DGrayson

FIRST ACCEPTANCE! U CHICAGO FOR EARLY MODERN!!!

Just got in at UC Davis! So confirmation that your conversation is a good sign 

Congrats to the person who got into Yale! I haven't heard anything about when the decision should be going out officially, but I think it'll likely be sometime next week. 

Congrats to the person who got into Yale! I haven't heard anything about when the decision should be going out officially, but I think it'll likely be sometime next week. 

Wanted to update and say that I got accepted into NC State!! My top choice!

Happy Sunday night, y'all! Here's to another long week of being breathless and reckless. 

American historian who did an field in quantitative economic history, here.
When thinking about the relationship between history and economic history it is also useful to make a distinction within economics departments between historical economics and economic history, proper. I'd lump Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson's highly cited recent works in the former--only engaging with history as a dataset to test some theory. This type of work has no trouble getting published and looks good on the econ job market. It is telling, however, that none of these authors would label himself an economic historian--It's not particularly clear how this sort of presentist theory-focused work, largely reliant on cross-national panels (and precious little attention to primary sources) is compatible with our work as historians.
But there is also a different strand of economic history (on display in the JEH and EHR, but unfortunately little in the JQE or AER), which I would label economic history, proper, which might be more open to useful cross disciplinary engagement. Unfortunately, interest in it within economics departments has been been in a long decline stretching at least back to cliometricians break with historians. Like the European approach mentioned above, it engages more deeply with historical sources. It's also always have a much more permeable boundary with business history and an interest historical economic development for its own sake--though the cannier young scholars will do their best to frame their questions in present theoretical terms for the job market. Its practitioners will still use quantitative methods and theory but they also develop some expertise in their geographic area of study--displaying much less tendency to jump around wildly between projects or rely on cross-national panels abstracting away from historical specificity. As DCGrayson mentioned above, Naomi Lamoreaux is a great (if unfair example since she trained in a history department) of how one can fruitfully mix economic methods and theory to answer questions about historical economic development. Some other economic historians that might be worth a read for Americanists include: 
-Eric Hilt - His above-linked review article is definately worth a read and he has done some interesting work on corporate forms/the economics of whaling
-Gavin Wright - A senior scholar who regularly engages with historians and is a *must* read for anyone studying slavery in the US
-Paul Rhode and Alan Olmstead - who have done a lot of good work on agricultural history and may have already come to historians' attention for challenging Ed Baptist's economic arguments (which like most of the new history of capitalism literature has belatedly taken Fogel and Engerman seriously but not any of the follow-up work by economic historians)
-Mary O'Sullivan has some great work on financial history and the corporate form that mixes economic theory, archival work, and quantitative evidence (usually no more complicated than needed to make her point) where each element helps inform the others.
-Price Fishback (and coauthors), Joshua Hausmann, Jason E. Taylor, Peter Temin, and a slew of others could be of interest to historians of policy, particularly involving the New Deal
-Rick Hornbeck - he cuts a bit closer to the historical economists side of my divide but tends to be very good about doing his historical homework
-Claudia Goldin - She's more of a pure economist doing some work on historical data but definitely worth reading for any historian interested in women's place in the economy

Hey fellow medievalists. I have an interview at Yale for the PhD in Medieval Studies coming up this week. Very nervous, very excited. Anyone got any pointers? 

Congrats on the acceptances/interview Frank! A good start to the season

I did in one cycle... unfunded PhD offer.  Obviously, I turned that down and tried again the following year.  I know of people in my program who didn't have any other choice--at least their offer was funded!
Remember the mantra: ALL IT TAKES IS ONE FUNDED ACCEPTANCE.

Email from program director and my POI.  I was told earlier this week to expect something because of a potential fellowship deadline.  I wasn’t expecting to hear anything till March.  Good luck!  

It's built of completely primary sources. I really felt like a historian when I scoured the archives, sifted through boxes, files, and photographs. It is a substantial piece of work that I'm using to write my honors thesis.
I'm hoping it'll show to the committee that I'm capable of performing independent historical research.

