CafeConGabi

No worries. I hear that. I really hope they're fighting for your application to make it to the final round. Unless the professor explicitly says they want to work with you and that they'll do everything in their power to advocate for you, I wouldn't take their words as guaranteed admission. And even if a professor says that there is always a possibility that the rest of the department will say no.

Graduated with my MA a couple years ago but remember the imposter syndrome well! I did my undergrad at a University of California and my master's at an Ivy League. That increased the Imposter Syndrome 10-fold. Even applying to PhD programs a second time around brought some of it back. But I realized it's always going to be there throughout my academic milestones. So, I need to find ways of coping with the internal dialogue.

OMG. You seriously just told my story. I seriously hope you get good news from the last school. : ' )

Congratulations!!! This is such great news! : D

OMG!!! Yay!!! ^_^

Me me me me me! ? I check the portal every ?day! ?

I sure hope for some good news! ^_^ Sending you positive vibes!

A blueberry farm??? ? That sounds like so much fun!

It was a weird feeling tbh because I realized that no one else responded to me the same so it scared me. Maybe if I didn't apply to the schools that rejected me I'd be $400 richer ?. Oh well. What I did notice in your response and my POI's response is the word "fight". He called a couple weeks ago to congratulate me and said "I fought for you because I see your potential". I was like daaang. These professors be fighting for us. But even in that conversation nothing was ever certain. The rest of the faculty coulda easily made the case against me. So, even with his eagerness I coulda easily been rejected so I keep that perspective. I try to remember that nothing is final until the admissions committee sends me the official letter. So, all I can do is hope for the best. I still have 3 more schools to hear back from. Torture!

Baby gurl, You are beauty. You are grace. You are love. Don't let the world validate you cuz that needs to come from you. And please do not let others dictate how you express your God-given gifts. There is no shame in coming from nuthin'. Them clothes you get from them second-hand places don't mean shiiiet! What matters is your perseverance. Keep writing in your journal cuz one day you'll get published in a journal. Them times you played school? Embrace them. Be bossy. Be loud. You'll need it when you're giving lectures at the university. Keep walking with God towards them dreams y'all talked about cuz you'll need them to help others embrace their light. Love, Your future self

Congratulations!!! Woohoo! Go Highlanders!!! : D

Same! Fit for sure. Gosh. I e-mailed at least 30 POI before submitting applications. Lots of them were nice and encouraged me to apply. I spoke to some on the phone or Zoom. However, I was only able to click with one POI. I think the best way I can describe this moment is meeting an "intellectual soulmate" (if that makes sense?). We Zoomed and I can?not? tell ?you how comfortable I felt in their presence. I know it was a Zoom call but there was an ease to it that I didn't experience with any other POI. Like, yes we talked about the program and potential dissertation topics but we also talked about our lives as scholar-activists. We have lives outside of academia and sharing those identities allowed me to see the underlying humanity that wasn't as transparent among the other POI conversations. I even shared my longass academic journey (it took me 8 years to finish my BA and went from Forestry to Religious Studies?) but it felt like I was sharing it with someone who understood that struggle. I told him I was iffy about applying to the program because it wasn't History or Religious Studies--which is what I'm familiar with--and he told me I'd be okay. He talked at length about how he'd be able to connect me with other Religious Studies folks that he knows of and folks who do similar work on, and off, campus. By the end of the conversation he told me he'd like to be my advisor. I was like whoa. Um... Is this normal protocol? I didn't ask him to be my advisor. He even offered to look over my statement of purpose before submitting. Of course, he kept emphasizing "should you apply to the program" the entire time. I could sense he was really trying to sell the program but not in a car-sales-person way. By the end I was feeling a great deal of certainty that this was the program for me. It's funny because this was my wildcard and it turned out to be the school that made the most sense for me. I think it also made sense for the department because they've taken more religious studies students in the last three years. And, within the last two years, they also just got new archival material on religion and Mexican-American lives. In short, they're turning towards religion as a category of analysis and I just happened to apply at the perfect time. TL;DR. The point here is I felt like I could see myself working with this professor during the doctoral program but also afterwards--when I write my fourth book (I haven't written my first yet. I'm thinking long-term now ?). I think the way he kept saying "should you choose to apply to the program" reminded me that I also had agency in this process, that I was choosing the best for me the way they were choosing the best fit for their program. A good colleague presented it to me this way: you're basically choosing your legacy when you choose your advisor because they're the ones who will (hopefully) guide you through the process so choose them wisely.

Right?! I think I want to look at it this way. Yay us! I mean I was absolutely terrified to apply anywhere during the last application cycle--and the pandemic wasn't on my radar then. I was afraid of being rejected. And now I'm applying to eight schools. I mean, that's a pretty big turn and I need to give myself some credit for taking that leap. I almost didn't apply this season either! But here I am. : ) Here we are! Woo!

I feel the same way. I'm somewhat glad that I reached out to some POI before applying (Northwestern and UChicago) because they told me they weren't comfortable taking on new students during "uncertain times" (their words). At the time I was upset but now looking back on it I'm thankful I didn't spend the extra money on transcripts/application fees. Still, of the eight schools I applied to I've gotten rejection letters from 4 places. I'm sure the rest (3) will be rejections too. No interviews. I'm absolutely thankful for the one program that's offered me admission (not within my field but it's the best fit) yet I'm overwhelmed with the amount of rejection--heck, I've even questioned my worth as a scholar a few times during this application cycle. Of course, I try to remember that these are just my irrational thoughts coming to surface. I do my best to remind myself that it's been a tough cycle within a tough year. Hearing this I do my best to take care of myself and go back to the activities and people that bring me peace. I'm not a particularly religious person but I have my moments with God, or the Universe, and pray a little bit. But I don't pray for what I want. I pray to be guided towards where I'm needed.

