mercuetio

I'm in the same boat as you and am also unfamiliar with those practices.
(RE: the Brown situation and thread you replied to) Schools don't send out acceptances if they haven't reviewed all applications. Although POIs sendioes that actually happen? Woung out unofficial offers at different times, etc. can vary for obvious reasons, it wouldn't be logical for committees to send acceptances if they hadn't reviewed all apps. Even though things can be somewhat divided up by subfield, the entire committee still comes together to make final decisions (and often disagree on how many students each subfield should get) before even unofficial offers are made. This definitely wouldn't happen if the committee was holding off reviewing some apps for random and arbitrary reasons like alphabetical order (especially when there are very usually few spots available for incoming students). Since official offers have to first be rubber stamped by higher ups, all of the programs I'm familiar with all send all of their recommendations to admins at the same time (with obvious exceptions made for waitlists, etc.). Official decisions are typically automated and sent out all at once which is why the results page immediately lights up like a Christmas tree whenever top schools update their portals lol
@MatildaMedievalist There might have been a technical glitch on Brown's end, but my guess is that you're being unofficially waitlisted or something of that nature. There's no way of knowing at this point, but I wouldn't reach out unless it starts getting close to ~April 15. Although I share the temptation to reach out and ask programs for an estimated timeline, it is considered best practice to wait for them to reach out since asking for an update could be viewed as an annoyance. Fingers crossed for you!

Unless you have wealthy folks or have fallen into some inheritance, you shouldn't be attending one of those programs. You should not be falling into significant student debt for a history MA. I am sure the MAPSS program places a lot of students into PhD programs, but it is a cash cow for Chicago.

Hey folks, I have gotten a bunch of messages since posting my one acceptance, asking about my application process, etc. and I am happy to provide any feedback and answer questions whenever I can (as long as people know that this is not like a magic potion. I'm very lucky to have gotten in, but I don't pretend to know the secret to applying that nobody else knows). I have long felt that the nice thing about this community is that it's a group of wishful scholars supporting each other and providing a little clarification where possible to the more mysterious parts of this grad application process. 
That being said, I got an message this morning asking me if I was admitted to a particular program because it was the only program the writer had applied for and they stated that they hoped to "influence the outcome any way I can." This is so unbelievably inappropriate. It makes me sad to think that members of this community are going around trying to talk others out of attending programs that they were admitted to in the hopes of clearing their own way. Deciding on a program is a hard and intimate decision, and nobody should be trying to influence each other in any direction, let alone out of a good placement. 
I am going to step back here, and won't be reading any new messages. Please everyone try to be good to each other, and supportive rather than covetous when it comes to others' admissions. I know we are all desperate for good news in a hard year, but just be kind.

I know it really, really sucks to not be getting anywhere on your second try with a MA in hand.  I applied 3x in a row shortly after the Great Recession began when it seemed like everyone was applying to PhD programs to find some security for several years (and I was applying because I truly loved what I do and long wanted to get a PhD). i was exhausted after my second cycle (and one year after I got my MA). I wanted to take a year off but my (new) work colleagues encouraged me to try again one more time. With their help and bit of luck, I got in on the third try.  Yes, I was wiped, depressed, and broken after I got the acceptances and made a decision. The recovery to feeling like myself was very long. I encourage you to seek help if you can.
I don't disagree with @Sigaba's assessment of why PhD programs may be favoring US historians in this climate We don't know whether this result poster is a troll or what their work is actually on. As I mentioned a few pages back, PhD programs are being more self-conscious about who and what projects they're accepting as a result of BLM protests last summer. But what we do know is that the PhD programs are following the lead of the current academic job market, which is, frankly, strongly favoring folks doing race and ethnicity in US history, especially African Americans. Frankly, I am astounded by HOW MANY schools still do not have African American history specialists and this particular absence had to be pointed out by students and some faculty.
Hang in there. I know it's all very hard to take if you're not an Americanist or waited so long to get into a PhD program. THis pandemic definitely sucks but I've learned that there are always silver linings. Sometimes these silver liinings don't show up right away.

FWIW, the sensibility has been addressed by @TMP a couple of times in this thread.

