reallywantcolumbia

While I wouldn't worry too much, I would a) make sure I mentioned it on my form (they can find out easily enough -- and you dont want them to think you're hiding anything) and practice a good, solid answer to the question about binding ties. Bring the documents with you -- use them if you are asked questions. Honestly, I've applied for F1 visas three times, and I always carried every possible document I could with me. That way, if there is a question, you are completely prepared to answer it. Also, while I agree that getting US citizenship is a useful thing, honestly you won't have much trouble. UNC is a great school and you're going there for a fully-funded PhD. Moreover, you're an EU citizen -- getting a visa will be something of a formality for you. As for the SSN and drivers license -- I had no problem getting them as an international. The international office at UNC will most probably get you your SSN within your first few months there (are you going to be doing any teaching?). As for the drivers license -- each state has it's own regulations, but you basically need a certain number of IDs with you and some form of proof of address. A SSN, utility bill, passport, etc should be more than enough. best of luck!

I would second that -- a speeding violation isn't a big deal. If your visa interview is going well and you seem to have a good rapport with your interviewer, you might want to just mention it. I wouldn't really worry too much. Otherwise just take portugabel's advice and ask the embassy beforehand edit: by which I mean snowden's advice

Thanks guys -- I actually know Manhattan and Columbia really well. Never lived there for any extended period of time, but have had friends who lived in Columbia housing (along with the whole formerly I-banker crowd). I have little to no concerns about moving to NYC. In fact, it would probably be the single best reason to head to Columbia. I really love that city! And Columbia housing really is the only way to do it -- gotta love Morningside heights. The real question with Columbia is the department and its dynamics. The real question with Michigan is the city. as for funding -- Mich and Columbia are practically equivalent (when you factor in COL). So that's really not much of an issue. Michigan might actually have more research funds. indecisive -- what kind of administrative issues were students disgruntled about? Did you get any handle on how much access people had to faculty? Did the the grad student cohort seem to get along?

OK -- now I really need advice Background: Two schools -- both ranked almost identically. Both give full fellowships that are comparable when you account for COL. Both have excellent placement rates. Time to degree is comparable. Financial resources for research are comparable. Both have great law schools (I'm thinking about a JD/PhD). And I haven't done a campus visit at either. One of the problems is that I was absolutely SURE I wanted to go to school 1 when I applied, but now that I've had a month of being recruited by school 2, I'm a lot less sure. I think that's party because I've just got so much more info on school 2 now -- much more than I have on school 1. So I don't know how that skews my viewpoint. And how much of this is a question of ego? -- school 2 obviously wants me more than school 1. So, fire away folks -- I need all the advice I can get!! I don't want to leave this decision till the beginning of next week!

So I got invited to both sets of visit days but couldn't make it up to either. Now I am officially freaking out at the thought of having to make a decision and REALLY wish I could have actually seen the schools . In particular, I wish I'd had a chance to check out AA and get a feel for the town (I'm somewhat hesitant about moving to the rust belt) -- and I wish I'd had a chance to meet and talk to people at Columbia (and see if there is any truth in the rumors that grad students at columbia are a disaffected lot). Would anyone have any thoughts on their own visits? In particular, I'm wondering if the department seemed to get along and if grad students seemed like a happy bunch.... But really, anything! Thoughts about location, resources, professors, administrative assistants, favorite coffee shop etc. Please please please help!

ooooh!

I guess the first and most important question is -- what kind of history do you want to do? Any particular area/time period you have in mind? Also, especially in your case, it might make sense to work really hard to get solid recommendations. I don't know how that would work if you're doing distance classes - but I think that will be pretty key. Talk to profs - impress them - convince them that you're a good bet for grad school. Have them ready to rave about you in your recs -- I mean, they need to say something like "she's the best I've seen in years" I was talking to a bunch of history profs this last year and they all seemed to think that non-traditional candidates add a lot to their applicant pool. And who says you haven't done cool stuff!? Professional musician sounds pretty cool! I think your biggest challenge will be convincing the committee that you can handle the work and know what you're getting yourself into. You will need a SOLID writing sample. If you can, do a serious research thesis. Lots of primary research, substantive conclusions. You need to show the committee that you're up for the kind of independent work grad school requires -- which is substantively different from taking classes. And since you're thinking so far ahead -- after you figure out the temporal and spatial elements of your interests, I would suggest dropping an email to a professor doing that kind of work at the universities you're looking at. Get advice. And you will have put your name out there and demonstrated your dedication to it. It might help to read up some of the stuff they've written. You don't want to sound clueless -- I know that sounds obvious, but you need to seem like you've got your eye on the ball and know the lay of the land. Honestly, I don't know if clubs and stuff will help you. I did a crazy amount of stuff in college and have no idea if that helped. Perhaps I would have done better if I'd just spent that time studying harder. Other people might have better advice on that. What I would do is look at schools that ask for a personal statement ALONG WITH the SOP. That was you can showcase your particular journey to grad school. In the end, the hardest part for you will probably be getting your foot in the door and getting people to read your application. Once that happens, you've got show them you're serious, academically qualified, and ready for grad school. best of luck! I know I'm super glad to be done with the application process! p.s. going for an MA might be an excellent idea. I have a friend who went to a totally no-name college and had DISMAL GRE scores. She just got into Harvard and a couple of other MA programs (not in history, but you get the idea).