Haha aww thanks. I was happy about the acceptance but I was 5x more excited when I emailed Prof. Holland about it. I'm so thankful I've been able to share with him my high's and low's. I cannot tell you how empowering it was to meet someone like him on my academic journey, especially at a place like Harvard. I've been obsessing about the application process so it's not just you ? I should totally listen to my own advice.

*crosses off UNC from the maybe list* Oh goodness. Well, good luck! : )

Did you do an interview for the Religious Studies dept at UNC?

Negative. I applied to UCSB and UCLA.

I know!!! I received both my UC notifications after 10 p.m. via email ? so I'm on edge. So ready to just write off Yale and move forward with the others.

Congratulations on making it this far! Not too many of us do. : ) This sounds super exciting and stressful at the same time. I saw a video a bit ago on interviews by Lillian-AlphaGenesis. It's a lengthy video but it goes in depth about making conversation with faculty. I think the big take-away is to be open and personable. The faculty may not have the same interests but y'all are still researchers/scholars with, hopefully, the goal of adding to human knowledge. That could totally be a point of departure.

Oh gosh. I hope you're in better health now! : ) I would take into account the amount of time GRE scores take to come back and have them sent to schools. I'd give it 3 weeks. So, I'd take the test the first week of March--just make sure they have an open spot available. I would personally take it only once because it's 200 bucks a test and I ain't got that kind of money to use on another test. ? Re: the low GPA. I would email the director of the program directly. They're the ones with the official answers. In the meantime, have an essay ready because the application will often have a personal statement or "anything else you want to share with the committee" section.

Totally outside my expertise but I'm curious. Have you reached out to the POIs? I personally would hold off until I'm familiar with their work. I'd go back and read their work. I'd check their footnotes and sources. This may lead to other scholars in the field. I would imagine that the field of sociology is prominent. Maybe check out some sociologists? I'd check their CV for clues about what other institutions, organizations, or groups they belong too. Are their talks or presentations they've given in the past? This, again will create, hopefully, new leads. I've thought about PhD abroad but never actually went through with it. I would definitely reach out to current grad student there first and ask about their experience. This forum has lots of people with grad school experiences abroad too. Lastly, when I've read at least a few of the POI's scholarly articles I'll email them. I usually frame it with "I have ___ background, working on ___, and would like to know how ____ research topic would be supported in the department." I've gotten some professors who were just straight-up no but many more who were able to 1) tell me how my work would be supported or 2) how it could be supported by other professors at other schools. I hope I'm making sense.

I sure hope so. Boston/Cambridge was pretty expensive.

Bahahahaha! Was I that obvious? ? Ooh! What class did you take? Prof. Holland was the most intimidating professor I ever had class with, and now he is the kind of professor/researcher I strive to be. He's not perfect but he never fails to remind me that I belong in these spaces. I TOTALLY get feeling intimated, especially at a place like Harvard. I come from a working-class Mexican household. I have indigenous features like many of the custodians and cooks on campus. I easily felt like I didn't belong there, or that I was less than in some way (intellectually, economically). Heck, I even had my first advisor (during my 1st semester) tell me to come back to office hours once I had an outline of questions. (Um, it was our first meet? I was still finding my topic/questions). She is no longer there so it doesn't help to mention names. But I felt so terrible. Subsequently, I kept getting advisors/professors who were just super inaccessible or uninspiring. During my 2nd semester I got my self-esteem back and realized no, I belong here. Harvard totally needs my analytical expertise. That mentality + maintaining my humility = opened so many opportunities while I was there. And I totally get being in an academic setting again. I've currently been feeling that (I graduated in 2018 and got rejected from 1st round of phd apps). It feels uneasy. But I think that's a strong indication about ourselves as researchers. I think. At some point I had to make peace with the fact that neither phd program accepted me. Am I even interested in this stuff? Was this all just for school/show? Then I became aware of the activities I chose to do on my days off (lecture series, read on certain topics, etc) and thought maybe I could always just be an independent scholar. I would still research but wouldn't be formally backed up by an institution. I mean, what is research? Someone once told me that writers write so I applied the same logic. As a researcher I would continue to do research. So, I did. And it's a good thing I did because it reminded me of the joy/fulfillment I feel when I go into the archives. It also allowed me to find a new potential advisor. So, I reached out, and he's not my potential advisor should I accept the UCLA offer (which I'm 99.9% sure I will). No one ever gave me the title of researcher. So, I claimed it for myself.

On topics: My topic before HDS wasn't as broad but at the end of the MTS it narrowed down to one particular historical actor. I found these pieces to be helpful: 1. Take classes that you are interested in. This may seem obvious but I really had to allow myself to take classes that I felt were going to help my research interests, and sometimes it was taking a class just so I could have access to some of the professors. I know friends who took classes all across campus and some off campus. 2. Office Hours. Use them. I was struggling in a class of 12 students--one student was working on their PhD at Oxford--so I felt intimidated. As dumb as this sounds I shared these feelings with the professor during office hours and he became my mentor for the remainder of my time there. He's a trained historian from Stanford so I picked his brain and took all the classes I could with him. He helped me focus on my topic, to some extent, but also helped me refine my methodologies. This eventually helped with letters of rec during the PhD application process. 3. Read for interests. Yes, grad school had some reading I didn't care for. So, when I felt like I wasn't getting my personal research needs met I would compile a reading list of books and articles I was interested in and read them during break (spring, summer, etc.). This helped solidify my topics and it allowed me to connect with other researchers at different institutions (potential phd advisors?). I'd just send a quick email thanking them for such-and-such perspectives. This also helped as an introduction when I met them at conferences. 4. Attend conferences. Lectures, symposiums--anything that sounds interesting to you. This will help bring you into conversation with scholars and their work in real time.