Michael Scarn

That's such a bummer, especially as I have international travel already lined up. I totally understand why schools are doing this, but to decide the next 6+ years without seeing schools is going to be really tough! 

me! heard back from DGS after I sent an email asking about timelines for notifications 

No answer for you, but I checked my own account and saw the same missing information. I last checked the portal last week and didn't see this. From what I know Chicago doesn't require official transcripts unless you get accepted? Not to get mine or anyone's hopes up, because there is no status change to my application, so I really am not sure why it has changed on the portal. 

Wisconsin rejections are coming in full swing! Looks like I am amongst that number. As to be expected.... now to continue the waiting game for Chicago and NYU!

Can I ask who your POI is at NYU? I’m also applying to the Joint program. You can PM me 

Can I ask who your POI is at NYU? I’m also applying to the Joint program. You can PM me 

I am literally overcome with emotion ? I got into Yale!!! 

Seeing other people hear back from the schools I've applied to makes me increasingly convinced that I'm about to get rejected from everything. ? Anyone else in the same boat?

Another Chicago acceptance was posted! Would love to know what region/time period the acceptances are in. I felt Chicago was a bit of a reach for me, but still anxious to hear back. 

Another Chicago acceptance was posted! Would love to know what region/time period the acceptances are in. I felt Chicago was a bit of a reach for me, but still anxious to hear back. 

Does anyone want to claim the UChicago offer? Would you be willing to share the initials of your POI?

Just received my first acceptance from Ohio State University! Received a nice email and then a congratulatory follow up email from my POI later in the day. I know I should respond within the next 24 hours at least acknowledging the acceptance, but also am not sure how to go about it since I will obviously be waiting for a decision until I hear back from the other schools. How does one go about responding to these emails? I'm super excited for my first offer, I certainly did not expect to hear back so soon! 
 

Congrats! From your previous posts, I have a pretty good idea of your POI is.  PM me with any questions about OSU.

Just received my first acceptance from Ohio State University! Received a nice email and then a congratulatory follow up email from my POI later in the day. I know I should respond within the next 24 hours at least acknowledging the acceptance, but also am not sure how to go about it since I will obviously be waiting for a decision until I hear back from the other schools. How does one go about responding to these emails? I'm super excited for my first offer, I certainly did not expect to hear back so soon! 
 

Just received my first acceptance from Ohio State University! Received a nice email and then a congratulatory follow up email from my POI later in the day. I know I should respond within the next 24 hours at least acknowledging the acceptance, but also am not sure how to go about it since I will obviously be waiting for a decision until I hear back from the other schools. How does one go about responding to these emails? I'm super excited for my first offer, I certainly did not expect to hear back so soon! 
 

Just received my first acceptance from Ohio State University! Received a nice email and then a congratulatory follow up email from my POI later in the day. I know I should respond within the next 24 hours at least acknowledging the acceptance, but also am not sure how to go about it since I will obviously be waiting for a decision until I hear back from the other schools. How does one go about responding to these emails? I'm super excited for my first offer, I certainly did not expect to hear back so soon! 
 

Just received my first acceptance from Ohio State University! Received a nice email and then a congratulatory follow up email from my POI later in the day. I know I should respond within the next 24 hours at least acknowledging the acceptance, but also am not sure how to go about it since I will obviously be waiting for a decision until I hear back from the other schools. How does one go about responding to these emails? I'm super excited for my first offer, I certainly did not expect to hear back so soon! 
 

How long is the research paper? My MA program didn't have a thesis option, but we had a capstone research paper that needed to be 25-30 pages long. I used that as a writing sample and did fine when I applied to PhDs. Even if your research paper is, say, 15 pages, you should be able to expand it to a respectable 20-25 pages.
I'd be more concerned about narrowing down your interests so you can convey them in the SOP. You need a topic specific enough to conceivably be a dissertation, backed by literature and knowledge of your subfield, methodological approaches and specific analytical lenses, but you also need to know how to "go broad" and explain how your project fits in with the larger field. Committees know SOP proposals change, some drastically, once students enter a PhD program, so it's not a contract. Look at it as a way to play around with directions you want to go and to demonstrate you understand what a dissertation proposal entails. Some people are hyper specific about their projects and stick with them, other people are sufficiently specific and develop them, both groups can also change their mind. My project narrowed significantly by the time I became ABD. 
In short, focus on conceiving a dissertation topic with the relevant literature, methodologies, lenses etc. It sounds like you have at least the scaffolding for a solid writing sample, but the SOP is equally-if-not-more important.

Just looked at my bookshelf again and realized there's a third volume in the Historiographies series that I haven't read! It contains chapters on "enjeux et débats" in sub-subfields of French (not Frenah, heh) history -- history of the French revolution, la Grande Guerre, French communism, Vichy, etc. 
A related comment: unless you're independently wealthy, going into debt for a terminal masters in history doesn't make the most financial sense. Of course there are people who make it work... But it just seems like too much of a risk to take on debt without the guarantee of a job afterward. 
If you find yourself leaning toward France, you might want to consider getting a master's degree there. It's sooooo much cheaper than the US (about 500 euros/year at Paris 1 La Sorbonne, for example, which includes health insurance!) -- and if you get into the SAT/ACT/TOEFL/IELTS tutoring racket on the side, you can make it work without going into debt. 
@nhhistorynut is right that the first two years of grad school can help you explore and narrow your interests, but you don't necessarily have to get a terminal master's to do that. Different PhD programs are structured in different ways, and you could tailor your apps to those that work best for your interests. You just have to get in, then you can take a little time to explore! Many programs, for example, require two years of coursework before preparing for orals, and sometimes your topic radically changes over that time. A friend of mine went into grad school planning to study late 19th-c. US literary cultures and wound up working on translations of Haitian literature in the 19th-c. Atlantic world -- not wildly different, but different enough that her subfield label changed. In contrast, programs like Johns Hopkins require incoming students to jump into primary source research right away (in preparation for the famous "first-year paper"), and there is no (officially) required coursework. Such programs work better for people who have an idea of what they want to do going in. Read a lot of grad school handbooks to find out how the programs you're interested in are structured. 
 

I certainly appreciate both views and this is why I am taking a year off (or more) after undergrad. I think reading is a great suggestion, and definitely something I'll  strive to undertake this summer and upcoming year as I work!