Bukharan

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I am heading to Stanford.

It was my top choice when I was applying because of the faculty fit and (call me shallow but I spent almost a quarter of a century in Northern Europe so it's important) THE SUN, and I am so very happy to have an offer from them.

It is hard to reject Oxford as I also ditched a Masters offer from Cambridge last year for a better-funded offer elsewhere. Oxbridge is an old dream but it is not happening I guess... oh wait, postdocs are becoming a slave requirement for humanities Ph.Ds now, so who knows...

I can't wait to cross the Atlantic in September!

Thanks for posting that thought-provoking response video, saecla vincere - it bucked me up enough to watch the original video, which I had been avoiding.

I doubt this woman would benefit from going to an anthropology class. In my experience the students who are forced to be in classes with a heavy emphasis on diversity will deeply resent it and sulk the whole time, as well as mulishly refusing to even consider the authors' perspectives if it doesn't immediately jive with them. They think in terms of us vs. them to such an extent that they don't even recognize the fact that there is no such thing as THE black or THE Asian perspective, so any experience voiced by people of color they take as oppositional and, of course, self-centered and wrong. I don't know how students like this can be jarred out of their complacency, but they see efforts to do so from a mile away and have already hardened their minds against it. As you can tell, I tired quickly of such classmates.

And you know what? Fuck this woman's opportunity for a degree. Her classmates don't deserve to be subjected to her. If she expressed those thoughts to another person it would be bullying, and I think it is progress that we can say (via social pressure) "No, this perspective is so invalid that you can't meaningfully contribute to the community here anymore." It isn't like she was making the most of her educational opportunities while she was there, so maaaaaybe this reaction will snap her out of it. Even if it doesn't, UCLA is better off without her.

As for the death threats, well, just goes to show that bad behavior is universal, especially when you throw in the anonymity of the internet.

I would absolutely go with the funded offer.

I had a very similar dilemma last year. It was killing me as I dreamed of the school which offered me no funding for years. I eventually went with the fully funded offer, and never regretted it since. I am now about to start a Ph.D. programme at my top-choice school and I have no debt from Master's years!

It of course depends on your particular circumstances but, really, in the current economic climate, it is hardly advisable to take on debt for a Masters degree if you have another option. The very best to you with the decision!

chrome plating

Well.... strictly speaking, the results board is for ... results! For questions, there is a forum.

In the past, moderators tolerated questions there for a certain period of time. After a while, those questions would be deleted. I believe the procedure remains roughly the same.

Well.... strictly speaking, the results board is for ... results! For questions, there is a forum.

In the past, moderators tolerated questions there for a certain period of time. After a while, those questions would be deleted. I believe the procedure remains roughly the same.

Thanks, Jane. I'll check it out.

I'm wondering if any of the "speed reading" programs out there are worth it for graduate students? Anyone have any experience with speed reading? If so, which programs did you benefit from or which ones were a waste of time?

You are right that it is very competitive these days. Our field - extremely competitive. What they were doing in Chicago over the last couple of years is actually cutting down the number of Ph.D. admits in Middle Eastern History to make our field 'healthier' (and this information actually came to me from a senior professor in UChicago).

Chicago is one of the very best places in the world to study the Ottomans. I mean ... it is Harvard and Chicago for the Ottomans - the big two. (Right? Everyone, right?) So if you accept that Masters degree, yes, it will be awesome and a great asset for applying to Ph.D.

Your professors are right about funding, of course - it is expensive. Fully-funded Masters in our field are very rare though. If this is your only offer AND you are totally committed to this ambition of becoming a historian - then, perhaps, you should go for it.

But, perhaps, I am talking rubbish - you need many different opinions on this. This is a big decision you are making.

You are right that it is very competitive these days. Our field - extremely competitive. What they were doing in Chicago over the last couple of years is actually cutting down the number of Ph.D. admits in Middle Eastern History to make our field 'healthier' (and this information actually came to me from a senior professor in UChicago).

