Maguire

That's good to know that they have stable funding packages. I'm hoping that even if I don't get in this year due to COVID and not having a masters, I'll get in next year when things are somewhat more "normal" and I'll have my masters. I think the message re Northwestern is intended more for @BJL2021 - I didn't apply to Northwestern History this year, but will next year if this cycle is a bust! I'm kind of hoping that Michigan will get back to us this week - the past 5 years decisions have always come out 2nd week of February, so feel like this could be the week!

That’s fantastic! ? I have a couple of POIs who I previously communicated with at Northwestern in the US field who are really nice and I think would welcome my application in the 2022 cycle - it looks like a great department. Michigan and Wisconsin-Madison are my main hopes now for this cycle due to departmental and POI fit. I know Wisconsin is coming out this week for sure (graduate coordinator said so) and hopefully Michigan won’t be too far behind!

Congrats on getting in! I’ll be applying there next year if things don’t work out this year with any PhD offers (I’ll be heading to Cambridge to get my MPhil instead). Hopefully the cohort size will increase again slightly next year. I regret not applying there this year but I was led to believe they might be pausing admissions this year so I applied for Pol Sci there instead but I wish I hadn’t ? Do you know how many Americanists they took this year?

Since it is the weekend, here’s something I saw on Twitter which is both history-related and very funny:

Their website says they usually enrol 22 students per year. I don't know how many offers they give out. There's 6 acceptances on the results page. Of course not everyone accepted will post on GradCafe, but would be interested to know if anyone accepted is for American History or if those offers have yet to come out ?‍♀️

From the looks of the survey page, Stanford was a bloodbath! Did anyone even get accepted, I just see tons of rejections? Kind of glad I didn't waste an application fee on them now.

yup, lol. Unless they are going by field in which case we may have a small window, but seems likely most acceptances are going out today. I guess at the very least we can hope that more schools will be getting back next week since Yale is now not that significantly behind schedule. I’ve already adopted the attitude that if I get any positive news it will be a major shock and surprise. I’m mentally preparing myself for the likelihood that I will be attending Cambridge to get my MPhil this upcoming year (which in many ways is great, I just didn’t want to wait an extra year and the financial costs associated with it also) which will hopefully make my application more competitive next year and some other schools I wanted to apply to will be accepting again!

Congrats! Did you have an interview? Just trying to prepare myself for the fact that for me it’s probably another rejection.

I spy a Yale acceptance on the survey results. Anyone here claiming it?

Yup - interesting in that it looks like waitlisted applicants are getting notified first? I guess acceptances are next and then rejections. I ain’t optimistic about this one, ‘‘twas a long shot. Good luck to everyone else who’s applied!

I was actually thinking about asking this myself earlier! They are quite behind, but so is Duke who have usually gotten back by now. I would reckon they’ll probably get back next week as several years ago they released acceptances around the 8th of Feb (before they started the January acceptances pattern) so reckon next week could be when we hear. Would be interested to see if anyone else has any more information though.

I don’t know if this helps at all, but I applied for both in History and Berkeley History sent out their decisions this week and apparently Emory History is releasing theirs next week, so even though they are different departments you can probably expect to hear soon.

Thanks for this information, both of you ☺️ Well I guess let’s just see what happens. I get the sense that having an MA is beneficial this year but I’ve also seen people applying to Political Science PhDs and getting in without an MA on a different forum. So in some ways I think departmental and POI fit may also be crucial to decisions. I’m hoping that might be the case as for example with Michigan Ann Arbor my research project aligns with a whole new Carceral State project they started there in 2019, so I’m really eager to hear back from them! Edit: I just saw on the results page that there’s a waitlist notification for Chicago? Are they sending out results today perhaps?

