Applications 2019

[daradara]

@Balleu @fortsibut Best of luck both of you with the Cornell decision. Hopefully there are enough spots in African History for the both of you!

[fortsibut]

9 minutes ago, daradara said:

@Balleu @fortsibut Best of luck both of you with the Cornell decision. Hopefully there are enough spots in African History for the both of you!

Thanks!  ❤️  @Balleu and I will fight for the spot!

/goes off to watch "Ip Man" and totally become a badass martial artist as a result 

[Tigla]

With the cycle in full swing and the first wave of decisions rolling out, is it appropriate to reach out to a POI or the department and ask about the status of my application? I have a solid offer from a school that would be an excellent fit. However, School 2 is an excellent fit, too, but a lot depends on their offer and whether I'm on a wait list or not. Is this a situation where one should bite the bullet and wait it out or can you reach out and ask about the status of your application?

Edited February 16, 2019 by Tigla

[MARTINt]

48 minutes ago, Tigla said:

With the cycle in full swing and the first wave of decisions rolling out, is it appropriate to reach out to a POI or the department and ask about the status of my application? I have a solid offer from a school that would be an excellent fit. However, School 2 is an excellent fit, too, but a lot depends on their offer and whether I'm on a wait list or not. Is this a situation where one should bite the bullet and wait it out or can you reach out and ask about the status of your application?

I'm in a similar situation. IMO, we should bite the bullet. You already have an offer from a school you like, so just try to relax and let go.  Assume your future is going to be in the school you were accepted to, and if you'll get another offer - well, you can worry about it then. 

[elx]

I see Penn's admitted some people today -- have any of you heard good news? ☺️

[eks933]

14 hours ago, latecalifornia said:

i'm on the wait list for UVA too but don't have the answer!

Nice! Did you get an email from the DGS or just the email telling you to check the app portal? 

[displayname343q]

1 hour ago, elx said:

I see Penn's admitted some people today -- have any of you heard good news? ☺️

Yes! I'm surprised they emailed on the weekend (technically Friday midnight). I've got a tough choice ahead of me though now (between Upenn and yale)

[potsupotsu]

I've been admitted to Harvard's History and East Asian Languages! On a Saturday!

[urbanhistorynerd]

5 minutes ago, potsupotsu said:

I've been admitted to Harvard's History and East Asian Languages! On a Saturday!

Nice!!! I don't know if their admitted students days are the same as the History Dept, but if they are, I'll see you then!

[historygeek]

9 minutes ago, potsupotsu said:

I've been admitted to Harvard's History and East Asian Languages! On a Saturday!

How exciting! Congrats! What a way to start your Saturday.

[gsc]

15 hours ago, Historiker said:

Anyone have any advice for what to ask DGS and POIs after acceptance? I already know about funding, structure of the program, and whatnot. Would it be a red flag to them if I don’t have any questions?

Ask the DGS what graduate students do for funding after the fifth year because more likely than not you'll need it. If you don't know already, also ask about funding (within the department and also the graduate school) to do preliminary research after your 1st/2nd yrs. 

Ask your prospective advisor to describe their advising style. Then dig a little deeper and try to get them to describe how that style works in practice. For example, hands off can mean anything from "I don't see myself as having a huge role in guiding my students through the program" to "I don't expect to meet with you every week unless you want or feel you need to." (Speaking to your prospective advisors' current students can also shed light on this.) In order to really evaluate the answers you get to this question, however, you'll also have to give some thought to what you might like in an advisor and more importantly, what you might need— which is itself a whole question of how you work, how you like to receive feedback, etc. 

Edited February 16, 2019 by gsc

[TMP]

11 hours ago, Tigla said:

With the cycle in full swing and the first wave of decisions rolling out, is it appropriate to reach out to a POI or the department and ask about the status of my application? I have a solid offer from a school that would be an excellent fit. However, School 2 is an excellent fit, too, but a lot depends on their offer and whether I'm on a wait list or not. Is this a situation where one should bite the bullet and wait it out or can you reach out and ask about the status of your application?