Chicago is one of the very best places in the world to study the Ottomans. I mean ... it is Harvard and Chicago for the Ottomans - the big two. (Right? Everyone, right?) So if you accept that Masters degree, yes, it will be awesome and a great asset for applying to Ph.D.

Your professors are right about funding, of course - it is expensive. Fully-funded Masters in our field are very rare though. If this is your only offer AND you are totally committed to this ambition of becoming a historian - then, perhaps, you should go for it.

But, perhaps, I am talking rubbish - you need many different opinions on this. This is a big decision you are making.

I'm glad we have this thread for the next group of applicants! Throughout the messy, stressful, hopeful, soul-consuming process of applying to graduate programs, I came across many helpful links and recently emailed them to a friend who will be applying soon. There are a lot of great threads on these forums too, so to make it easier for next season's applicants, I think it would be a good idea to link people to those as well.


The American Historical Society's newsletter, Perspectives, has an excellent general guide on applying to grad school: http://www.historian...809/9809PRO.CFM

Great tips on the basics of being a competitive applicant:http://www.historian...raduate-school/

How to decide what programs to apply to, what to ask people from the schools you're contacting (or on the visit weekends once you're accepted): http://www.historian...d/Questions.cfm

What not to do: http://girlscholar.b...r-graduate.html

General advice from a guy who's in a philosophy program (it's a different field so all the advice doesn't apply, but this was still helpful): http://www.mathewlu....rad_school.html

Tips on how to approach professors of interest at a program you're considering applying to to see if they're accepting students as an advisor, and to introduce yourself and your research interests (which, as everyone has stated in this thread, might not be effective, but it can be worth it depending on the POI): http://science-profe...ting-to-me.html

Advice on how to ask for LORs, and what kind of a "packet" you should prepare for each recommender when asking him/her to write you a letter: http://www.socialpsy...org/rectips.htm

Excellent threads on what you need for your Statement of Purpose (and much of this was echoed by my undergrad thesis director who is also on my university's graduate admissions committee):


This is a typical anti-getting-your-phd-in-history article: http://suburbdad.blo...g-cycle-of.html and this is a good response: http://crookedtimber...to-grad-school/

You're going to read so many articles and have a lot of people tell you that this grad school/career in academia thing is a bad idea. That you wont be able to do it, that you're not going to find a job, that if you put forth this effort in some other field you'd actually find success in life, etc. It scared me, it still scares me, and often left me feeling hopeless. However, we just have to hope that we'll be those exceptions. And know that you should never get in debt to get a Ph.D. It's just not worth it because it's doubtful that you'd be making enough soon after graduation to pay off that debt. So try your hardest to get a funded offer and go for it; this way, even if you end up only teaching at a community college (which may not be a bad thing) or never getting a tenured professorship, at least you're not in debt and you got to study what you love!

And once you're in, here's some advice to help you out: http://chronicle.com...-students/26326 (this is something that should be helpful for all of us who will be starting in the upcoming year).

There's this incredibly addictive web comic (now a variety of books!) called phdcomics (i.e. Piled Higher and Deeper). I read basically all of them in a month-long period, and this prepared me for what grad school will be like almost as much as all these articles. The main characters are STEM field grad students, so some of it isn't accurate for us. There are, however, two characters in the social sciences and the humanities. Here are some particularly good and/or relevant ones:
http://www.phdcomics...php?comicid=294
http://www.phdcomics...hp?comicid=1015 (lol, this is what the application cycle can be like...make sure you minimize these days of bad productivity by starting early!)

Finally, here's an awesome pamphlet someone on gradcafe made - it's a guide for families and friends of people who are applying to grad school. Hilarious and true.
Side one: http://i52.tinypic.com/28qtekp.jpg
Side two:http://i55.tinypic.com/so75m1.jpg


Best of luck to all.

