emeraldsapphire

Congrats on the interview. What's your subfield?

Hi, all. I completed master's degrees at Notre Dame and Yale, and am currently a PhD at UC Berkeley (so am familiar with the GTU) if anyone has questions about any of those places. Best of luck with everyone's apps this season.

Ah, ok. They must be moving faster then. Which subfield are you in? Feel free to DM if you'd rather.

Actually, no, this is one of the few things the strike seems not to have upended. It has something to do with the fact that last year, they had to make decisions early for some kind of fellowship deadline (I'm not clear if it was an external or internal fellowship), but that pressure isn't there this year so they want to give faculty and the AdComm more time to review. That's what I understand at least.

FYI to any Berkeley applicants: The timeline for decisions will be later this year than it was last year. So if you're looking at the timeline on last cycle's forum thread or the results page, it probably won't be a good indication. The AdComm isn't even meeting until early February this year. Current Berkeley student so happy to answer any questions.

As a former ND PhD student who was flown up for an interview, just wanted to say don't judge South Bend based on the airport ? (It can get you from point A to point B though)

If any current applicants would like to participate in an alternative platform for discussing applications/notifications/decisions, PM me.

It seems that there are competing ideas about what this thread should be used for. Would it be possible to have a thread (this current one or another) devoted simply to people who want to discuss the application process/notifications/decisions and another for people who want to give or solicit advice about whether one should do a PhD vis-a-vis the job market? I think that could diffuse a lot of tension on here.

@TexasTiger, I was a PhD student in the History department at ND for awhile. I'll PM you.

Got into Wisconsin. Will be turning down though.

No advice other than to say I've been there (I am there).

@medievalpeasant, I think generally, a PhD in a methodological discipline like History (or English etc) is preferable than an interdisciplinary degree insofar as you want to get hired in a disciplinary department (insofar as jobs in any department exist in the current market). However, for medieval, the Institute at ND is such a big name, you would be ok so long as you tailored your time there heavily toward History (or whatever relevant field): taking lots of History coursework (including methods courses), doing archival research, getting historians as letter writers etc. @Trail_Blazer, I don't know the field of History and Science/Medicine as well, but a high ranking program known for that field can, I think, help to compensate for interdisciplinary angles. And if everyone's basically doing "history proper" just geared toward a certain subject matter, then it's probably historically based enough anyway. So generally, if you're in an interdisciplinary program, the burden is on you to prove your historical chops. Others know more than me, though.

Congrats on Yale, @MikhailM! Happy to answer any questions about Yale/New Haven (I'm at Yale now).

Hear hear

Sorry to all those who received rejections from Berkeley. @BalkanItinerant, I totally get how the lead up (interview, finalist etc) makes the disappointment worse. I was among those who somehow got in, but I'm sitting here devastated I didn't get into my top choice and feeling the sting of that. The grass is always greener, I suppose... Best wishes to everyone waiting and/or making decisions right now.

Same here re: Duke ThD

@AlQayzar, LOL the ambiguous exclamation point (!)

@Mile6 dude, I know. Have been looking at rent prices in the Bay Area and it's crazy. Not to mention that grad housing is already filling up out there (one place started accepting applications today) but one can't put a deposit down on the grad housing without having accepted the offer, which I'm not ready to do yet (hence the visiting soon). Also, fiddleleaf31 (another admit) and I have a PM thread going on that you're invited to (check you GC inbox ?).

@Mile6, I'm a Berkeley admit, but nope, haven't heard anything. I zoomed with a current student yesterday who said the base stipend now is around 34k. (Wasn't always that much, however...) Anyway, I think the department's just slow in getting the funding package info sent out. I'm also planning on flying out there to visit, hopefully soon, to expedite the decision making process. @Kashew_Nuts93, if you're applying in early modern for Notre Dame, I'm happy to talk. I was an early modernist in the History PhD program there for a few years.

@AlQayzarare you talking PhD or ThD for Duke? GPR PhD decisions went out last week. ThD are supposed to come out middle of February. The ThD has already done interviews though.

Many evangelical/confessional students go to the UK for a PhD because they believe they can escape issues of higher/historical criticism in their dissertation there. While this may be slightly more possible than in most religion or theology departments in the U.S., one really cannot ignore these issues unless immersed entirely within evangelical academia and intent on not dialoguing with the broader field. Even at Cambridge or St. Andrews, the general culture of the departments won't shut out these issues completely. If you're determined to stay within strict evangelical lines, TEDS is your best/only option. Also, I second the above about not becoming a cash cow to the UK system. Also, unsolicited, but my advice would be not to allow the main deciding factor of where to attend grad school to be rooted in a fear of certain types of scholarship.

Reviving this thread for those who may look at this in current/future years for info about this topic. Had a POI tell me unofficially that I was in. Three weeks later, I got a rejection letter. Not even waitlisted. In most cases, I think the POI is probably correct if they tell you this. But don't put absolute stock in it (i.e. don't turn down offers elsewhere, withdraw other applications, sign a lease in new city) because sometimes, the POI can be dead wrong.

Well, after being told via email by my POI that I was already in to the Duke GPR...I got a rejection letter today. Not even waitlisted. Just to say: NEVER take a POI's informal word for anything. Congrats to those who received good news today.

@ucrazay, I was accepted to the History department there on Jan 14, but I imagine the MES timeline is completely different. Would you be participating in the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion if you went? I've been looking into that lately.

@wynntir I don't, but I have a friend in the History of Science program I could put you in touch with if you'd like!