Applications 2019

[Balleu]

1 hour ago, historygeek said:

It's officially 5pm (CST)... So begins the LONGEST WEEKEND OF MY LIFE.

Seriously. At least next weekend I have a trip to the coast planned for my birthday, so that should provide some distraction. But this weekend is going to be nerve-wracking. 

And that newsletter timing is just cruel!

[luz.colorada]

@Karou @gorgogliante I'll also be attending! Looking forward to meeting the prospective cohort.

[OHSP]

3 hours ago, historygeek said:

It's officially 5pm (CST)... So begins the LONGEST WEEKEND OF MY LIFE.

 

Not to stress you out further but when I applied I heard from one POI at midnight on Friday, their time, and one POI on Sunday afternoon—for schools that let POIs tell students I wouldn’t personally count on the Monday-Friday 9 to 5 schedule 

[federalist51]

Has anyone who applied to Ohio State gotten a response yet? Judging by previous years, it seems they have generally notified most applicants of their status by the end of January, but there are only two results for this year--which could simply be a result of a smaller proportion of accepted students reporting on here, or could be an indication that not all of OSU's acceptances have been sent. I'm getting apprehensive but don't want to prematurely assume that I will be rejected.

Edited February 2, 2019 by federalist51

[Karou]

7 hours ago, luz.colorada said:

@Karou @gorgogliante I'll also be attending! Looking forward to meeting the prospective cohort.

Ah, nice to see there's a few of us on here! Looking forward to meeting you and the rest of the (prospective) cohort then!

[historygeek]

11 hours ago, OHSP said:

Not to stress you out further but when I applied I heard from one POI at midnight on Friday, their time, and one POI on Sunday afternoon—for schools that let POIs tell students I wouldn’t personally count on the Monday-Friday 9 to 5 schedule 

For some reason that’s more calming ?

[dr. t]

11 hours ago, federalist51 said:

Has anyone who applied to Ohio State gotten a response yet? Judging by previous years, it seems they have generally notified most applicants of their status by the end of January, but there are only two results for this year--which could simply be a result of a smaller proportion of accepted students reporting on here, or could be an indication that not all of OSU's acceptances have been sent. I'm getting apprehensive but don't want to prematurely assume that I will be rejected.

When I got in in 2015, the better funding packages were sent out around now, but I found out (with a lesser funding package) in the 2/3rd week of February, and even then that was early because I broke and emailed my POI to ask what was going on.

[TMP]

1 hour ago, telkanuru said:

When I got in in 2015, the better funding packages were sent out around now, but I found out (with a lesser funding package) in the 2/3rd week of February, and even then that was early because I broke and emailed my POI to ask what was going on.

@federalist51

The first round of acceptances were for nominations for University Fellowships, which guarantees first year fellowship (and in some cases a dissertation research/writing year too).  Those students are guaranteed "in" (pending felony charges....  ).  If one doesn't get an approval from the Graduate School for the University Fellowship, the department will do its best to find other funding so that this person can still have a first year free of TA-ing.  If nothing works out, the perosn is still in, just with a TA-only package.  The next round won't come until the Graduate School notifies the Department of the results, and then the Department determines how many on the TA list it can afford to fund.  Rejections won't come until after this stage ocne the Department is 100% sure it's done with accepting students.  There's really no "wait-list" per se other than that ranked TA list. Those of you who have been accepted, congrats!  Don't fret *too* much about not getting the Graduate School's approval.  We have done extremely well.  As for cohort sizes, my guess is that we are allowed to nominate up to 17 now plus an unlimited number of "diversity" fellowships, which aren't any different from University, just a different name (Graduate Enrichment Fellowships). The end goal is to aim for around 15 entering students.

[latecalifornia]

I was accepted a couple weeks ago. I'm waiting on news of funding. At what point is it ok to cave and send an email asking about whats up with funding? 

[urbanhistorynerd]

@historygeek I met some Loyola Ph.D. students when I was at the AHA, and they were really, really great people! I applied but I don't think I was the best fit, although if they're visiting days are anytime near Northwestern, I may see you there!

Does anyone have any ideas on what Harvard's stipend might be? My POI told me it is the highest out of any Ph.D. program but I've seen places like Columbia + Stanford offer stuff in the 40K's.

