jfree

So, I was accepted to my safety school with a great funding package. There are two drawbacks, however. While I will be working with some interesting people, there is no faculty member who specializes in environmental history--which is what I want to focus on. Also, it's certainly not a top tier program, although it is possible to get a job coming out of it (or at least it has been in the past). For those reasons, I'm considering re-applying this year to try to get into a better program with an environmental historian on the faculty. I'm interested to know what other peoples' thoughts are on the best way to go about this. Should I let the programs I'm re-applying to know that I'm already enrolled in a PhD program at a different university? I think I've decided that I should be honest with the advisor I've signed on to work with, but would you tell your advisor if you were applying to a different program? Thanks in advance.

I haven't heard anything official yet either, but I do work with a professor who is a UNC alumnus and stays in touch with the department. She emailed a contact there who indicated that at least the first round of decisions had been made (not a good decision for me, unfortunately). Looking at previous years, the department seems to be notorious for sending out late decisions. This doesn't seem to be anything new for UNC at all. For instance--even ten years ago or so--my professor didn't know she was accepted (from the waitlist) until late April.

I'm not sure exactly who is being contacted. I received an email from a professor I had been in touch with this morning, so I'm not sure if there is a more official email or letter on the way or not. Keep the faith!

I haven't noticed anyone else here who applied to Brandeis, but I spoke to a professor there who said they've received around seventy applications and will only be accepting three (eek!) this year, rather than their usual six or seven. I applied for American history, but I'm pretty sure these numbers were for the department as a whole.

I'm finishing my MA Thesis, so obviously I'm pouring over all of my secondary sources for it. Right now, I'm focusing on Chad Montrie, To Save the Land and People: A History of Opposition to Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia, and Thomas Kiffmeyer, Reformers to Radicals: The Appalachian Volunteers and the War on Poverty. I picked up The Road last summer with some idea on what it was about, and--as a father--couldn't quite bring myself to make it past the first sentence. Someday when I need a good cry, I'll dig it out and weep it up.

I'm also not sure whether this is keeping me sane or making me crazier. To add some fuel to whichever of those fires my fellow UNC-Chapel Hill applicants are burning: I received an email today from a professor I had contacted there. From her message it seems like they are still at the very early stages of the decision-making process. So, I think that the date of the results posted from previous years may be a good guide for the timeframe to expect again this year. Congrats to everyone who's already been accepted to other programs. I can only imagine the sweet relief!

Let's do it. There's nothing like a bunch of people irrationally freaking out all together.