BH-history

I just got an e-mail saying I was awarded a $25K fellowship for my first year (at Davis)! On cloud nine!

http://csl.uchicago.edu/languageexams/index.shtml

This page is a link to the language exams administered at the University of Chicago for a few years - they should give you a pretty good sense of what most language exams are like. Take one of the Spanish ones and try it as a test to see how you do.

If you're really struggling with the decision, my advice, once you've made it, is this: live with it for a few days before you click any accept or decline buttons. I made my decision on the last possible day -- literally -- and then changed my mind that afternoon, to boot -- I do NOT recommend this approach. When I couldn't announce to people, "I'm going to [x]," without feeling like I needed to cry, I knew I had made the wrong choice. Had I done that a week earlier, everyone's day would have been a lot easier. Try on the decision and make sure it feels right before you really commit.

Fact. Placement should matter first and foremost. If a prof has 100% success in tenure-track placements, then you know what you got to do!

For all other potential UW-M students, I heard back from my POI on the funding situation today and announcements should be arriving very soon. Unfortunately, I'm an alternate for what my POI called a "prestigious Chancellor's fellowship." That's not bad news necessarily, but still a bit of a disappointment since I was really hoping UW would come through. I suppose I'll just have to focus my energy on my well-funded offer from UT-Austin and the upcoming visit this weekend.

Best of luck to all other potential recipients!

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In my day,we didn't talk about age in public! You no good kids!
Ps scientifically proven that the 1980s (AD) was the best decade to be born

hehe, even better. check your PM!

Why don't you try the "City Guide" forum? People have a lot of advice about Austin apartments in the Austin, TX thread.

Thats what EB456 meant.. try the sub forum here : http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/18-city-guide/ ..

Posting there might get you more replies.

Okay, I've been lurking on and off all day BUT it is Valentine's Day and I have spread rose petals on the bed, candles around the room and just made fresh white and milk chocolate covered strawberries. Ribs and twice-baked potatoes for dinner. Add in a good ale from 2008. Then I'm taking my husband hostage.

Rejections? What rejections?....

Hey, I have to pamper my husband...he's the one that let's me do all this crazy grad school stuff and made me promise to try again if I have to! Yay to extremely supportive sig. others!!

I got into Georgetown with fellowship!!! This is my top choice!

I'm with vimundi on the support front. My family, friends, and colleagues never, ever gave up and pushed me to keep trying if this was my dream. They reminded me of all the hard work and efforts I've put in to plan for an acceptance into a PhD. There were so many times that I just wanted to drop the ball and move to another country and get a whole new identity. My professors, for what it's worth, went along and trusted me to do what i thought was the best for me.

That said about connections, I was going to PM you, Grimm, but I think my experience should be heard. Your comment made me think and I should tell what one can expect in graduate school.

Yes, I have professors who are well-connected. But they never, ever introduced me to anyone personally. No e-mail introductions. No handshakes when people came on campus for talks. At a recent conference, my adviser and I barely saw each other. So what did they do, really? As someone who's used to the professional job market and parents who relied on networking, I've been very frustrated that my professors didn't do any of what people do in the "real world." I doubted my self-worth in their eyes many times. I even wondered if my adviser's previous two students were actually introduced because, well, they seemed to be beter than me. Did she even care?!

Then while thinking about your comment, it hit me. They are passive. They're more likely to say, "I think you should apply to X and work with A, Y with B, and Z with C" and left it at that. I said, "Um, okay." Then I contacted A, B and C and introduced myself and said that my adviser suggested that I talk to you. Then there's more. One of the qualities that my adviser has that I truly admire is her savvy networking skills. I have stayed behind in talks or stopped in my tracks whenever I saw her talking to someone from outside of my university just to watch her engage with others. I did it because I thought, "Well, she's a big star and I want to be like her and be proud to be her student." It paid off to watch her body language and listen how she talked to those people. She taught me how important it is to be widely read and establish rapport with others who have different methodology or view on a particular subject (especially that our sub-field can be quite political!). All in the act of observation, no conversations on how to talk to So and So.

I employed what I've learned from her at a recent conference and... it really worked. I had professors hanging on every word that I said and were disappointed that the conversation was over so quickly. I was no longer just my adviser's student but someone who they'd really like to have as a future colleague.

FWIW, when I called my other professor abut my news, I shared that I had gotten into OSU, saving UW-M for when I officially got in. She said, "Well, did you have from Wisconsin?" I said, "Well, how would you know? I wasn't planning on telling you until it was official." She shrugged, "Because I heard from POI saving that he'd give you good news." I was surprised that he called her. I assumed that he also called my adviser. When I talked to her the next day, I asked if she had heard from UW-M, she said "No, I haven't heard anything. What do you know?"

Everyone operates differently in terms of networking. My adviser knew that if I wanted something badly enough, I'd take the intitative after she suggested places and names. She certainly wasn't aware that I had been paying attention until I told her and thank her for being a great example. Now that I'm realizing this, I can be a little less frustrated when my future professors are like this. Everyone's different.

I hope this makes you feel a little better, Grimm. I know you're very jealous right now. Everyone gets jealous in this process. Even I do get jealous whenever I hear of someone who got a BA from a top 10 history program and I just wonder to myself, why, why, why didn't I transfer to those places as an undergraduate? I don't get jealous of anyone who has a higher GPA/GRE than mine, just because I've done what I could.

People on here have been so incredibly supportive that I can't help but be thrilled for them.. especially those who're doing this for the second or third time and are finding success. Personally, I am very happy that they have been so successful this year and, in the case of people in my own field, hope to one day come across them. I have not seen anyone "gloating," simply being very happy to be successful, and I don't think it's fair to tell those people to go to "another thread." I WANT to hear their good news, for what it's worth.

The History board is definitely popular

To be honest, I've not noticed any gloating. Those who have shared their good fortune have always seemed to stop short of gloating. That's just my sense, though, as one who has yet to hear any positive news, and is therefore fairly sensitive right now. I know that if I receive an acceptance (or even a wait-list) I won't hesitate to share it here.