Kelkel

You're welcome (forgive my horrible repetition of the fact that he's an Ottomanist stuyding Ottoman history... it's that time in the semester). He's super easy to approach and talk to, so don't worry about emailing him!

Saw a handful of USC acceptances on the results board this morning, and just wanted to offer congrats to whoever they may be! If you have any questions about the program, feel free to shoot me a PM.

Do yourself a favor and think very, very carefully about applying to PhD programs right now. From my vantage point on the other side of the desk, these are not very good reasons to pursue doctoral study straight out of college.

You say your student loans will kick in if you're not enrolled in a program within six months of graduation, and that you don't have a full-time job to pay them off. Presumably you could get a full-time job of you didn't enroll in graduate school, but leave that aside for a moment. Assuming more debt at this point, in pursuit of an extremely time-consuming degree that does not offer much likelihood of full-time employment does not seem all that wise, especially when you consider that even those who find full-time jobs pull down very modest salaries with which to pay down their accumulated debt.

You say you're worried that you might get caught up in something else--a relationship, a job offer--and become distracted. That's terrific. (In some ways, you should hope that this happens. This is a good description of many of the happiest people I know, some of whom dropped out of grad school.) If there are other interests that might tempt you if you took a year away from school, what makes you think that they won't be equally or more tempting once you begin a grad program, which will be an isolating grind for long stretches? Why not explore other options now before accepting the financial and opportunity costs of a PhD in the humanities?

You say that you only want to attend school in certain areas so that you can embrace the adventure of grad school. Leave aside the fact that, done properly, a PhD in the humanities is almost exactly as romantic as dental school. Leave aside the fact that the time commitment is probably much, much higher than you imagine right now--I averaged about 70 hours/week during my doctoral work, and I was hardly the hardest-working member of my cohort--so that no matter where you wind up, your time to "enjoy life" there is going to be more limited than you imagine. Instead, project yourself eight years into the future, and imagine that you're nearing the end of your PhD. You should already be aware that the chances of finding tenure-track employment of any sort are fairly slim given the trends in the market. Those odds drop to around zero if you rule out large parts of the country, like the midwest or the south, because you dislike the political views of the residents. Many newly-minted history PhDs consider themselves extremely lucky to head off to a one-stoplight town with a Taco Bell and a Wal-Mart at a university they'd never heard of before in a part of the country they'd never visited and may have actively avoided. If you've ruled out half the country because you don't want to spend eight years in graduate school there (a completely reasonable sentiment, I might add), you should seriously reconsider whether you want to pursue a degree that could land you in those regions for decades, or leave you unemployable.

You say you love learning. This is a wonderful quality--but you do not need to go to grad school to keep learning.

You say you really want to teach, but not high-school students. I'll lay aside the reality of much of college teaching, where you may find yourself teaching large groups of disaffected students in gen ed survey classes, covering material that interests neither you or them to fulfill department or university curriculum requirements. I won't point out that the difference between a high-school senior in an AP class and a first-year in an entry-level college survey is about 11 weeks, during which surprisingly little maturation occurs. Instead, I will point out that the world is desperately short of people who can engage and excite students, even (especially) apathetic high-schoolers, and get them passionate about learning and developing the ability to think. Teaching high school well strikes me as every bit, if not more, valuable as teaching at the college level. Someone who really wants to teach, but only at the college level is a little like someone who really wants to coach basketball, but only for the Lakers. If you really want to teach, you'll find a place to do it without worrying too much about the level because... well, because you really want to teach.

This isn't meant to be as discouraging as it probably reads. But, really--think very, very carefully about this big decision. The reasons you've listed are not the strongest predictors of success, in my experience.

Speaking of the recent flood, I found this on another website that could prove helpful when looking for a place.

http://broomegis.co.broome.ny.us/website/gisweb/maps/flood/br_damage_assessment.pdf

Kelkyann--

I recommend that you identify the professors in your department who are excellent teachers and that you ask them for guidance on how to improve those skills you think are deficient.

Also, if your program requires you to do coursework outside of your department, consider the value of doing that coursework in your institution's school of education.

Second, consider the value of handing out a student evaluation form to your students at the end of each class. This practice may provide useful feedback that allows you to make on the fly adjustments and to avoid fixing stuff that isn't broken. (Shoot me a PM with an email address if you want a template.)

Third, if you do take Sparky's guidance and go to a graduate student support group, I strongly recommend you pay careful attention to the motivation of the group's members. If your focus is on becoming an outstanding teacher, associating with those who have different goals may not be the most efficient use of your time.

HTH.

