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I'm not entirely sure if my interpretation is correct. But if I am, what that professor meant is that they've given 10 offers till this moment, expecting 3-5 drop-outs, and pick up people on the waiting list to fill that vacancy. Perhaps they may decide to recruit 1 or 2 more (I wish so) if they feel that they will be able to fund them.

I've got some information from a professor: In the normal years, the department would usually admit 40+ students, among whom about 15-20 would come. This year, the department has decided to admit 10 students in the first run, and put others on the waiting list. They fear lest all the applicants they admit would come and drive the department into bankruptcy. I think that eventually there will be 10-12 students in this year's cohort. Therefore my guess is that probably three to five applicants can get off waiting list. Good luck to those who'd like to come.

Many big ten schools do prefer papers over books when recruiting. Interestingly, some professors are quite sensitive to this claim, "No, we value book publications equally. See, I am doing this and that book project, and the department gives me much freedom and time. You must be talking about those demography guys."

It seems the debate has become really heated. It is true that Wisconsin gets more paper published in the top journals, and I also admit that they are of "high quality". Yet "high quality" does not necessarily imply "intellectual". One fact I want to point out that the reason Wisconsin gets more paper published is simply because they own the largest database in the Unites States, and perhaps the largest university-run in the world. That is to say, they have a powerful paper engine, which is a huge plus in paper counting. My undergrad adviser comes from Wisconsin, and he told me that if one goes to Wisconsin, professors will say "Hey, here is some data, just take them and make your dissertation out of it." This is not a bias against quantitative works. But simply to point out that the fact that more journal articles are read, cites, and regarded most influential may be contingent upon what sort of study to which these papers are related. With the huge plus of databases, one can produce multiple papers when others may only be able to produce one, collecting data on themselves, or doing archival research instead. Yet it would be unfair just to count numbers without treating different things differently. As for "intellectual contribution" Harvard had Talcott Parsons, Barington Moore, and produced Charles Tilly and Theda Skocpol. Yes, Wisconsin has many rigorous, respectable and highly productive social scientists, but could you name some influential intellectuals from Wisconsin?

Because Canadians (and Mexicans perhaps) are normally treated the same as US applicants, especially with regard to internal financial aid. Other interantional students (East Asian, East European, etc.) normally compete for a fixed quota of offers.

This question is especially directed to migration dude. I wonder if international students (exclusing Canadians of course) in the US "U" are put in the US pool or in the International Pool (along with "I"). For example, I am a Chinese student at Dartmouth, and I know my application is put into the pool of East Asian nationals (China, Korea, Japan) even though I hold a degree from a US college.

Hey, I think you should specify your sub-field so that people can give you advice.

Yes! I think what you must have Phil Gorski in mind. They have a cluster of people doing comparative studies on empires, such as Gorski, Adams (has strong affiliation with her Michigan collegues), Stamatov (from UCLA), also we shouldn't forget Wallerstein. saphire, are you also in Comparative Historical Sociology? Where have you got into so far? Currently I have got into Chicago, but I have been weighing between Chicago and Yale ever since I started application. I used also to have UCLA at mind, since they have Michael Mann(my favorite) and Perry Anderson. Unfortunately I was rejected by them. But I am definitely waiting for result from Yale. I would very much like to hear from others who are interested in Comparative Historical Sociology, especially in the classical topics such as state formation, revolution, modernization, etc.

The head of the admission committee told me that the results will be released in late Feburary. They don't hold interviews.

I've also got into Chicago. Really haven't expected the result to come out so soon d-_-b, last years it was in March. Congrats to all those having gotten in and best wishes to those still waiting. By the way, is there anyone whose primary interests ares in historical sociology?