historygeek

I was walking home from the mailroom, with my hands full of packages and Panera, when I heard my phone do my email notification noise. It just said "Villanova University - CLAS Application Decision." As soon as I got home I threw my stuff down on the ground, logged in and, lo and behold, there was a status update that was my decision!

I love this! Here are some of mine: Hydrate! I always feel a million times better if I've had enough water. Eat healthy! Microwaving some frozen fish and a bag of vegetables takes ~10 mins, and makes me feel super replenished. Yoga! I love the way I feel after I do yoga. Hot shower! Just being able to get clean makes me feel amazing, and I love to sing in the shower. Journal! I've found that bullet journaling has been such an awesome outlet for when I need to express my thoughts. Go to the library! Maybe it's just a history major thing, but I find spending time in the library, even just looking at the spines of books, to be so relaxing.

1. Be honest with yourself. I chose a field that I felt like I had to be in instead of one that I was more interested in, which was my first really big mistake. I also didn't think about whether I was actually ready to do a PhD straight out of undergrad. When my thesis advisor encouraged me to apply to Masters programs, I was feeling like he just was underestimating my abilities and I was almost insulted. In the process of writing my thesis, I realized that I could benefit from more practical training. I also chose schools based on their ranking and made very loose fit judgements. 2. Don't apply to too many schools. This is advice I should've taken from people on GradCafe, but I was a lot more worried about getting than I was with making sure I only applied for the programs I fit best in. This backfired immensely, and I wasn't able to write really good, focused statements of purpose. When I apply to PhD programs next time 'round, I will definitely be tailoring my SOPs much better and make sure I only apply to about 5 schools with a good fit. 3. It's okay to be rejected. I think that one thing that has been hard for me is being willing to put it out there that I was rejected, especially when I see people getting accepted to amazing programs. It's not something to be ashamed of, though, because it's not because you're not good enough. It's because someone else had a better fit for the program than you did. 4. Don't be afraid to apply for an MA program. Funded Masters programs exist in history, but they're harder to find. A Masters program isn't a consolation prize or a sign of failure-- a lot of people on the results page have had MAs! 5. Use your advisors/professors. They will be willing to help you go through your writing sample and SOP. Yes, people on here will help you, and writing services can help you with your grammar, but professors will probably be the best people to go through and make sure you have everything you need.

Yeah, yesterday's results page was... upsetting.

I see you were accepted to a school in Italy! FWIW, I found the student visa and green card process there relatively painless, though my visa was only a few months.

I'm also waiting for Michigan.

Just got my first official rejection! I feel strangely okay right now.

Just got the rejection notice on Columbia's site. Congrats to anyone who was admitted! I love that it gave me the option to download my rejection letter as a PDF, though.

Easier probably wasn't the best way to phrase it! I chose an American history thesis because of the availability of related archives, and applied as an Americanist in part because of the accessibility of relevant archives.

I'm not sure who the other Villanova admit was, but they have a visit day on April 6!

Nothing from Columbia on my end, either.

Wow-- thank you for all the advice, everyone! Just to address some points: I've always loved European history, and it's consistently been the field I'm most interested in. All of my upper-level history classes have been in European history (ranging from classical Greece to Rome in late antiquity to British imperial history to 20th century Italy). I chose to do a thesis on American history because of an internship I did at a museum in the Italian neighborhood of St. Louis, and felt that it would be easiest to do a thesis on American history (though I heavily considered doing my thesis on modern Italian history). I worried, though probably erroneously, that I would only get accepted to American history programs, so I applied mainly to American history programs (and some global). As for my language training, I'm double majoring in history and Italian, so I have one language under my belt-- another reason I felt that applying to PhD programs in American history was the best course of action. I'm trying now to learn Latin, and will try to be learning German and/or French in the near future!

Thank you for your response! One of the PhD students at my undergrad did her MA at Villanova, so I talked to her today and was assured that it was a flexible program, which was a relief. I've also been thinking about it and I realized that I'm not sure that I'm totally ready for a PhD program just yet, so that is definitely also going to be taken into consideration.

Hi everyone. For a while now, I've been noticing that my research interests have been changing. Though I applied to grad school in American history, and am writing a thesis in modern American history, I've realized that I've grown a bit disinterested. ? A majority of the history courses I've taken are in European history, and I've found that I've been much more interested in European history. More dramatically, I've found that I've been the most excited about medieval and early modern history. My fear, though, is that my experience as an undergrad would make it hard to get into European history at all. So far, I haven't had any PhD acceptances and I'm honestly not expecting any, but I do have an MA acceptance. Would it be best to accept and attend this MA program to get my foot in the door with non-American history, or just continue in the field that I wrote my undergrad thesis?

I mean, it's probably a good sign I haven't been outright rejected (yet), right? RIGHT? ...please?

ahh that's what I was afraid of. In the case of Harvard and Columbia, is it fair at this point to assume rejection?

Absolutely this.

Okay, it looks like maybe the Columbia decisions have stopped?

Anyone know what letter we're up to in the Great Columbia Massacre of 2019?

Oof. This is brutal.

Yes! so now I'm refreshing their applicant portal and Columbia's.

I hope it's not the case that everyone has been rejected! I was pretty confident about my fit there, so I'm trying to hold out. ? Even if I don't get in, I hope at least someone on this forum can!

Same. ? Someone pointed out that it could've been an acceptance for the Art History program. My POI said she couldn't really say when decisions would be going out.

It does. I'm a W. I'm wondering if that's why it took so long for the Error 503 link to disappear from my Harvard portal?

I don't have anything from Columbia yet. Knock on wood.