[historygeek]

Just now, urbanhistorynerd said:

@historygeek I met some Loyola Ph.D. students when I was at the AHA, and they were really, really great people! I applied but I don't think I was the best fit, although if they're visiting days are anytime near Northwestern, I may see you there!

My POI invited me to visit last October and it seems like a great program! The grad students I met were great, the campus is beautiful and (best part) they have a pretty good placement record!  maybe I’ll see you in Chicago!

[psstein]

1 hour ago, urbanhistorynerd said:

Does anyone have any ideas on what Harvard's stipend might be? My POI told me it is the highest out of any Ph.D. program but I've seen places like Columbia + Stanford offer stuff in the 40K's.

Two years ago, it was around the $30,000 mark. Columbia offers somewhere in the $35,000 range. From memory, Harvard generally doesn't pay its assistant profs the most of any program, but that information may be out of date.

In terms of the information you're currently getting from faculty, trust but verify. Their objective is to get you to enroll, not tell you the unvarnished truth. It may be useful to get in contact with a few current graduate students and ask them. From my own experience, they have much less reason to not give you the whole picture.

You also might want to check the stipend spreadsheet that usually pops up around this time...

[urbanhistorynerd]

2 minutes ago, psstein said:

Two years ago, it was around the $30,000 mark. Columbia offers somewhere in the $35,000 range. From memory, Harvard generally doesn't pay its assistant profs the most of any program, but that information may be out of date.

In terms of the information you're currently getting from faculty, trust but verify. Their objective is to get you to enroll, not tell you the unvarnished truth. It may be useful to get in contact with a few current graduate students and ask them. From my own experience, they have much less reason to not give you the whole picture.

You also might want to check the stipend spreadsheet that usually pops up around this time...

Thank you for the information! I'm suppose to receive the official letter with funding info from GSAS mid-Feb, so we'll see then. Although since two years ago they have unionized, so that might have changed things. I did read an article that in the 2017 year said that the minimum stipend was $33,000 and some change. I'm assuming that they have received raises or perhaps some concessions w/the union. But I'll guess I'll find out soon.

[Boolakanaka]

@urbanhistorynerd As to the highest stipend packages, it’s my understanding that the Yale PhD in law has a stipend in the mid-50s.

[MARTINt]

23 minutes ago, psstein said:

Two years ago, it was around the $30,000 mark. Columbia offers somewhere in the $35,000 range. From memory, Harvard generally doesn't pay its assistant profs the most of any program, but that information may be out of date.

In terms of the information you're currently getting from faculty, trust but verify. Their objective is to get you to enroll, not tell you the unvarnished truth. It may be useful to get in contact with a few current graduate students and ask them. From my own experience, they have much less reason to not give you the whole picture.

You also might want to check the stipend spreadsheet that usually pops up around this time...

Are you sure about that? I've heard from someone who just got his PhD from Columbia that the annual stipend is actually at around 27,000$. 

Edited February 2, 2019 by MARTINt

[TMP]

Everyone, irrespective of stipends, RESEARCH the actual cost of living in the area.  $27K at Columbia, $33K at Harvard... still a stretch for trying to live in New York and Cambridge/Boston (and even Palo Alto for Stanford!).  Do use the funding spreadsheet as a guideline for what to expect. Also, please remember these stipends are intended for a single person without pets, a car, and dependents. it will be up to you how to make that stipend you've offered stretch.

[displayname343q]

In regards to Columbia's stipend for NYC, actually it has proven to be more than enough for my husband at this point (about 28k - tuition and insurance covered). He has received funding to travel to conferences, and there is a summer stipend at around 3k. He currently pays 1300 for a room right by campus. We eat out often but never spend more than 15$ on a meal each. I don't support him at all, actually he's making the big bucks in our family lol, and he pays for all our activities. There is also some extra stipend for people with children (I don't remember the exact amount). BUT, two caveats - one, we went from living off of 20k joint income in another expensive city to 40, so we're frugal. Second, we haven't paid taxes yet since this is his first year... so we'll see! So far so good!

[Karou]

48 minutes ago, TMP said:

Everyone, irrespective of stipends, RESEARCH the actual cost of living in the area.  $27K at Columbia, $33K at Harvard... still a stretch for trying to live in New York and Cambridge/Boston (and even Palo Alto for Stanford!).  Do use the funding spreadsheet as a guideline for what to expect. Also, please remember these stipends are intended for a single person without pets, a car, and dependents. it will be up to you how to make that stipend you've offered stretch.

