Jdealla

Please help me decipher this e-mail that I received today. Am I accepted or not?? Here are the important parts: "Dear jdealla, I am very impressed with your application and would certainly like it if you joined our program. With over 300 applications, the competition for funding, however, is severe. I would like to suggest a possible alternative to direct admission to the PhD program. The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies has its own (limited) funding sources for its MA program.I can think of six students who took this route, enrolling in the MA program and then moving into our PhD program (another went to another program). I can think of no one who concentrated on history in the MA program and did not go onto a PhD program, if so desired. Please let me know if you would like to be considered for this program. Best Regards, Field Chair, Latin American History" I think I received this so early because the LA Studies program deadline is Jan. 15th, and the FLAS scholarship deadline is Feb. 1. Here's what I plan on asking him, let me know if I should add/take out something. 1) If this means I'm admitted to the history PhD program but without funding 2) If being considered for the MA in LAS will affect my history PhD funding (or admissions if I'm not in already) 3) Would I have to reapply to the history PhD program after doing the MA in LAS Help, please! Thanks all.

Is there any way to inquire about LOR status at Indiana without calling. Seriously, why is their online application system horrible.

Europa, Don't know about their European quota for the year, but I do know of the general situation. Instead of admitting 25 as they have done in the past, they are only admitting 14 this year, as they did last year. Because of that, their stipend of 15K will still be offered.

Hey all, Just wondering how bad this is. I applied to work with an adviser who is a perfect fit for me and he says that he'll be on leave the first year 2011-2012 that I would be in school there. Knowing that the first two years are for coursework and minor research papers, do you guys think that this is going to be a problem for me in the admissions process? From their guidelines PDF: "By the fall term of the second year, each student selects a prospective area for a dissertation and requests an appropriate faculty member as his or her thesis supervisor. The student thereafter consults with this faculty member about choice of courses, seminars, and fields of study and, above all, about preparations for defining a dissertation topic. If this faculty member is absent on leave, the student may need to ask another member of the faculty to oversee his or her work temporarily."

Applying for 20th-Century Latin America 3.37 UG 3.82 History 650V/640Q/4.5AW Spanish (fluency) 2 years living in Latin America Applying to 7 programs UNC Wisconsin Princeton Georgetown Indiana NYU Vanderbilt

20th Century Latin America

I sent in three last night for the Dec. 1st deadline, have 3 due on Dec. 15th and 1 on Jan. 15th. Going to be working on those 3 for the next couple weeks. January can wait.

Happy December 1st, indeed. I told myself last night that, after turning in Wisconsin and Princeton and almost sending threatening messages to UNC because of their server problems, I would take a breather today and rest with a clear mind in between classes. It's 12:40 and I'm about to start working on my other apps.

Dear all, Peace of mind is worth 10$ even if its close to what you make per hour teaching English in Latin America. Package will be arriving tomorrow by noon. Thank you

Hey all, I'm wondering what exactly to put on my resume for my History PhD apps. My research experience is limited to what I did in my undergraduate courses and the only awards I've received have been Dean's List. No publications, no conferences, etc. I have relevant work experience in Latin America (relevant because I'm applying for Latin American History) but that's about it. Is there something I'm overlooking? Here are my sections: 1)Education 2)Relevant Coursework 3)Work Experience 4)Languages

Hey guys, I have some to send some hard copies into Wisconsin and on their website they say that "In order to receive full consideration for admissions and priority consideration for fellowships, your application and all of the supporting materials listed above must reach the Graduate School and our office by December 1." Does this mean if I send something and it arrives on December 1st that I am out of luck? It's going to be about 34 USD if I get it there on Nov 30th, as opposed to 24 if I get it there on Dec. 1st. Should I just suck it up and pay 10 extra dollars or does this not really matter. Thanks a lot.

Hey all, I posted this in the history forum but I think this is a better place to do it. Anyone feel like helping me out and reading my SoP for Latin American history. I have Princeton and UNC decently developed. I'm looking for any kind of comments that you are willing to provide. I was going to post it in this forum but the disclaimer above made me think before doing so. So I didn't! Thanks to all. -John

Hey guys, I just wanted to know if anyone would be kind enough to read my SoP at some point in the next couple of days. I'm not talking about anything meticulous, and not grammar or usage. It'd just be nice to have someone give it a read and tell me how they think it flows, and tell me if they think the research proposals are more or less (your idea of) what adcoms are looking for. Thanks a lot.

Took the GRE today and I did how I expected to do: 650/V and 640/Q. So now it begins. For the next week I'll be tightening up my SoPs and my writing sample, and sending out transcripts and submitting applications. It looks like I'm going to be applying to a bunch of schools. Maybe March Madness will actually be a relevant term for me this year. At least this will make it interesting. Thanks for your help Strangelight and everyone else. I'll keep you posted on who I apply to and then on the results.

Thanks deuterides. Actually, UVA was one of my top choices when I started this process due to Herbert Braun being a Colombianist. I sent him an e-mail a couple of weeks ago and he got back to me and explained that the program was going through some financial problems and that it didn't look probable for this year. I would love to go there for a lot of reasons, academic and personal, but I just don't think applying is worth my time or money considering what he said.

