historyofsloths

I haven't heard anything about MA students yet, but if I do, I'll keep you posted! ETA: Of course, as soon as I hit send, I get an answer. Looks like the vast majority of acceptances for the History MA have already gone out. IU doesn't waitlist the MAs, but they do tend to hold onto rejections until the end of March. If you haven't heard anything either way, it's more likely to be a rejection. Sorry, @klynn

I received waitlist emails from U of Michigan and Indiana U at the beginning of March, both emails told me that if I didn't hear anything after a month passed that I should email X person and ask about my status. Once I did that, the DGS at IU let me know the waitlist was ranked and that he was waiting for just one person to reject their offer so he could extend one to me. U of M didn't tell me anything about their waitlist, just that I was on it and I should just hold tight. As TMP said, it's institution dependent, I can't even guarantee that my experience was the norm, I was emailing as everyone was shutting things down due to COVID-19.

Congratulations! You'll get an email from someone in my cohort to welcome you, but if you have any questions about the program or Bloomington, feel free to send me a DM!

As @ashiepoo72 and @starshiphistory have pointed out, there are diminishing returns for joining the society as an already admitted PhD student. I want to be part of societies and organizations that I can contribute to, not just passively participate in by holding a membership, and from what I can glean, participation would have been beneficial in undergrad. I thank you for your insight and will take your comments into consideration.

Thank you for your response! I considered asking my advisors if I should join because the questions you brought up are definitely worth considering. And you're right, I'm not trying to pad my CV, I'm trying to determine if this will help with my growth as a historian not just to have a membership to list. Thank you so much for your reply! Your last sentence also confirms what my friend said: he was an active member in his undergrad and throughout his PhD and he was able to attend the regional conferences held by our alma mater, but that was the extent of it. I think if I had been asked to join during my undergraduate career I may have considered it more seriously, but from the sounds of it, I think I'm going to pass on this one and actually invest in becoming a member in a society that's tied to my subfield (this advice is per my friend).

Worth it in terms of networking and engaging other historians. They have their own journal, regional conferences, and awards/scholarships, I had just never heard anyone in the History department speak of it during my undergraduate years. I also think you're right, joining a professional organization may serve me better than an honor society. I suppose if I didn't find valuable engagement. For example, if the regional conferences they advertise don't take place near me (from what I can see, my department technically has a chapter, but it isn't active) and I can't network. I've been invited to join honor societies before for nominal fees, but I've never joined them and I was really curious to know if I should start now. I appreciate your input AP and Sigaba!

Hello everyone, I've recently been invited to join Phi Alpha Theta, the National Honor Society in History. I was sent an email from the faculty advisor of my alma mater and I'm curious if it's worth joining. I've been invited to join Honor Societies before, but I didn't know that one existed for the field of History, and I'm curious what benefits come from being a member. I've read the website, but I can't seem to find any definitive opinions on it, though there are some wishy-washy answers. Thank you for your help!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10XIYhIw4fCbUend2WkA3iujfftu9TrXwR-YKcgr3JKo/edit#gid=693576939 It's this link, it was updated on Page 5 of this thread.

Shouldn't this be the Fall 2021 thread? Or am I misunderstanding.

Hello! I'm coming to IU for a PhD in History and minor in Jewish Studies.

Finally heard from Michigan today. They said they're not taking anyone off of the waitlist this season because of financial restraints due to COVID-19. I'm not shocked, the odds were stacked against me (in terms of the amount of people who still had to make their final decisions) and I wouldn't have been able to make an informed decision had they accepted me, but it does still sting a little bit. Onward and upwards, I accepted my offer from Indiana University and I'll be moving to the Midwest in the summer! Good luck to anyone else still on the waitlist, I know it's rough with only one week to go, but I hope it's good news.

A program offered me an extension on the deadline if I felt I needed more time, but that was the only one. The others have the deadline written in the acceptance letter and they seem to be sticking with it.

Typically when they've notified people of acceptances they also send out emails to the waitlisters. You're not out until you're out, but it took weeks for UPenn to reject me, so who knows.

Oh wow, I mean, given that they haven't sent me an email saying that I've been rejected, I assumed people were continuing to wait to make a decision, but now that they've sent that out, you're probably right, that may set off the dominoes needed.