spacea

I've seen quite a few Chicago MAPSS post and as a MAPSS alum, here's some thoughts: Overall I came out with mixed feelings about it. I'd recommend it if 1. you get at least 2/3rd tuition funding (Or you are rich enough that finances aren't a constraitnt), 2. you have a good idea of what gaps in your academic training you want to fill in and 3. have some sense of what you want to pursue at Chicago in terms of MA thesis research. Otherwise, you will go in confused and come out more confused after 10 months. Contrary to what MAPSS admin may tell you, there isn't much institutional support; the program itself has no structure; so it really boils down to how proactive you are in terms of thinking about your MA thesis very early on, finding a good faculty to work with, tailoring your course selection keeping in mind PhD apps etc (For some of us, 9 months is just not enough to figure this out well). Also, quite a few of us treated MAPSS as some sort of an extension to our undergrad (like I did to an extent), which meant that MAPSS didn't end up really adding much value to our resumes.
That said, my life post-MAPSS turned out just fine (a good research job at a reputed intl think tank) and a now T10 offer, but at least in my case, I doubt if MAPSS really added much. And don't go by the PhD admit statistics they cite in their website (90% admit blah blah doesn't account for selection and we don't know the counterfactual ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).
 
 
 

Oxford and “the ivies” are not equivalent and MA admissions work differently in different countries. Ivy MA programs are often cash cows. I’d also question why you assume “the ivies” (a relatively diverse group of schools) will be the best place for your research, and why you’d assume they’re necessarily better than other schools—it rings some serious warning bells. 

Being told this isn't because you're black or a woman.  Don't be so narcissistic.  Learning to fail and being able to stand back up and brush yourself off is life advice that EVERYONE needs to live by.  You need to learn how to fail and understand that failing doesn't make you a failure.  There's a difference.  How did you learn to walk?  You failed and literally got back up and brushed yourself off.  Only, now, you don't have your parents there to pick you up.  Now, when you fail, you need to pick yourself up.  Friends and family surrounding you, encouraging you, is important to making that possible, but you are still the one who needs to do it.  Sure, every time I have been rejected over the last three years, I could have curled into a ball, called myself a failure, and never tried again.  That option is entirely available to you and there are times I've certainly considered doing the same thing.  But the mind set of "I've succeeded at everything I've done up til now" has only diluded you into thinking you're some unstoppable force--none of use are.  Now that it looks like you've hit a small obstacle, you have only just realised that you aren't so "unstoppable" afterall.  That fact is, that's okay!  It's okay to fail. 
We, as humans, will all be confronted with the limits of our own success, at some point in our life.  What makes a difference between the strong among us and those who aren't is whether we accept our failure, learn from it, and work hard to push ourselves beyond our limits.  Is the struggle harder for some than others?  Yes.  Do some have to work harder to get to places that come so easily for others?  Yep.  Do some people have a list of things trying to keep them from succeeding, that are entirely out of their control (societal, financial, etc.)?  Absolutely.  The question you, and everyone here, have to ask yourself is: Am I okay with taking the loss and moving on?  Or do I want to prove to myself I can push myself to recover from this and succeed through perserverance.  No matter what decision you choose, you're welcome to it.  But don't blame people who encourage you to be stronger just because you don't think you can or don't think they understand how hard it will be.  You may not take value in what I have to say because I don't know what it's like to grow up as a black woman in a society that severely marginalises against you.  That's fine.  But it doesn't make what I say any less valid as advice for dealing with failure.  Telling you it is okay to fail and try again, is not invalidating the struggle you go through to do that.  It's acknowledging that the journey will not be easy, but we have faith you have the strength to do it--even if you don't think you do. 
If you take nothing away from this, at least take this with you:  The only difference between failing and being a failure, is your perception.

Clearly you missed the message, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.  Good luck you to. 

I'm cheering for you! 
Also let's just ignore that person who came here to tell a woman who has found the courage to share something so vulnerable that she should just get over it. OP never let yourself be discouraged by such terrible and frustrated people. You will meet some of these along the way. I'm not American but I work on epistemological racism and I see so very well how the US can be such a toxic place for non white people to thrive. It is exhausting I know, I know. But you have come this far, don't beat yourself up, you will do go one way or another. Stay strong and soft. You don't have to be unbreakable either. 

I got accepted into my top choice!!!!!!!! With a fellowship!!!!!!

