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Boogs

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  1. I must say that strangely enough, I would agree with some parts of this statement, although I would phrase it differently, and it would (hopefully) be a more accurate representation of the truth. First, I was here last year, and got into a good school. I am revisiting to see if I could help. I go to an ivy league school, and I would agree that the faculty and the department takes immense pains to ensure that their students get placed into tenure track jobs in good schools. To rephrase StrangeLight's statement more precisely (and with less prejudice, I think), more faculty in Ivy League schools are more likely to watch out for their students than at other schools. HOWEVER - they also *have* to do that to keep their reputation up, and not solely out of the goodness of their hearts. Further, this does not mean that other faculty elsewhere would not do that. Baseline: make sure that your you *really* get along with your adviser. Not just in terms of fields etc - but as a personal connection. I am friends with my adviser. well, almost.

    The second "truth" about a good school (not only Ivy L ones) is a good library. Most university libraries are good for some things, and not so good for most others. Please factor in library resources (specific to your field) in your decision - it would be VERY annoying to get most of your books via inter-library loans.

    Third, I would like to point out that most students, esp. in History programs, change their minds about their specific projects after they get to school. In part due to evolution of projects, but sometimes because you meet a new (and different) faculty who changes the way you think, and suddenly you realize that you didn't want to be say an early moderninst anymore, but actually say a East Asianist. This may sound absurd, but I have met people who have made similar radical changes. Most good departments would be able to handle such a change. Your funding would continue, and the department would be as *strong* in that field as well. Please factor that in your decision as well!

    Best of Luck!

    I'm gonna toss in my two cents. Let me start by saying that I've no baseless ill will toward the Ivies or their inhabitants, thought I don't think that will prevent me being tarred as such. poorest_ear, you're speaking in such generalities that it's difficult to understand what basis you're using to back your argument. Not to mention the several contradictions you're argument's suffering from in the first place.

    I'm just going to focus on the Ivy League professors are more "committed" to getting their students placed. Which is it? Do the professors cynically promote their students to solely to "keep their reputations up"? Or is this commitment somehow impacted by how you get along with your advisor? Based on your logic wouldn't a professor at a "less prestigious" institution have even more professional motivation to place their students in great jobs so they can boost their reputation? It seems to me that no matter where you end up it's a crap shoot. How many people get into the ivies and end up leaving the program due to an "incompatibility" or "fit" with their advisor? Yes, the ivies have more institutional resources which translate to more opportunities for their students but by no means is there a correlation between resources and scholarly commitment to the training and promotion of graduate students. Hell, there is a history professor at Yale who balances his checkbook at his students dissertation defenses. I'm willing this person isn't too worried about keeping his reputation up via the careers of his students. You have to actually get a Phd from an ivy in order to cash in on its status.

  2. Got my Umichigan rejection today. Bummed me out until I remembered StrangeLight's story about not being able to enjoy her acceptance offer because of worry about outstanding applications. It rang my bell and woke me up. Thanks! Good luck and godspeed everyone!

  3. Roldan is 100% at Hunter College/CUNY. From what I understand she's on leave this year. I met her at a talk she gave at NYU, she's great. As for me, I work on political economy and race in 19th and 20th century Brazil. Strangelight, how have you found Reid Andrews?

  4. Just got an email from Northwestern with funding info--guaranteed support for five years and four summers! Also, they're having an admitted students thing March 8-9. Is anyone else going to be there?

    Just got an email from Northwestern. I'm in with funding for five years and four summers. Heu mihi, I'll see you in March. FYI: My field is Latin American and Caribbean History. I'm so happy!

  5. Just got an email from a prof at Northwestern letting me know that I should be expecting good news from the Graduate school in a few days. I'm guessing that the Latin Americanists met later than other fields. My first acceptance! I was feeling pretty bummed about the two rejections in a row but this has knocked that all out of my head. I now renounce all right to complain about anything. I am sick of people who got acceptances crying about how "hard" it is to choose between schools(plural). It's a luxury to have been accepted into one school let alone two or three. It's pretty gross to post about being wracked with indecision about your multiple acceptances when there will be many hard working and deserving people who end up with no offers this season. Good luck to all!

  6. Why's Brown taking so few? I applied there for modern Euro, so I might still be in the running but that doesn't sound promising. Princeton shook me off today, but I expected that. Still got seven out there, although without an invitation to prospie weekend at NYU that's looking much less likely. Oh well, I just need one acceptance. Fingers crossed?