The ongoing COVID-19 crisis theoretically makes completing the requirements for a doctorate more difficult to complete within the accelerated timelines departments may be using because of the financial uncertainties.
If you're an Americanist, you need one or two languages, one of which may be swapped for a skill. If you're  not an Americanist, one has to know the languages one needs to know. If you're an Americanist, you likely find enough archival sources nearby or even on line to do a great deal of research. If you're not an Americanist, the ebb and flow of the pandemic may make necessary travel impossible. If you're an Americanist, you can work as a teaching assistant in courses that may be more popular among undergraduates without needing to sacrifice time to get up to speed on a subject. If you're not an Americanist, and a department trims back on offering courses not centered around the United States, you are going to be behind the eight ball of a learning curve. A comment. I understand that this is a period of extraordinary uncertainty for applicants and that there may be a strong sense of frustration, even disappointment, because events are not unfolding as one would like. This being said, I urge all to understand that posts at the Gradcafe don't go away, and that there are faculty and staff among this BB's members.
Now is as good as a time as any to work on one's personal professional comportment. It's not what one says or what one asks that can lead to issues down the line, it's how one says something or how one asks a question that can prove to be an issue. FWIW, I have learned the hard way that professional academic historians pay very careful attention to tone and temperament. Or, as one professor with whom I subsequently became close asked himself "Who is this asshole?" The question came after I said something that was meant to be an ironic / humorous statement of respect.

Both after, last cycle and this cycle.
Have to agree that doing the applications after fully completing the degree, with grades in place and connections built and established, and more refined thoughts on my research interests, was very helpful. I think it would have been too overwhelming applying during my MA, don't know how you all do it!  
it has been an extremely competitive year, I hope you apply again next year when it will (hopefully) be a bit better.

One of the best things I did this year was severely cut down the number of programs I applied to. I only applied to places that I thought were a truly perfect fit, and for which I could really effectively support that assertion. And applying to fewer places meant that I could dedicate my time to just those apps.

No. No. Americanists and Europeanists have been a high proportion at U-M for quite sometime now, which might change as some profs are retiring in the coming years.
Lastly, numbers are difficult. The joint PhDs and solely graduate funded students did not change (about 5-6) while the dept funded students did change (anywhere between 2 and 6, but this changes almost every convo). The major issue with numbers remains the sudden change at the graduate school. Support for incoming students and precandidates was announced at the expense of candidates, so it is a real toss up at the moment.
Basically, U-M is going through some major structural and financial changes so it is really hard to figure out what is going on besides general trends, even for us on the inside.

100%! The department is under a lot of strain from the 2019 cohort, but also because the graduate school has refused to help fund extensions for years 5-7 which means the department is picking up the bill. The last 2 cohorts were cut in half and this upcoming one is cut even further due to funding issues caused by a sudden graduate school change to funding.
 
(Sorry, I have been the bearer of bad news from U-M for quite a while on this forum. I promise I'm a happier person in real life. =p )

Another thing to keep in mind re: UMich admission/funding is that the program overadmitted its history cohort in the 2019 cycle. This, in addition to the COVID situation, is probably placing financial strain on the department and influencing admits. I don't know how they will end up handling it, perhaps it just means they significantly slash the size of this year's cohort.

Guys we really need to stop thinking about the result. It will come sooner or later, and we can't do anything about it. It is ok to be anxious. But it is not ok to refresh the email and result page all the time! Just do the work we currently have and go get some fun at the weekend. If you can't, force yourself to.
(speaking to myself)

This was my experience with Berkeley too, and decided not to apply (I'm a medievalist, not a modern europeanist). Early on in the apps process, many schools I was interested in either explicitly or implicitly expressed a preference for Americanist scholars, especially those interested in studying race/ethnicity in America (probably as a direct result of the horrific events of this past summer). I'm also told that time to degree for Americanists can be faster than for medievalists or european scholars because they have fewer language prereqs and don't need to go overseas to reach their archives, and it's probably in a school's best interest to fund a student for 5-6 years as opposed to 6-7 years. 
Good luck to you both! This cycle has been brutal. 

Transnational Europeanist here.  There were VERY few jobs for Europeanists this year:
1) At a regional campus in a major city (222 applicants)
2) In a Christian college in PNW
3) In a teaching college in middle of nowhere in the Plains
4) In a semi-rural area of Kentucky
 
That's it. 4 tenure-track jobs alone.  Plus 2 on "France and the World" in liberal arts colleges.  Meanwhile, there are over 35 tenure-track jobs in.... you guess it, African American history or US history emphasizing race and ethnicity. PhD programs are certainly responding to the demands of BLM too.

