pjizz

i chose oregon and have been in eugene since august of last year so i can try and help you out. generally, there are plenty of neat restaurants and shops scattered around a few hubs, one of which is campus. there are more bars/clubs/music spots toward downtown, but that isn't too far of a walk from campus. biking is a must if you live far from campus and don't bring a car, though students get free pass on the bus...but i find biking to be more convenient, and eugene is fairly bike friendly. there is a world of difference between north of the river, where you will find your big chain stores and restaurants, and south, which is dominated by local, independent, or otherwise small businesses. weather might be a concern, as i'm pretty sure the sun stopped coming out back in october. however, i'm convinced that the horror stories of constant rain are northwest myths designed to scare tourists. the rain doesn't ever seem to last more than 20 minutes, and we usually go days, sometimes weeks between rains. overall, i've enjoyed eugene. it's a good size. of course, if you are going to be a grad student, the only thing that really matters is how big the window is in your office, because that is what you will be looking at for the next few years. just kidding!

i got an e-mail back from the DGS at Boulder. she was really helpful and, after I had explained my situation, she let me know that two of my potential advisers had recently accepted positions at other schools. that was good information to know, and I definitely appreciated it. that led her to postulate that Colorado might not be a better fit, and I agree with her. since I visited and loved it, and since I came home and found my straggling 3 rejection letters, it looks like I'll be a duck for the next two years. i'm totally pumped about it as the city and school just seem like a fun place to be for the next two years, if not longer. hope something has worked out for you, aspiringdoc....it was so damn competitive this year. even though I didn't get into my dream school, i'm overwhelmed just by the thought of going anyways.

yea i e-mailed asking pretty much the same thing...it is close to the 4/15 deadline and these schools need to realize how quick we are all going to have to end up making decisions. that's great you have other fully funded options...i only have 3 admits and a fourth with funding, so my options are pretty limited at this point. i'm seriously considering calling in a few days to find out. if i get funding i would definitely want to visit, but i need to know where to visit so that i can split up my verrrry limited funds for airfare and what not. anyone think that would be too brazen?

THAT is hilarious

just heard from the DGS at Boulder...got into PhD. they said no funding at this point, but something may come up. let me know what you think of boulder, and good luck. now i'm back to square one. go to MA for free at Oregon, or (potentially) pay for PhD at slightly better ranked, probably better fit Colorado.....decisions decisions.

ugh...s/o heard from boulder? for what it's worth i haven't, though given my track record so far i'm not expecting much that's frustrating that s/o apparently got into boulder, but since i didn't apply for ancient maybe i shouldn't get too nervous. their website said they wouldn't send out decisions any earlier than the 3rd week of march, but i'm going to be out of town the whole week so i won't get the pleasure of checking my mail box 10 times a day!

thanks for all those pointers...eugene sounds like a fun not too big not too small college town. and at only two hours from portland, i'm sure most anything can be found if one looks hard enuff

i'm in the same boat...still have to hear back from UNC, W&M, Colorado, and Kansas. however, at this point i'm going to assume that all those are rejects or at best without funding. the only one i could still have a shot at is colorado...i haven't heard of anyone getting in or rejected, and it says on their website so i guess they may be sticking to that. all the others, however, people have gotten into so i'm not hoping for much. sure is a good thing i applied to oregon, and i only did it b/c my girlfriend made me....ahh how things work out

haha...i like that. seriously, everyone put that in their letters. here's to all you lucky bastards that actually have the luxury of declining offers!

UVA is now on the long list....oh well, wasn't really expecting much at this point. honestly, i don't expect favorable results from anywhere i've got left, so i'm not really disappointed anymore. i do think it was crazy competitive, even more so than i imagined it would be. i applied to schools ranked 4 through 89, but my average ranking for schools applied was about 27....looking back, this number could have been lower. i applied to way too many upper 20 and not enough sub-50. oh well, some advice for next year's crop.

duh...i didn't even thank of that. now of course i remember several of the schools i applied for not offering terminal MA. ugh, oh well...anyone else out there frustrated that, in order to have a good approach to applying, you have to know a lot a lot a lot, and in order to know a lot a lot a lot, you typically have to have gone through it once? i swear, if i could have this round count as a "learning experience" and could do it all over again, i be set!

today's letters added Cornell to the rejection list and Tennessee (my safety...and not even a word of funding) to the admit list...not so thrilling one thought, two of the schools i've been accepted to, Oregon and Tennessee, explicitly state that I have been admitted to the MA in History, though I applied for PhD at both. i know that Oregon's dept. website stated you would be automatically considered for admission to the MA program if not accepted into the PhD program, so i'm assuming Tennessee played the same game. my question is, have other people experienced this? are there many schools that do NOT practice this...i.e. could my applying to PhD programs have contributed to my lackluster results? all thoughts appreciated.

well since UO is my best offer so far, i'm becoming more and more intrigued about eugene. there are several good looking listings over at craigslist, although most will be gone before i need one...still, it gives you an idea. good to know that life w/o car is doable...its a good 38 hour drive from home, so i may just fly up with some luggage in transit. could anyone speak to the cultural opportunities of the area, such as music festivals, venues with frequent concerts, what type of music seems to be coming out of the bars, art festivals, indie theaters???? also, it's obvious that eugene is a natural mecca...anyone have any specific stories/humorous anecdotes concerning eugene and the wild?

[*:1bf072nu]stephen ambrose & doug brinkley, rise to globalism - it's 20th c., but you shouldn't pass it up http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/03/fr ... rving.html [*:1bf072nu]e.h. carr, what is history? - is a seminal work in historiography http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/What ... carr1.html [*:1bf072nu]eric foner has several good books, pick based on your time, on the post-civil war http://www.ericfoner.com/books/index.html [*:1bf072nu]Ian Tyrrell, Historians in Public: The Practice of American History, 1890

i agree...the school is obviously top notch, and many significant historians (even if from a while ago) hail from madison. but without a bit of $, it's going to hard to justify. prestige is obv important for an arbitrary field like the humanities, but graduating on time and with little debt is a lot more tangible than ivory towers and ivy (or snow) laden buildings but it is good to hear that UW has money problems...makes me feel less like a failure