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brownrose95

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  1. Not pointed at me, but as someone with 2 MSc's I may be able to offer insight. I enrolled into my MSc at LSE (History) with the idea that a strong BA, an MSc (Political Science) from a top Dutch university, and greatt projected grades would be enough to bag at least one PhD spot. I ended up applying to 4 US colleges while undertaking my MSc. I was naive. When I did not get in, I was disappointed but not too surprised and focused on finishing my Msc degree in History (which I thought was the missing piece). This application cycle, I was much more prepared: two Masters under my belt, reached out to all relevant POIs, a distinction (gpa 4.0), and a prize while having worked closely with one of my LSE professors in polishing my research project ,and getting great letters of recommendation (don't want to namedrop but a top Economic Historian wrote a fantastic letter for me). Still no chance. I will chalk this one up to COVID messing a lot of funding up, and it thus becoming a very competitive year. Nonetheless, in my experience, though unsuccessful, applying when I was done with my MSc degree, having all my grades, connections, and having the time to properly think about proposed research, felt much better. Disclaimer: I was lucky enough to do parttime work which allowed me to pay my bills and basically work fulltime on my application for a couple of months.
  2. Kind of glad, but mostly sad, that many of us are in the same boat. It is definitely exhausting and as someone mentioned, for so much preparation to go into these things (let alone the financial costs), the randomness of it all + no feedback is not a great motivator. Wishing everyone the best of luck and positive vibes for this year.
  3. Second cycle applications definitely aid in refining research questions and polishing everything. At the same time though, the waiting, the rejections and mustering up the energy again and again to apply take their toll. I have 2 master's degrees, one of them being a distinction in MSc International History from LSE where I won the prize for best dissertation in all MSc courses and I still have been rejected from all US universities I applied to. It is really tough out there at the moment and the lack of feedback is infuriating (yet understandable). Herein I realise, I need to look after my mental health first and foremost, which most likely means not going through a third application cycle and resigning to the fact a PhD just isn't for me. It's tough to accept, but at some point one needs to cut their losses and move forward rather than being stuck in a loop of reaching out to POIs, applying, waiting and getting rejected.
  4. It could of course be someone messing around with rejection/waitlist, but if the waitlist notification were true, it would make no sense for Harvard to not have notified those admitted. Moreover, with such a small class of admitted History PhDs, it would make sense none of them would be on here. I think someone delved deeper into this earlier in the thread.
  5. Not looking good. Much more likely other people accepted are simply not on grad café. With Harvard, Wisconsin and Yale basically done, I am only waiting on BU still, which is the university I was least excited about. I also can't afford to take another year out (finished second Master's in September 2020), so this one stings. I have some options in Europe, but unfortunately the funding packages are meagre. Good luck everyone!
  6. Do you think Wisconsin-Madison will be today? I am very nervous after Yale didn't work out (it was the University where I had the most contact and the best fit with my POI) and Wisconsin was my second choice. I should probably disclaim here that I am an Africanist (not African-American history) and that I was warned that Africanist places would be the first ones to go with COVID-19 cuts
  7. 3 people now accepted to Yale in the space of 10 minutes.. guess that's done. Well done to those who got in!
  8. Really thought Yale was going to be this week based off last year releases but oh well. Does anyone have any information on Boston University? I applied there because of Dr. Thornton and Dr. Heywood, but have not heard anything since I applied back in November.
  9. So with Harvard being done (it makes sense that the 6 students accepted are not on GradCafe) and Yale and Wisconsin-Madison (most likely) releasing their decisions next week, there isn't much to else to do than anxiously wait over the weekend..
  10. Hi everyone! Found this site yesterday as I was wondering when I would hear back from US schools about History PhDs; this newfound wealth of information sure has added a lot of stress! Moreover, it seems like positive decisions may come out very soon and rejections shortly after. That's why I would like to wish everyone good luck! About me: Interested in 20th century African History (Congolese history specifically) Belgian (fluent in English, Dutch and French) BA History and IR from a top-10 University in the UK, MSc Political Science from the top university in the Netherlands and another MSc with Distinction in History from London School of Economics and Political Science where I also won the prize for best MSc thesis across all departments. No publications (one is in the works) and not much contact with the POIs as many never replied to my emails (this will hurt my chances I am sure). I applied to Yale, Boston University, Wisconsin-Madison, and Harvard (lol) Good luck!
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