Unless School 2 is absolutely, absolutely your top choice that you would turn down School 1, I'd keep mum. 

[potsupotsu]

24 minutes ago, urbanhistorynerd said:

Nice!!! I don't know if their admitted students days are the same as the History Dept, but if they are, I'll see you then!

I'm not sure when they are at the moment! My POI just says "late March." 

[daradara]

Well, I am 100% sure I have been rejected from Harvard HEAL. The Harvard rejections are not something I much care about, as aside from the potential funding, there is essentially nothing about the school that excites me. However, it appears that I may also be rejected from University of Pennsylvania. This one I am unsure about, but they did start releasing acceptances, so it is possible. I am not sure if it is because it is my last decision (assuming Chicago has been decided long ago), , but I feel slightly more moved by the possibility of rejection from UPenn. Perhaps it is also influenced by nostalgia, as UPenn was my BA. Perhaps it is also because it is the only application I had to pay for! The department is actually very limited for my field (only one person), and for that reason it probably would be a poor place to do my degree relative to other places I applied, but nevertheless I felt sad for a moment. In the end, it appears I will only get into one university, but that university also happened to be my first choice by an innumerable margin. I suppose I cannot complain. 

[Sigaba]

3 minutes ago, daradara said:

Well, I am 100% sure I have been rejected from Harvard HEAL. The Harvard rejections are not something I much care about, as aside from the potential funding, there is essentially nothing about the school that excites me. However, it appears that I may also be rejected from University of Pennsylvania. This one I am unsure about, but they did start releasing acceptances, so it is possible. I am not sure if it is because it is my last decision (assuming Chicago has been decided long ago), , but I feel slightly more moved by the possibility of rejection from UPenn. Perhaps it is also influenced by nostalgia, as UPenn was my BA. Perhaps it is also because it is the only application I had to pay for! The department is actually very limited for my field (only one person), and for that reason it probably would be a poor place to do my degree relative to other places I applied, but nevertheless I felt sad for a moment. In the end, it appears I will only get into one university, but that university also happened to be my first choice by an innumerable margin. I suppose I cannot complain. 

Congratulations on being admitted to Yale.

I recommend that you dial down your apparent contempt for Harvard unless you're absolutely sure you're not going to be interacting with academics who went there or were taught or mentored or supported by those who did. The Ivory Tower is a much smaller place with much thinner walls than one would think.

[daradara]

16 minutes ago, Sigaba said:

Congratulations on being admitted to Yale.

I recommend that you dial down your apparent contempt for Harvard unless you're absolutely sure you're not going to be interacting with academics who went there or were taught or mentored or supported by those who did. The Ivory Tower is a much smaller place with much thinner walls than one would think.

I'm well aware of this. I went to an Ivy school, I am currently surrounded by Ivy-bred faculty very intimate with the scholars at the Ivy departments, and I have actually met all the faculty in my field at Harvard, worked with them on projects, etc. It is not contempt for them as people or their scholarship, but I am just not personally attracted to the department or what they are doing at moment. Clearly, they felt the same about me (and they had discussed this with me prior), and I do not take it as them having contempt for me or my project.

Edited February 16, 2019 by daradara

[Carltonjacobs]

Could someone please share when Duke campus visits are?  When are they for UT?  

[elx]

38 minutes ago, Carltonjacobs said:

Could someone please share when Duke campus visits are?  When are they for UT?  

I'm pretty sure Duke's is next week - @Karou would know better!

[Ccthomas95]

Congrats everyone on your admits!! 

Unfortunately, I don’t think this cycle is panning out too well for me. I’ve been rejected from Johns Hopkins, didn’t get an interview for UPenn, and it’s still radio silence from Georgetown and NYU. 

I’ve still waiting from some universities in the UK, but I’m gutted that grad school in the US isn’t looking very likely now ?