I guess I can speak on it now ... I did do an early request (though, as I told some people privately, I did not post that on results page) ... I contacted the other schools/jobs I had offers from and told them I would be going to the Columbia/LSE program instead ... I also notified the school as well ... I still haven't received much in the way of official notification/paperwork so I can't speak to much on that ... however I think I have shared pretty much all that I do know up to this point

I GOT INTO UTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS THE HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Off the wait list! I'm elated! Good luck to those of you still waiting

Dear TGC friends,

I’m sure this seems presumptuous for me to create a separate thread but having been on here for more than 3 years, it just seems like I should just do this, rather let this be buried under “decisions,decisions” or “chit-chat.” And there’s a lesson to this.

First of all, I am so grateful that this site exists, even if it drives each of us nuts. It is a place full of rich information and insights (and many “take it with a grain of salt” pieces of advice). It is full of passionate people who care deeply about their future. As Sigaba pointed out once, academia is like a black box. And so is TGC. While this site does attempt to create transparency, it will never be fully so. You just have to trust your instincts; don’t let your nerves get to you. People know but do they really need to say it? Here on the TGC, we are so tempted to share everything we know and that is fine. We want to help each other get to the right places and we seek out each other by subfield or common interests via PM. Future posters will need to take the initiative to read old threads and send a PM to a poster (and hope that the poster checks his/her spam box!). I should say that by doing this way this year, what I’ve seen and heard, it has helped many of us. Perhaps doing this kind of approach has fostered a sense of community full of positive vibes to the level that I have never seen before. So, congratulations!

Yet, I will urge people to consider information shared by previous posters about their campus visits to help them build their lists. Reading about campus visits and impressions by others helped me tremendously in terms of building my lists for Fall 2011 and 2012. My adviser recommended OSU for Fall 2011. If it had not been several positive campus visit reviews that year, I’d probably hesitate, I mean, OSU? I didn’t know anything, it's Michigan or Wisconsin or Indiana. I said, okay, I will apply, no question asked (despite being a Wolverine). The funding experiences of Wisconsin acceptees kept me away from that place for Fall 2010 and 2011, as well as less than favorable reviews of the department culture. I had to strike a deal with my POI there that I could not consider Wisconsin without funding, even though he brought up the issue himself. I learned from here not to apply to UCLA and other places for funding or department culture reasons. So, future posters, if someone suggests School X, use the search function to see if someone’s posted personal experiences with the department. I would imagine that they’re usually spot on.

I do want to say thank you to those who have been so incredibly supportive. I am truly humbled that there were people who reached out to me via PM to check up and express genuine interest in my applications. I seriously thought coming back here for fall 2012 admissions would be a walk of shame. I didn’t want to put off anyone by announcing that it was my third time- I mean this is how freaking competitive History PhD admissions has become. This year was based on luck of timing though I know that both of my POIs truly appreciated all of my hard work and my experiences. I also didn’t realize until later on that my OSU POI had somehow kept me so calm despite no guarantees or suggestions of an acceptance (and that's a quality you want in a PhD adviser!).

I do want to say that my visit to Wisconsin was incredibly pleasant. I loved the close-knit community there and the contagious intellectual energy. The faculty and students were positive despite the financial situation. My POI was a “genuine” person with a mind for details. I truly had a change of heart after I left Madison, which did not put me in a good position mentally for my visit to Columbus. At OSU, though I felt the department was more conservative (not politically but just the culture) in comparison to Wisconsin, everything is taken seriously. The department works hard to ensure that students are happy and satisfied with their training, funding, and professionalization opportunities. Because of its large size, it would indeed take time to find a niche especially that graduate students do not live near each other. Given my POI’s situation that day, our meeting was rather lackluster. So I left Columbus without a decision and I was very disappointed not to have that “light-bulb” moment.

But being a believer of “second chances,” I decided to see if my POI wanted another conversation. She seemed quite enthusiastic so we set a Skype date. I thought, “Okay, if she doesn’t wow me on this, I’m going to think real hard about turning down OSU, my top and most logical choice.” During our conversation, I discovered that she was the One, a beautiful intellectual, personal, and professional adviser match. I just felt right at home in her presence. It was such a pleasure to call her the other day to tell her that I would come to OSU in the fall.

She certainly wasn’t on my radar because her first book had nothing to do with my interests. If it had not been for my MA adviser’s suggestion and my OSU POI’s interest in me and current project, I would have never considered her seriously. If it had not been for positive reviews of OSU on TGC that encouraged me to apply to OSU, I’d be at Wisconsin.