On the bright side, I received my very own acceptance email this morning: with my name on it
I guess I will just pretend yesterday's email didn't happen.

I've now heard back from all 8 of my schools so it's decision time!

1. I want to teach at college level. In order to do that I need a Ph.D.

2. I want to do research in my field. I really want to publish something new, have a book or two. A Ph.D. is a very first humble step towards this.

3. I am politically and socially liberal as hell. University campus is one of few places where I will feel comfortable and fulfilled.

That's the idea. That's also super-naive, I know that.

I have spent the last two weeks waiting to hear back from my number 1 choice university for graduate school. This was very stressful and completely consumed my thoughts. I spent a great deal of time on this forum checking the posts of others, and looking for some encouraging words from students who had gotten into their top choice with a less than perfect academic record. I did not find many of those posts, so now that I am accepted, I would like to offer some encouragement to people who might be in the same position that I was in, or for people who are considering applying, but are not sure that their GPA's are good enough.

Having a sub-optimal GPA (or GRE scores) makes waiting so much worse, because there is the huge worry that you are waiting on a rejection letter. But, know that it is possible to get accepted to your top choice university, with your top professor, with less than perfect grades!! This happened to me this week.

Firstly, my undergrad GPA was pretty much terrible (between 3.0 - 3.4). I did not care too much about grades during my undergrad -and honestly, I still do not think that they are all-important; they are not great predictors for your ability to think independently or to do independent research. I have had many peers with stellar GPA's, but who would have been completely lost if they had to work or think too much on their own. They were simply obedient academics; good at following rules and regurgitating answers on exams. In any case, most people reading this will know that their GPA is not a good reflection of their academic ability, but think that they matter for getting into grad school. While I won't say that they are completely irrelevant, they are not as important as you may think.

What IS important? (you probably know that these are important, but I think they are more important than your GPA) - at least they apparently were in my case.

- your fit with the department, and with the professor's research (i.e your research interests are in line with the research interests of the department and the professor)
- your knowledge in the subject in which you want to study (as demonstrated in your statement of purpose)
- your academic reference letters

From what I have been able to gather from this forum (and from other forums), most people who are applying to grad school take the "shotgun" approach. That is, they apply to several schools that they would love to go to, several safe schools that they could deal with, and several not-so-good schools that they don't care too much about. I do not know how this strategy has worked out for people, but it is not the one that I chose, and is therefore not what I would recommend (although, I have sample size n=1, so maybe take this with a large grain (granule?) of salt). This will probably vary by program as well.

I would recommend the "sniper" approach as opposed to the "shotgun" approach. That is, pick one or two schools that you want to go to, and find professors there that you want to work with (and presumably therefore, who you would fit well with). Most schools will not admit you unless a professor has agreed to supervise you, so your priority should therefore be finding a suitable professor to whom you can demonstrate your passion and likelihood of success in doing research.

I applied to one school. It helped a lot that the research interests of the department (and especially the professor) was very well aligned with my own interests, and so I did not have to 'tailer' my statement of purpose at all; and I made it very specific. If possible, finding this kind of situation, I think, is better than applying to schools willy-nilly, hoping that one will accept you.

Good luck everyone!!!! This acceptance has brought me infinite joy, and I hope that everyone who is waiting or thinking of applying gets the same feeling afterwards!!! If not, keep trying!! Don't give up!!!

opposite word

This is awesome! We are likely to meet soon then!

lake michigan

Well.... strictly speaking, the results board is for ... results! For questions, there is a forum.

In the past, moderators tolerated questions there for a certain period of time. After a while, those questions would be deleted. I believe the procedure remains roughly the same.

I haven't checked to see if they changed the methodology... But if they're still going off of the old one, there were a huge number of flaws in the ranking system, especially in how it weighted funding.

For accurate "ratings" I'd go with the NRC over US News and World Report.

