barricades
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Posts posted by barricades
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I don't think NYU flies in people from out of the country. Also, you're competing with different people in the IFS. My year they only made an offer to one History and one Literature track, if I'm not mistaken. I think that's usually the case. If you look in their department page I don't think there's as ingle year with more than 2 history representatives.
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I dont know when NYU usually does, and I'm in a weirder boat because I applied to a dual degree program. I looked on the results board and theres basically no evidence that anyone who went on gradcafe ever got into this joint program, so I almost want to give up hope! ugh.
Also, broken record here, but Rutgers?! Why do they wait soooo long just to reject people? I think it's rude to keep us hanging.
Joint programs seem to come in a little after than history admissions.
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Well U-Chicago seems to have notified all of its accepted applicants, which apparently does not include me... With this all in mind, does anyone here know if Chicago typically waitlists? And if so, do they notify or keep you hanging which some programs appear to do?
Congrats, however, to all who had a wonderful day filled with great news!! Hopefully such a day visits us all soon.
They will let you know if you're placed on a waitlist. And these things can come through at the last minute.
Last year I got a call from mi POI at Chicago on April 15, in the afternoon, saying that a fully-funded spot had opened up. While the school was definitely one of, if not, my top choice, I had already settled on another of them.
Usually, if you get in touch, your POI will keep you informed. But there's not much they can do besides speculate until someone drops out...
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it seems way too soon to begin that conversation. what do you mean by negotiate? if they are only offering partial funding and you need full funding to attend, wait until you have another fully funded offer from a comparable institution and then contact the director of grad studies in the history department at the partially-funded school. they may be able to scrape full funding for you together.
but i should warn you: if a school is offering you 5 years of TAship or fellowship or a combination of TAship and fellowship years, then that is likely the best they can do for you. it will be difficult to get an increase in the number of fellowship years, although this may be possible when other students with better funding offers reject the school's offer, but that won't start happening until march. if you're looking for an increase in the dollar amount they're promising, don't bother. the department doesn't control that, the planning and budget committee of the entire university sets the pay rates for TAships and internal fellowships, and there's nothing you can do about that. trying to negotiate for a few extra thousand dollars a year will not only not work, it risks seriously offending the professors and the dean's office.
it is not unheard of for fully funded offers of admission to be rescinded when a student tries to play hardball with funding negotiations. in fact, if you were given 5 years of funding (without an MA already in hand) or 4 years (with an MA in hand), then i STRONGLY urge you not to negotiate funding at all.
I would second this. However, I think your comment on not trying to increase the $ amount is a little radical. It might be the case that it is impossible for places facing budget cuts (such as UC and Wisconsin schools), but there are plenty of places where the department has money available to attract top recruits.
I wouldn't say you can just ask for more money, but if you have a better funded offer, you can let that (tactfully) be known. Once you start meeting with advisers, they will ask about other places you are considering and all that. Both times that conversation came up with me, the people in question made a point in saying that money shouldn't be the reason to reject their offer, and that they'd be willing to match other offers.
This is all really continent on the department, since some places offer equal funding to all applicants (the ideal situation, imho), but be aware. Sure, everyone is committed to the study of history, and money is far from our primary drive. But it's also a reality. I honestly can't imagine living on a small fellowship in an expensive part of the country. And I've heard plenty of horror stories from people who've gone through it. I can say I don't think I would, and I don't think that's a bad thing. I don't think the parallels between the life and ethics of grad school and Grub Street are something to be admired. Everyone here is incredibly smart, and that has a value which no one should be embarrassed in arguing for.
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Withdrawing your candidacies from schools is fine. However, I wouldn't recommend doing it before going to visiting student days and all that. Often that's what will make or break your decision, especially if you're torn between two competitive offers. Also, if you are between two competitive programs and there's a stipend difference, that is often the moment to bring it up. Actually, when I went through this last year, the professors themselves brought it up, saying that they knew that such and such school offered this much, and that they'd be willing to top it off.
So yeah. I'd just say don't make any abrupt decisions. You never know how your person to person interaction with these people (including your potential cohort) is going to be like, nor what they will throw in the pot.
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To be fair, the quantitative section is reputed to be much easier for math/science people than the verbal section is for history/english/humanities people. Math and science people often totally bomb the verbal section.
This. And a lot of humanities/social sciences types do very well in the math section, which tends to be pretty elementary. Now, I don't know how much has changed in the verbal section, since the "computer : apricot cake" section is what tended to throw people off. At least the impression I got.
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If a school nominates you for a fellowship, can you consider yourself (at least) half-way in? Or is that wishful thinking?
I'm assuming it's an university-wide fellowship or something similar?
From my experience, if that's the case, you are probably very close to being accepted. I'm hesitant in saying this because I don't want anyone to get their hopes up (after all, you're only officially in once you get the official letter). But, realistically, departments tend to nominate their most competitive applicants to these fellowships.
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Let me clarify by what I mean when I say the right way, I mean the need to not selectively editing research to fit a model you have already preconceived. You have to go in blind, no matter what you already know (or think you know). I concede that human emotions will always crop up, no matter how much you try to push them back, this doesn't mean we are to indulge them.
Objectivity ISN'T reinforcing the status quo. The purpose of objectivity is to look at an issue w/no prejudice and present the issue clearly, with all available evidence that supports the case. When I hear objectivity, I expect to hear both sides, but that doesn't mean I expect it to be slant free. You can choose to be an advocate for one issue and still be objective by acknowledging what critics may have said about the issue. This leaves the reader the choice to either support your argument in totality or for them to do further investigations IF they feel narrative is incomplete.
