historyhopeful

I applied to 9 schools, and made sure to contact professors at each-- the primary advisor with whom I was interested in working, and any faculty members they mentioned who related to my interests. Ultimately, I was accepted to 6 of the schools to which I applied. In my initial emails, I introduced myself, a bit about my background and my interests, and mentioned that I had read (if I had) something of theirs related to my field. I asked if they were accepting students, and if we could meet (I live in New York, and applied mostly to East Coast schools.) If they were too far, I asked if we could have a brief phone meeting. Every professor but one responded (and this from the initial 15 schools I considered.) I was blown away at how responsive they were. I made campus visits to Columbia, Yale, Princeton, UPenn, CUNY, Rutgers and Yeshiva, and had phone meetings with Austin, OSU, Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown and UF. On campus visit days, I met with a number of profs in my field/related. My undergrad mentor contacted colleagues at a number of schools, which was an unexpected boon. The process was incredibly time-consuming, but I feel strongly that it put me in a better position as an applicant. If a professor can match your face (or voice) to your application, you are no longer just a number. If he/she felt a connection during a meeting, even better. Your SOP gives you 2 pages to explain your background, interests, and where you see yourself fitting in in their program: isn't a 45-minute conversation a better forum to present this information? I was also able to winnow down my list to schools that had that elusive element-- "fit"-- and apply only to those. For example, the Harvard prof told me straight out that she was not terribly happy there, and that I should think twice about applying. At UPenn, where I am headed, my PA had is planning on retiring in a few years and therefore wanted to stop accepting students, but after our meeting he decided that I would be his last student because our interests are so similar and he likes where I see my research heading. It pretty much doesn't get better than that for a positive outcome of contacting profs. Did contacting profs get me into schools? No. But did it contribute to my acceptances? I am certain of it. And for the schools that rejected me and those that I am declining, I now have contacts that can come in handy in the future. If I need an outside reader for my dissertation, I would feel far more comfortable asking one of them. If I run into someone at a conference, I have a reason to strike up a conversation. Ultimately, I feel that my effort paid off.

A bit weird-- I declined the offer of admission early last week, and just today received an email asking me to decline the university fellowship that I apparently received. Never got an email about that one (and kind of want to know the terms now, though I'm still declining!) ETA: Ok, just found the email in my spam box. Stopped checking that once I heard from all of my programs!

I applied to 9 schools. Accepted: UPenn, Yeshiva, OSU, UT Austin, Rutgers, CUNY Rejected: Yale, Princeton, Columbia Headed to UPenn. SO happy to be done!

The wait was ridiculous. Thankfully, I've known now for a month due to contact with my POI there, but really? Took them this long to send out rejections?

I think I'm finally settled- accepted to UPenn this morning. What a strange, long month this has been. Best of luck to you all (and if anyone is waitlisted at Austin, Rutgers or OSU, this may be your lucky day!)

The visit day is actually tomorrow. I believe the March date was for applicants to History of Science. Pretty darn nervous about tomorrow, I must add-- seems strange to have this visit before knowing the final outcome. Lots of pressure without actually being able to *do* anything, other than hopefully make a good impression on POIs.

An update: Today, I received information on a visiting day from the DGS. No updates on specifics of funding, however, other than the initial "full-funding for 5 years" mentioned by POI.

I was one of the admits. I received an email from the Graduate Program Coordinator and then my PA. Not sure if this was sent out to everyone at once.

Sorry to all on the UPenn rejections. Wondering, however, what this means for those invited to Friday's visiting day- acceptances and waitlist? Or will there be another round of rejections next week? It is my top choice now that Columbia is out of the picture, and I am totally unsure of how to interpret my place right now.

Anyone else invited to UPenn's visiting day this Friday? Wondering how many of the 40 invited make the cut...

early modern Europe, Jewish-Christian interaction. Not sure if I'm accepted as part of the European or Jewish subfield.

I was accepted today and my application status still says "No decision." Doesn't look like they've updated yet.

I've been told by my PA that all acceptances and waitlists for Columbia are out as well. They're notorious for late rejections, but if you haven't heard, safe to say you're not in.

Thanks, Jeppe. It felt pretty awful- much worse than Yale and Princeton. The match was perfect, and I had the full support of two advisors. Just goes to show that nothing is ever a done deal.

Columbia is definitely done. Email from PA yesterday, who had been incredibly positive about my chances before (see ). Apparently, the Jewish history field got majorly screwed for the second year running, and had no admits for any of the 4 professors. I was told that my file was first ranked for the entire subfield-- which doesn't make this hurt any less. More, maybe, since it really wasn't about me and was instead about politics. Will most likely now need to move away from my husband, who is in a graduate program in NY for at least the next year. Ugh.