wfchasson

Thank you ! Won't be accepting, so I hope they take someone off of the waitlist and give them that spot.

U of M acceptances seem to have gone out--got one via email a moment ago. congrats to others as well.

I would say it's a mixed bag. I've spoken to people at a few universities this year who are hopeful that cohort sizes will rebound next year. On the other hand, I've spoken to a number of people who think that next year will remain a bottleneck year as well, and that universities may use the current cuts as justification for permanently reduced cohort sizes moving forward. And you have to consider that cohorts are going to get smaller because of market pressures as well. It's a real blemish on the reputation of top programs when they are minting too many degrees and a considerable number of their students are stuck adjuncting. So I'd say remain hopeful that next year will be better, but try to temper expectations about the long-term trends within humanities departments. All this is going to create some pretty intense win-lose dynamics, I think. Some people may be shut out of PhD programs moving forward partially based on this austerity logic of making cuts now for the long-term viability of the program and the field in general. For those that get in, it may then mean more resources (internal funding, external grants, etc.) but the expense is obviously a pared down group of admits, and probably outweighs the poorly distributed benefits. Don't want to dissuade anybody from applying or paint too grim a picture here. This is just the sense that I get from the people that I've been talking to.

i can vouch for the yale decisions--just waiting on the specifics of the offer package. but have been notified of admission.

i toggle between international/global methodologies, thematically my emphasis is on IPE and the environment

from someone in the dept., wasnt from the person i interviewed with

yeah i interviewed. i didn't think that i did particularly well but i guess it worked out.

yeah that was me. international/global, got an email.

Got to agree with this point. You don't want to give the impression that you're pressuring someone not to accept an offer. That should be their decision to make independently and without external influences. I know that isn't what you are trying to do, but it may be perceived that way. Best to just wait, as agonizing as that can be. Wishing you luck.

applied to duke, no word yet. never got any word from faculty on how their admissions process was changing or affected this year

early feb. is when my interviewer said they would know how things are looking and begin reaching out.

Thanks for the response! Yeah I'm not really worried about my own language training--I exceed the minimum language requirements for all the programs I applied to. I'm more interesting in how language ability factors into decisions, i.e. if faculty will look at an app and say, for example, oh this person can read 4 languages rather than the required 2, this makes them more desirable, etc. I guess what I'm getting at is how is this weighted relative to other criteria when departments are making their decisions? Obviously SOP, letters of rec., and writing sample seem to be the primary elements of the application, I'm just curious whether or not anybody has insight into some of the secondary considerations and how they factor in.

hey all. i'm wondering if anybody knows how your language training factors into the decision process, what language training phd programs expect coming in, etc, particularly if you aren't doing American/British hist. anybody care to share their experiences with language abilities and the application process?