kdavid

Yeah, I'd say that professors are likely getting tons of other emails at this time. Getting an email from *another* anxious applicant wouldn't help your case. We're all anxious. As others have stated in some of the other threads, this is the first of many anxiety-ridden months we'll experience over the span of our (hopefully long and productive) careers.

Would anyone like to claim the UCSD PhD for East Asia posted on February 14?

Rheasylvia, how did you hear from UCSD? Per my online status and others here, decisions have not been finalized...

That makes three; at least as far as UCSD is concerned. Seems strange that a few offers are on the boards if they haven't been finalized yet....

Fit and package should be the main deciding factors. In other words, with whom do you most want to work, and who's giving you the most money.

Giving this old post a bump so that those who have received offers this season can share their details.

Could mean that they'll take the best candidate overall as opposed to looking for one specific area of specialization.

Can finally update my signature!! Edit: Noticed another UCI History acceptance on the results board. Care to PM me so we can chat?

I did. I spoke with one of the heads of the Chinese History department via phone on January 20. At that time, he seemed to think it would be mid- to late-February before decisions were finalized.

Could the individual who had the UC Irvine interview please PM me?

I haven't slept well the past two nights. I keep having really odd dreams that involve huge surprises. Last night's dream involved opening my locker at work to find that my boss had placed inside a bag containing 100,000 Chinese Yuan. It was a birthday gift. A few weeks ago I dreamt that my second child had been born, and weighed in at 9.9 pounds. Very odd, lucid dreams....

Did everyone survive?

I started with 20 and whittled it down to 12. The MAs are all back-ups. If I really had to crunch, I'd say there are only five on the list which I'm really interested in, and with which I feel I'm a good fit.

I prefer to think of it as cautious optimism. Hell, I applied to 12 programs. At least one of them has to like me, right?

Wrong question. Correct question: When will Stanford send me my acceptance? Positive visualization ftw.

I understand all schools have their own system, but it doesn't make sense that a school wouldn't make all offers at once. I imagine most people who receive an offer would likely wait until late March / early April before accepting, right? Unrelated question: How do schools try to sell themselves to students to whom they've offered a position?

NEN, did Princeton call you or did you receive an email?

Is there a correlation between application deadlines and number of applications/competitiveness? For example, a lot of ivies have early December deadlines, while others may wait until mid-January. Could this mean that mid-January schools have later deadlines to draw in more applications, whereas early December already receive plenty so they can afford earlier deadlines? Likewise, that mid-January programs may be less competitive?

FYI: It appears that the most recent lists used an older version. I say this because several East Asian history names are missing... Post number 81 seems to be the most complete. Future posters should use that list.

RE: Getting flown out to the university Any idea if schools also provide temporary housing on-campus?

If it's any help, I started with 20 and worked down to 10. Something which really helped me whittle down my list was speaking with current and former graduate students, and contacting faculty. A few students told me to flat out cross xyz schools off my list purely because the faculty member I was interested in working under would have made my life very difficult (i.e. they were notoriously poor advisors/teachers/etc.). I was able to cross three of my list based on that alone.

One issue which hasn't been raised yet is the affect on your "personal" life; and by "personal" I mean networking with classmates/colleagues and professors, attending conferences and outside lectures, etc. I imagine this is a major part of the experience, not only in terms of sharing ideas and giving feedback, but also exposing yourself to the larger community for networking and employment purposes. Even if one could manage a full-time job on top of their studies, I think it'd be difficult to be made available for all of these "extra" activities. While being present in the classroom but not at conferences, etc. may not hurt you, in the long-run it certainly won't help.

Really? For some reason I was thinking it would be mid-March before all offers were out....

Once you accept an offer, how much (if any) assistance is provided regarding housing? Is any help provided for those with a family? What about setting up health insurance (for you and a family)?

Below is the outline of my initial email to POIs. You'll see I certainly didn't push it, but simply expressed my interest. If a POI said email was more convenient, I didn't mention it again. I spoke with probably 15 - 20 different people. I feel all correspondence with all POIs was courteous and productive. I certainly didn't receive any push back. Dear Professor XYZ, [brief self-introduction.] [brief outline of my research interests and how they align with the POI’s.] [Comments on the POI’s recent scholarship; particularly work that coincides with my research interests. Also praised piquant points made in the monograph/article mentioned.] [Why XYZ university is a good fit.] I understand that you have a very busy schedule. If you are accepting students for the fall intake of 2014, I would very much like to have an opportunity to speak with you further about our interests—perhaps via Skype—and possibly about my application to XYZ program. Thank you very much for your time, and I look forward to hearing back from you soon! Best, [My name and email here.] The average initial email was about 300 words.