andnothing

I just accepted my offer for a fully funded MA at the University of Oregon. It feels surreal that I was accepted to my top choice AND receive a fully funded package. This forum was incredibly helpful through this whole process. Good luck to everyone who accepted offers!

Congrats to everyone so far! I've been accepted to six MA programs which is exciting. I haven't heard anything from the 7th so I am assuming that it is a rejection. Unfortunately, news about funding hasn't been as exciting. Still waiting to hear back from 3 programs and I'm on the wait list for 2 of the schools. My top school has me on their wait list for funding, but the graduate director said there is still an "excellent chance" to receive a GE position. I know to not put too much into that but it gives me some hope. The pessimistic side of me is thinking that I won't receive funding anywhere and, honestly, I don't think I could accept an offer where I would have to take loans out to pay for tuition. It definitely puts a damper on my excitement. I know there is still a month and half to go but this waiting has been excruciating.

I applied to masters program there and I haven't heard anything back from them. My POI was Philip M Soergel. I am assuming that it is a rejection for me.

This is great advice! I plan on trying to make the most of visit when I go there and I thought about trying get into contact with my advisor's grad students. Did you e-mail them outright or did you meet up with them during your visit? Congratulations to you as well! I was accepted into the MA program and I know the scheduled campus visit is for Ph.D students. After asking about a campus visit, they offered if I would like to join, but I won't be able to on those dates. I hope to schedule something a little earlier in March. My experience with the department has been the same. They have been extremely helpful so far.

I got accepted to Binghamton's MA program this morning. So far, I've been accepted to four programs which is exciting, but I am on the wait list for funding for two of them and no word on the other two. It is stressful to think that I probably won't know if I will receive any funding until April and maybe not even until the very last day, April 15th. I don't know how I'm suppose to make a decision by then when funding is such an important part of it. I am trying to set up a campus visit at University of Oregon, my top choice. Unfortunately, my faculty advisor will be out of the country when I am able to visit. This might be a dumb question, but will I still be able to get a good idea about the program if I am not able to meet my advisor? Should I reach out to my advisor through e-mail? Also, should you let the programs know if they are your top choice or is that frowned upon? I know I'll be holding off on accepting anything in hopes that I hear something from UO about funding. Good luck everyone!

I got an e-mail from University of Oregon notifying me that I was admitted to the MA program and on the wait list for funding. So far 3/3 out of the programs I applied to. I must say it's a nice boost of confidence. Now to wait for funding information.

I can feel the anxiety that has been creeping up through all of January reach it's peak today. I know I probably won't receive any results until next week at the earliest but I already have knots in my stomach. This whole process is exciting and terrifying at the same time. I already received one acceptance (no word on funding yet) which is already better than last year. It has helped to stay more optimistic while waiting for the other results. Good luck everyone!!

I got my first acceptance this afternoon from University of Alabama by a phone call. It feels good to get one after not being accepted anywhere last year. Now to wait and see if I receive any funding. I hope this a sign of things to come with the other places I applied to!

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions on my dilemma. The professor who I had in 2013 said she would provide a letter of recommendation for me. We talked on the phone and went over what I have been up to these past few years. She ended the conversation by saying that she felt she could write a strong letter based on the information I gave her. I am sure this letter will be stronger than the letter my other professor would submit. It has worked out a lot better than I expected. I was also given positive feedback on my statement of purpose from a former professor who has advised me through this process. He said it was a massive improvement from last years statement of purpose and that he would be really surprised if I am not accepted to the graduate programs. It was definitely a nice boost of confidence!

That's a good idea. I'll e-mail them and see what they say. I'm reaching out to a teacher I had in 2013 to see if they are willing to provide one. It's a stretch but it's worth a try.

Out of the six programs I am applying to, four require 3 letters of recommendation. The two other LORs I have are from former professors. The instructions vary for each school. University of Oregon states that they ideally should be from professors you worked with as an undergraduate. Georgia State University allows letters from anyone who can assess your capabilities and skills. The other two programs do not specify who the letters should come from. The former professor provided a LOR last application cycle. When I asked her earlier this year if she would provide one again this year, she mentioned that her letter might not be very persuasive and I might look for someone who is more familiar with my recent work. I explained my situation to her and she replied saying that she would provide one again. Today, I e-mailed her the list of programs and she responds by saying that she is not able to write these letters for me since it has been a while since she taught me. After reminding her about our earlier conversation, she still indicated that she was reluctant on providing a LOR. I sent her e-mail explaining my situation again but I have not heard back from her. The whole situation is sort of confusing. I don't want to rely on her providing a letter so I'm trying to figure out other options. I guess I should've had a back up after our first conversation.

So, I'm in a bit of dilemma. A former professor I had in 2014 has decided not to write a letter of recommendation for me. Even though she agreed to provide one earlier this year. With a month to go for some applications, I am now out of a letter of recommendation. I've exhausted all my options for professors since I graduated in 2014. Since graduating, the teachers I have had for online classes have been almost non existent so I haven't been able to build any sort of relationship with them. I work full time in a small family business that is completely unrelated to history. I guess an option is to get one from someone I work with. Does a non academic LOR carry any sort of weight or would that hurt me more than help me in this situation? Any suggestions on what I should do is definitely appreciated. I'm applying to MA programs, by the way.

Thank you for the recommendation! I'll give SLU a look.

University of Cincinnati and NIU both indicate that the majority of incoming masters students receive funding. The other programs award and offer funding through graduate assistantships. If I were to be accepted to any of the programs, I would be hesitant on accepting the offer if I don't receive some form of financial support. I feel I have a good writing sample, but I know it can use some improvement. I have improved as a writer since I wrote the paper so I am revising it in hopes to reflect that. I'm hoping my SOP and writing sample can make up for the analytical score.