I'd recommend you to read Novick's That Noble Dream, if you haven't. It's a very thorough analysis of the idea of objectivity within the american historical tradition.
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Just chiming in to say that while stress is understandable, the tone and content of some of the posts here is rather unprofessional. Anonymity does not excuse such behavior.
Amen. And just to point out that considering the amount of information people post here (schools applying to, interests, undergrad institution, etc), it shouldn't be incredibly difficult to find out who is who.
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How rare these internal fellowships?
In general? I'm not sure. In USC's case I know they have the Provost Fellowship, which you are nominated for by your department and compete for with admitted students from all the university. It's a pretty sweet deal though.
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Come on now ADMITedlyLucky ... if you spell "you're" as "your" then there's NO way Yale will admit you ... I keed I keed ... but in all honesty congrats to CPetersen the most envied person on this forum right now ... how did you get so lucky? I guess now the angst is going to be ratcheted up to a new level ... a lot of the schools I've contacted have said their ADCOMs weren't meeting yet b/c school is barely starting so for some the wait will be even worse (looking at you Ivy kids) ... the game's afoot!
My guess is that he's been nominated to some internal fellowship. USC has been very aggressive in their recruitment.
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USC also gave their notices early last year. Congrats!
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One big difference between grad students and OWS protesters is that most historians I know manage to find a shower more than once a week.
Seriously. Your analyses never fail to amuse me...
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I got a call on April 15, at approximately 3 pm, from what was probably my top-choice school (it's hard to say which one was, honestly) offering a funded spot. I had already said yes to another of my top choices, and decided to decline, since I would have to think about it and, if decided to accept, call the other school and rescind my acceptance all in two hours. It was incredibly frustrating, and every once in a while I still think about it. But I don't regret my choice at all. They were all great schools, and I'm sure I would've been happy and well trained in any of them.
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One proposal included having humanities students take part of their orals after the first year (which is done by the Econ Dept.)
Holy crap. I feel pressured enough that we have ours in the 4th semester. I have no idea how I'd handle having to do it in the 1st year.
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Another reason I want to go to Europe is because I heard somewhere that if you get a degree in European history from an institution outside Europe, instead of traveling the locations in person and doing research and such accordingly, you won't be taken as seriously as an academic in the field. I'm sceptical about this, but I'm not sure if whether it's untrue. Say I wanted to teach at a European university- if I got my masters and PhD at Canadian universities, would I be very appealing as a professor to a European institution?
This is definitely not true. Check out the historiography in your field. Have all the main texts been written by graduates from European programs?
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My school had a senior seminar for regular history majors, but had a year long honors thesis program, where you met in a small class (6-8 people tops) and elaborated original research. Senior seminar paper would be like 30 pgs in lengths, whereas the minimum for the honors thesis was 60 pgs (mine ended up being 90 something).
I'd say they were two very different experiences (those who did the honors thesis didn't have to do the senior seminar). First of all, it was a much more intense writing and research project, where you would actively engage with a primary adviser (I met with mine once a week or so). Those in the seminar only had the professor organizing the thematic seminar (there were approximate 3 or 4, and the paper had to be on the theme). Also, you had to defend your thesis, like a light version of the dissertation defense (3 committee members, etc). Finally, it gave me the opportunity to get funding to do archival research in France, which the less independent seminar wouldn't have allowed.
So if you're debating between different kind of experiences, go for the one that would most likely resemble grad school and the kind of research you would be doing.
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It's not that big a deal if you can make a case for some area. Professors know students change their mind, and in fact many do so IN grad school.
I applied as a modern French historian. Well, I didnt have a single specific French history course under my belt. And I still got accepted into very competitive programs. I did have some French literature, which was my minor (an intro to modern French lit, 19th cent French lit, and French resistance lit). But on the history side I had some European intellectual history courses and some thematic courses (urban history, history of traveling, genocide, etc).
I did my honors thesis on a specific site in France during a specific period. I know quite a bit about that. But I know very little about general French historiography, including important dates and people. But those things, I believe, are the less important set of skills/knowledge they are looking for. After all, you'll get all that when studying for generals.
I did make a point, in my statement of purpose, of showcasing how I think literature and intellectual history inform the methodology I wish to develop.
Hope this helps.
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Writing is not so important. In fact, one of the school's I applied to last year was a joint program in history and French studies. It entailed taking classes in French. I was concerned about not being a mediocre writer, at best, and asked the advisor about. He told me that actually they discourage students from writing in French.
Heard the same from straight up language programs, which I find funny.
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Do you know if they've sent all of the housing emails or just the ones for people starting during the summer?
I'm not sure how they are sending them.
I'm not, however, starting in the summer, so you might want to look into it!
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I didn't receive mine in the mail, but I heard that local (US) students were supposed to get their netid password by the 9th of June or so, so I called them and they simply reset it for me over the phone. You can look up your netid in the student directory and find the number to call by logging in with a wrong password.
My housing decision was sent to my @princeton.edu address and the accept/reject deadline is TODAY, so be sure to get on it!
Thank you mewtwo!
Just did it! Housing accept/reject for me is on the 26. Got a tiny room in the New Graduate College
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So. This place is a little slow...
I'll be joining the history department, not quite sure where I'll be living yet...
Have people received their netid # in the mail yet? I'm overseas, so no clue how long it will take...
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So, Chicago is making their runs. Just said a really hesitant no to a waitlist offer.
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I was on a UChicago waitlist in 2011. They called me on April 15 to offer me a spot. So chances are there, but it might be very last minute. I'd recommend getting in touch with the POI to see where you might be.