Victorianna

Congratulations on your interview!

It seems like I have been reading that a lot of the folks in the sciences seem to have inside info about various departments. I realize that this is due to the fact that many of them have received interview offers, etc. I was wondering if any fellow History students have received any inside info on when departments are reviewing apps, interviewing, etc. Care to share?

I have wondered about this as well. It seems that academia is certainly structured to privilege certain socioeconomic classes. I find this to be particularly true in the humanities. Criteria for gaining admission to a graduate program requires that you take the GRE (some individuals may disagree with my assessment that the GRE privileges certain test takers from specific socioeconomic backgrounds, but there are studies to suggest that this is true) and have attended a recognizable and substantial undergraduate institution. Meeting these conditions can be very difficult for individuals from different socioeconomic classes. I myself spent a semester at my undergraduate institution homeless. This almost certainly had an effect on my academic achievement. It is also true that the individuals selecting candidates are themselves members of a certain status. I am sure that there will be plenty who disagree with my comments, but I did want to state my opinion.

I like to personify my application... I give it a life of its own. I wonder what it is doing. Where is it? Who has read it? What do you think is happening to your application right at this moment?

I will not give any specific names because I am a bit paranoid, but I contacted one of the stars in my field to ask if he was accepting students and briefly described my research. He responded asking for a phone interview and was more helpful than I could have imagined! At the end of the interview he confirmed that he would be fighting for my application.

Oh no! Another thing to obsess over. Time to start re-reading those emails

Hmmm.. This is very interesting. I am also curious about those emails.

I will edit it.

That is really nice of you! I wish we had that type of info for all of the schools/programs.

Awesome! I may take you up on that

This is an interesting topic and is one that I am excited to contribute to. I thought, "Now here is thread that I can really succeed in contributing to!" Sad really... I have a low GRE score. I hate standardized tests and I refused to pay any additional funds to ETS. At the time I considered it to be an ethical decision, but now.... I withdrew from a semester during my undergrad years due to some personal issues and roamed the countryside homeless. Interesting for real life education, not so impressive for graduate applications. There, that feels better.

oh! I am jealous. I love badminton! Before undergraduate work I had a life as an opera singer.

Sparky, Thank you for the well wishes! (and I love your Dr. Who quote) Best of luck to everyone!

One of my applications asked that applicants fill out separate forms to apply for graduate assistantships. The information requested was already included in the primary application. To make matters worse the forms could not be filled out online, but has to be submitted online so I needed to print the forms, fill them out and then scan and upload the docs to the online application. In addition to this added nonsense the form also requested that 3 LORs in addition to the 3 LORs for the general application be submitted in support of your application for a graduate assistantship. Argh.

American History, UK History, and Women's Studies here.

I exchanged some emails with potential advisors. Some went very well and they asked that I inform them when I submitted my apps. I have and now it seems that the waiting game beings. I am so thankful for this board as an opportunity to release frustrations.

1. My partner 2. My brother 3. My mom 4. Results page 5. LOR writers 6. Friends

As the long waiting period is upon us I thought that I would ask a few questions. Have you maintained communication with a potential advisor/s? If so, how have you maintained this communication? Are they giving you inside information about the process? Care to share?

I am an instructor at a community college. I love teaching, but I miss my research.

I experienced the same problem and did as is suggested above. Everyone was very kind and understanding.

I think that I will read the letter over a few times to make sure that it is accurate. Hopefully I would not find out by phone call, then I might mistake the news as a hallucination. After submitting myself to the new reality I would start by thanking everyone in my life who helped me get to this point. That really would be a lovely reality.

What a waste of time, effort, and funds...

I too used this in my SOP for the UC schools. It is relevant to my proposed research topic so I suppose it is valid to the diversity question both socially and academically.

Out of 11 schools in total I am hoping for 5, but I think that 2 might be more realistic unfortunately.

I think that it really depends on your relationship with this professor. Have you stayed in touch over the past few years? If you are close I would not worry. Also, what is your experience with this prof? Have you taken many classes with him or her? If you feel comfortable asking then I would ask. At least you can set your mind at ease, but I am assuming that this professor has already submitted their LOR in which case it may not be of consequence. It really depends on your relationship with this person in my opinion.