Aubstopper

The problem with MAPSS is that it's only a year-long program: You start and immediately have to begin your thesis. There is no time to really start up any strong relationships with faculty and before you know it, you're done. This is a common complaint of students I knew who were in MAPSS, MAPH, or CIR and it's something you definitely should keep in mind. Chicago is cheap to live comparable to other big cities, but I was on scholarship in a two year program at UofC and I ended up still with a huge chunk of debt. Expenses really add up when you're not working.

Hey guys, I haven't posted in awhile, but despite coming off to an amazing start this cycle, a bunch of horrible things happened right around the critical application period that didn't allow me to put as much time as I wanted into my proposal (a death in the family, my father becoming paralyzed, other personal issues). I still haven't heard from two schools yet, but I've decided to take another year off to figure out what sort of department fits my interests best -- a shortcoming of interdisciplinary research is that sometimes you don't know where the hell you actually belong. Luckily, I have some big names at the University of Chicago gunning for me, friends in high places, a good support system, and my mentors have helped me set up a plan to publish my research and set me up with their friends who are doing similar things. One of my biggest regrets was not networking enough and visiting the campuses I applied to, so that's a major thing I'll be doing this time around. I'll definitely be taking up some of your guys' offers to look over my stuff this fall. Seriously you guys are awesome. I probably won't be checking this thing as often as in the past so if you guys are creating a FB group or something like that, I will definitely join.

I already have an MA from Chicago, and I was told that getting another one was a waste of time. I know what issues there were with my proposal and it had mainly to do with where I chose to apply. I need to apply to places who potentially have more than one person who can supervise my project. I have the degrees, background, LORs, and the languages required. I was told by my mentors that I should have more interaction with the professors at the schools I'm applying, to visit them, and to get some of my stuff published, which is what I'll start doing once I hear back. Ah well, have still yet to hear back from 3 schools, but I there is only one place that hasn't notified as of yet (Brandeis). We'll see, I guess.

This site has both its good and bad qualities. There's the whole losing hope as you watch your schools pour out acceptances, but then there's the fact that there is a specific thread on here that deals with coping with being rejected. I think that if I didn't know that there were/are people who have gone/are going through the same thing, I would have resigned myself to the fact that I might not belong in academia. Of course, that's ridiculous because my LOR writers/mentors wouldn't have written me recommendations or spent time talking to me--the latter goes to POIs as well. It's not quite over yet, but I feel you. I just hate the idea that a few mistakes on my part regarding my school/POI choices might set me back another year yet. sigh.

I'm feeling a bit the same, but even if you/we/I have to do this again next year, so what? It's only a year and in the context of a PhD and a whole career, that's nothing In your case, you still have 6 schools you've yet to hear from, so it's not quite over yet!

I've been having a bad go of it this year, it seems. I was rejected from three schools in a row where I had developed an excellent rapport with POIs and followed their advice to the 't' about what I should talk about to get accepted to their program(s). My LOR people are shocked and I've resigned myself to probably having to reapply next year. At first, this was something that was scary/awful for me to think about, but I know now there are schools that I should have applied to that I didn't and vice versa. Oh well. Focusing now on publishing my research.

Girl, you're the one who's seriously rocking this cycle!

Congrats Ashiepoo and Heimat!

In regards to contacting POIs: I did at every school I applied to, because I didn't want a repeat of a few years back when I discovered only after I applied, that my top program was not taking applicants in my subfield. At the very least, I think it's important, especially if you have a very specific interest like myself, to contact POIs to see if they're even taking on students. A few of the profs I contacted at Duke, UPenn, and Chapel Hill all told me to not apply because they are retiring, on sabbatical, or the department is rebuilding their modern Jewish Studies faculty (for some reason, they seem overly prone to die/retire). Just one email to each saved me a good $300 and some self-loathing.

You're killing it now! Congrats!

Brandeis is my best fit as well. You think that the delay is New England weather-related? It seems like they're inconsistent in their releasing of results over the years (ie sometimes it's around this time in Feb, other times not till mid-March).

I second Zakhor as being a must-read. Something I also read that was amazing was James Young's At Memory's Edge: After-Images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architecture. He looks at problems of history/memory through contemporary architecture and memorials.