[Balleu]

 

16 hours ago, daradara said:

@Balleu @fortsibut Best of luck both of you with the Cornell decision. Hopefully there are enough spots in African History for the both of you!

 

16 hours ago, fortsibut said:

Thanks!  ❤️  @Balleu and I will fight for the spot!

/goes off to watch "Ip Man" and totally become a badass martial artist as a result 

Thanks for the encouragement! @fortsibut, I know you've been trying for Cornell! I'm hopeful for you. 

And that's a good choice, I'd trust martial arts learned from Donnie Yen. 

Congrats to folks who've received good news on the weekend! 

[elx]

1 hour ago, Ccthomas95 said:

Congrats everyone on your admits!! 

Unfortunately, I don’t think this cycle is panning out too well for me. I’ve been rejected from Johns Hopkins, didn’t get an interview for UPenn, and it’s still radio silence from Georgetown and NYU. 

I’ve still waiting from some universities in the UK, but I’m gutted that grad school in the US isn’t looking very likely now ?

I'm in the same boat with Penn and NYU -- I know Penn's a lost cause, but NYU is truly keeping me on my toes.

Rejections definitely suck, but at least a PhD takes so much less time here in the UK. And there's a distinct lack of Trump :'D

[latecalifornia]

6 hours ago, eks933 said:

Nice! Did you get an email from the DGS or just the email telling you to check the app portal? 

DGS. was told it's not uncommon for potential students to move off the wait list but not much more than that 

[TMP]

6 hours ago, daradara said:

I'm well aware of this. I went to an Ivy school, I am currently surrounded by Ivy-bred faculty very intimate with the scholars at the Ivy departments, and I have actually met all the faculty in my field at Harvard, worked with them on projects, etc. It is not contempt for them as people or their scholarship, but I am just not personally attracted to the department or what they are doing at moment. Clearly, they felt the same about me (and they had discussed this with me prior), and I do not take it as them having contempt for me or my project.

(a) Then.... why did you apply to Harvard?
(b) If it makes you feel better, it's really much better not to do BA and PhD in the same institution unless the degrees are from two entirely different departments. Many well-meaning professors know and understand the perils of being in one place for a long time: one doesn't get such a wide variety of perspectives to improve and bolster one's scholarship. While I'm sure it'll be nice to go back to the familiar, it's better that you go to Yale.

Edited February 17, 2019 by TMP

[daradara]

4 minutes ago, TMP said:

(a) Then.... why did you apply to Harvard?
(b) If it makes you feel better, it's really much better not to being doing BA and PhD in the same institution unless the degrees are from two entirely different departments. Many well-meaning professors know and understand the perils of being in one place for a long time: one doesn't get such a wide variety of perspectives to improve and bolster one's scholarship. While I'm sure it'll be nice to go back to the familiar, it's better that you go to Yale.

(a) I understand this attitude, and I was hesitant myself about applying. However, applications for me were free,  and for personal reasons I had to limit myself to a certain geographical area, making Harvard one of the better schools in that range. Therefore, it really cost me nothing to just apply with the materials I had prepared. To be fair, as mentioned, I do like (really like!) the scholars in the department, but it really would not be where I would have liked to end up given my current project and the current focus of the department. However, one can certainly do worse than Harvard, especially given the fact that the large majority of universities I would actually consider poor fits. I know some people in my sub-field who did get in to Harvard this year over me, and I feel that their projects really do fit the department, so I think these things work themselves out very well in the end.

(b) Yes, I agree with this. In fact, when I left, I received advice from a professor there I was very close to. He said that he thinks it would be a poor decision to return to UPenn in the future, as I probably had experienced all that the university could give me already. I appreciate your sound advice as well as a reminder of that.

[Rekishishu]

I am waitlisted by Northwestern on February 1. The DGS e-mailed me that there was no enough funding for me. Northwestern is actually my first choice. How much chance do I have to get an offer?  So anxious.

Edited February 17, 2019 by Rekishishu