Manuscriptess

I urge prospective grad students to examine your funding packages. Ask other students how long it takes them to finish vs. how much money you're getting. Take into account that your may have to self-fund for a year or more. Is that feasible for you? Will you need loans?

Congratulations! Getting in there is a huge accomplishment! I would just caution you to consider if you can live off of $16k a year, especially with inflation being what it is. Cost of living in Ohio is less than other places in the US, but that's still probably not enough unless they give you teaching funding. Just think about how you would be making less than minimum wage. Also, NO ONE finishes in four years, so you're going to figure out how to make ends meet for years 5, 6, and possibly 7. I don't want to rain on your parade, but money wasn't stressed enough or discussed enough when I went to acceptance days. I got a very good deal, but it's still not enough to cover everything anymore.

Hi, I'm a fifth year and I just wanted to pop on and say that you shouldn't be hard on yourself if you don't get in somewhere. As someone on the other side of this process, I've seen that a lot of who gets admitted has nothing to do with the applicant, but with the administration. My department was known for one field and took three students in 2017, two students in 2018, and then three professors suddenly retired, so no one got in after. Some professors may already have too many grad students and would find it too big of a responsibility to take on another. The department may realize that they didn't take enough people in one field in the prior year, so they're specifically favoring those applications that year. I know it can feel like a slap in the face, and I certainly felt that way for the programs I got rejected from, but sometimes it really is a case of "it's not you, it's me"

DISAGREE. I did Columbia Med/Ren and it was AMAZING (Can't speak to the History-specific programs but there are multiple people from my program who did the LSE/Columbia program. I'm in a top 10 History program for late medieval/early modern. Everyone who who went to Columbia Med/Ren and chose to go onto a PhD program has gotten into top programs. NYC is obviously expensive, but all things being even, it's a tremendous program.

I probably need half-way decent pics :/ Certainly not DH, digital edition quality, but decent enough.

Hi folks! I've been using my phone's camera in archives, but it hasn't been cutting it. Does anyone have recommendations of a good camera for taking pictures of documents?

A lot can be said for the collegiality of the dept. Last year, I was choosing between two top 10 programs, but one was slightly higher ranked. On the visit day for the better program, I saw that students hated each other, the professors, and the administration. 3 students said that they were transferring out to other programs because of the lack of support from their advisors. That was a HUGE red flag to me. 6th and 7th year funding also seemed to be incredibly contentious and competitive. I couldn't see myself being happy there for next 5-8 years. When I visited the program that I am now attending (the slightly lower ranked one) the students and faculty both stressed how much collegiality there was in the department. Now that I'm here, I can absolutely attest to that. Obviously, more went into my decision than just whether people were happy, but at the end of the day, with all other things being relatively equal, it's ok to choose the place where you'd be happy and where others seem happy. There is something to be said about choosing a program where you would be happy, especially because this is a process which will consume your life for the next 5-8+ years. The job market is terrible for all of us, so in some instances, choose the place where you would be the happiest and most supported because that is the place where you are going to get the best work done. If you're going to be miserable at X school, you'll be more likely to drop out and your work will likely suffer.

Thanks all! And early modern!

Wooo got into Penn!! It's my top choice!!! It's always sunny in Philly, indeed.

Brown hasn't come out yet this year. Is this for last year? Sorry, I'm really confused which parts of your post is about this year vs last year. Edit: nvm, didn't see that date that this was for last year.

1000% agree. There is no downside to enthusiasm when it is genuine.

The consortium is great, but only really for the schools that are close to each other (i.e. any of them that are in Manhattan). The logistics of it can get pretty awful. Occasionally you have people from Princeton at Columbia and vice versa, but it ALWAYS seems like a huge pain to get back and forth. Plus commuting can get really expensive--not every department covers it. Going from anywhere in Manhattan to Princeton is usually a subway ride, a Path train, and the Dinky both ways. Also, many of the schools are on different academic calendars, meaning that when your school has spring break, you may have to still stick around to go to class at the other institution, or have totally different reading periods. I've found that going to NYU from Columbia is very easy (as would CUNY, I imagine), but anything else would be a huge time suck and a really expensive logistical nightmare.

Guys, there are other law jobs than just non-profits, gvt, and corporate, especially ones that can make $100k+: real estate, matrimonial, personal injury, etc. Pretty sure that Celino and Barnes didn't go to top law schools....

To the Stanford admit: Congrats! What's your subspecialty/POI?

I think that depends where you haven't heard from yet. If you look on the results page, no one has heard anything (either rejection or acceptance) from Harvard, Brown, Stanford, Cornell, and a bunch of other schools. As long as no one else has heard anything either from those schools, you could still get in.