mediumatcha

I would just leave it. I'm pretty sure they've made decisions/finished meeting, so you're not reducing the decision-making workload. Possibly a few people are yet to be notified (though I doubt it at this point), and if you're amongst them it's probably just going to irritate your POI if you pre-emptively turn down the offer after they've spent time making decisions. If you receive an offer, turn it down then. Otherwise you're just sending unnecessary emails (a big academic sin). 

@Historiker Take the PhD offer. Other than just the ranking, what is really the advantage of doing a MA at a 1-5 if it's not completely funded?  As you can see from the boards (and perhaps my cynicism), getting into a PhD program itself is very difficult and it's not unusual to apply several times.  Schools in the "top 20" are still very solid.  It's what you make of the opportunities while in that the department and within that university.
You e-mail the DGS and your POIs a sweet, short note that you will be declining the offer to attend elsewhere (or whatever other plans you have) and THANK them for their time in reading  your materials and hope that your paths will cross in the future.

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.

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. 

@Jericho Thanks! I guess it was fortuitous that I posted this morning, because I just got my acceptance

Kind of moving between two eras here - broadly a Southern historian, more specifically Civil War/Antebellum period , but I also have some interest in the late 19th/early 20th century as it pertains to Confederate memorialization.
 

I just turned down my Northwestern offer. Hopefully someone on here can make it off of the waitlist. @Balleu and @Rekishishu perhaps that means one of you!
Writing to your POI whose work you admire so much and telling them that you are "rejecting" them is a really difficult thing to do. I did not really anticipate just how hard it would be at the beginning of the process!

I officially accepted my offer to Berkeley in US History. I hope this opens a spot up at Rutgers and possibly NYU! It feels wild to know I will finally begin my PhD in a few months. ?

I have seen rejections but I haven't seen anyone post about a waitlist. I hope that you get in!!

I officially accepted my offer to Berkeley in US History. I hope this opens a spot up at Rutgers and possibly NYU! It feels wild to know I will finally begin my PhD in a few months. ?

I officially accepted my offer to Berkeley in US History. I hope this opens a spot up at Rutgers and possibly NYU! It feels wild to know I will finally begin my PhD in a few months. ?

I officially accepted my offer to Berkeley in US History. I hope this opens a spot up at Rutgers and possibly NYU! It feels wild to know I will finally begin my PhD in a few months. ?

I officially accepted my offer to Berkeley in US History. I hope this opens a spot up at Rutgers and possibly NYU! It feels wild to know I will finally begin my PhD in a few months. ?

Hi all! I want to start a thread that's about general decision-making practices rather than asking for input or advice on one individual's choice between specific programs. I think it might be a helpful exercise for folks to post two things: the factors they're considering when making a decision, and the process they're using to sift through those factors and arrive at a conclusion. I know it would be helpful to me to hear what other people are doing.
I'll go first.
Factors that are important to me:
Funding offers (How much is the stipend and what, if anything, are my teaching responsibilities? Can I hold other jobs while funded?) Adviser/faculty members (How close is their research to my interests? How well do we get along?) Program requirements (e.g. one program requires master's-level statistics competency coming in, while the other teaches it as part of the degree) Course offerings (Which courses interest me the most? Which offer the best preparation for my dissertation?) Institutional resources (campuses abroad, research and conference support) Additional credentials offered (graduate minors or certificates) Department character and priorities (Is the atmosphere competitive or collegial? Are they focused on academic or non-academic career training?) Location and commute (If School A offers me more money but is a two-hour round trip from my home, is it still a good deal?) Placement of graduates Cohort of dynamic, engaged, and diverse students Processes I'm using to sift through these factors:
Listing courses that excite me at each school and comparing Attending advertised recruitment day; seeking an individual visit if there is no recruitment day. Would like to meet and talk with current students. Emailing/meeting with faculty and potential advisers Discussing the options with my current colleagues and previous advisers Talking it over with my spouse That's where I am so far. I'd love to hear what others are considering -- maybe you're thinking about something that hasn't occurred to me!
I did also look up the rankings of the two schools I'm considering, but I really don't know if that's an important factor for me. I'm also not sure whose rankings (if any) to trust, or what metrics are most important. If anyone out there uses rankings as a decision-making factor, I'd love to hear more about where you got those rankings and how you use them.

(a) I understand this attitude, and I was hesitant myself about applying. However, applications for me were free,  and for personal reasons I had to limit myself to a certain geographical area, making Harvard one of the better schools in that range. Therefore, it really cost me nothing to just apply with the materials I had prepared. To be fair, as mentioned, I do like (really like!) the scholars in the department, but it really would not be where I would have liked to end up given my current project and the current focus of the department. However, one can certainly do worse than Harvard, especially given the fact that the large majority of universities I would actually consider poor fits. I know some people in my sub-field who did get in to Harvard this year over me, and I feel that their projects really do fit the department, so I think these things work themselves out very well in the end.
(b) Yes, I agree with this. In fact, when I left, I received advice from a professor there I was very close to. He said that he thinks it would be a poor decision to return to UPenn in the future, as I probably had experienced all that the university could give me already. I appreciate your sound advice as well as a reminder of that.

(a) Then.... why did you apply to Harvard?
(b) If it makes you feel better, it's really much better not to do BA and PhD in the same institution unless the degrees are from two entirely different departments. Many well-meaning professors know and understand the perils of being in one place for a long time: one doesn't get such a wide variety of perspectives to improve and bolster one's scholarship. While I'm sure it'll be nice to go back to the familiar, it's better that you go to Yale.

Whelp, got the official "LOL NO" from Wisconsin, so it's down to Cornell as my last shot at a PhD program this year.  Cornell is my strongest match and was my strongest application of the group, so we'll see how it plays out.  I feel like it was much improved from last year as well.
/crosses fingers

I've been admitted to Harvard's History and East Asian Languages! On a Saturday!

It's Crimson.

HoS seems to have a separate process from the history department, so you might be right. I have less hope for myself because there a few acceptances posted for the "regular" history department already. Good luck! 

Also... sitting here feeling sorry for myself and I get an email acceptance from Brandeis. It helped to put things in perspective.

I just got my first acceptance, everyone! I was getting worried after 4 rejections in a row, but I'm happy to finally have some good news!!

I really think it puts some schools at a disadvantage for not responding sooner. I only have a Yale acceptance right now, and all I can do day and night is plan my future there! I interviewed with UPenn but until they actually accept me, I can't consider it a possibility and have tried to pushed it to the back of my mind (mostly to not get too disappointed). 

I'm ready for the annual Harvard Valentine's Day Massacre! Good luck today, everyone!

Yes, I did the Columbia MA in Paris 2017-2018 year. This is a copy/paste from my acceptance letter:
"On behalf of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Columbia University, I am pleased to offer you admission as a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in the History and Literature Program at Reid Hall in Paris, beginning in Fall 2017. As a student in the program, you will be enrolled full time in the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 semesters. We are pleased to offer you a 25% tuition scholarship in the amount of $13,589. Your program will provide you with information about your specific package of support and how it will be disbursed. The estimated tuition for 2017-2018 is $54,356 ($27,178 each for the fall and spring terms)."
The department is tiny and helps you to find housing. The program has one option for au pairing-- I babysat for about 8-15 hours a week and got a studio for free. However, I know that it works differently this year, and the au pair has to pay a bit each month. There is also a work option for tutoring French students that pays between 400-500 euro a month.