Auzzfest

George Washington!

Surprisingly UCSB and Georgetown!

So I have two funded offers, with April 15th deadlines and am on the funding wait-list at two other schools, including Georgetown which is my first choice. I emailed the graduate director at GT and asked her how things were shaping up, and she told me that they were still waiting on decisions from the people with offers. She made it seem that they wern't close to knowing if I would get off the waitlist but made it seem like it was totally possible. She was nice enough to email the administrative secretary to tell that person that I might need more time to make my decision. But what I don't understand is whether or not she realizes that I have other offers that I must either accept or reject by tomorrow. What happens if I accept another offer and then get in off the waitlist on Friday. Can I then accept another offer or am I locked into the first one. This is sooooooo annoying because it's just a massive trickle down effect. Until people commit to the top ten schools, the people who are on those waitlists and are accepted to the next 15 schools will just sit around, and then the people who are on the waitlists for those next 15 schools must wait even longer and so on and so forth. So PLEASE do us all a favor and if you know where you are going COMMIT ALREADY!! Especially if it is a top school. For the rest of you guys who are still in purgatory I know exactly how you feel. If you guys have any idea of how this all works and why programs would think they could tell people after April 15th please let me know.

hey do you guys mind sharing what the stipend looks like at Berkeley, just for comparison. I got a good offer at UCSB 21,000 1st and 5th years with no teaching and 2nd-4th guaranteed TA ships at 16,500. Not sure where the cost of living is higher, but would love to know how the different UC's compare.

I emailed probably 10-12 professors, after reading a significant amount of their work, and definitely took into account their responses when applying. I got good replies from professors at UCSB, Georgetown, George Washington, and Indiana, all places I was accepted or waitlisted. It really just depends if you can make an impression, and through an email its hard. If you could actually meet with a professor that could be even better. But honestly if you don't have what they're looking for your not getting in, and if you do, you will, whether or not you sent an email earlier in the year.

On the waitlist at Indiana but will almost certainly be going to UCSB or Georgetown. Just haven't decided which one.

Question for both Ardennes and Moses. Were you guys contacted by faculty at Georgetown? What did they say? I was contacted by my perspective advisor back on the 26th of Feb, and he had a lot of really nice things to say, but the bottom line was that for now I had been waitlisted for funding. I then received my acceptance letter on March 4th and surprisingly it included the following: "You are presently being considered for a departmental scholarship or fellowship. If an award is made, you will be notified by separate letter." Did your acceptance letters say the same thing? Thanks for the info. Also, still have not received my rejection email from NYU, do you guys think they are sending them out one bye one, in mass, or completely randomly?

I checked but definitely marked the box where it says to email me updates. Who knows I'll probably receive my email tomorrow or some time later this week. Still kinda weird/annoying.

Do you think they are sending the rejection emails out one at a time, or in mass? I didn't get one.....yet, but my guess is that I'm rejected.

Yeah, Surprisingly I have been offered my best package at UCSB. With the state of the California economy, I still have a few reservations, but I was offered 21,000 a year and guaranteed TA ships for 2nd through 3rd years. However when I visited it seemed like few people had been offered funding packages.

I personally think this mentality is BS. Especially the part about "your in trouble if you can't get into a top 15 program" Of course a Ph.D. from Berkeley or Princeton can make securing a job easier but plenty of grads from schools in the Top 50 and even below have landed great positions recently (even in this market). UCSB for example landed 10 tenure track positions for grads in 2007-2008. Going to a slightly lower ranked school can sometimes offer benefits that you couldn't get at top tier department. Up and coming faculty who are younger and more willing to incorporate you into their research for example. And don't forget that a school might be ranked in the top 5 of all schools, but they might be unimpressive in your field. UPENN for Latin America for example. And there is no point talking about how the job market is atrocious, because anybody who is still in the process of applying to school won't be on the job market for almost 10 years. Let all hope that it improves, but really who knows. I think the key is to find schools that are a great fit for your interests and that you have a realistic chance of getting into. Why waste your time applying to places that won't even look at your application. Honestly what you need to get into a decent program and get funded is a good overall package. That can take time. If you need to take a year off to make yourself a better candidate. Take that time. I took two years preparing after undergrad. Specifically you need a good GPA, GRE's as close to 700 and 6.0 as possible, a serious commitment to your field (I moved to Colombia for a year and a half to work on my Spanish and do heavy reading in my areas of interest. Do all the entry level reading in your field, and be able to talk about which historians and books influenced you. LORs from teachers who believe that you are ready for a Ph.D. program (ask them if they think you are) and show those letter writers, what you are doing outside of class to prepare for the application process and the graduate work. That way they will realize how committed you really are and express that in their writing. Writing samples: I wrote a thesis as a senior on a topic related to my field, and got an A, but it still was nothing that was going to impress committees. Even though you might have a great 25 page paper, with a good argument, what you need to show is your ability to do research (Primary Source research) . I took my 25 page thesis tossed it and wrote a 45 pg paper arguing the same thesis but based almost entirely on primary sources. Don't worry too much about Pg limits, I sent my whole paper to every school and got no complaints. Again this takes time, but take that time if you need to. Lastly, actually read the work of the professors you want to work with, and not just an article. Read a good portion of one of there books or two or three articles. And then use that as an introduction to contact them. Don't let a tepid response from faculty you contact get you down. When you make initial contact they don't know much about you so sometimes all they can say is we share interests and lets hope you get in. And refer to their work specifically in your statement of purpose. The SOP is basically a clean and succinct explanation of this entire package, just sell yourself. If you have spent the time accomplishing the things above, selling yourself will be easy. I hope this info will be helpful for anybody preparing for there applications, or applying a second time round.

Hey Strangelight who was the Colombian historian? Thats my field. Didn't find many of them out there.

Just got my third waitlist /accepted but waitlisted for funding notification. I'm really gratified that these schools are considering me, but just annoying not knowing if they are truly options or not. Anyone out there with funded offers from Indiana, Georgetown, or George Washington who are thinking of passing them up? I would greatly appreciate your money :wink: .

Georgetown must have had a really strong pool of applicants for Latin American history this year. I was waitlisted for funding in that field as well. I think they only accepted 12 or so students in all fields, including the ones waitlisted for funding. In response to your question, I think you should choose Cambridge, let us Latin American guys/gals get some funding. But honestly go wherever you think you will have the best resources and connections to train as a chinese historian.

Synth....do give me an update on your feelings about Indiana when you get back. I just got wait-listed there, so trying to decide if I'm gonna start campaigning real hard to get in. Honestly I think the program sounds great, and its a good fit for me, just don't know about living in Bloomington. Whats everyone's opinion about making visits to schools where I am waitlisted for funding. I'm going to be in the states for the next two weeks, and wonder if it is normal for someone who is waitlisted to visit with professors. I figure that if I make a good impression it could help me get off the list, and at the same time, give me a better idea of whether or not I really really want to go. Any thoughts?