This was a huge factor for me when I was deciding on which schools to apply to. I decided against applying to a couple of schools I really liked because I didn't want to deal with the heartache of having to decline potential offers because of financial concerns. I only applied to Columbia because I know a lot of people in NYC who can provide me with accommodation at a reasonable cost.

[OHSP]

1 hour ago, TMP said:

Everyone, irrespective of stipends, RESEARCH the actual cost of living in the area.  $27K at Columbia, $33K at Harvard... still a stretch for trying to live in New York and Cambridge/Boston (and even Palo Alto for Stanford!).  Do use the funding spreadsheet as a guideline for what to expect. Also, please remember these stipends are intended for a single person without pets, a car, and dependents. it will be up to you how to make that stipend you've offered stretch.

Ditto this but also, if anyone wants to talk about NYC I'm happy to discuss via PM--my stipend goes pretty far/I'm very comfortable, have an expensive hobby, am taxed international student rates (so some of my stipend disappears) etc, and the "NYC is a financial nightmare" line almost put me off coming here, but I'm really glad it didn't. 

Edited February 2, 2019 by OHSP

[ashiepoo72]

6 hours ago, TMP said:

@federalist51

The first round of acceptances were for nominations for University Fellowships, which guarantees first year fellowship (and in some cases a dissertation research/writing year too).  Those students are guaranteed "in" (pending felony charges....  ).  If one doesn't get an approval from the Graduate School for the University Fellowship, the department will do its best to find other funding so that this person can still have a first year free of TA-ing.  If nothing works out, the perosn is still in, just with a TA-only package.  The next round won't come until the Graduate School notifies the Department of the results, and then the Department determines how many on the TA list it can afford to fund.  Rejections won't come until after this stage ocne the Department is 100% sure it's done with accepting students.  There's really no "wait-list" per se other than that ranked TA list. Those of you who have been accepted, congrats!  Don't fret *too* much about not getting the Graduate School's approval.  We have done extremely well.  As for cohort sizes, my guess is that we are allowed to nominate up to 17 now plus an unlimited number of "diversity" fellowships, which aren't any different from University, just a different name (Graduate Enrichment Fellowships). The end goal is to aim for around 15 entering students.

This is exactly what happened to me. I waited on a response until around mid-March before emailing the GPC--normally I'd advise to hang tight, but I had a few acceptances and knew I couldn't decide without hearing from OSU. I was told they pseudo-wait list people they want to admit but who did not receive University funding while they figure out how many TAs they can afford. So anyone who doesn't hear back for awhile, don't stress just yet!

[psstein]

3 hours ago, MARTINt said:

Are you sure about that? I've heard from someone who just got his PhD from Columbia that the annual stipend is actually at around 27,000$. 

My Columbia friend does have a named fellowship, so that may account for the difference.

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

Re: Columbia stipend, it's supposed to increase by 3% every year, so the (GSAS) graduate stipend for 2019-2020 is a nine-month stipend of $30,232 plus the summer support of $3,884 for 2020 - just got an email from GSAS about this update two days ago. (tuition, insurance, and most of the fees are covered ofc). Also, there are a number of internal summer travel/research fellowships every year to support overseas archival research/language training on top of the nine-month stipend and the summer support.

I second OHSP and paisleytree, living in NYC isn't a financial nightmare if you keep an eye on how you spend and budgeting, and being good at cooking never hurts. I'm also an international student~

[anon1234567]

The stipend at Columbia for 2019-2020 totals $34,116, plus tuition, insurance (for dependents as well), and all fees.

If your concentration of study is also connected to an institute within Columbia, say Jewish Institute,  Science and Society, or Harriman, and your POI heads it, they will match whatever other programs are offering and sometimes even more to retain you. This was done for a few students recently.

Columbia has pots of funding, unevenly spread, unfortunately. 

Edited February 2, 2019 by anon1234567
mistake

[Sigaba]

3 hours ago, Karou said:

This was a huge factor for me when I was deciding on which schools to apply to. I decided against applying to a couple of schools I really liked because I didn't want to deal with the heartache of having to decline potential offers because of financial concerns. 

IMO, one should always apply to schools/programs of genuine interest regardless of concerns about adequate funding.

[historygeek]

Does anyone know the average Villanova funding? It looks like the funding spreadsheet was deleted. ?

I would be down with starting a new funding spreadsheet, if anyone would be interested in that?