SunshineLolipops

As simple as it may sound, finding out whether the faculty member with whom you would like to work is taking students at all is a good way to identify programs that you will not be able to get into. Obviously, you need to have researched which faculty you want to work with before you send those emails, and you should be prepared to discuss how that professor's work applies to your research interests. A brief email asking in the first sentence whether the faculty member is accepting students let me know that regardless of my qualifications, I should not apply to a couple schools, which saved me about $150 in application fees. There is a lot of info out there regarding what other information to include in that first email, but above all, keep it very short. Treat this like you would a large research project, because at this stage, that's exactly what it is.

Is anyone else waiting to hear from Ohio State? Or maybe Penn State or Georgia Tech HSTS?

As much as waiting on a waitlist and for 3 schools to contact me at all is agonizing, being slammed with grading midterms and watching the TT faculty do a search committee for a new position helps me to understand that I might not be at the top on anyone's priority list. Three weeks from now at least it should finally be over....

I haven't heard anything (not even an interview), which is consistent with last cycle's late rejection. Did you interview?

Having watched four candidate searches as a student and now as an adjunct, none of this is particularly surprising. Search committees truly get the pick of the litter when it comes to finding the candidate whose research, personality, and methodology are the best fit for the department. The tiniest flaws are all search committee members have to separate the candidates at the end of the process, so make sure your online footprint is squeaky clean (that goes for any position really). TMP makes a great point as well. TT jobs are not the only way to get to do work in history, and the more I explore other options, the more I realize that some of them sound like pretty cool alternatives.

Re: the AHA jobs report.

On one waitlist and waiting to hear (a waitlist at best) from three others. Must. Resist. emailing. DGS.........

Congratulations @Neist ! One of my favorite professors graduated from there and has done very well.

Thanks for the ESRC info @elinen, and @mvlchicago some students I know have been offered to start with a research masters that has the potential to turn into a PhD. I did a MLitt at Glasgow with the rest of my GI Bill, so I'm trying to see if I qualify for a Carnegie. For the most part it seems that a few schools will offer their own forms of funding, but that for the most part the financial resources go to residents of commonwealth countries and Europe. In my experience a POI can be really helpful in navigating funding, but, like grant writing, that is a skill that will vary greatly from advisor to advisor.

Does anyone know of PhD funding resources for study in the UK beyond what individual universities offer? I know that the New York Saint Andrews Society helps to fund study in Scotland, but beyond that and Fulbright/Carnegie/Rhodes scholarships, I'm not aware of much.

Currently have rejections from half of the programs I applied to, and at this point the most I can hope for is waitlist status at the other programs, but I was very surprisingly waitlisted at my top choice. It's nice to hear about people actually getting off the waitlist.

Aside from the fact that most of the good news has already probably gone out, I was trying to think of why it's been so quiet on the boards. Then I took solace in the fact that I could finally get caught up with grading and writing lectures over spring break... Then I came to the horrifying realization that admissions committees might be as happy as I am about getting a breather from all of the madness over spring break. Good news or bad news I'm not expecting anything until the last week of March, and I'm gonna keep telling myself that until April 15th if it helps me keep my sanity and be at least mildly productive. Hope y'all get some good news as well, and good luck making your decisions for those of you who are deciding.

Congratulations to the Saint Andrews acceptance. If I could figure out funding, I'd be back studying in Scotland in a heartbeat.

Does anyone know anything about when Ohio State might start sending out rejection notices?

@HAPPYDuck I've been spending the last year as an adjunct professor and substitute high school teacher, and it's been fun, great for training, and CV worthy. Note that I did not include great pay as a benefit, but it has definitely been worth it. Sorry to hear about the lack of good news. I was shut down 0/7 myself last year. I'd definitely give yourself a vacation from doing history related stuff. It was good for me to remember last spring that there was a whole world of stuff that didn't involve writing admissions essays in libraries at 1:00 am and obsessively checking thegradcafe.com. I came back to the next application cycle refreshed and more excited about history more generally. Good luck.

Just posted good news on the results board for the first time (this is my 2nd cycle). Unfortunately it was a waitlist rather than an acceptance, but not too shabby for my top choice. For everyone who was shut out this cycle, take it as an opportunity to refine your applications, improve your credentials (take an MA, publish, intern, etc.). I'm glad I did. Even if all I walk away with is a waitlist, it still lets me know that I was a competitive applicant, and that's pretty nice to hear after 10 rejections. Looks like I might be checking the grad cafe into April. UNC received 250 applications for 16 spots. Email was from DGS with no change in my "submitted" status on the application website.

I've also gotten gotten 3 rejections and am waiting for news from UNC, Ohio State, Penn State, and GA Tech. I know that all funding offers have gone out at GA Tech, and the best I can hope for there is to be waitlisted for funding. I'm expecting to hear from UNC and Ohio State within the next two weeks, but last cycle I had to wait until April for any news from Penn State, which I only got after emailing the DGS. To my knowledge I wasn't and am not currently waitlisted anywhere. Apologies for the doom and gloom, and congratulations to everyone who's gotten better news. As Ashiepoo has noted, there are still acceptances out there for people.

Well, I may be looking at rejections across the board, but I did just get a second callback for an interview for a decent paying job that is completely unrelated to history. It looks like I might just have to put my money where my mouth is regarding my first-day-of-class spiel to my students about how a degree in the humanities really does prepare you for the workforce. I wonder how the interviewers at Amazon feel about Antoine de Jomini and his idea of interior lines.....

I don't necessarily think of myself as being on a waitlist at UNC. For all I know, I was rejected last during the last admissions cycle because my last name falls towards the end of the alphabet... It'd be cool if my application had gotten that far, but even if it is on a waitlist, I can't imagine that anyone in my field (19th century U.S. Southern) would turn up a chance to go there considering the strength of the faculty in that specialty and the Southern Historical Collection unless they were offered a whole lot of money at an equally strong school.

@rushistory mine just says submitted too

So I saw the first UNC Chapel Hill rejection hit the boards (condolences to whoever posted), but I was legitimately excited that I wouldn't have to wait until late March again for a rejection and have one less application to check obsessively. So I immediately pulled up my application only to see that there was no status change. UNC graduate admissions, you are one fickle mistress.

Would anyone like to claim the Penn State admit?

That has certainly been my experience... Not getting my hopes up after mid February has really helped keep my sanity this cycle.

A couple short essays on the merits of studying military history and some of the dangers of applying that study to modern conflicts. http://defenceindepth.co/2016/02/11/research-dispatch-from-sydney-new-directions-in-war-and-history/ http://www.thestrategybridge.com/the-bridge/2014/9/30/the-instrumentalisation-of-history

I've actually got an article on the relationship between spouses' feelings of connection with their military spouse's unit and that units degree of readiness/performance saved somewhere on my computer. If you're interested, I can try to track it down for you. Wasn't there a member of the Joint Chiefs of staff who warned (within the past few years) that the DoD was at risk of becoming a benefits organization that occasionally fights wars rather than a war fighting organization with benefits?