It is time for me to say farewell and move on (after all, I will need to study!). I will check every now and then for any specific issues and questions that I may be able to answer. It’s truly been a lovely ride. As always, feel free to PM me as I get e-mail alerts.

-tciklemeink

I wanted to chime in on this, as someone who lives really close to Texas and knows A LOT of Texans (little of them from Austin). While Rick Perry and GWB might paint a picture of Texas as being a gun-toting, death penalty-loving, crazy Republican rich state, it's not. You have to remember, Texas is a HUGE state and while a majority of them are described as what I said above, they are spread out over distances.

As people have said, Austin is a hippie-commune "blue-state" in the midst of all the red, but Dallas and the surrounding cities and San Antonio and the surrounding areas are very interesting and culturally rich places. The state is also full of people that are just like you and me (expect Texans are fiercely loyal to Texas). I've known people from both of these areas who are staunchly Democrat. One voted for Hilary in the democratic convention in Texas. It's all about who you know and who you surround yourself with.

It's been said time and time again that if you want to be an academic, you have to realize you can't choose where to live. You really have to leave biases such as the political climate or observed stereotypes of that state at the door.

I wanted to chime in on this, as someone who lives really close to Texas and knows A LOT of Texans (little of them from Austin). While Rick Perry and GWB might paint a picture of Texas as being a gun-toting, death penalty-loving, crazy Republican rich state, it's not. You have to remember, Texas is a HUGE state and while a majority of them are described as what I said above, they are spread out over distances.

As people have said, Austin is a hippie-commune "blue-state" in the midst of all the red, but Dallas and the surrounding cities and San Antonio and the surrounding areas are very interesting and culturally rich places. The state is also full of people that are just like you and me (expect Texans are fiercely loyal to Texas). I've known people from both of these areas who are staunchly Democrat. One voted for Hilary in the democratic convention in Texas. It's all about who you know and who you surround yourself with.

It's been said time and time again that if you want to be an academic, you have to realize you can't choose where to live. You really have to leave biases such as the political climate or observed stereotypes of that state at the door.

I wanted to chime in on this, as someone who lives really close to Texas and knows A LOT of Texans (little of them from Austin). While Rick Perry and GWB might paint a picture of Texas as being a gun-toting, death penalty-loving, crazy Republican rich state, it's not. You have to remember, Texas is a HUGE state and while a majority of them are described as what I said above, they are spread out over distances.

As people have said, Austin is a hippie-commune "blue-state" in the midst of all the red, but Dallas and the surrounding cities and San Antonio and the surrounding areas are very interesting and culturally rich places. The state is also full of people that are just like you and me (expect Texans are fiercely loyal to Texas). I've known people from both of these areas who are staunchly Democrat. One voted for Hilary in the democratic convention in Texas. It's all about who you know and who you surround yourself with.

It's been said time and time again that if you want to be an academic, you have to realize you can't choose where to live. You really have to leave biases such as the political climate or observed stereotypes of that state at the door.

Ooo, activity in this thread! I'm also attending Binghamton in the fall! From Louisiana... eek! I will be moving in August probably. Very nervous/excited to find somewhere to live.

I just got an e-mail saying I was awarded a $25K fellowship for my first year (at Davis)! On cloud nine!

you know what they always say! BLINGHAMTON

I am going to SUNY Binghamton, where I am offered full funding and have the best fit in terms of research interests. This also enables me to live closer to my sister (in the same state) after living apart in two different continents for eight years. I am truly excited!!!

I said this in the Chit Chat forum, but I'll repeat it again here since this is the correct place!

I decided on Binghamton University! Congrats to everyone else making decisions (and to those still deciding, you definitely deserve a congrats for the tough choices you've been given!).

I just accepted my offer to Binghamton this morning! My happy mood was dampened by bitches at work though.

Still excited!

I just accepted my offer to Binghamton this morning! My happy mood was dampened by bitches at work though.

Still excited!

I just accepted my offer to Binghamton this morning! My happy mood was dampened by bitches at work though.

Still excited!

I just accepted my offer to Binghamton this morning! My happy mood was dampened by bitches at work though.

Still excited!

I just accepted my offer to Binghamton this morning! My happy mood was dampened by bitches at work though.

Still excited!

My boss: "So when are you leaving?" in a begrudging tone.

Not soon enough

I think that people outside of the research can't comprehend how people do deal with it. I know I'm used to it, but when we read Ordinary Men by Browning there were times when it did get overwhelming and I had to stop. Then again, I did take 20th Century Europe and Holocaust in Film, Literature and Art at the same time so the entire semester was a bit of a downer.

My boss: "So when are you leaving?" in a begrudging tone.

Not soon enough