Hey! I don't know if this will be of any help, but I've just declined two offers, one from Brown and the other one from BU, for a PhD in Spanish (Hispanic Studies at Brown, Hispanic Language and Literature at BU)... So, if you're still waiting for an offer, I know each department will contact a new candidate soon. Hope this is good news for someone
All the best,
(not so) disoriented_

Ok, thinking is good, praying is good, but what about some real action??

Don't forget that you can donate money to tsunami victims!

For example, here and here.

Let's do it!

Hi!
I'm a French statistician and I have a terminology problem.
I know that life tables stratified by ethnicity are named ethnic-specific life table. For instance, this term is used in My link.
Another example is given in My link 2 with county-specific life tables.

I would like to know if there is a term for life tables only stratified by age and sex.
I thought of global life table but I didn't find any article to confirm my idea.

Thus, I would appreciate it if someone could help me to find the correct terminology.

Thanks.
BR

Lilly

PS: I'm sorry for my lack of English proficiency...

I applied to both schools as well. Let me see...

When the decision at UCLA is made, they send you this generic link: http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/applicat.htm
There is a 'Decision Status' section there. All you need to log in and see the coveted decisions is your e-mail.

As for Columbia, they send you this link: https://app.applyyourself.com/?id=col-gas
They also enclose a PIN number in the e-mail (but you know it anyway since it is given to you when you apply); you use the PIN and password to log in and see the decision.

I hope this helps!

The very best with your applications!

Dear Kate,

It depends on what you want to do. I am finishing an MA at Harvard's CMES, and received a full tuition scholarship + stipend from an external funding source. I can say that paying for an MA is something that I wouldn't recommend in this field, and you are lucky to receive two offers. However living expenses in DC are very expensive.

Having said that, I know some people in the Georgetown program, and I know others who have dropped out of the Georgetown program. I would say that it is a better fit for someone interested in pursuing a policy job, due to its proximity and connections with all of the DC organizations, than Harvard. I think Harvard is better suited for a career in academia, and getting recommendation letters from Harvard faculty should help you get into a good PhD program in political science, or another field, which you might find is a better fit after you do your MA. The latter was the case for me. Having said this, I also think that the hard part about Harvard is getting in, not necessarily doing the coursework or anything else. It is really a bit too laid back for my tastes, and I am going elsewhere for my PhD. My own personal bias is that anyone interested in studying Islam & the Middle East should undertake training that is not limited to the political, because, well, the academic conversations regarding the "politics" of the middle eastern and particularly Arab states are rather shallow intellectually. Once you've taken an undergrad-level course or two on the modern political history and the debates on liberalism, oil economy, political violence, you inevitably turn to hashing through details of causality and agency in the postcolonial period among classes and political actors, which, although important, is being done by many many young scholars these days. Furthermore, many political scientists are also turning into historians of the modern middle east as a result of (1) the lack of cooperation and available data from regional public archives in the middle east [see Yoav Di-Capua's book] (2) hostility towards in-region scholarship from government officials (3) unused archives abroad (4) an insufficiency of scope in political models for explaining regional trends [bob Vitalis]. I think much more useful and critical scholarship is coming out of anthropology and history departments, and particularly those that don't use political lenses of states, economies, and classes, per se. So if academia is a long term goal, I would go to the place that has a better all-around faculty in these areas, not just those with job connections.

i would also add that none of my friends in CMES or the divinity school who are graduating this year and are not going straight into PhD programs have any sort of definite job prospects at this point. A lot of interviews, but no one I can think of has anything inked out. So any of the earlier conversations on this thread about such-and-such a program being a 'dream' school for the purposes of landing a job need to be held up to the cold hard reality of the economy and the fact that at each elite institute with such MA programs, 25+ people a year are 'specializing' in the middle east or Islam with working Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and recommendations from famous scholars. Furthermore, the types of jobs that these programs quality you for aren't high paying ($40,000 is typical) so again I would not go into debt for this degree.