Finally got the Harvard HoS rejection as well! Not to be overly dramatic, but that "Unfortunately, enrollment of new students is limited to a small number who are qualified for admission" line is just... is so badly phrased, it really makes it easier to not feel disappointed about not getting in. We all know that far more qualified people apply than they can admit - there is zero reason to phrase it this way, other than optics. Congrats to the admits tho!

I heard back from Harvard - admitted w/funding. To my knowledge they have sent out all their admits, waitlists, and rejections.

Update: after emailing Harvard my portal almost instantly got an update, lol. Generic rejection. C'est la vie. 

Same. I applied to 5 schools and have radio silence from all of them so far (two of those I know notify later in March or beginning of April). The silence is terrible, though. It constantly makes me wonder whether it is an implied rejection, or some unofficial waitlist, or just the POI having a tight schedule.

Same. I applied to 5 schools and have radio silence from all of them so far (two of those I know notify later in March or beginning of April). The silence is terrible, though. It constantly makes me wonder whether it is an implied rejection, or some unofficial waitlist, or just the POI having a tight schedule.

It was via email! If you haven't heard back yet I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.  

Yes, best of luck spacea! 
An additional thing that I read on this forum is that a History applicant from a previous year was told by Chicago that they would have taken them if they would have expressed more clearly that Chicago was a top 3 choice. Chicago felt that this person would have definitely turned them down, and so did not admit them, even though they would have liked to. Something to perhaps keep in mind for future applicants. I know on my application for Yale I made is clear they were at the top of my list, and while I do not know if it made any difference, it certainly did not hurt. I do know that Chicago History's number of accepted applicants has been trending down yearly, and this probably fuels some of that mentality. 

I e-mailed Harvard to ask about my rank on the waitlist. They told me that I was ranked number 1, so it seems I have a pretty good chance of being admitted. I would recommend anyone to e-mail a school they have been waitlisted at and ask if they have a ranked list so that you can have a better idea of where you stand. Mind you, not all of them will. For instance, UPenn does not rank their waitlisted applicants. 
Additionally, as I still have not heard back from the University of Chicago, I e-mailed them to ask about the status of my application. For those of you who are still waiting on Chicago, it might be of interest to you. The response is as follows:
"Your application is currently in final review. We expect to begin sending out official decisions late February to early March. This process can take several days to complete; there is no way to know when in the process your decision will be sent. No further changes or additions to your application may be made."

I've been working with a few people looking at starting a little homestead where people can live sustainably/visit and use their skills by teaching lessons or just having creative space. Shockingly this feels less idealistic than a PhD, but academia is still, I think, where I want to be. 

I guess this is a lesson not to count your chickens before they hatch. It appears I was wait listed for the Harvard History and East Asian Languages program. As I am now on two wait lists, there is now lots of waiting to do apparently. 

Hey guys, 
I'm a third-year in a PhD program and I lurk on these forums every year...
Quick advice - as you turn down offers, please remember that if you've done your legwork properly, these are probably big names in your field that you will continue to see and cite for years to come. I turned down an offer three years ago and continue to email that professor regularly. In fact, she reviewed my comps list for me! 
All this is to say, please keep in mind that academia is a small small world. If you liked these people enough to apply to work with them, you probably want to be able to come back to them over the years. 
 
Good luck to everyone! You're almost there!

For some reason, this was really funny, especially the second sentence.
 

My advice is don't lose hope, it's not over until you receive your results. 
I was on the same boat as you guys and haven't heard from any program at all until yesterday when I woke up with an email inviting me for an interview weekend with pretty much all expenses paid, and I live overseas! 
I also wrote to Penn State and the officer stated that offers should be made in March.

Just to update, shortly after I posted, I GOT ACCEPTED!

I understand, the same thing is happening to be with CU Boulder. I have seen a couple of rejections and acceptances but I still haven't received any news. I also called yesterday and was told that decisions should be out "soon", so that's not a lot of information. As an international student I also had to submit my application on December 1st (the deadline for domestic students was like January 15th or something), so it has been extremely frustrating to see American students get decisions before me even though I submitted my application almost a month and a half before they had to. That's just the way admissions works, the waiting is the worst part.

I accepted my Michigan offer today and withdrew my application from NYU. Michigan's offer is too good to turn down in my opinion. With my name off the wait list, hopefully, someone from here will get that acceptance.

Get off of here guys. Stop stressing yourselves!! Apps are in just enjoy the wait!!! Go out and party while you wait haha

☝️

It literally could just be that you haven't been notified. Not trying to false hope anyone but it's really not over until it's officially over.