    Word is the cohort at Brown is small due to the economic squeeze. Don't sweat the non-invite to NYU's prospective weekend. I personally know people who got invited, flown out on NYU's dime, and then brutally rejected. At the same time one of my closest friends didn't get an invite and ended up getting an offer with a LOT of extra funding on top of the standard financial package. The weekend is a crap shoot, albeit a sadistic one.

  7. Got unofficial and unfortunately very reliable news from Brown and Duke last week. Sorry for the late post. It took me a week to emotionally process the conversation. I needed to let the bitterness fade. I'm looking at rejections from both schools. Apparently, Brown is only making five total offers this year. All five are split between the Americanists and Europeanists. Duke on the other hand made offers to a much larger class of Latin Americanists than usual. I just didn't make the cut/fit. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news about Brown. Since these were the two schools I thought I had the best shot at, I'm looking at getting swept this season. F$%##%$$%! I know the two rejections are slowly creeping their way towards me but I'm still vainly hoping for an eleventh hour reprieve, which ain't coming. UGHHHH! This sucks! Any word on details from the Northwestern admits? Field? How big is the projected class? Anything? Good luck and godspeed to everyone.

  8. I've applied to Chicago and got an email about a month ago asking me to submit additional apps for FLAS and some other internal funding. No word since. I'm not too optimistic as UC tends to run a bit more buttoned up than some of the other schools I've applied to. I did a summer research program there last year and the place struck me as pretty stuffy. Fingers crossed.

  9. Another annoying scare. I just got an email from Brown titled: Brown University Graduate School Admissions Process. Of course the purpose of the email is just to thank me for applying and let me know that they'd be emailing me when they made a decision. Blarg!

  10. Received an email today titled "Duke Graduate School Application Status Update." They sent it just to let me know they'd received my application. WTF! Playing with my application is like playing with my emotions. Not cool.

  11. I don't know if people have seen this on UTexas's history department website.

    Each year approximately 300 students apply for admission to the Graduate Program in the Department of History. The usual entering class numbers about twenty. In fall 2010 we will admit only eight students. The admission process is thus very selective and only highly qualified applicants whose records indicate considerable academic potential are admitted to the program. Some of the students we accept already have extensive training in history, either at the undergraduate or graduate level. Others have majored in related disciplines such as economics, art history, law, philosophy, political science, or sociology. Students are admitted to our graduate program once each year for enrollment beginning in the fall semester only.

    Eight students, for the whole history department. Pretty scary stuff. I've also heard that UMichigan is making half as many offers as it did last year and padding its waiting list in order to avoid "overenrollment." Seems like this is going to be a common theme with all the usual suspects following suit. I feel like the Grinch.

  12. I'll second Carolina08's recommendation of James Green at Brown. And add that while he's focused on Brazil, some of his more recent work has moved in a transnational direction. Either way you cut it he's great.

    I'll also make a pitch for a great historian at a lesser known program, John D'Emilo. He works on gay and lesbian studies in the history program at the University of Illinois - Chicago. UIC also has History of Work, Race, and Gender in the Urban World (WRGUW) program which seems pretty interesting. That being said the funding is not great and it's dicey going somewhere for only one prof.

    Info on D'Emilo

    http://www.uic.edu/depts/hist/johndemilioprofile.htm

    http://www.uic.edu/depts/hist/Faculty/demilio.html

    Info on History of Work, Race, and Gender in the Urban World (WRGUW)

    http://www.uic.edu/depts/hist/work.html

  13. I'll second Carolina08's recommendation of James Green at Brown. And add that while he's focused on Brazil, some of his more recent work has moved in a transnational direction. Either way you cut it he's great.

    I'll also make a pitch for a great historian at a lesser known program, John D'Emilo. He's works on gay and lesbian studies in the history program at the University of Illinois - Chicago. UIC also has History of Work, Race, and Gender in the Urban World (WRGUW) program which seems pretty interesting. That being said the funding is not great and it's dicey going somewhere for only one prof.

  14. I've been city and archive hopping in Latin America for the past month. I'll be here for another month. I'm doing the research for my senior honors thesis. I'll be writing it this coming semester and also applying to history PHD programs. As an added bonus my Portuguese has dramatically improved. My goal is to turn this project into my writing sample. We'll see how it goes.

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