Thanks for letting us know this information, and hope all goes well with the MA if you decide to stay at Chicago! Do you know if they are planning to offer MAs as an alternative for people who applied to the PhD program? And if they would offer funding potentially? I'm starting to worry that even though a lot of places say they routinely admit straight from undergrad, not having an MA will be a disadvantage this year. At least I know I've been accepted to Cambridge for the American History MPhil so if worst comes to worst and I have to apply again next year having that will benefit my applications (really hoping one in the US might come through though as I do have research assistant experience with a couple professors, one of whom is quite well known in the US as he writes for The Washington Post)

Thanks for the information - if you don't mind me asking, what field are you in & did the interviewers make clear that interviews were necessary in order to get an offer? Best of luck

I don't mind at all! Wishing you best of luck! I think also Princeton will be out next week based on the fact that in the past five years they've always come out the second week of February and also as their website says mid-February results are released. Duke will either be next week or the following, but since they're behind next week may be likely as their webpage also says mid-February for results. Hoping our Michigan POIs will let us know info soon too, even though official results with funding will probably come later!

Wisconsin-Madison is definitely releasing their results next week, according to the graduate coordinator. Would expect those decisions to come early in the week as they have in past years. Unclear on whether Yale is next week or the following, but I hope their decisions will be soon.

I'd double check that they do have your resume as I went through the same thing when applying for History (got my rejection Monday) and upon emailing the graduate coordinator back in October/November it turned out they didn't have my resume. I think their online system is a bit strange. Best of luck!

Reckon we won't hear anything more this week - I think the next two to three weeks (but particularly the next 2 weeks) will be when the bulk of decisions come out for most places, minus UT Austin which typically gets back first week of March. Good luck to all, and hoping your weekends can be somewhat restful! ?

Thanks for this information - seems like it’ll be a tough competition this year with that many applications ?

I hope what you say about Americanists is right because that field (race/ethnicity) is incorporated within my research (I’m kind of within the African American/Carceral State History and US Foreign Policy research fields) and have yet to get an acceptance - do have 15 still pending so one can but hope!

For anyone applying to Wisconsin-Madison, I just heard from the Graduate program coordinator that decisions will come out next week. Bit scared as she said there were 400 graduate applications this year ? (but then they also have History of Science, Medicine and Technology which is separate from the History PhD, as well as the MAs but I’d guess like 200 of those applications at least are for the History PhD!) I emailed my POI there earlier about a research enquiry so will see if she gets back also! Fingers crossed! I’m hoping that as usually they take 30-40 applicants per year they will still take around 15-20 this year.

It's possible they may get back next week, but equally it could be the following week. I think last week of Feb is the latest we'll hear, but would expect to hear news in either the week commencing the 8th or the week commencing the 15th.

I mean, I've applied to MAs here in the UK (partly as you can't go straight to PhD as you can in the US) and have been accepted at 2 out of 3, so I think chances for acceptances at MA level are better. I've also applied to one MA in the US at the LBJ School of Public Policy at UT Austin as Professor Peniel Joseph has a dual appointment there and in History, plus he's chair of their Centre for Race and Democracy which fits with my interests. If they offer me a place with reduced tuition and potentially a fellowship, I'd be very interested as half of my family is in Texas. I think the main issue with MAs is funding as it is much harder to secure, but not impossible. I saw this article about applications next year in the Chronicle of Higher Education which said that graduate admissions are expecting an even larger increase AY 2022 due to some people deciding not to apply this year - but that is speculation and I wouldn't be too disheartened by their predictions. Here's the article if anyone is interested/able to access it - https://www.chronicle.com/article/more-doctoral-programs-suspend-admissions-that-could-have-lasting-effects-on-graduate-education?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1958344_nl_Academe-Today_date_20210202&cid=at&source=&sourceId=

Yeah, I'm not too optimistic about Yale either since I haven't had an interview notice. I did see on the results though that last year someone got in without an interview but had talked with their POIs in the pre-application process. I'm not too sure what to think, but reckon that their results will come sometime soon since the past 4 years it has always been early Feb. Vanderbilt is definitely done. They sent out acceptances last Friday and waitlists on Monday. I found out personally via email from my POI on Monday I was not accepted even though I was deemed a 'strong candidate'. It would be nice if they didn't wait so long to send the official rejection emails. Best of luck!