My guess is that it depends on the kind of research it is. Does the paper contain majority primary sources or at least in depth primary source analysis? Is it done in the native language or are you using a translation? But research is a significant part of becoming a professional and so demonstrating success in that field can only really help you. Worst comes worst just put it in your resume, that's what I did. 

I was accepted into SUNY-Stony Brook and, although it is not my first choice and I am still waiting to hear from other schools, I am excited for the opportunity and chance to work with a professor that I really respect.  Also, I feel so relieved...thanks for all the advice and guidance from everyone on this site....seriously, it is extremely helpful to get feedback and hear other students concerns, challenges and victories. Good luck everyone!

First acceptance!!!! 

Michigan State (MSU) have begun sending out responses, if anyone is waiting on them. 

Best of luck everyone 
 

Thanks to everyone that responded and sent me a PM! I'm still keeping my fingers crossed! 

So for any of those that have been through past cycles, does not getting an interview with Penn (regular history, not HOS) usually mean you haven't been accepted? I know that not getting an interview is not always a bad sign, but UPenn seems to be one of the only history programs that interviews consistently. Trying to figure out if I should write it off.  

Hi DGrayson! To my understanding, UPenn interviews consistently, like you said. I got an interview last year but was unfortunately rejected (so you see, this is my second cycle...), not even wait-listed. I believe you can find some useful information in last year's thread about UPenn's interviews. Also, at least last year UPenn did not send out the interview invitations all at once- I think I got mine one week after everyone else on the forum got theirs.  Hope this helps. 

As someone who has worked in both fields, I can say that the state of Economic history within economics is not doing particularly well, especially after the quantitative turn. That being said, recent turns in cultural economics may be of particular interest to historians outside of economic history. As far as the ability to work together, I think there are some particularly good examples (Namoi Lamoreaux in particular comes to mind and Emily Erickson is an interesting example in historical sociology), but it depends on one's willingness to work within rational choice theory.  

The case of Michelle Jones is one example of this. I’ve attached the NYT article as I found it pretty interesting and hey...anything to pass the time right?  
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/us/harvard-nyu-prison-michelle-jones.html?referer=

While it is something that I don't think you need to do, I contacted a potential advisor before starting my advisor and framed my introduction around any suggestions she might have for books I could read over the summer to get a head start on a field I was relatively new to. You could try that.

Hayden White and Bourdieu if they haven't already been mentioned. I'm also a fan of Eliade, though he has fallen out of favor as of late. Also, Latour is becoming more popular in sociology so perhaps there may be some crossover. If you're interested in religion, there's a nice book that sums up some of the major theories: Nine Theories of Religion by Daniel Pals. 

Hayden White and Bourdieu if they haven't already been mentioned. I'm also a fan of Eliade, though he has fallen out of favor as of late. Also, Latour is becoming more popular in sociology so perhaps there may be some crossover. If you're interested in religion, there's a nice book that sums up some of the major theories: Nine Theories of Religion by Daniel Pals. 

I'm surprised he hasn't been mentioned, but I see Emile Durkheim mentioned quite a bit. Max Weber has been mentioned in several of my classes, and I plan on reading some of his writings before graduating. 
 
Awesome thread, by the way, because I've been wondering this myself! Whenever I think about anything academic, my first thought is to compile an Amazon wishlist. 

I guess we might simply have different standards or different understandings of what a "top" program is. I was replying to an user that placed Wisconsin at the same level as Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, and Princeton. In the latter, which is obviously the program I am most familiar with, I am not aware of any professor with a PhD from Wisconsin, yet I could mention from the top of my head several professors with PhDs from each of the three other institutions. 
Look, if people want to apply to Wisconsin so be it -there certainly are worse programs. Perhaps my situation is different because I am an international student who was offered funding at my home institution, so I would only leave my Europe aux ancient parapets for a really good (actually top) American university, preferably one that is not in the middle of nowhere. 

I'm hoping it's just because KR and JBS are slow with their emails. And, maybe, just maybe, that the blizzard warning and closing of campus (and MSP airport!) caused them to stop writing emails today.  I'm telling myself every story I can.