crazedandinfused

@monster: I can't believe you're at comps already! I'm just putting together my lists. PM me.

Stickiest question in grad school.

I can't take this. Doesn't this person have anything better to do? This country desperately needs something like a new Civilian Conservation Corps.

Hi guys!! I figured I'd just stop back and see how everyone who just started their new programs/new semesters is coping. The 2012 application season was a real blast (in a very weird way) and its nice to actually have the seminars and endless reading assignments we worked so hard to be in. I'm pretty darn close to keeping up with the onslaught. A close friend of mine tragically passed away last week and I spent a day or two pretty crushed (there was actually a point where I flung Joan Scott across the room, wailing: "I can't concentrate on this sh*t right now!) so I will have to spend a day or two locked in the library so I don't get lost in the weeds. I'm still waiting on my first stipend check.... Only $80 left on the grocery store gift card!! Where are my comrades Goldie and Oseirus?? AFB, please don't fall off the radar.

hehe

Hey AFB!!!

@unforth, Viisiting Charlottesville is indeed a very powerful motivator...... I wish you the best of luck, they rejected me. I assume you want to work with Gary Gallagher?

Hear, hear. Plus, beef probably kills more trees than do books. I love beef as well. I'm not a very tree-friendly tree-hugger it appears. The stench of hypocrisy is surprisingly delicious.

American History R_Escobar (20th century, American Indian), crazedandinfused (antebellum, intellectual), hopin'-n-prayin' (southern, religious), stevemcn (transnational), Simple Twist of Fate (early American), zb642 (20th century, labor/working-class culture), BCEmory08 (19th-20th century Catholicism, labor), irvinchiva10 (20th century, immigration/immigration reform) natsteel (early American political culture and intellectual history) unforth (19th century US political and military history, US Civil War) hbeels (colonial, early national, 19th century, transappalachain west, historical memory of these eras/areas) European HistoryKelkel (Modern Germany, political), goldielocks (Britain), SapperDaddy (Eastern and Central Europe), kotov (Modern Romania, Holocaust, labor), RevolutionBlues (Modern Western Europe/France labor and leftist politics), theregalrenegade (18th/19th cent British Empire/environment), jrah822 (19th century Britain; emphasis on colonial relationship to India), grlu0701 (Intellectual & cultural history,fin de siecle Germany and Italy), naturalog (modern European [mostly German] intellectual and cultural/sexuality and gender/political radicalism), runaway (Eastern/Central, memorialization & visual culture), Sequi001 (Modern France, gender and sexuality, colonialism/imperialism) African HistoryOseirus (precolonial/early colonial West Africa), Singwaya18 (20th century East Africa), Safferz (20th century Horn/Northeast Africa), The People's Scholar (Spanish colonialim in Africa- i.e. middle/West Africa) Jogatoronto (Psychiatry in early colonial West Africa) Latin American HistoryCageFree (20th century, Southern Cone), BH-history, The People's Scholar (18th-19th century Colombia) StrangeLight (20th century Central America) East Asian Historyalleykat (Modern China), kyjin (Pre-Modern Japan) Near/Middle Eastern Historyuhohlemonster, (modern Israel, Iran, Palestine) oswic (modern Egypt, gender) Atlantic Worldsandyvanb crazedandinfused Global/World History [*]cooperstreet (Cold War) Jewish History [*]uhohlemonster, (modern Israel) [*]hopin'-n-'prayin, [*]kotov (Holocaust), [*]naturalog (sometimes modern European/Holocaust), [*]runaway (memorialization & visual culture), [*]ticklemepink (20th c. Germany/U.S) Science/Technology/Environment [*]shaxmaty1848 (Cold War) [*]StrangeLight (environmental history, ecological distribution conflicts) Social [*]annieca (Cold War and Post-Cold War East and Central Europe) Classical and Medieval [*]Hogs of War (Monastic Studies and Conflicts in Authority) Cultural [*]StrangeLight (gender, race, ethnicity, and religion) [*]hbeels (race/ethnicity, religious, masculinity/feminimity, print/literature) [*]crazedandinfused (race, nationalism, performance, rhetoric)

Ok, so I don't know if anyone can answer this because it's probably very program-specific, but what's the process from this point? I signed the form saying that I accept the offers of admission and support and I got one email giving me a link for grad housing-deposit stuff. What should I be waiting for in the mail?

