Safferz

Where did you hear that?

That's my understanding as well. There's a lot of overlap, but ultimately they're admitted as HMES students and that's the degree they receive, not history.

Harvard doesn't have interviews. I've heard that decisions have been made, but to my knowledge students have not yet been notified. Last year a mass acceptance email went out on February 14th, from the graduate coordinator.

Virmundi, was that not the case with acceptances last year? They notified everyone at the same time, unless POIs jumped the gun and emailed their admitted students to congratulate them before the mass email from the graduate registrar went out. Unless that has changed this year, I wouldn't assume rejections just yet guys

Take a breath and think about this rationally. Whether an application is successful or not has very little to do with you as an applicant or the quality of your application, but a number of other factors tied to the particular needs of a department and/or subfield for that particular application cycle. Perhaps last year the department accepted someone that studies early modern Britain, and decided this year they don't need another. Perhaps they realized that their program has a lot of students working on West Africa, but no one studying East Africa and it's time they should accept one. Perhaps the professor who focuses on modern Chinese history is on leave in September, so that subfield won't be taking in new students. Perhaps the medievalists weren't able to accept a student they really wanted last year because of department politics, but this year they get to accept two instead. My point is you have no idea what a department or subfield is looking for during your application cycle, and all you can do is submit the strongest application you can and hope that what you have to offer is what that department/subfield wants this year. More importantly, every program's needs are different so it's wrong to assume one rejection (especially when you don't know the departmental context in which your application was reviewed, or the conversations that took place as the adcomm deliberated over applications) means across the board rejections for your other applications. If it does happen, you strengthen your application where possible and try again -- sometimes (and we have people on this forum who have had this experience) simply re-applying in a different cycle can lead to completely different results. The first application decision I received was a rejection from the lowest ranked school I applied to (in the middle of the night on a weekend! I consoled myself with a white hot chocolate from Tim Hortons ), and by the end of the week, I had four acceptances. It's all part of the process, a successful application cycle can still include a number of rejections.

I don't know how Penn is doing it this year, but I was accepted last cycle without an interview (though others on here were interviewed). Harvard doesn't have interviews, so it's certainly nothing official. Most people didn't hear anything from the school until the acceptance email from the graduate coordinator in mid-February (my current advisor ignored my email in September too, fwiw). Congrats to everyone with offers so far, and best of luck to everyone else. No news is not bad news. Avoid the results board, it tells you nothing about *your* application and will only drive you nuts.

Yale started doing phone interviews last cycle, and most students were interviewed in mid to late January. I don't know if they're still doing it this year, but the fact that only one has been posted on the results board this late in the month leads me to believe they may have dropped the interview from their application process. Everyone else: CALM DOWN! You shouldn't feel discouraged because you haven't heard anything in late January. Second week of February is generally when you'll see most of the action. Some schools don't admit everyone at once and begin with their top applicants. Some schools place students on a waiting list (in most cases without telling them), only to admit students in March, April or even later. Sit tight, stay busy and avoid checking the results board or forums if it'll only make you worry further.

Harvard doesn't have admissions interviews, so I'm not sure what that's about.

I haven't, but I'll check it out. Looks fascinating and I work on a traditionally non-hierarchical society, so I'm sure I'd benefit from reading his book.

I've blasphemed... reading a lot of stuff from anthropologists over the holidays: Peter Just & John Monaghan, Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction Jean & John Comaroff, Ethnography and the Historical Imagination Jean Comaroff, Body of Power, Spirit of Resistance: The Culture and History of a South African People Saba Mahmood, The Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject

For Harvard I wouldn't contact the DGS or graduate coordinator... it's GSAS that receives the applications and makes sure they're complete before forwarding everything to departments (this is the case for most schools, in my experience), so direct all questions to them. Last year they had a phone number you could call to confirm your application materials have been received, since the Harvard application website doesn't show that.

It's a federal program though, so eligibility is always limited to US citizens and permanent residents.

A great read I think you'll all enjoy: http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2010/1002/1002art1.cfm

Agreed -- and I should also add, if you're an international student, be sure to ask whether they have funding sources for language study that are *not* FLAS. We're not eligible for that

You don't pay for courses as a student in a funded PhD program. Here (at least with the African languages program, I'm sure these rules vary by language department) you're not allowed to audit a language course, but you can certainly formally enroll and take it as a credit. And the history department counts language courses as electives, so you use it towards your coursework requirements as well. Many students in my cohort are taking language courses now, and I plan to do the same next semester.

I brought everything.

That's a sure way to draw more attention to yourself (and possibly hate mail and/or pickets, all the while becoming a hero for "men's rights" groups everywhere). Agreed that you need to stop talking about it and move on like it never happened.

Canadian PhD programs are structured the same way as American PhD programs (coursework, comprehensive exam, teaching and finally the dissertation, completed over 5-6 years). Approach the 'research proposal' the same way others are approaching their SOPs for US schools -- it is not a dissertation proposal, but of course you're expected to indicate the themes, questions and problems that interest you as a historian, as well as show that you have a sense of your field's historiography and its debates (what gaps are there in the current literature? what intervention(s) would your research make and why is that important?). That's how I approached all my SOPs, including UofT's (my alma mater).

Yes. There's really no comparison here.

That's because we all started to freak out after applications were submitted, particularly after the first acceptances were posted.

Are you sure that's the case for all professors? My POI in your department is on leave this year, but he was certainly involved in reviewing applications last cycle. IME it's not unusual for professors on leave or planning to go on leave to be involved in the admissions process. I had one POI read my application in France, where he was based the entire year. My current adviser is on leave this year as well.

FWIW, only three of the eight POIs I contacted replied to my email, and one of those was a copy and paste job that didn't appear to actually read my email. Four of the five programs I was admitted to involved no prior correspondence with the POI, including my current program, so I'm glad my experience didn't discourage me from applying. I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you like the program and see a good fit, apply anyway!

It's a standard, academic book review.

I'm sorry for your loss, crazedandinfused. My cousin was killed in late March (about a week after I made the last of my campus visits), and I found it so difficult to focus and come to terms with a violent and unexpected loss. It still lives with me every day. But the most important thing is to honour how you're feeling, even if it means putting your work aside for a little while so you can breathe. It's only the second week here, but so far so good. I'm taking four courses and attending a few interesting workshops on campus. I think what I love most is the intellectual environment here, and the interdisciplinary conversations taking place in the workshops and events I've been to so far. I can't get over how amazing it was to sit in a seminar room last night to hear Achille Mbembe present a paper, with Jean and John Comaroff moderating the session and folks like Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Biodun Jeyifo joining in the discussion. I have to pretend I'm not starstruck sometimes. The biggest challenge for me right now - as someone coming straight from undergrad - has been the transition to graduate student. I'm just starting to understand that I have to read strategically, because trying to read every word that's assigned is inefficient, if not impossible. I'm going to have to start working on my papers soon, knowing I can't churn out papers at 3am the day they're due anymore because the expectations are different. There's a lot I have to learn about graduate level research, but that's why I'm here. The program here also moves extremely fast, and today I submitted a two year plan of study to the department that includes my coursework this year and next, when I'll fulfill my language requirements, and the four fields I will be examined on during my general examination (which takes place at the end of second year). Now back to the three books I have to read today

Great thread. "Imposter syndrome" is certainly a universal feeling all graduate students can relate to, but that much worse when you're a grad student labouring under stereotypes of gender and racial incompetence.