psstein

It's not a problem. The SoP project is rarely the one you pursue in graduate school. I entered grad school wanting to work on early modern Jesuits. I'm currently working on the links between diagnostic technologies and human medical experimentation. Changing advisors may be a bit more difficult based on program, but that's a program by program assessment.

Only Penn, Hopkins, and MIT interview. All three are tiny programs who want to see how well potential applicants get along with faculty and other graduate students. Often similar academic preparation, similar background, etc.

About Harvard: when I applied two years ago, there was a "language preparation" section of the application, or at least I recall one. Maybe someone screwed up this year and didn't put one in. Sciences tend to hear earlier, in my experience. Univ. of Minnesota accepted me into its History of Science PhD in late December, but that was apparently an extraordinarily early acceptance. Most programs tell you in February/early March.

I can't imagine it'll hurt you, unless you were absolutely abysmal. That being said, one of the important things to keep in mind is that AHA is so huge you can easily get lost in the shuffle. What I mean is that, since AHA has so many distractions, unless you were really memorable (good or otherwise), it may not have much of an impact. I visited the poster session last year (in DC) and found them mixed. Some of them were really good, interesting projects. Others were not. Just because you have an idea doesn't mean sharing it with the rest of the world... one or two especially stuck in the latter category. in a very succinct way: your acceptance or rejection probably will come down to other factors, some of which are unrelated to your accomplishments or suitability as a candidate.

They read the whole thing, at least in my experience. The DGS of my program talked with me about how I evaluated the original Greek.

My advisor once was a book review editor for a major journal in my sub-discipline. She said a reviewer sent a review in which noted every factual error in the book, something like 2 single spaced pages. Some people are just cranks.

You're over the 90% barrier for verbal. Unless you applied to do history of mathematics, the rest of your scores are fine.

Princeton's committee meets notoriously late, or so I'm told.

GRE scores are thinly veiled extortion.

Congratulations! May it be the first of many!

So long as the letters arrive before the committee meets, it shouldn't pose an issue.

GPA and GRE scores are fairly unimportant unless they're absolutely horrid. Yours are not. Success or failure hinges on your fit, application materials, and things outside the realm of your control. I didn't get funding from a program for political reasons (my PoI and another faculty member were very excited by my application, but they didn't have enough sway). I was rejected from another program after learning the amount of stipend and going through a day long interview, in part because that small department decided to take 3/4 other students in early modern. Yet another program has an internal war between philosophers and historians, and the philosophers hold the purse strings. I got an unfunded MA, which my PoI there said was a function of philosophy wanting to stay on top. I'm not telling you these anecdotes because I think they're super interesting. My point is that there's a whole number of items you can't control. Your PoI may take ill and have to go on medical leave. S/he may die three days after your application goes in (I know multiple people whose advisors died during their careers; one is now a faculty member here). S/he may get insensibly drunk and lead to a police standoff in his/her office (A well-known person in my field did this). Your stats are your stats- they're not changing. You sound like you've done a bang-up job on your materials, which is what matter most. From my old undergrad advisor (and now friend), the SoP and writing sample are where the application is made or broken.

It can take up to a week.

Sure, send me a PM. I'm from the UW-Madison side.

A PhD program advertising is never a good sign.

Don't bother applying to safety schools. Undergraduate and graduate admissions are two very different ballgames. There's no such thing as a "safety," "reach," and "match" program. There are programs with good placement and programs with not good placement. Placement and fit are the major issues to concern yourself with. If you're concerned about "not getting in," seriously consider MA programs beforehand.

Some programs care about it a lot and use it as an entrance barrier. I know of one HoS department that does take it seriously. If you're working in a relevant area (e.g. history of mathematics), then it matters a lot. For most programs, though, it's sort of a formality. Many programs don't care. Some will use it to grant fellowships or whatever, but most programs do not care in the slightest.

I have two questions: 1. Are any of these programs funded, either fully or in part? 2. How good is your writing sample? A good writing sample will make up for a "meh" GRE score. For Everyone: If you want to know anything about Wisconsin, feel free to PM me. I'm glad to discuss it with you.

Grad students will talk way more than faculty ever will. A friend commented to his advisor that there'd been a negative atmosphere in his department. This faculty member, who's generally very perceptive, didn't know anyone felt that way.

This is exactly what I'm doing this year, so I hope it works out!

You might want to consider Emory's Candler School of Theology. I recall them having a decent funding package when I visited their campus in 2016.

You should choose a recent enough book that you can, due to your knowledge of the sub-field, review. A book very close to your research interests would be appropriate. Choosing a book about 15th century Japan when you're interested in the 19th century US would not be appropriate.

You're asking the wrong question. Your on-paper major matters very little. What matter are your application materials: SoP, Writing sample, and letters.

I admit that I may have a bias!

Neither one of these are good choices, frankly. The MAPH/MAPSS program is very much a cash cow, cut throat MA program. I've met several graduate students who went through that program. None of them impressed me, beyond the degree they were cutthroat ladder climbers, some of the least pleasant people I've met in graduate school. The Columbia MAs are very well-known for ignoring their students and extracting as much money as they can from them.