UofChihopeful

The librarian advice keeps coming up so I will definitely consider it. On the newspaper front, I have worked as an editorial columnist for a weekly newspaper from 2002 to 2005. So I do have experience there as well as contacts. I still freelance from time to time. I guess the underlying premise in your message is that there are a lot of things to do that can be fruitful and not rife with monotony. I will take your advice as well as the advice of others into consideration.

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:roll:

No, those are the only programs I applied to this year. Thanks for the wish. I truly wish you the best as well. I am certain that you will excel!

Thanks for both the advice and the encouragement.

Yes, I thought of the idea of using the fake name because most schools seem to have an aversion to being questioned with regard to whether or not they have made decisions and have sent out notifications. I notice that everyone who takes the approach of emailing or calling departments end up receiving unfavorable responses. Consider that in my response from Kelly, she was very interested in the fact that I kept a level of anonymity. If only she could find my name in that database, surely she could inform the department that one applicant dare write to get an update on the most important decision in his life at this time. It's far easier to get a yahoo or gmail or hotmail account and ask all the questions you want without the fear of retribution, or, more aptly put, rejection.

Amanda, while it was not an attempt at levity, I did draw some amusement from it, especially once I read the response. That said, I am crushed though it has not totally hit me. I have not had my emotion moment yet but I suspect it will come (likley whenletter arrives to make it official). I have been denied admission at Penn, Chicago and Northwestern. Chicago represented my best opportunity to get into a Ph.D. program as there were six faculty members in my specific field (four of whom I had great discussions with about my research interests). As I stated before, one of the professors told me that based on my research interest, there was really no other place for me to apply to and that she was certain I would get into the program. Of course, that statement is useless if the corollary is not an admission into the program. I feel defeated. As I drove around Ann Arbor today, I thought about my specific skillset and what other vocations might be a match for me. And the only thing I know how to do is be smart. LOL! I sense that there are a great number of talented scholars walking the streets who end in careers that are as miserable and monotonous as they are mundane. After all, there are not many individuals on those jobs who care to engage in discourse about the impact of World War II on American culture or who is interested in knowing why Thucydides should have given Herodotus a bit of break since Herodotus, as the Father of History, could not have been concerned with historiography. Sure, you want to just scream at them that the "unexamined life is not worth living," but it likely would not alter habits. So what, then, becomes of the rejected intellectual? Where does the scholarship [he or she] was prepared to contribute to the existing fund of knowledge go? Of course, one might argue that you keep going, you keep trying, you never give up until you get into a program that is willing to house your research ambitions. That is a perspective that should not be dismissed. Of course, when you been at this thing for three years, there comes a time to surrender and retreat to the quotidian realities that are countenanced by most individuals in the world. I was once in law school and was offered a position with Exxon. Go figure! The starting salary was $110K. I turned it down because I could not escape from this urge to have a career in the life of the mind. I look back on that decision without regret. But I look back at that decision to frame a context for this moment of rejection. It's truly disheartening and my only hope is that those individuals who have gotten into Ph.D. programs take full advantage of the opportunity. Because rest assured, there are many individuals who did not get in and who will perambulate all across this country without finding a place to be the persons they cannot help being--scholars! I hate when I see someone who does not finish a program knowing the determination I would have inside to finish if I got into a program. Keep that in mind when you find yourself in that exhausting space of ennui or when you are reading a few books that seem to be scholarly-impoverished. Keep going! And, in the final analysis, be mindful always that you were chosen for one of the few spots that others were just as qualified and hungry as you to fill. Make your ideas count for those who cannot because they were turned down in their pursuit of a career in the life of the mind.

Okay, for everyone who has applied to the University of Chicago, I have some very disappointing news. I sent an email to the Kelly Pollock today. I did not give my name as I think that it usually leads to a rejection. Either that was the reason, or I did not want to read that I had been rejected; I think living with the assumption is better than than the reality until the official letter arrives. So, I created a dummy email account and sent her an email. Here is my email to Kelly: Hello Kelly: I am writing to see if the admission decisions have been made. A few applicants have suggested that they received an email on last Friday from the Division of Social Sciences detailing their admission into the program and the funding they are receiving. Is it safe to say that those students who have not received such an email have been rejected from the program? Or is it that the program has admitted some of the cohort for 2008, but are still deciding the last spots? Finally, when can applicants expect to receive notification of their acceptance or rejection into the Ph. D. program in history? Kindly, Anxious Andy (A Concerned Applicant) Here is Kelly's response to my email. Pay close attention to the second paragraph where she basically says that if you have not heard back from anyone in the program, you likely have not been admitted. Because I already have a MA, I highly doubt that I am one of those individuals who possibly could have been shifted into the MA program. Dear Andy, We have no one named Andy Klebold in our admissions database(?) All official admissions decisions are mailed by the Dean of Students office. My understanding is that letters will be put in the mail today or tomorrow. If an applicant has not yet heard from faculty or the department by email, it is unlikely, though not impossible, that he/she has been admitted to the PhD program. Applications are sometimes also considered by MA programs in the division, and the department does not have the results of that process, so it is also possible that an applicant who has not heard from the department may have been accepted into an MA program. All the best, Kelly

That is my belief. I think that the economy has caused a lot of individuals--who otherwise would be more engaged to entering the work force--to apply to Ph.D programs. On the one hand, it's admirable considering that more people should be engaged to scholarly inquiry and the life of the mind. On the other hand, it's disconcerting when you realize that half the persons entering these programs might not actually want to be there and are only doing so to avoid wrestling with the idea that their college degrees have not given them a foot inside the economic ring. And, in some ways, it's even egregious if you are a person who has always wanted to pursue a career in the life of the mind only to find that you are being thrust to the periphery by individuals who used to think that such a mindful preoccupation was, in fact, mindless.

I have thought about doing this. Kelly has been very kind and helpful. Of course, my fear is that I have not seen anyone who has emailed the school and, subsequently, got accepted into the program. Perhaps, it's just coincidence. I think by Friday, however, I will have no other recourse but to call or email Kelly for an update.

I am a prisoner of hope right now. Of course, I am hoping that they tried to email me but the email got lost in cyber space and I will get some wonderful admission letter soon. The mail has come today and I did not have anything from U of C. Can they send the decision already?!?! Some of us long for closure and a day to determine our next options. For some, that might prove to be a MA. For me, I have a MA in hand and will truly need to consider the all important "next." I feel like such a victim of irony. My wife, who is a professor of English, said it was important to get out of the month of February. She said if you can get past the 29th of February, you would be okay and likely admitted into the program since it is her belief that rejections are sent first or, at least, that's how her institution handles it. And so when I see the individuals who have been accepted into Chicago's history program thus far were accepted on the 29th, I cannot help but to feel that I am the victim of the worst sort of irony.

samantha20, you are not the only individual curious about what is going on with the University of Chicago. I have not heard anything. I was the individual who posted the question on the results page a day ago in reference to whether or not rejections had been sent out or not. I am beginning to draw the conclusion that if you did not receive an email last Friday, you did not get in, which is very unfortunate as this is the last of three schools to which I have applied (U of Penn and Northwestsern being the others). It is even more disconcerting, if true, because the University of Chicago was my top choice and the one that one of the faculty members stated as being the best place for me to conduct doctoral studies. Now, it looks like I am a scholar without a residence.