historygeek

I was talking to my thesis advisor today, and he said that top programs (Harvard, for example) are really cutting down how many applicants get accepted (he said from 20 to about 6). Does anyone happen to know the validity of this? In happier news, I picked up my first grant check today!

My friend got an acceptance today (in psych). He was accepted for an MA, but not a PhD. Are these the letters that usually go out around this time?

I also got this.

Anyone else been obsessively checking their emails already? I’ve been so anxious about this process.

Thank you! Here's hoping. Thank you! Don't worry-- I told my parents and boyfriend first!

This isn't grad school related, but I'm so excited that I had to tell someone... I got the news today that I was awarded a grant! My first ever!

You're not overstepping at all! I appreciate it! And thank you all for your words of wisdom and encouragement. ? I've found a power yoga class offered by my university that will probably be keeping me sane next semester.

Okay, I'm not gonna lie, I'm already freaking out and it's not even December. I'm only applying to schools where my POIs have said I would be a good fit, but I'm terrified my stats (3.45 gpa, 160v and 5.5aw) will be the kiss of death. I know my LORs will be great, my SOP is strong (if I do say so myself), and I'm incredibly proud of my writing sample. But I'm still terrified I won't get in anywhere.

From what I saw, they match them as soon as they get them. Screenshot to show what that looks like on my Columbia status page.

My two cents as someone applying and has my SOPs written: if you have to ask if plagiarism is okay, you're off to a bad start. When I wrote my SOPs, I struggled with editing my interests down so they met the word limit. I get it. When you're passionate and excited about something, you don't want to limit yourself to 500-1,000 words (most of which won't be dedicated to your research interests anyway). But if we can all write SOPs within these word limits without plagiarizing, you can, too.

This is actually the history forum!

I didn't include any classes on my CV. I totally get where you're coming from about overthinking because of the stiff competition (my overall GPA is only a 3.45 and my verbal GRE was only 160), but I feel like grad schools will mainly want to see awards, internships, languages, etc. on a CV. As for the page limit, yes, the page limit refers to the primary content. Works cited pages aren't counted in the page count.

Christmas break is going to be KILLER. At least in the latter half of January, I'll have my classes and Phi Alpha Theta to keep me busy...

I feel this! I hope I can get into literally one school at least. That's all I need!

I decided to write about a superstition that my great-grandmother had for me (don't sit on the corner of the table; you'll never get married!) and applied to that to the way I retained my own cultural presuppositions when I studied abroad, then explained how this led to me developing my research interests.

Thank you! You too! The amount of documents for that school is super weird to me.

I've submitted all of my applications, just need to pay 2 more application fees and get my letters of recommendation in. I absolutely can't wait another 1-4 months to find out!

If I were you, I would email the professors you're interested in directly. At least in my field (history), there aren't really lists of people accepting students.

UGH. I have no idea what to write for it. I want to write about being close to the female immigrants in my family, but I feel like that's just not good enough.

Is anyone else applying to UMich and having a hard time writing the personal statement?

I submitted all of my applications except Michigan! I'm incredibly nervous, but also so glad to be almost done.

This is just from what I've seen, but my POIs have put a lot of emphasis on the writing sample. Columbia (I think) designated it as the "often decisive" document.

No problem! It's a great school and city-- let me know if you want to talk about student life!

I'm anxious right now. I had planned on applying for fee waivers, but (at least for the University of Michigan), my EFC is too high to waive the fee. The EFC to get approved at Michigan is $1,200, and my EFC is above that. Is this the normal standard cut-off? I'm kind of panicking about it.

My POI at Harvard said the same thing; ditto with Columbia. NYU actually just completely waived the GRE requirement. I had a 160V and a 5.5AW, and everyone has told me that that was fine.