It's an anthology: "The Old South's Modern Worlds: Slavery, Region, and Nation in the Age of Progress," edited by Barnes, et al. I highly, highly, highly recommend it. Oh, and at bedtime it's Simon Winchester's "The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary."

Yeah, I think consensus on the boards is pretty clear. Two things: 1) I certainly understand the desire to have all you apps done by a given date of your choice. I was determined to have all of mine in by Thanksgiving before I went to my Mom's house and I met my deadline. I regretted it and here's why. Your app looks very different once you have actually submitted it, and by mid-December I had thought up of a million alterations that I would have done if I had still been able. There were 7 applications that were fully submitted, and even though the deadlines were almost a month away I wasn't able to change them. Everything looks different in hindsight, and having submitted some, you can make each subsequent one marginally better. That might give you you a little more sense of control in a process where agency is precious. Just a thought - and to totally demolish it, I'm going to a program whose deadline was Jan. 15. 2) So, if you really do want to get your apps in by your own deadline you could build your template app - that is, have a template of a SOP, a writing sample, and your letter-writers ready to go - and wait until mid September to individualize each app once you've heard back from POIs. Early September might still be a little early, so if you're really set on a somewhat arbitrary deadline (in the sense that you chose it, not the program. i don't want to invalidate your feelings!) maybe push it forward a few weeks? My 2 Cents. @hbeels: Nice avatar! Together we are an absolutely hopeless team!

Dear god, it has started already! Twist of Fate is spot on and I would just add one thing: Wait!! If you email them now, or any time before, say September/October, chances are they won't remember you at all when they see your app. Emailing in early Fall increases the chances that you will be fresh in their mind when a giant pile of applications falls on their desks and they have to sort through them.

It's been a blast, people! Thanks again for everything. Getting into a good PhD program meant a lot to me, professionally and personally, so I can't thank everyone enough for all of their help. Just so that we aren't too fixated on ourselves: today is not only the end of App Season 2012, it's also the sesquicentennial of Emancipation in DC and here is a thought provoking article to mark the occasion. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/emancipation-day-2012-more-meaningful-than-ever/2012/04/13/gIQA7XB7ET_blog.html

I agree with this and I don't think that Hogs' intent was the creation of a formulaic list of categories to be taken as gospel. I think that it would be helpful, especially for people with somewhat 'esoteric' subfields, to have some idea of what departments have different strengths in different areas. Maybe a list could be organized along those lines. But I do agree that tracing scholarship, a clumsy way of saying going down the bibliographic rabbit-hole, is the best way to build an initial list of POIs and then potential departments. In my case, I really enjoyed a book by my soon-to-be adviser and it turned out that she was at an awesome, awesome department. And I'm stoked about where I'm going, so just follow your interests and don't pay too much heed to the deranged fumblings of US News 'n World Report.

Congrats Twist of Fate! It is wonderful to know where one is going and a fellowship is always 'effin sweet. It's pretty crazy when you think about how nuts we all were - myself, really - at the beginning of February. @Nordicllama and anybody else who may be interested in such dorkitude: Our understanding of the etymology of Hoosier is complicated and uncertain. Among other theories, it is believed to have been an early 19th century derogatory nickname for the backcountry folk who moved Northwest from Appalachia into Ohio and Indiana (Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 137). I have a faint memory of it being derived from some sort of German word, but the only source I could remember on this doesn't mention that. It seems like a popular synonym for Hoosier was once Butternuts but that just didn't stick. I just smirked when I typed that. Sorry

The UPS guy just brought me Glenda Gilmore's Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights 1919-1950. It looks friggin fantastic and she's just a wonderful scholar. Oh, and I enthusiastically second StrangeLight's recommendation of Berger's The Sacred Canopy. It will profoundly change the way you think about religion and, as SL said, pretty much everything else. Tilly also is great, even if the book itself, to put it bluntly, is huge pain in the ass to get through... Now I have to go re-read Brubaker and Cooper. That went right over my head the 1st time. Parenthetically, it was published in Theory and Society.