This was my experience with Berkeley too, and decided not to apply (I'm a medievalist, not a modern europeanist). Early on in the apps process, many schools I was interested in either explicitly or implicitly expressed a preference for Americanist scholars, especially those interested in studying race/ethnicity in America (probably as a direct result of the horrific events of this past summer). I'm also told that time to degree for Americanists can be faster than for medievalists or european scholars because they have fewer language prereqs and don't need to go overseas to reach their archives, and it's probably in a school's best interest to fund a student for 5-6 years as opposed to 6-7 years. 
Good luck to you both! This cycle has been brutal. 

This was my experience with Berkeley too, and decided not to apply (I'm a medievalist, not a modern europeanist). Early on in the apps process, many schools I was interested in either explicitly or implicitly expressed a preference for Americanist scholars, especially those interested in studying race/ethnicity in America (probably as a direct result of the horrific events of this past summer). I'm also told that time to degree for Americanists can be faster than for medievalists or european scholars because they have fewer language prereqs and don't need to go overseas to reach their archives, and it's probably in a school's best interest to fund a student for 5-6 years as opposed to 6-7 years. 
Good luck to you both! This cycle has been brutal. 

You are so right. This has been an incredibly competitive and difficult cycle. Many, many qualified and brilliant people will be turned away. I'm going to try again next year if things don't work out. Good luck everyone! 

Thanks for the info- doesn't surprise me, sadly. I had emailed with a potential POI at Berkeley (in modern Europe) in the fall, and he said that he wouldn't be accepting anyone this cycle because of the pandemic, so I decided not to apply rather than wait for certain rejection. Seems like this is just a bad year for all applicants, some more than others.

As an addendum, I’ve been told that, at least in some places, americanists are being preferenced this year. There is also the fact that the job market for Europeanists is dire. 

Much fewer spots. My POI at Berkeley told me that I would have been accepted in a normal year, but that they had the lowest number of Europeanists that they have ever taken in. 

hi @coffeehum! I think you're asking some very good questions re: state of the academy and are right to point out the differences in institutional support in public vs. private and even among individual private institutions themselves. It is easy to generalize "public" vs "private", but I think that the question ultimately boils down to "which institutions have the best ability to support me in all aspects of my career as a scholar"".
I think that the best way to weigh your options when the time comes is to compare funding packages and have conversations with faculty and graduate students in the department to figure out what institutional support there is to support both your research expenses/experiences (guaranteed summer funding, language learning funding, internal fellowships, connections to certain research institutions, etc.) while you attend as well as looking at recent career outcomes for graduates of that program. Are they post-docs? Are they in a lecture contract at their PhD-granting institutions? Do they pivot out of the academy entirely? 
I'd also suggest not to let "fully-funded" trick you into believing that it must be living wage at the school you'd like to attend. The same stipend will go much further in Michigan than it would in California. I'm sure if you look back in the forum there's a lot of wisdom on how to discern financially -- and I'd also point you toward the pinned thread of funding packages on the forum. 
 

Hi! Your insight on this is much appreciated, thank you for giving me so much to think through. Shifting away from taking "fully funded" at its face value to considering cost of living, placement rates, research support, and other monetary and non-monetary forms of support seems like the most important step I need to take now. I've found it difficult to discern between programs that have a lot of money in the pot and programs that are smart and effective about distributing their money and resources for students, but your advice is helping me figure out what kinds of questions to ask. 

hi @coffeehum! I think you're asking some very good questions re: state of the academy and are right to point out the differences in institutional support in public vs. private and even among individual private institutions themselves. It is easy to generalize "public" vs "private", but I think that the question ultimately boils down to "which institutions have the best ability to support me in all aspects of my career as a scholar"".
I think that the best way to weigh your options when the time comes is to compare funding packages and have conversations with faculty and graduate students in the department to figure out what institutional support there is to support both your research expenses/experiences (guaranteed summer funding, language learning funding, internal fellowships, connections to certain research institutions, etc.) while you attend as well as looking at recent career outcomes for graduates of that program. Are they post-docs? Are they in a lecture contract at their PhD-granting institutions? Do they pivot out of the academy entirely? 
I'd also suggest not to let "fully-funded" trick you into believing that it must be living wage at the school you'd like to attend. The same stipend will go much further in Michigan than it would in California. I'm sure if you look back in the forum there's a lot of wisdom on how to discern financially -- and I'd also point you toward the pinned thread of funding packages on the forum.