HistoryMystery

I'm moving in early September. Seems so far away but really it's right around the corner!

That e-mail creation process was a trip. It took me 3 tries to get one that hadn't already been taken

Yeah I think in my case they said they'd be sending out all of that nitty gritty stuff around mid-late April. Could be different in other places though.

Don't feel too bad, in my current weary state I read it as "onion-ized" But yeah, I really liked Davis' union situation as well. Thrilled to know that's where you're going Ashiepoo! Oh and by the way, Davis will be downright chilly compared to what I'm used to, so I'm actually looking forward to that aspect

Congrats all! I suppose I should make an official announcement here as well and say that I am definitely attending UC Davis. Even got a nice, decently priced apartment lined up. Looking forward to begin !!

My old nemesis. We meet again.

Thanks! It's really tough on this tablet...for one the screen is super small, but it's also fairly old so everything runs jittery on it!

Yep this is good advice. Basically followed this outline for my SoP and it was one of the main things my POIs seemed to comment on in terms of the strengths of my application, in addition to the research project I used for my writing sample.

? Fairly certain I upvoted him. Then again I usually browse this site on a 7 inch screen so if I made a mistake, please amend it

I think a lot of this might have to do with how impacted the rankings are, especially USN's. I mean the top 30 are all ranked between 4.7 and 3.7 with several tie scores across the board, which might explain how UNC and Davis would rank higher or lower based on the methodology of this study. I guess an easy way to see a school's viability would be to check out their placement page (which hopefully they have). Since I'm going to Davis, I researched their's extensively and it looked like the majority of their PhDs won a respectable position somewhere, which corresponds with their rank in this study.

Got a place for next year in Davis at a pretty good price. Anybody know what the internet situation is like there? Which providers are recommended? (I suppose I can check Davis Wiki for this info too )

Nothing can be as bad as Santa Cruz The prices here actually look incredibly reasonable to me.

Just wanted to chime in and say that I really like this study. Nice to see schools ranked in a way that aligns with our interests (placement potential); other ranking schemes can seem so mystical/arbitrary sometimes.

Can't argue with that!

Davis just had such a great community. You could really feel the love between the grad students and professors.

Anybody else have a typo in their Upenn rejection letter? That was hilarious

Best of luck with your decision! Feels good to be getting down to the wire.

This. But to answer your original question, all professors know where the gaps in their concentrations are in terms of historical research. Sometimes you just have to ask, other times they'll bring it up in class with a statement like "and so and so person/subject has still yet to be fully investigated in a dissertation or book." Most subjects are still unexplored; that's the cool thing about history .

I know a bunch of people were wondering about final notification from UCLA. Checked their website and it looks like they updated it with this: Just gotta hold out for a little longer .

Great advice Professor Plum. I especially think the part about stipends is important. I read an article once about how, if you are frugal and clever with your stipend (assuming you are lucky enough to receive one), you can set yourself up for the future by using it to pay off undergraduate loans and establish a good credit score. The part about waiting for a response to grant applications strikes true with me as well. I remember meeting with my undergraduate history advisor last year and seeing dark rings form under his eyes as the quarter wore on. When I commented, he simply looked at me and stated with a wry smile: "grant approval process."

Thanks for the insight. What I said wasn't an indictment on the professors themselves, who I know put a lot of effort into the process and don't have direct control over the bureaucracy involved. Like Ashiepoo said, this thread is an echo chamber, and as such, sometimes things are said that can seem unfair given the proper context. I have no doubt that the admissions process puts a great deal of strain on those doing the choosing, and thus I appreciate the time and expertise put into the committees. But I think what some people (and myself) were getting at is that this process puts us applicants through an even greater ordeal, as we have to go about our daily lives with all of this indecision, our futures up in the air until final notifications are made. While this process is definitely a huge burden on those reviewing us applicants, you at least have the advantage of, like you said, being a professor, of working with PhD students, of doing groundbreaking research, and getting paid a decent amount to do it. So to close, I didn't mean to come across as though I was totally unappreciative of the decision committees. I realize that they have a lot on their plate, and probably could be doing something more worthwhile with their expertise. That said, if someone's rejection was determined a week ago or longer, I think that there should be some way to inform them as quickly as possible. To get your decision through an applicant-initiated e-mail is depressing, especially this late in the game, and that's all I think me and the others were commenting on. Our responses were hot-headed and perhaps a bit illogical, but when you're dealing with something that will have a tremendous impact on your future, emotions can get the better of you. (Speaking of emotions, I personally was not even a victim of the blindside rejections we are talking about, so I can understand how heated they must feel!) Hopefully while I wrote this essay a few more of you got some good news

I don't want to give too much info as you can never be 100% sure, but based on communication with my POI I don't think they are quite done yet. If you look at the results page you can also see that historically, UCLA tends to take anywhere from a week all the way to a month to send out all of its acceptances.

It depends. Some places might do "soft rejections," others might have rejected and accepted the obvious choices first, and are now seeing who they should fill the last slots with.

Is it true Upenn only considers those they interview? I've also heard nothing back from them but as I wasn't interviewed I've just been assuming it's a rejection for weeks now.

Thanks! Still psyched about Davis. I think by April 15th? The letter didn't say anything specific. Though I'm sure I'll get a definitive answer when I attend the recruitment weekend in a few days.