TheGradCocaCola

Hello. I am an international student and I would like to share with you the result of an experiment I did. On page 35 of this thread, I made a comment saying that I had been rejected by Columbia's PhD program, but that the university had invited me to apply for one of their master's programs in History. I asked if anyone else here had received a similar invitation and @CaitlynM reported that she also received the email. Then @jpbends, @Sigaba and @wluhist16 brought valuable insights (advice for which I am very grateful) into the dangers of entering a terminal masters, due to high costs, lack of funding and, if that wasn't enough, being seen as a second-class graduate student. Well, here's what happened: when I was rejected from the PhD program, I sent an email to my POI, who is a very helpful person and who I've talked to a few times, asking if the Professor could give honest feedback on my application, so that I could know my weaknesses and improve. Here is an excerpt from what was written to me: "I can tell you that you have a very interesting trajectory and are certainly highly qualified for doctoral study, and I'm sure that your application was taken seriously. You clearly are already a seasoned and skilled researcher, which also would work in your favor. The writing sample that you sent us shows those strong research skills and your promise as a historian. You should know, however, that the writing sample is very poorly translated, and this would have worked against you; as a graduate student here, you would have to produce a lot of academic writing and are expected to start off with strong English writing skills. I also noticed in your statement that your thinking seems to be too focused on a narrow field of research and mostly looks inward to a country but not beyond it. The statement also makes too many assumptions about what the reader will already know about what you are writing about. (Remember, the people reading your statement are not specialists in that nation.)" So, I checked the invitation to apply for the master's and noticed that, in order to try it, I wouldn't have to pay a new fee or bother my professors again to send the letters of recommendation. All I would have to do was submit a new statement and a new writing sample, which I did. This week, I received the news that I was admitted, with an offer to enroll for the MA/MSc in International and World History (Columbia & London School of Economics). Detail: as I did not have high hopes of being accepted and, even if I were, I already knew in advance that I would probably not have the financial conditions to accept the offer, in addition to the unavailability of time to prepare new materials, I sent exactly the same statement and exactly the same writing sample. I was like, "let's see what happens". I would be happy to hear your views on the matter, but it seems to me that the logical conclusion from this is that the $62,840 tuition made the admissions committee ignore my English writing problems and other weaknesses: ? "We believe you have outstanding promise to excel in this challenging program." ?

I applied to the Columbia PhD but was not accepted. Today I received an email from the history department inviting me to apply for one of their master's programs. Has anyone else received this email as well? Will you try it?

I made a random access to Georgetown grad apply page and the result is there. Just like Columbia, they sent no e-mail news.

Congrats to the Georgetown candidate who was accepted! Would mind sharing your field?

If you applied to Columbia and received no news, check the portal. They updated.

I'm not mad at decisions, but I have an honest curiosity: what is the mechanics behind universities sending acceptations and waitlistings notices first, and then, days later, sending rejections? Is it a way to see if any of the choosen ones will say "Thank You for your interest in having me as a PhD student. Despite being impressed with your institution and the stipend offered, I regret to inform that I can't take favorable action on your behalf", and then pass the opportunity to someone? (I don't think that makes sense, since there are the waitlisted).

Hi. Could you share the link to the Reddit post? Thank You

Thank You

Thank You for the insights. When you say that "the key is to distill your skillset and then craft an argument that it applies", that means it is necessary to show to a potential employer that your specific habilities, experience and training make you specially well-suited for the job? (Sorry if I got it wrong, English is not my first language)

Would you happen to know how are job opportunities in government? In some occasions, out of curiosity, I've looked for it and saw some openings like in the State Department or some military-related institutions... I also read somewhere that community colleges are nice places to work... Thanks.

Everytime I read this Reddit post I feel very bad, so I am sharing it here in case you want to feel bad too: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/96yf9h/monday_methods_why_you_should_not_get_a_history/

Do you believe that Columbia will send answers today? In the admission season for Fall 2020 (which was the last for the PhD in History - last year they didn't open), the answers for those who were admitted came in on February 4th. For those who weren't so lucky, it was on the 7th. I also remember someone mentioning here on the forum that this year they would take a little longer than in previous seasons. Thanks.

Someone posted the result of Georgetown, in which they did not offer admission to the PhD but secured a spot on MAGIC (MA in Global, International, and Comparative History). First, congratulations to the candidate! I imagine it may not be the most desired result, but I see it as a victory. I'm not American and I would like to ask a question: Master's programs in the USA are usually paid and there are few scholarships available, is that right? Thanks.

"First application round for me... how do you deal with the rejection/how many seasons have you experienced? It's way harder than I thought it would be." Last year was my first season. I applied to 7 universities and was rejected by all of them. This time I tried 4 schools and I already received a no from two. Obviously being rejected isn't the best feeling there is, but I like to think that if I can't get a PhD, the world is very big and there's a lot of cool stuff to do. So I'm just going to look for other ways. I wish you good luck. (I put the text in quotes because the citation system gave an error)

I applied to Georgetown in 2020 for Fall 2021, with no success. The rejection was sent to me on Feb 19th. If I'm not mistaken, I saw the results here on TheGradCafe once and I think the accepted candidates got the news at the beginning of February. Those that were not accepted only in the second half of the month. I will confirm this. Would you mind telling me what your subfield is? I'm in Latin America / Brazil. Thank You.