RevolutionBlues
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Posts posted by RevolutionBlues
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Is this true?
- No surprise. I was not particularly thrilled with their application process anyways... what was up with that form (after paying the app fee) that made you answer questions about marriage/children before they'd consider y
From Harvard.
I do not think the insinuation that this is used against you in the decision-making process is at all true. There are a number of full-time PhD students at in the history program at Harvard who do have kids and families. Given that the questionnaire popped up after the rest of the admission was complete, I believe that the questionnaire is primarily for use by the graduate school as a whole—hopefully to help decide whether to better support graduate students with families through institutional means (i.e. subsidized child care, expanded student family housing, dependent coverage on insurance, etc.).
- junotwest and catsandscarves
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What a long, strange application process this has been.
Applied to five programs for 20th c. American: Princeton, Stanford, Penn, Michigan, UVa.
Waitlisted by Princeton, rejected by all the others.
Nuts to this. I'm going to learn a programming language and get a real job.
If this is your first or even second application cycle, don't give up yet! Keep a plan B, but if this is something that you really want to do with your life you can't quit because of a bad cycle. Each of those rejections could have just been a crummy roll in a crap shoot. The fact that you were waitlisted by Princeton means that you're doing something right, just shore up that application, cast a wider net, and come back swinging next year!
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I would second that asking to talk to a current graduate student might be the best way to find answers to some of these questions, especially funding related. However, I think that given the job market, asking about job prospects and non-academic professional development is very reasonable. The AHA has even been pushing for such professional development to prepare students for jobs outside of academia, and many top programs are starting to include it in their curriculum.
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Thank you czesc and thedig for the pep talk re. the PhD -- I do need it. This round (my second) isn't over yet, and I remain hopeful if not optimistic. If I bust out I do think I'm most likely going to start with the JD (the goal was always joint) and consider another shot at the PhD as I pursue it. There's no doubt law's easier to get in, not least because you usually have to pay, but full funding offers do exist. They're incredibly competitive but I've at least made it to the "please interview/write an essay/whatever to compete" stage which is further than I've made it with the PhD applications so far!
Definitely don't give up. My first two cycles met with solid rejection, and my third had only one fully-funded offer for an MA. Now I have offers from a few top schools. If you're willing to spend the next six plus years of your life living in poverty and spending all hours of the day and night digging through the archives to find some elusive bit of information to put in a conference or article proposal that will probably be rejected anyway, all in hopes of being able to apply for hundreds of jobs one day that won't even email you to let you know they've decided to pass, then you should be willing to try, try again.
- ἠφανισμένος and Zephyr99
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While I share your disappointment at not being accepted by Berkeley (which I and my POI thought was a great fit), I'm afraid I don't share your outrage. The application fee is a burden, but exists in an attempt to limit what is already a massive applicant pool. Furthermore, I can't see how it would be practicable for them to send out what I would estimate to be 350-400 personalized rejection letters, as much as I would like to hear their reasoning. I am really sorry to hear that they mismatched your GRE scores; when I was applying to MA programs one of them sent me a form email rejecting me from a different program than I'd even applied to, so I understand your frustration. Perhaps I should avoid platitudes about the face of today's academia, but I simply hope that we all keep this in mind when we (hopefully) are the ones sending out information that will crush or elate people we've never met.
- catsandscarves and angelayar
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I'd recommend the English Grammar for Students of _________ series, which they have for German and most other western languages. It's really helpful for understanding foreign language grammar structures in terms of the grammar we already know, and they have a lot of helpful tips on mnemonic devices. Also, Duolingo is a free app and website for a few western languages that, while woefully short on explaining grammar, does offer good practice for vocabulary. Neither is probably a good substitute for coursework, but both are useful supplements and could be used in tandem in a pinch to at least begin acquiring language skills on the cheap.
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Stop yelling at me
For U-W Madison applicants, I have word that they're extending 54 offers of admission. Sizable group; makes me kind of concerned for funding
If it is anything like two years ago, they extend offers to 50-60 students annually. Of those, 12-15 come with guaranteed funding and a trip to Madison. As was my understanding at the time, most of those funded slots come for specific fields of inquiry (Jewish, LGBTQ, etc.) and many are nontransferable to another student if the first student decides not to accept. For the other 40 or so people, there is the option of teaching in exchange for tuition and a stipend, although this is applied for on a term-by-term basis and may not be possible during the first semester. However, two years ago it was a several week wait in between acceptance and funding info. Fingers crossed for good (and quick) news for all of us!