Strangelight- Really, thank you. I just sent an e-mail to Dr. McGraw at IU. I had overlooked him before when I gave their website an apparently cursory look. I guess it's just the name and prestige of the institution as a whole that is intimidating. Really, I consider Princeton to be a stretch. The only reason that I think I have some sort of chance is because Karl is a Colombianist, and I think I can make a pretty good case for being a good candidate to study Colombia. But, I guess we don't know if I have the numbers for any of them really. I'm assuming my overall GPA is low in comparison to most applicants. I was hoping that my LOR, my undergraduate work and my post-college experiences would help. I could definitely be proficient in reading Portuguese by August, if not sooner. It's pretty basic right now, but I can manage. I don't know how exactly to frame that in the SOP without saying something like "hey, I want to study Brazil, so accept me and I'll work my ass off and get good at Portuguese in the next 9 months". So, it looks like I am going to be applying to even more schools, especially if I hear back from McGraw about the state of IU's LA program. I'm going to investigate more on NYU this week.

Strangelight- Thanks for the useful information. When first posting I didn't anticipate receiving such a substantive response. My approach to picking schools was a mix of considerations. Research interests, Latin Americanist faculty members, program prestige and funding. All of the schools that I chose are a fit somehow or another. But before I explain that, why don't I just explain my research interests. The first one is to look at the independence andpost-independence period, specifically in Nueva Granada and what is now Colombia (where I am now). I'd like to focus on the development of regional identities and therole they played in the lead-up to the independence movements and also theirrole in the political formation of the early republic. Who and which regions were with Simon Bolivar and who were more ideologically aligned with Francisco de Paula Santander? What was the cultural, political and demographic make-up of these regions and their people? Why was each group aligned with who they were aligned with, what were their motives and what were the implications for each region and people after independence? How is this situation related to other regions of Latin America during the same time period? My second time period of interest is the very-modern period (1900s-present). I have two interests here, one being to focus on the modern history of Brazil's and their recent economic growth,specifically looking at the rise of the middle class and its effect on the country'spolitics, its regional role and its international relationships. The other is to investigate- you guessed it- Colombia, specifically the discrepancy in growth in the country, therole that regional identities have played in that and also its affects onsocial and political development in the country. Also, I would love to digdeeper into the special relationship between Colombia and the United States andhow this relationship has changed Colombia's regional relationships and itseconomic and diplomatic ties. The schools I've chosen have been based on those interests. Here's how their faculty match up: I went to UNC-Chapel Hill as an undergrad and I would like to continue my studies with John Chasteen. He'd be great for my first interest- the independence period. Georgetown has a modern-Brazilianist and an Andeanist with a focus on economic history and inter-american relations. Princeton has a Colombianist (hard to come by, it seems) in Rob Karl, and 4 other Latin Americanists. Vanderbilt is huge with 9 LAists Wisconsin has a diversified staff, ranging from Colonial Andes specialists to Nationalism specialist and a Brazilianist as well. Michigan also has a large and varied staff with modernists and Brazilianists Chicago has two modernists, one of them also a Brazilianist with interest in inter-american relations UCLA has a large program and a Brazilianist who has focused primarily on economic history Stanford has a Brazilianist and modern economic historians The reason that Duke isn't on my list is not because I went to UNC, but because I e-mailed Dr. French and he said that they took on 6 students in the LA field last year and it doesn't seem like they are going to be admitting any this year. Yale isn't on my list because, frankly, I don't think I can get in with my numbers. I have been on the fence about NYU. They do have a big program with faculty of aligning interests but not as much as the others. Since their deadline is a little later than others (Dec. 15th), I'm going to see how I feel at the end of Nov. and see if I want to fork out the cash and apply. Thanks for your suggestions Chiba but UConn, though a good program, is focused on the Caribbean, which is not an area of interstest for me. About the SOP, how detailed do I need to make it? How much more do I have to substantiate than I did in this post? The rest of the SOP isn't giving me trouble, and I feel good about it, but really the research interests- the most important part- is something about which I don't have much of a clue. Really, I appreciate your help. Saludos.

Hey guys, Though I feel somewhat confident about my course of action, I'd like some feedback on what you think. I'm applying to do a PhD in LA History, and I'm only applying to schools in the top 20.The thing is, I'm going to apply to a lot of them (UNC, Georgetown, Princeton, Michigan, Wisconsin, Chicago, Vanderbilt, UCLA and Stanford). I've been in contact with professors from each of these schools about research interests and I've received encouragement from almost all. However, they don't know my numbers, so I wanted to ask you guys if I am wasting time or money by applying to all of these programs comsidering the competitiveness, or if I have a decent shot at them. Here are my numbers: GRE: taking it on Wed but on ETS practice tests I'm consistently between 650-710 Verbal and 580-620 quant. Top 5 Public school Majors: History, International Studies Minor: Spanish 36 hours of courses in Latin American history, culture and politics Study abroad 1 semester in Mexico Overall GPA 3.37 J/S year GPA 3.72 History GPA 3.82 Peace corps volunteer in Central America for 1 year Living in south America at the moment (I've been here for 1 year) Fluent in Spanish 2 well known Latin Americanists who know me well as recommenders Thanks for reading all that. So should I apply to these competitive programs or try for something more realistic (if these aren't) ? Thanks for helping me out. Saludos, Jdealla