Something tells me NSF and other national funds are gonna come under a lot of strain over the next few years. Fun!Luckily it seems like Michigan made some very good investments and didn't lose a whole lot from their endowment.

I will (almost certainly) be attending U of Michigan (Ann Arbor) for international/transnational history.

There doesnt seem to be anything up on this So people: Have you been put onto a waitlist? Where? funding? Would you take the offer if you were taken off the waitlist? Have any of you ever been accepted off of a waitlist? When did it happen? Did they let you know abt funding at the same time? Does anyone have any tips on what do once you find out you're on the waitlist? Any way to improve your chances? How long would you wait for a waitlist decision before choosing a straight acceptance? April 1st? 10th? 15th? How often can you call/email them about the decision? I'd love to hear peoples' stories on this. seems like there's not much by way of a roadmap on waitlists.

From talking to Michigan and Columbia: Michigan is sending out official acceptance letters and funding details in the next couple of days. My impression is that they count on prospective advisers to call/email accepted students to tell them as soon as decisions are taken - and at least some of them did that last week. also, there are 18 people in this year's cohort (as far as I know). Columbia is having its accepted students' weekend starting on sunday. From communications with the director of history graduate admissions it seems like things are a bit of a mess there. I think they're trying really hard to figure out the implications of the financial meltdown on their incoming cohort (of 20 students). Now, I don't know if that means they have sent out all their acceptances - but I have heard from three people who got in.

Hey Benjy I'm in pretty much the same boat. The problem is that different places seem to have different systems for their waitlists. I would email the graduate secretary and ask her to explain the waitlist to you.

Has anyone had any contact with Yale recently? I got waitlisted there and sent a really short friendly email to the secretary asking her if they had any data on how many people were waitlisted etc. (I even waited two weeks to make sure they weren't too bogged down with admissions stuff). In response I got this really curt one line email telling me to (paraphrased) "Stop bothering us - doubtful you will get in - shut the &$%# up and wait for Apr. 15." This is on top of their uber-impersonal online decision letter and utter lack of communication thereafter. I donno - it seems to bode badly for their graduate culture. Anyone have any views/counter-examples for this? I am playing with the idea of actively campaigning for Yale - but this kind of thing really puts me off. Especially since both Columbia and Michigan have been so wonderful in this regard. Is it just a Yale thing? Or a waitlist at Harvard/Princeton/Yale thing? Or just a Harvard/Princeton/Yale thing? Would love to hear from people who have been admitted into Yale outright.

I would second that. From what I've heard, early Americanists are almost always required to have at least a basic reading knowledge of French. Historians of early American colonization are at an advantage if they know Spanish....the rest are pretty optional. As for research tools; I donno. I have heard that doing a summer of research for a professor (or just guided research for your own undergrad thesis) can be helpful. Working internationally and getting some offshore research experience also seems to be helpful. They seem to be a few fellowships around that can help you out with funding that.

I've been talking to Columbia for the last few days. It seems like they had 500+ applicants and cut their incoming class down to 20 people. They also have a waitlist this year - the first time they are using one. Apparently there are six people on the waitlist. As far as I can tell, all the decisions have been taken (and probably sent out by this point). Their accepted students days are the 8th and 9th of March - that leads me to expect that the decisions have been made. The long and short of it seems to be that Columbia is deathly afraid of over-enrollment this year - and has cut spots pretty severely. Fun times! The upside seems to be that Columbia is only accepting people when it can give them full funding.

Yet again, I would STRONGLY urge against assuming you will only need one language to do American history. First off, there are a huge number of people who apply to do American history. Standing out is hard to do in those circumstances - and additional language training is often the most effective way to do that. Secondly, I talked to a lot of history professors and they all told me that the 1 language thing is a bare minimum. In essence, it's there so that the absolutely most brilliant applicant won't be turned away for only knowing Spanish. But, for regular schmoes like me, that's just not going to cut it. At the very least - your 1 language has to be directly related to your field (colonial history - French; modern - German, French or Spanish; or something random if you can justify it). anyway, thats just my two cents. I hate languages too - so that part has been like pulling teeth...

I would strongly recommend taking a really really intensive summer language program for at least one summer. It is a kick ass way to learn the language, looks really good on your applications (shows you are really serious about learning the language), and it fills up your summer. Then again, you don't earn anything. But if you are choosing between learning a language and doing some internship - I would go with language any day. I did http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/ls/ and it was really pretty awesome. furthermore, from what I've heard, the top three reasons why people get rejected from grad school are: a) insufficient language training no appropriate adviser in the department c) shitty GRE/GPA

thanks a ton!

Hey has anyone else been waitlisted anywhere? Any news on how waiting lists for grad school work? I've been trying to get the info from Columbia with no luck...

I was thinking along the same lines.....oh well....too late now

I was told that official letters for Michigan won't be sent out for another two weeks or so - so maybe there's still hope. Same goes for Columbia (I think). If the waitlist really is by field, then maybe only the international subfield is full. They might still be making decisions in other fields

OK, so I've been biting my nails and losing my mind for the last three months or so- thinking I was alone in my misery. A fellow grad school applicant friend told me about gradcafe about two days ago. I've basically spent the last 4 hours reading all 722 posts on this discussion board. Needless to say, its been awesome!