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I’m really not trying to tear other people down. I agree that it is valuable to discuss personal life issues, but I get frustrated when I read through the thread, looking for advice about more nuts and bolts admissions issues, that’s all. I just think that type of conversation is being drowned out.

Sorry, I just think this thread has just been consumed with people talking about non-academic topics. I would rather that there be a thread that is purely about admissions (e.g. have people heard back, interviews, which offers to pick). Would other people prefer a separate thread for purely admissions nuts and bolts and not things about personal lives?

Can you guys please start a new thread for all of this “maybe academia is not for me” stuff? This thread is for admissions.

Can you guys start a thread for just UMN stuff? It's kind of taken over this whole board.

Hey! I went to Cornell for my BA. Ithaca is my favorite city! Cornell has really, really, really good graduate housing. Are you looking to live in University housing or off campus? If you want off campus, there are a couple of different areas which are good--- Collegetown is mostly upperclassmen undergrads and can be expensive. There are some apartments off of North or West Campus which are cheaper, but those can be kind of isolating. Whatever you do, try not to live near frats. My suggestion is to live on the Commons and take the bus to campus. Feel free to DM if you want more specific info. Ithaca is less boring than you'd think, although it's by no means a big city. There is always something happening on the Commons. Housing in Collegetown (mostly undergrads) can be expensive but otherwise the price of living is a lot less than living in a large city. WEGMANS ❤️

Thanks! Got an email from DGS inviting me to accepted students weekend followed by an email from my POI

FIRST ACCEPTANCE! U CHICAGO FOR EARLY MODERN!!!

Thanks-- you too! I did my BA at Cornell and LOVE Ithaca! DM if you need a recommendation on places to live or food

Definitely-- although the one thing that is kind of helpful is the time frame of when the admits come out. Fingers crossed for hearing back soon and for my interview this week.

Yes-- interviews are this week.

I'm of two minds on this graph. On the one hand, It's pretty useful to see (generally) when to expect the decisions to come out; however, average GRE and GPA are kind of irrelevant for History insofar as you can be rejected despite good grades and GRE or accepted despite lousy GREs. I could see how this would be useful for STEM people whose applications are based more on these figures, but History has a lot more unquantifiable variables like SoP and LoRs.

You probably got on the mailing list when you took the GRE. Sidebar: I keep on getting emails from Stanford's hospital, asking if I want to be in a medical study and every time I see Stanford in the sender I have a mini heart attack.

Yeah, just for the Medieval/Renaissance Studies MA program. Idk about the other MA programs. MedRen is pretty new, so they want to build the reputation by getting admits at other schools-- that's just what AJK told everyone in the program rn.

You can definitely call the graduate administrator and just ask them what the time frame is. They're not making admissions decisions but are kept abreast of the timing. You don't even have to give your name-- just say "Hi, I applied to the PhD program, do you know when decisions are supposed to come out?" and they usually tell you which week you'll hear back. They're also an administrator, so you're A. not really annoying them and B. have no influence on your decision. The worst thing they can tell you is that they don't know, or that they can't say. I called Penn's earlier and she told me that the committee just started meeting today and that no formal interviews have been sent out, so no one is going to hear until the end of Feb.

I got my MA from Columbia and am pretty close with several of the Medievalists in the department (I didn't apply for PhD there because they have a policy against taking people with MAs from the department which is pretty annoying). I can't speak for the other specialities, but the Medievalists have just started the looking at applications, so I wouldn't expect to hear back until at least mid February. Hope that helps!

The Ancient History program at Penn is actually in their Classics dept. administratively, (although, the faculty is cross-listed between History and Classics). It doesn't seem that the History dept. has sent anything out yet.

I got a call and the caller ID said "Palo Alto". I was like, "OMGOMG STANFORD!"... It was Apple... asking if my recent customer service experience was positive....

Has anyone else been having some problems with the application websites? 4/7 of the applications I have submitted have used the Apply Web software and those ones don't completely load on my computer. They say that I've submitted all of my materials and my LoRs have been received but the websites just freeze if I try to click any other buttons. I have a mac and use Chrome but I've gotten the same sputtering/freezing thing from those websites on other browsers and on PCs. I've contacted the admissions departments for those 4 schools and they all said all of my materials have been received. The point is, I'm anxious about admissions and this is just one more thing that adds to the anxiety. I've noticed in the past that a handful of people will just check their apps (without first hearing from the dept,) and then find out they've gotten in, but I have no way of even checking the status of my application because of how bad Apply Web is. TL;DR: Apply Web, why don't you like me?

@andnothing , I had the same question. This was a helpful post by @Tigla about interviews!

Can confirm. There were two potential POIs who told me not to apply because there was no way their respective schools would be taking an early modernist/ late medievalist for exactly that reason.

YIKES! Thanks for though rundown, though.

Oh man! That's awesome! I have done some things with ancestry but it's really hard to find information about Jews in eastern Europe during the 19th C. so I can only ever really go as far back as my great grandparents.

Thank you! That definitely assuaged some anxiety (especially when looking at the results forum and seeing all of those STEM people getting in already).

Has anyone started getting interviews or some form of communication from the dept? I know there is an option to put interview on the results page but I figured I'd ask. It seems like in past years, people were starting to get interviews around this week. Also, does everyone who will ultimately be admitted usually get an interview? Do they still interview you if you've already talked to your POI? I know that these policies likely vary between departments, but what are the policies on interviews generally? Thanks!

It sounds like this may have been a big deal at the beginning of your relationship, but I don't think anyone would hold it against you professionally now. These types of relationships definitely happened a lot more 50+ years ago, but I do know people who have had TA/undergrad or professor/grad student relationships that have worked out. Obviously there is always the concern for some sort of sexual harassment or favoritism, which, let's face it, does happen A TON; however, it sounds like you're in a good place with your s/o, so don't worry about what other people think about your relationship. If anything, this should probably be the least of your concerns during application/decision! Good luck!