czesc

Don't worry, I actually supplied the "not" when I was reading your post and assumed that was what you meant anyway. You don't seem to be the kind of person who would deliberately offend anyone!

I apologize for the complaining. And I obviously really sympathize with people who didn't get in anywhere - I was just one school away from sharing that fate. I was surprised by the results because I had expectations going into the process that were conditioned by the experiences of people who applied 5-6 years ago, when I got out of college. At that time, programs were larger, and the economy wasn't in quite as dire straits as it is today, so there were fewer applicants, too. They received rafts of acceptances to top schools with qualifications similar to mine. In that environment, I think most people here would have had more successes, and options, too, and it's aggravating to see how difficult it's become for everyone here.

Haha, thank you. I visited/really liked Cornell's department. And it would have been agonizing to choose between it and NYC, which is home and, well, easier to live in for me than Ithaca. But so much rejection carnage!

Not sure about that. The UK newspapers go all-out ranking in their "leagues tables". Germany is increasingly concerned with this kind of thing. There are plenty of Asian rankings systems, too. Call it another unfortunate American cultural export or symptom of runamok globalization, but it's slowly making headway in the rest of the world, for sure.

Finally rejected from NYU. Be careful what you wish for. I can't even remember if I applied for the MA as well, but if I did, no offer for that either. Blegh. I wonder if I earned the most rejections this cycle around here? Who can best seven!?

Amazing. The wait continues...

Soo...anyone else still waiting to be rejected from NYU?

I can second that about transnational history and languages -- probably another reason my application wasn't epically successful with more schools. One of my potential advisors, who primarily teaches E/Central Europe, has, no joke, 16 languages on her CV. Not sure if this means the trend will fall into obscurity since few people have the expertise to pull it off, or if it means there's lots of interesting work available for anyone who has the skillset to do it, which will remain valuable. As for memory, there was actually an interdisciplinary conference a couple years ago at NYU about how the whole memory fetish has gone too far. Take that for what you will.

In general, there's been a turn toward new ways of seeing historical connections in the world. So oceanic histories have become a bigger deal, transnational histories of different combinations of regions than area studies had carved the world into during the Cold War, comparative histories of hitherto studied-very-separately places (like Brazil and Italy or Egypt and Japan). The rise of digital methods for researching and presenting work is also a very big deal right now. But don't take my word for it; this is just my impression based on what I've seen/read outside of school since college. My campus visit underscored the fact that a lot of what I was told was cutting edge in undergrad (which was 6 years ago for me) is basically 20 years old.

Very interesting to hear this -- I'm surprised anyone expressed negative thoughts about your application during a visit intended to woo you to a school. I would have actually liked to hear some myself -- I know there are all kinds of circumstantial reasons for rejections, but I'm sure my application must have played a role in decisions to some extent, particularly at places where I'm on waiting lists. My visit was very goal and future-oriented, save for discussion of some of my recommenders. Curious to know what some of the perks you experienced were! While I'm sure there's a correlation between overall university wealth and the perks offered during a visit, I wouldn't necessarily assume that a school that didn't roll these out doesn't have the money for activities more central to its research agenda (different schools have different budgetary priorities). BTW, my methodology involved expressing interest in one subfield (but also global/transnational connections to that subfield) and articulating a couple potential projects, but emphasizing that my mind was still very much open at the same time. This was the way I'd seen it done in an accepted student's Berkeley SOP (I guess that methodology doesn't work for everyone there!) and a couple profs told me it was a good idea. I wonder if I should have maybe substituted a couple discrete subfields for the transnational emphasis in my app for a wider range of acceptances. Oh, and I second the call for those of you who have decided on schools to stick around til April 15!

What exactly were the skills he thought made the difference?

Yes. Again, I don't think rankings are useless, but if we were to compile a useful ranking rather than one meant to sell magazines by shuffling the decks and giving every individual university a slot, we'd be doing this by tiers. I think there are maybe 2-4 of these tiers within the top 40 that are useful in distinguishing departments for reasons other than employment (although there will clearly be slight advantages for higher tiers in this area as well), and then lower tiers that may be more problematic jobswise for reasons NENat lays out.

Yes. I mean, my sole acceptance right now is from a school ranked #11 (and was previously ranked 12). If I'd only looked at the top 10, I wouldn't have an acceptance at this point, and it's hard to believe the dropoff for hiring is that steep between 10-11 or 12, especially since my school does seem to have a pretty good record. This is doubly true for certain subfields. It would make no sense not to apply to Cornell for Southeast Asia, for example. Many schools in the top 10, if not all, don't have many or anyone focused in that area.

Tiers would indeed make way more sense and I think this is how many people in academia actually think of institutions. I mean, even US News sort of recognizes this -- no school in the top 10 isn't tied with another, or several, in the rankings. Does anyone know where I can find last year's list to compare? It seems to have disappeared now that 2013 is up.

Pro tip: most people in Buffalo actually call it "UB". The school has a long history from before the SUNY takeover and the UB acronym reflects pride in it.

No worries. It's not my name, anyway; it's just the Polish equivalent of "ciao".

Haa, those must have rolled in later. Hope none of the less obvious ones throws a 2014 applicant next cycle...

Anyone getting the sense the results board is being heavily trolled today? Apart from the "University of Northwestingham" acceptance, there are way out of sequence results from Berkeley, Virginia, and Chicago and someone complaining about being accepted to North Dakota.

p.s. Congrats to the admit at the University of Northwestingham. Clearly a school of your dreams.

I get this feeling, too. I wonder if it's a fluke and I should reevaluate my aptitude for this. I know I've heard of numerous cases where others have done so. That said, it was a hard year with many schools cutting down cohorts, and many of us who got into one program may have gotten into three or four or five in 2007. If you're on a waitlist somewhere, or were offered a consolatory MA, it's possible you may have even made the cut last year based either on the size of the admitted class or fit issues.

Acceptance at UVA today? Was it off the waitlist?

Yep.

Harvard rejection here as well. Have to admit the watermarked paper feels better than a "Your Decision in Ready" email. Thanks for declining the waitlist early, it just may help.

Well, I know you were hoping for that over a rejection is all I mean... Another mysterious NYU waitlisting. Are they doing one a day?

Congrats, telkanuru! I know you'd been hoping for this.