This year will be be my second round at applications. I feel like the programs I am applying to this year are a better fit than where I applied to last year. Plus, considering my academic background (3.3 gpa and 3.7 major GPA), I think I have a better chance in getting into these programs. I'm applying to these MA programs: University of Oregon (David Luebke) Georgia State University (Jared Poley) University of Maryland (Philip Soergel) Binghamton University (Sean Dunwoody) University of Cincinnati (Sigrun Haude) Northern Illinois University (Vera Lind) I'm also reworking my statement of purpose and revising my writing sample as much as possible. The two things I'm worried about now are my letters of recommendation and my analytical GRE score. I graduated in 2014 so my LOR are from professors who I had 4-5 years ago. I'm not sure how much this time difference will matter. Also, last year when I took the GRE I got 157/153/4. I took it again a week ago and just got my scores back, 160/152/3.5. I raised my verbal score which was my goal in retaking the GRE. However, I ended up with a 3.5 on the analytical part. Although I know the GRE isn't the most important part of my application, I can't help but worry that the 3.5 is going to really hurt my application. I feel like I need all the help I can get to be competitive and any little extra weakness in my application will ruin any shot I have at getting accepted. Well, I wanted to get that off my chest. I thought I'd join everyone else and share my anxiety and worries! It's going to a long couple months for me. Best of luck to everyone!

Thank you for the responses! They were very helpful. When I applied to programs last year, I felt this part of my SOP was not well defined so I want to try to fix that this time around. There seems to be a fine line between going into too much detail and being too broad. I didn't want to be too specific and give the impression of being closed minded to suggestions. I will probably start with my interest in early modern Europe as a whole and then transition into early modern Germany and the historiographical debates that inspired my planned research. I feel my approach to the topic relies on understanding the current scholarship and debates on the peasantry and I hope I am able to convey that in my SOP.

Hello everyone, I will be applying to MA programs this application cycle and I'm working on the research interests portion of my SOP. How specific should you be when you are describing your research interests? My regional focus is in early modern Germany with a particular interest in rural society, peasants, and popular rebellion and I have selected programs with POIs that specialize in these areas. Since I am only applying to MA programs, does it benefit me to go into detail about what I want to study or should I go for a more broader approach to describing it? For example, should I talk about how I would like to research how divisions within rural society shaped peasant uprisings or should I mainly talk about my general interest in the social history of early modern Europe? Thanks in advance!

I completely agree. My plan is to limit myself to terminal MA programs next application cycle. I applied to a couple PhD programs this cycle and I feel like I could've spent the effort and money on other schools. I didn't do my research as well as I should've when it came to what was need to be a strong applicant for those programs. In my situation, I need to focus on getting into a MA program first. I think doing my MA in Germany is a great idea. Unfortunately, I don't know how realistic it is with my circumstances but it's something I still consider an option. I have some concerns and questions about studying abroad that I need to look into before I seriously consider it.

I am, also, in a similar place with my application. I think it is the main reason I haven't been accepted anywhere. I switched my major to history late so I only had one full year and a summer of history classes. I did well in those classes but I did poorly in my previous major's classes so my GPA is on the lower end. I did not start learning German until my last semester when I knew I wanted to study German history. Therefore, my writing sample uses primary sources in English rather than German. I think that really hurt my application. I tried to cover all these issues in my personal statement and show my commitment to history. I pointed out that my grades increased when I switched majors. I have been working on my German after I graduated by taking classes at a nearby university. However, I don't think it was nearly enough to compete with other applicants. My main goal this year is to try to strengthen my application. I'm going to contact the DGS or POIs at the universities and see if they can offer some information that will help me. Currently, I am struggling to find ways that would allow me to compete with stronger applicants since I graduated 4 years ago and lack the resources and opportunities that I had. Best of luck to you! I also want to thank everyone for the advice and support that you guys provide on this forum. It helps out a lot.

I still have not heard anything except the rejection from University of Oregon so I'm taking that as a bad sign. The other schools I applied to have already sent out some acceptances. Now it's just waiting for the rejections to roll in. Maybe a bit premature, but I have pretty much accepted the fact that I will have to try again next application cycle. I think I will spend this year working towards strengthening my application. Retaking the GRE, improving my German, and narrowing down my research interests even more are going to be my top priorities.

No problem. Best of luck to you too.

3.3 GPA. GRE scores: V: 157, Q: 154, 4. Not exactly the greatest GPA or scores so maybe that's why I was rejected. It was from the graduate coordinator and it seemed like an automated email.

Well, I got my first response today and it was a rejection email from University of Oregon. This one sort of hurts since it was my top choice. I'm not very optimistic in my chances but who knows what will happen with the other schools. I've been trying to stay off of gradcafe since I was driving myself crazy. Congratulations to everyone who has been accepted!

Thanks for the support everyone! I know it's ridiculous to be so pessimistic this early but I just have that feeling in my gut that it's not going to work out. I tried to make it clear in my SOP that I was working on my weaknesses, mainly my language requirement, and that my grades improved after I switched majors. My hope is that someone will see potential in my application. I am turning 30 this year so I don't know if I want to go through another year of this again. I don't have much opportunities to improve my application. I could take the GRE again and I could probably narrow down and clarify my research interests in my SOP. I could look into scholarships to study abroad but I don't know what I would qualify for. For some reason, I have this internal time clock that is telling me that time is running out and I need to see settle on a career. I can only hope that all this worrying and stress will be for nothing and I'll be accepted somewhere. It certainly helps being able to express this feeling of apprehension here. Best of luck to everyone!

It is not even February and I haven't heard back from anyone but I am having a hard time trying to stay optimistic. Even though I am not the strongest applicant, I hope I'm given a chance somewhere. I feel like I should start preparing my backup plans to soften the blow from all the rejections.