FruitLover

I really like Downton Abbey - it’s a British TV series set in the early 20th century.

Do you guys think it's worth asking the program where I will most likely go if they offer any help with moving expenses? I know it's not common at this level, but I'm wondering if anyone has ever done this or heard of anyone actually succeeding at it.

At my school, readers do attend lectures. But as the others have said, better ask yours about their expectations.

Oh wow! I wonder how many programs may do that and what that could mean for the next year’s cycle...

Have you tried meditation? It helps accept emotions as they are and be at peace with your mind. I've heard that some apps are more accessible now given the whole quarantine going on. Also, Sanvello is an app that helps deal with stress, anxiety and depression and is now offering free premium access (I've never used it, but I came across it and figured I may as well suggest it in case you may find it useful). Rejections suck, and I'm sorry you have to deal with it during such a stressful time of worldwide isolation.

Congratulations!

I felt a little uneasy about this as well, but I don’t think it’s a big deal after all. One of my POIs asked me right away what other offers I have and another one asked indirectly. Plus, some other faculty I’d be working with also asked or found out. So if they ask, I think it’s okay to share the information (they can probably even share their thoughts on the other programs or tailor their answers about their program to address why you may want to consider them over the other places), but if they don’t - you don’t have to bring it up.

I know of one person (not personally) who has gone from a top-5 History PhD program on to a high-paying consulting job. That was a couple of decades ago, but he still works in the consulting industry.

I am trying to think of the most efficient way to take notes on the books I read and keep it all in one place. Usually, I take hand-written notes, but I would like to move to an electronic note-taking system so I can access it from anywhere and search by keyword. Do you have any tips on convenient ways to do that? Please share your note-taking experiences. I know there have been some threads on note-taking, but I'm particularly interested in how you keep record of books in your field and those relevant to your research.

Oh, I see. I’ve never heard of stipends with no tuition waiver before...

Does the stipend come without a tuition waiver? Or you mean you got an 18k/year scholarship that essentially makes your tuition lower?

That makes sense. And would you say the ones with nearly 700 are for Europeanists or Americanists, open rank or something else broad in a desirable area?

Just found an interesting 2019 article that talks about an earlier point (about the limit on how long after getting a PhD you’re still a viable candidate) made by @telkanuru “Last year’s faculty hiring favored very recent PhDs. Of the 52 assistant professor searches about which we have outcomes data, 54 percent of the jobs went to candidates who were fewer than two years removed from earning their PhD, and 12 percent of the jobs went to candidates who were still ABD at the time of hiring. The number of individuals hired before defending their dissertation has been trending upwardsince 2010–11. While 10 percent of these positions were filled by individuals who earned their degree five or more years ago, these numbers largely confirm anecdotal evidence that the faculty market sharply favors very recent PhDs.” Also interesting: “This year, 117 advertisers replied to our query, 61 of them regarding searches resulting in tenure-track assistant professor hires. Unsurprisingly, these openings attracted high numbers of applicants: a median of 82 and a mean of 122 per position. The large gap between median and mean results from significant variation in the number of applicants, which ranged from as few as 12 to reports of almost 700. Eight advertisers reported receiving 200 or more applicants, compared to 12 reporting 50 or fewer.” https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/february-2019/the-2019-aha-jobs-report-a-closer-look-at-faculty-hiring

This is good to know/keep in mind. Does it matter then how long it took someone to get their PhD in terms of how it looks on job applications? And also, what do you think (theoretically) is a smarter move, a VAP at an R1 school or a TT job at a small regional/LAC college if you want to eventually be at an R1/2 school?

How long after getting a PhD and not getting a TT job would you say you could still realistically compete with new grads? I know it all depends on a range of factors, but I assume that it isn’t equal if someone with a Berkeley PhD from 10 years ago (and no TT job) is competing against someone with a Harvard PhD from 2 years ago...