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Is this what I think it is?
http://history.fas.harvard.edu/calendar/index.php?showCat=4&Submit=Filter&mo=2&yr=2014&ev=
Looking backwards and forwards, it appears that they have a faculty only meeting on the first Wednesday of every month.
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Fear not. We can panic together.
Ain't no party like a panic party cuz a panic party don't stop....until April 15th.
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Does anyone have any particular insight on Berkeley? Based on what I've seen in the forums and results search, I'm starting to think that not having heard from them in any capacity means I'm out of the running. Does anyone know more about their decision process, whether they interview everyone they're strongly considering, etc.?
Poofysheep,
I have absolutely no inside information, so my guess is as good as yours. However, judging by the last few cycles, I'm guessing that if we haven't heard anything by now our chances are fairly slim. That's not to say that there isn't any hope, but I worry the window is open just enough to make the rejection all the worse.
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I've been snooping silently long enough, so best of luck to everyone as the waiting game comes to a crescendo!
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Well, my decision process is actually really easy, but after two years of straight rejections and another slew of them this year I just wanted to be able to finally post in the decisions thread. Basically, two programs accepted me without funding, but UofOregon wants to give me money to get an MA so I'll be going there!
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Another huge problem affecting the job market, as I see it, has been administrative growth in higher education. While the overall cost of college (not accounting for state subsidies) has risen substantially in recent decades, the professor:student ratio has been steady or fallen and professor pay has often failed to keep pace with inflation. The major change as I see it has been the professionalization of administration, leading to huge growth in the number of administrators and their salaries. I think this reflects a drive to compete for undergraduates by offering the most enriched "college experience." It can be nice to have somebody organize activities for students in the dorms, put together rafting trips, or maintain connections with volunteer placement sites. However, I become concerned when this trend towards extracurricular fulfillment replaces education as the institution's chief priority. I also worry that excessive handholding will do students a disservice in the long run. I end by relaying that last year my small state college laid off numerous professors (including the forced retirement of one of the most popular history professors by threatening to end his insurance coverage as his wife struggled with cancer) and a cut in faculty salary in the name of state-budget driven austerity, but created and hired several new administrative positions, many wih higher starting salaries than tenured professors receive. Please forgive my rant, but I spent the last year working in that administration.
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Big funding rejection from Wisconsin. They did say, however, that if I were to uproot my life, move halfway across the country, and beg-borrow-steal the $20,000+ it would cost for just the first semester I might, just might, be able to get some kind of funding for the other half of the year. It looks like my decision process will be very easy.
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I read this book and found it very helpful. No earth shattering revelations or anything, and I have my own note taking system, but I now always start a book by taking a good look at the table of contents, index, notes, etc before I even start to look at the preface.
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Merde. Thanks for the info!
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Has anyone else still not heard anything about funding from Wisconsin? I'm resting a little bit easier now that I have other options, but they are still totally my top choice and this wait is painfully long.
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I was just accepted by email to the University of Maryland MA program. There was no word on funding, and I realize they rarely fund their MA students, but it is a nice salve to ease the sting of a string of rejections.
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From professor: "so you want to be one of the few, the proud, and the unemployed?"
From family: "so, what does that mean?"
From partner: "five f**king years?"
From everyone else: "oh you're smart, I'm sure you'll get in everywhere."
- virmundi, Nordicllama and emerald54
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Just finished Anna Karenina. It was... okay. Seems to be one of those books that people either love or hate, yet I don't have any strong feelings about it.
I'm about 200 pages behind you on Anna Karenina, but I'm really liking it.
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so whats it gonna be- in true blues fashion, scotch on the rocks?
I've always associated the blues more with warm Old Crow so I'll stick with that.
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If anyone has any questions about UOregon feel free to PM me. But in answer to some of the general questions, in the vast majority of cases, save maybe one a year, BA-PhD applicants are routed through the MA first. The downside to this is that you have to do an extra year of coursework. The upsides to this are that you get an extra year of funding and can reapply to other places if you so choose. But it is a nice program and I'd bet that you'd be able to get funding. Good luck!