RevolutionBlues

I would like to echo and supplement the sentiments expressed by taybaxter. I have no way of knowing whether contacting faculty has had a direct effect on my application's chances, but I did learn a lot from it. 1) Information- I found out from some people that they will be on sabbatical and so not accepting any students or will be retiring and so will only take on MA students; I discovered which professors seemed legitimately interested and encouraged me to apply and which ones responded with only a terse comment on competitiveness; I learned which departments have a faculty and student body active beyond the academic world; I also gleaned more directly applicable bits of knowledge such as that school x looks right away at the writing sample to see if you're using foreign language primary sources, that school y is all about who you've read and want to emulate, and school z really looks at you as a person and what that could bring to the department. 2) Confidence- just knowing that somebody somewhere might actually be interested in reading your writing sample, would like to work with you, or can make it through your SOP without laughing and lighting it on fire is incredibly calming. 3) Silence- If someone isn't willing to respond at all, even to say whether they might accept a student in their field, it may make you think twice about whether you want your life to revolve around them for the next five-plus years. So, whether or not I get in anywhere, I'm glad I corresponded with faculty first.

Well, after months of program research, communicating with professors, wrangling up recommenders, and writing-revising-writing-revising, my applications are finally finished. Best of luck to everyone!

I emailed Davis and they said everyone should receive a decision within the next two weeks.

For anyone who applied to UC Irvine, they will be sending out all decisions by the middle of the month. For anyone who applied to Oregon, their decisions are in the mail!

Any word?

I'm interested in the phenomenon of revolution in modern Europe and its role in shaping the region's history. My undergrad thesis charted the development of socialistic theories of imperialism within the Second International in the quarter century prior to the First World War. However, I am beginning to think my focus may not be adequate to get into grad school, especially since it seems the majority of professors working on this all received their phds in the late-60s/early-70s (mostly at Stanford) and are now retiring out.

Thank you, it makes the wait easier knowing a possible end date.

I'm in the same boat in that I have yet to hear anything from Davis. It does seem silly to have that long of a gap, though. I would like to at least think that I have a competitive application for Modern Europe, but I assure you that if/when I hear something either way I will post it immediately.

I know, right? As much as I would like to know what kind of time frame we're looking at, I am too paranoid that it would lead to "He called? Drop him from the admit list!"

Thanks for the heads up. It seems like everyone but Oregon has already been contacting folks. I'll hope they still have mine at the bottom of some stack somewhere, just waiting.

I'm still waiting to hear even a peep from UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Davis, U of Oregon, and U of Washington... Even a peep!