Assotto

Cornell’s adcom met yesterday. A prospective visit day has already been confirmed. Students are getting the final list of admits on Friday.

Walking home with colleagues and sparking a spliff is as normal as going to a bar at my university (Ivy).

You're welcome. We were informed that we'd be receiving the list of admits by the end of next week, which indicates the department plans to finalize the admits by midweek next week. Prospective students will be visiting campus in mid-March.

You're welcome! The admissions committee did in fact meet yesterday, so I would imagine decisions would be sent out over the next week or so. In recent years, acceptances (usually in the form of a letter from your POI) are sent first followed by rejections a few days later. They do use a waitlist, though I am not sure if they will use one this year.

For Cornell folks: the department just finished its search for two tenure-track Europeanists. The job talks and deliberation seemed to suck most of the faculty's energy. Now that it is over, I imagine they will be sending grad admissions over the next week or so.

Yes!

FYI, Cornell interviews have taken place, and prospective students have been invited to campus.

Currently at Cornell and happy to answer any questions folks may have.

You might be interested in Cornell's program. Carole Boyce Davies might be a good research fit.

Happy to answer any specific questions about Cornell.

I faced a similar issue when I was awarded a short-term fellowship during my first year in my doctoral program. My gut reaction was to not post anything to my social media because I know how it feels to constantly read other people's achievements and feel like I've done nothing. I got conflicting advice. A fellow student in my program told me not to post anything. A professor/mentor practically scolded me for not sharing my achievements with my professional network online. Your post could actually go far beyond just celebrating your achievements. (It could prompt colleagues to apply for that fellowship during the next cycle, consider submitting an essay for that paper prize next year, etc.) I echo the earlier comments in that you should figure out a system that works best for you. I do think as women/people of color/queers we should be tastefully promoting ourselves and our accomplishments. If you don't celebrate yourself and your achievements from time to time, who will?

The light blue signifies the Application that you last opened.

My portal has definitely changed. It takes me to a page that allows access to "Applicant Module 2.0." This has never happened before. Hopefully this means decisions soon.

Find out today that a professor whom I was going to ask to be on my dissertation committee is leaving the department this year. Now I have to find another (which is totally possible, but still).

Cornell decisions were made a few weeks ago. From what I hear, offer letters should be sent out by the end of this week.

Decisions were made this week. Letters should be sent out in the coming weeks.

Cornell decisions should be made by early March.

A good funding package has full funding. This includes a livable academic year stipend for 5 years minimum, paid tuition, and premium health insurance coverage. A really good funding package would also include a summer stipend and accessible conference and travel funds from your department.

Congrats! Downtown and Fall Creek are where most grad students live. Starting rent for a studio is $1100. Roommates can get your housing costs down to $600 roughly. Avoid Collegetown at all costs because its mostly undergrads with a heavy frat culture. There is also the option of graduate housing on North campus, which will save you a bit of money but is not located near a bus stop with a bus that runs as frequently as Downtown or Fall Creek. For property companies I recommend Travis Hyde Properties. You can always message me if you have more specific questions about grad student living in Ithaca.

I think it is unfair to applicants that department websites often have severely outdated information. It sucks because a good application will get rejected simply because the faculty member they wanted to work with is either retiring or changing schools, and the applicant isn't told this until after they're rejected. Aside from emailing the department and maybe getting a response, there's virtually no way for applicants to know this kind of information. If they had known the professor wasn't going to be there anymore, they wouldn't have applied! It's like gambling away $105.

Sleep.

Congrats on getting your application in. If you don't mind sharing, what is your research area/who are you interested in working with? I'm in the Cornell program and could probably answer any burning questions if you had any.

I will add and say that @telkanuru has many insightful posts that have given me insight into the graduate school/application process before I applied, accepted, and began my program. It may be to the benefit of @historynerd97 to browse through some of those for perspective. Even now as a doctoral student I still refer to some of their posts. @Sigaba also has also made helpful contributions to the History thread. I'm not sure if this is unique to the History thread but it seems many of the new applicants are always hostile toward some of the more experienced posters. Last year's applicant thread was a trainwreck because of this. Somehow, genuine advice is perceived as snark or some sort of 'ivory tower elitism.' The perspective and advice given by folks who are currently in the PhD process is super valuable and, to be frank, they are not obligated to help anyone. Start with the assumption that the more experienced users just really want to help new applicants.

This is what you should focus on. To be a strong PhD applicant you will need research experience, not the professional experience you would get interning at a museum. I would suggest looking into doing an independent study with a History professor at PSU with similar interests as yours for a semester or a summer. There are also summer research programs at external schools that provide funding for undergrads looking to have academic careers in the social sciences/humanities. These allow you to get your feet wet so to speak and try out doing historical research to see if its something you actually like. Exposure to the field at large and increased familiarity subfields/geographic locations/time periods will help narrow your interests over time until you are able to at least develop a somewhat realistic project that you will eventually propose in your PhD application. Expect your interests to constantly be changing. It is nice to know you are thinking about graduate school so early though. I second @TMP's advice and strongly encourage you to browse old threads like this one: and also as @psstein suggested familiarize yourself with the abysmal stats of the academic job market for History PhDs here: You have quite a bit of time between now and the end of your undergrad to decide if a PhD/MA in History is what you really want.

Between now and April you will either get acceptance offers or interview invites via email/phone, rejections via email, or waitlist offers via email. Expect for these to happen at any time between now and April 15th. The months between submitting my applications and waiting to hear back seemed like the longest waiting period of my life. I had things like work and vacation to distract me but I did check TheGradCafe and my email several times each day for about three months straight. At some point though I stuck with a regimented schedule to only check the app portals and my email like twice a day. I actually do not think staying off the TheGradCafe necessarily decreased my anxiety of waiting. You'll be anxious whether you check this site or not. TheGradCafe really for me was a rich source of information during the wait. You can look back to the Results board from previous years to get a sense of when to hear back from programs and average cohort sizes, etc. There are so many lively discussions that take place during the wait period that honestly got me more excited about getting accepted. Quite honestly, aside from peers that were also applying to graduate programs, no one else outside of academia really seemed to understand the agony of waiting and what awaits on the other side after being accepted (funding, insurance, resources, etc.) Despite the collective anxiety, this site was one of the few places where everyone understood the pain of waiting and the high stakes of being accepted. The most painful part was of course seeing other folks post acceptances via email/phone from programs I had yet to hear back from. The rejection does hurt for a bit but after receiving two rejections in the same day it becomes a tad humorous. Honestly just keep reminding yourself that each day is a new day to possibly get accepted to one of your top choices.