was in your position, Id start seriously practicing vocabulary and, if I didn't already, reading journals in my field and high-brow mags like the New Yorker. I also read the NY Review of Books for fun. The Economist is another good one. These publications are generally well-written, and nothing prepares you for reading comprehension on the GRE like actual reading comprehension. I'm sure I missed a ton, but if I was to go back and do it over these would be the main things I would take with me. As it is, I opted to take an MA before applying to PhD programs. I don't regret it one bit. I was a much more thoughtful applicant because of my year off and MA experience. If your first PhD application season is a wash, I would definitely consider an MA/year off/year abroad/etc. EDIT: I just want to comment on the tailoring your interests to fit the programs that the above commenter mentioned. I disagree with this to an extent. Very little tailoring of my interests occurred because I carefully chose programs that could already support my research. Yes, look into programs and find what resources they have to offer you and put those in your SOP. Look for methodological strengths perhaps, or if they have certain research centers or archival collections. Maybe the school is close to a certain state archive. That's how I tailored my SOP. I wouldn't, however, dream of altering my research interests to appeal to a program unless that alteration was honest to my interests. I found plenty of programs that could support my research as is by spending a ton of time and contacting a ton of scholars at a ton of places.

Don't break my little heart! The Internet is the epitome of truth and kindness!

the UCSB posts were POIs contacting their students, but not all POIs will do that. UCSB should be notifying by email next week-ish, so I'm not surprised that a few profs contacted some admits by phone before the official email gets sent out to the whole group.

Update: my profs loved the book and thank you cards I gave them. All of them said it was really nice that I spent the time choosing books related to my interests but tied to their research.

kateosee--welcome aboard. Anxiety is the name of the game your situation sounds particularly stressful. I'm barely getting any work done at my job as it is (instead, I check my applications a million times). I can't imagine if my boss was also one of my POIs! What programs are you waiting to hear from? Congrats to all the new admits!! Here's hoping more people get good news tomorrow

Don't get ahead of yourselves, guys! A back-up plan is always good, but it's still so so early in the process. Plenty of schools haven't finished admissions decisions. One prof I spoke to last year told me his department doesn't even start looking at applications til late January/early Feb. I read Selling the Korean War and When Soldiers Fall (is that the new book you're talking about? It was published in 2013). He's right in my wheelhouse

Your project sounds sweet! Did you do any work with Steven Casey at LSE? My research basically ends with the 1975 Communist victory in Vietnam, but it seems like we have some overlapping interests.

Congrats to the second Oklahoma admit! ellebe--welcome! Sorry to hear about the transcript! Keep us posted on how that works out. My transcript to Davis arrived late, so I know how nerve-wracking that is. Worst part--you think you're done with applications, but nooo...the stress continues! What is this "dry January" you speak of? If I couldn't grab the occasional beer after class, I would probably lose my mind (ok, lose it more). If you don't mind my asking, what's your field?

stillalivetui -- is that fairly early for IU? Last year it seems most people were contacted mid-late February. I thought the following week would be fairly quiet, but it's shaping up to be eventful!

Congrats University of Oklahoma admit!

Congrats Magellan!!! That's amazing

Ok, congrats to the many UCSB admits! Now come on here and explain yourselves! Haha

Congrats to the UCSB admit!

Oh gosh...who posted that comment about UCSB decisions being finalized today? Now I have heart palpitations haha UCSB is one of my strongest fits...

I am! Coursework is starting to heat up for me, but I'm gathering and organizing primary source documents from an archive near me. The archive basically specializes in modern U.S. military history so I need to get as much out of it while I'm still in CA as I can! What about you kblooms?

Glad to hear it Chiqui! And good luck on the interview anthrohis!

telkanuru -- The music video for the first song sold me. Also, love love love OK Go. Thanks for the recommendations, LeventeL! EDIT-- jeez I'm rude...welcome back nerdguy! Keep us posted on your applications

I guess it's good we historians take the long view...should make the wait pass more easily, if not more quickly, right?

Anyone listening to some good tunes? I'm stuck on Phantogram and Cage the Elephant right now. Also going back to my rap roots with some Mac Dre and Andre Nickatina. I can't even do any work or reading unless I'm listening to loud music.