German annieca, kotov Spanish annieca, crazedandinfused French Hebrew uhohlemonster, crazedandinfused (ktzat) Italian Latin Greek Russian Polish runaway Romanian kotov

It's very quiet and tranquil, just the sort of place where I can get some serious thinking done seeing as how I've lived in a post-industrial cesspit my whole life (ok, that's not entirely fair but whatever). Plus I can get a sailboat! Thank you to everybody for the tactical advice and the psychologically soothing disbelief of my melodramatic wailing! @SimpleTwist: I would take it down to zero hour with W&M. They are totally worth the wait for our subfield. In a related theme: my reading list obviously contained a good deal of works by various POIs but I promised myself that i'd actually read their books no matter the outcome. Now, post decision, those books are slowly drifting off the shelf with my rejection letter tucked into the pages. Hey, one can't read everything! This kind of makes me wish I was a food historian.......

I'm headed to Stony Brook. I'm quite happy about it - their program is really, really funky in the good sense of the word. I'm just worried about jobs. But that's not my problem until friggin 6 years from now. I'm going to learn the two languages that I like to pretend I know - French and Portuguese - and write the killer dissertation that has been fermenting in my mind for the last year, and it will have 5, yes 5, funded years to beautifully age. What am I talking about? Agh, whatever. Back to my monstrous reading list.

I just got offered an unfunded MA at NYU. I immediately declined. I have a funded PhD elsewhere but now the second-guessing begins. Can we start a making-yourself-competitive-for-the-job-market thread?

Congrats Hogs! I declined their offer like a week ago but I decided not to tell you in order to spare you the unnecessary agony. Addendum: This thread has 250,000+ views. That's greater than the population of the 'metropolis' in which I currently reside.

MC, That's a very wise post; thank you so much. In the email to my POI I tried to completely avoid making any value judgments about either program and instead concentrated on what my options are. I definitely want to keep this other POI on my good side and I sat down and wrote a very careful email. @Goldie: I had your post open in my browser as I was working through the email. As always, you are indispensably my favorite denizen of grad-cafe. Here is my situation and this is pretty much the core of my email to hopefully-not-jilted-POI: School A is offering me a killer fellowship package with just enough TAing to give me experience but a whole heck of a lot of time to do research. It's also a year longer than the typical package, plus a lot of opportunities for research money and conference travel. School B doesn't even know if it will be able to fund me. Even if it was able to do so, there is no way it would be able to offer anything close to the support at school A. Now, this isn't about me just being out there to get the most money; in terms of stipend there isn't that much of a difference. School A is super stoked about me and that's why they are enticing me with a lot of support. That is a dynamic which really came out in my visit and is definitely a huge part of why I'm going. It's that plus the absurdly sweet offer which has me on my way to Kinkos in the morning to sign, seal and deliver the offer letter from the program I've had great feelings about for, like, a year and a half....... Dear god, it's over and I know what classes I'm taking. For the first time in months I will read, sleep and eat like a baby. Oh, and if anyone wants to know what A and B are, PM me. I'm still that disbelieving and nervous. But I will sleep well! Addendum: Pugsley's going to Penn!!!! Congrats!

Anybody have any advice on smoothing out the process of rejecting an acceptance? What a wonderful predicament! I really, really like this POI and I'd like to establish a lasting professional relationship with him, I just have an offer at a more dynamic program (but I don't want to put it that way when i tell him). Advice?

I did. I wouldn't consider it without funding because I have other funded PhD offers. Would you be so kind as to convey what they tell you? PM if you wish.