mvlchicago

I was told by my faculty contact at UPenn that the grad com (not adcom) needed to okay the final decisions before she could tell me anything, and that I'd be notified by the DGS in due time. That was sent on Thursday, so I assumed that the grad com would sit either on Friday, or sometime early this week, and once they finalize the decisions, that the DGS will send out info on decisions.

Chicago was great with cold/snow days. By which I mean, admin would send emails like "it's -30 with windchill and a foot of snow, please don't die on your way to class today. Yes you have class today."

You're all fantastic for the routes you've taken, the time you've spent and how you've gotten here. I got extraordinarily lucky through my journey: my undergrad was at UChicago, and I received a basically-full scholarship to make my full participation in the intellectual community there possible. I had to work a part-time job, but even that was as a research assistant in the Political Science Department. This year I've been writing freelance while working on the applications, and received a Ph.D offer at Brown (worth noting, I was rejected from Brown last year.) I think the languages barrier is incredibly hard to break without access to a formal course. That being said, if you can find a couple friends who can get you through learning the grammar and being able to *read* texts, the comp exams for languages are usually pretty straightforward (At UChicago, you were given a dictionary with the passages you had to translate.) The economic recession has made life really difficult for 20-somethings across the board, and the fact that any of us have gotten this far in what's been the worst entry point since WWII is remarkable enough. So I cannot express how much admiration I have for all of you, independent of the outcomes.

Missed you by a year . have you been enjoying the program?

I was sorta late to the party, but I'm always down for virtual support networks! Who says history can't be a collaborative process?

I found wings for 25 cents a piece there while around South Bend a few years ago. That's a reason to apply to Ph.D programs, right?

Also, update to other people waiting to hear from (U)Penn: apparently the grad committee has yet to sit down and make the final decisions. So hang tight, it might be tomorrow but more likely next week.

If you've any updates to share about your CV/qualifications, that can be a way to communicate with them indirectly. I think it'd probably be better to let them be, but I can't imagine they'd reject you on the grounds of asking about your status with the school. Being constrained based on location is really hard, so don't be too down on yourself if it turns out that way.

I'm speaking now with one of my dream schools admissions under belt, so it's probably much easier for me to be optimistic. But this was also my second application cycle. Last year, I received rejections up and down the board from schools all across the competitive spectrum. It's really difficult to accept, but sometimes you can be the best applicant by a mile in a season and still not receive admission if they still don't feel like they can properly house your interests or are concerned about you being there over five years. Case in point, I recently found out one of my favorite faculty members at my undergrad was denied tenure. Their grad students are now all scrambling to find people to chair their dissertations, but it's not easy because these faculty person was really the only individual with expertise in the field at my school. So now, these phd students are going to have to transform their dissertations to fit the needs of the department rather than exploring what sparked their passion for historical work. Sometimes rejections may be blessings in disguise. I'd echo a lot of what revolutions said: if this is the life you want, rejection is going to be a natural part of it (jobs, fellowships, funding, papers, conferences.) The key isn't to not get rejected, it's to learn how to operate well with rejections. Much love to all of y'all.

tbh, I think you have to ask whether you'd be happy at a program that disrespects the oxford comma in such a manner .

Also, sometimes it has nothing to do with you as an applicant. Over the past two admission seasons, I was rejected from 10 programs, some of which specifically mentioned that the person with my interests in mind got 0 slots. I think if you're really interested in a program, your second attempt at an application will almost always fare better than your first. This is coming from someone who didn't do a master's degree, so chin up! I'm sure you'll get there with persistence!

If it were me, all other things equal, I'd go for the Ph.D . You're guaranteed the five years of funding no matter what. If you enter the masters program and something happens that throws you off track (gods forbid!) they might not be as loyal. Plus, even if you do everything right, if politics beyond your control happen and they can't keep you on, you might be in a good position for admission elsewhere, but it seems like unnecessary stress . Finally, if the institutions are anywhere near each other, you might be able to get the faculty at the latter school to help advise you and/or take their classes for credit at your institution. Ultimately, you gotta do you though. If that facultyperson is worth the risk, go for it!

Guess we'll be in touch . Congrats!

Just a heads-up: I just received my decision (and admission!) for Brown. If you've applied, you might want to check it out now! Excited to call y'all colleagues from now. Good luck!

Re: Vanderbilt admissions. I've had it from my source that the department is still negotiating with the Graduate School for a number of history slots. So while they're deliberating, it may be a little while longer than this week before results come out. Hope y'all are hanging in there!

I've been lurking since late January on this thread, but thought I'd give a boost. My undergrad was at UofC, and the Resident Head of my House was a PhD Student in NELC. He said he'd done theologic work and a Masters program in Texas before applying for his PhD. He also had a wife at the time and wasn't quite sure whether it'd work out with family + studies. Anyway, he ended up applying to Chicago by accident, without having contacted any faculty or knowing anyone in the program. He got rejected at over half his applications, but got admitted to Chicago. And if you know your NELC programs, you know that Chicago is in a league all its own when it comes to preparation and competition. To this day, he has no idea how he got admitted to the UChicago PhD, while getting rejected at schools not nearly competitive nor well-known. The whole idea of "reach" in PhD programs, I think, is a lil silly since so much of this is out of your control. So much of it is haphazard, and sometimes you end up at the top program in your field having had your application sent on accident. Anything can happen, even if your "safeties" have said no.