Qin Shi Huandi

Well, well, well.....finally I become a member of this community....I was watching these pages for the last few days....applied for 9 univs.....got a cute zero acceptance till today....ohh....yaa.....got 2 rejections as well...... the same boring stuff....large number of qualified applicants.....record breaking number of etc etc.... neways.....I wont get anything for worrying....so better cheer about it!!....yaa I am serious......is there anyone enough lucky out here??.....Lets enjoy our present days..... :-)


Oh...yaa....those who have been accepted....I sincerely congratulate them all....wish u all d best....and hope that you will also hope and pray for me

thats what I am doing

I like the bitter and childish remarks - good for a laugh, and a lot more fun to look at then page upon page of "accepted" or "rejected." Adds a little life and humanity. Sometimes I actually cruise the results page just to read those notes.

And all those "your school sucks anyway" remarks - that's called sour grapes. Of course they wanted to get in. They applied, paid the application fee, waited for months, got the rejection, and posted it online, and bitched and moaned in the comments box. C'mon, let em have a moment of anonymous self pity.

If you don't want to read them, then ... don't.

...please, please know that it is not the end of the world even if that does happen.

I am the who everyone thought would get in the first time and didn't after being wait listed at two programs. I got a job in my field and reapplied 2 years later, and same deal - wait list but no acceptance. It was crushing. I was mortified that I'd had to ask my mentors for letters twice and still hadn't gotten in. My family was supportive but obviously shared my disappointment. It sucked, I wanted to crawl in a hole and die for a few weeks after, but I picked myself up eventually and moved on.

I worked on publishing data. I was able to expand my skill set at my job, and pick up another mentor in the process. I applied again, this time to three times as many programs, of course spending three times as much money. I had to get special permission from one program to apply for a third time which made me feel like a big loser. I braced myself for not getting in anywhere and possibly changing careers.

Yesterday one of my programs emailed me. As I read the subject line my stomach dropped: my first rejection, here we go again.

And I was wrong. It was an acceptance with full funding from a school I'd visited and loved.

I got to do the jumping around screaming happy dance and got to hear how excited my parents were when I called to let them know. And I've gotten to re live the excitement every time I tell another co worker, friend, or family member *especially* the ones who know my history and how hard I've worked.

And the amount of satisfaction and relief I've felt in the past 36 hours outweighs the three YEARS where I was either applying or in between application periods, wondering if I was ever going to make it in my field. Wondering why I had such crap luck, applying last year as the economy fell apart, constantly wait listed but never chosen.

So whatever happens for you this year...if it's your first, second, third, fourth round or greater, just remember that it does not make you a loser, it is not a reason to give up, and if you keep at it it WILL happen for you.

Not to stress anyone out, but my boyfriend was the OSU admit from a few days ago. As of today his online status shows he is accepted (it even has an accept/decline button). So basically any university fellowship nominees should hear soon.

Good luck to all of you (but I am extremely happy cos now we have a chance to go to the same school! )

I had a bit of an "ouch" reaction to that.... Is that an orthodox thing to do, does anyone know?

funny, that. because my tone was in direct response to the derisive, insulting, short-sighted, arrogant, condescending attitudes a good number of the posters in this thread have had regarding the presumed defects of anyone that gets a rejection letter. so i am glad to hear that my attitude offended you, because it was intended to. i was really, genuinely offended, and while my response comes a few pages/days late, i stand by it.


it was also meant to be comical and take the edge off for people. as in, "don't sweat it, we all have plenty of opportunity to fail." i suppose i need to litter my posts with emoticons for that to come across in text.

after getting no response and wasting last one and half month by doing nothing except suffering from OCD
checking email - mail box - website logs - forums -
I have decided to make the final cut. It's painful. So why not discarding the idea of doing phd ?
bye bye phd

The presupposition that affirmative action (and by extension, the acknowledgment of race) is somehow childish -- the antithesis of something as "important and prestigious" as grad school -- is incredibly offensive to me. Many things we take for granted when we talk about race today -- the understanding that racial discrimination is wrong, or the idea that race is a social, not biological construct, for instance -- arose in huge part from the work that was done in higher education BY people of color. People who, if not for affirmative action, would not have been able to participate in higher learning.

We shouldn't assume that we've reached a static understanding of race perfectly equitable to all people, PRECISELY because of graduate/higher ed research. One example I can pull from the top of my head is Roland Fryer, the economist at Harvard, whose work and life I won't summarize here but are well worth reading for the perspectives they provide on this topic.

Beyond this, we should question the notion that one's ethnicity and racial identity don't impact the research one is capable of doing. In sociology we learn about "access," and what that means in terms of membership in a racial minority/majority. But in every field, there are real obstacles that arise because of race -- black kids who don't apply themselves in science and math classes for fear of being accused of "acting white," Asian American kids who are pressured into those same fields not only by their parents but by their peers and societal expectations, for example. Even if race theoretically "shouldn't matter," even if race is arbitrary, even if it isn't "real" -- it creates very real feelings, very real problems, and very real consequences.

There are nebulous aspects of affirmative action, and I won't pretend that I'm arguing wholesale for either side (well, obviously I'm leaning one way). Just, please -- consider the ramifications of EVERYTHING you are saying.

Man I love questions like this! And what do people mean by "card" anyway? Like it is just something that is pulled out when we need it? Like it doesn't effect our lives at all? You should make a great sociologist!

I was just lurking around here but I couldn't believe when I read that. Comments like that are completely inappropriate and uncalled for. You may disagree with the wording that someone used (which wasn't a big deal at all) but under no circumstances should you insult someone's intelligence/capability/professional potential. You sound like a have quite a chip on your shoulder. This is supposed to be a positive environment. Very inappropriate and distasteful.

Well, since your undergrad work was in a separate field than History, I'd think that most schools will not focus too much on your undergraduate GPA. Further, you've shown marked improvement between your undergraduate and your master's work, and I think admissions committees will take this into account.

For now, keep working on maintaining that master's GPA, and make sure you get into the MEHAT conference. Giving a paper there will attract the notice of the adcoms and show that you are considered (at some level) to be a serious scholar of your subject.

As for the schools you've listed, I'm partial to the University of Wisconsin myself, but I'm biased. You don't have to apply to the top schools- no one will tell you where to apply or not to apply. Let me recommend the process I used as recommended to me by my thesis advisor:

You already know what branch of history you want to work in (Ottoman History). Try to find out what aspect of that history interests you the most. Is it the social history? Political? Religious? Is there a period of Ottoman history that interests you (1299-1566 or 1567-1922)? You might even have an interest in a subset of the subset; this could be the social history of a particular minority within the Empire. If you know these specifics, then look at the literature on the subject- preferably written by those who are still living! Do those authors work for a university, and if so, which one? If they don't, where did the author attend university?

You should also look at the professor's websites, usually available through the department website, to see whose interests mesh with yours. In essence, you should prefer a school where the faculty have a strong background in at least the same area as you (social history, early Ottoman, etc.). If there's more than one professor at the school with your interest, great! Consider applying there. If there's only one professor, but he's exceptionally distinguished in the field, apply there too. You may hit the jackpot.

In essence, since I tend to ramble, seek the schools where the faculty best meets your interests. It may be an Ivy League institution, it may not be.

I have all my app materials in for UVA, but the site lists my application status as incomplete. Is this true for anyone else? Also, first post!