Applications 2019

[mediumatcha]

9 minutes ago, OHSP said:

Sorry--wasn't meant as a personal dig. Every time I apply for anything I spend months on the verge of sending a steam of emails all to the effect of, "ACTUALLY DON'T WORRY GUYS I'LL TRY AGAIN NEXT YEAR". 

In this case, I might also enjoy watching the suggested montage. ?

[luz.colorada]

17 hours ago, historygeek said:

Got my first waitlist from Loyola Chicago. Honestly, not sure if I would accept if I was being accepted, given the fact that they're not a ranked program and they're primarily an American history school. 

Do you know about funding at the two schools you're considering for your MA? Unless it would involve going into debt, I would suggest not doing an MA and PhD at the same place you're doing your undergrad. I just feel the need to chime in since professors at your current school are obviously excited that you might continue on, but some intellectual diversity is usually desired. Could you do the MA at your current school and a PhD somewhere else or do you think you'd burn bridges that way? 

[historygeek]

2 minutes ago, luz.colorada said:

Do you know about funding at the two schools you're considering for your MA? Unless it would involve going into debt, I would suggest not doing an MA and PhD at the same place you're doing your undergrad. I just feel the need to chime in since professors at your current school are obviously excited that you might continue on, but some intellectual diversity is usually desired. Could you do the MA at your current school and a PhD somewhere else or do you think you'd burn bridges that way? 

I know that SLU funds Masters programs, though I'm not sure about the stipend. I could do the MA at my current school and a PhD somewhere else with ease (a lot of students have done so previously, with a good maintained relationship), so I'm not too incredibly worried about that. I'm not sure about funding yet for Villanova, but I should find out within the next week or so. 

 

Edited February 22, 2019 by historygeek

[luz.colorada]

11 minutes ago, historygeek said:

I know that SLU funds Masters programs, though I'm not sure about the stipend. I could do the MA at my current school and a PhD somewhere else with ease (a lot of students have done so previously, with a good maintained relationship), so I'm not too incredibly worried about that. I'm not sure about funding yet for Villanova, but I should find out within the next week or so. 

 

That's great! It's nice that you have a funded option that will give you mobility to switch schools for the PhD. 

[DanaJ]

48 minutes ago, historygeek said:

I know that SLU funds Masters programs, though I'm not sure about the stipend. I could do the MA at my current school and a PhD somewhere else with ease (a lot of students have done so previously, with a good maintained relationship), so I'm not too incredibly worried about that. I'm not sure about funding yet for Villanova, but I should find out within the next week or so. 

 

A funded MA is hard to come by. I was 2/3 funded, but there’s only 3-4 positions available for the entire program at my university. Obviously MA programs consist of more than 3-4 students (it was 4, budget cuts made us 3). If you have the funded opportunity, take it! It can be super competitive! I was a community college transfer to a 4 year university, but I stayed at the same school I completed my undergrad with for my MA. They offer a terminal MA and no PhD program, but in the 2 extra years I built stronger relationships with faculty that I also think helped contribute to stronger letters for PhD applications. 

Short version: with your research interests transitioning, I would take a funded MA offer if you have one. That allows you more time to explore those interests without building up debt, and will also strengthen your applications if you want to keep moving forward. Just my 2 cents.

[TMP]

12 hours ago, AfricanusCrowther said:

Hi, bitter grad student here to implore you to ask about sixth-year funding on your visiting weekends. Don’t accept vague reassurances along the lines of “well, sixth-year students often find their way to getting funding somehow.” Get a clear answer. Talk to advanced grad students and read the student newspaper/union newsletter if you have to. And treat periods of “austerity” at universities with the utmost seriousness.

Read the department handbook too.  It should have a section on funding once the guaranteed package has been used up.  Ask advanced graduate students how they're funding their PhD and how their situation compares to when they first entered 5-6 years ago.  Ask this question to the DGS (preferably in front of everybody), the graduate coordinator, and your potential adviser. 

Also ask about summer funding for after first year -- how do students do their pre-dissertation research?  I was bitter when I didn't get my first summer funded for research (just language study). Then I relaxed when I got funded for my second summer, which really, really helped a lot in the way of writing my prospectus and next round of grant proposals. It took the department a few years to acknowledge the importance of pre-dissertation research and move some funds towards first/second years to help them shape their prospectus/first round of dissertation research grant/fellowship proposals (of course, cutting cohort sizes helped a bit...). I've seen a number of graduate students who waited too long to start on their "pre-dissertation" research and get into trouble when they tried to apply for dissertation fellowships.  Funding for pre-dissertation research truly makes a difference for future success with dissertation fellowships.

[Franker89]

9 hours ago, mediumatcha said:

For the record, I was not being arrogant. Since I have already accepted an offer from another program and many universities have a literal "withdraw application" button on their portals, one might understand the well-intentioned nature of inquiring about taking my name out of the hat. 

@mediumatcha, out of curiosity and if you don't mind sharing, which programs did you withdraw your admission offer? What's the response you received? And what's your area of study? 

Edited February 22, 2019 by youngblood79

[historygeek]

55 minutes ago, DanaJ said:

A funded MA is hard to come by. I was 2/3 funded, but there’s only 3-4 positions available for the entire program at my university. Obviously MA programs consist of more than 3-4 students (it was 4, budget cuts made us 3). If you have the funded opportunity, take it! It can be super competitive! I was a community college transfer to a 4 year university, but I stayed at the same school I completed my undergrad with for my MA. They offer a terminal MA and no PhD program, but in the 2 extra years I built stronger relationships with faculty that I also think helped contribute to stronger letters for PhD applications. 

Short version: with your research interests transitioning, I would take a funded MA offer if you have one. That allows you more time to explore those interests without building up debt, and will also strengthen your applications if you want to keep moving forward. Just my 2 cents.

Funding is definitely my priority! I'm hoping that I'll have to choose between two funded programs, so I'm kind of biding my time until Villanova gets back to me. 

[daradara]

I e-mailed Harvard to ask about my rank on the waitlist. They told me that I was ranked number 1, so it seems I have a pretty good chance of being admitted. I would recommend anyone to e-mail a school they have been waitlisted at and ask if they have a ranked list so that you can have a better idea of where you stand. Mind you, not all of them will. For instance, UPenn does not rank their waitlisted applicants. 

Additionally, as I still have not heard back from the University of Chicago, I e-mailed them to ask about the status of my application. For those of you who are still waiting on Chicago, it might be of interest to you. The response is as follows:

"Your application is currently in final review. We expect to begin sending out official decisions late February to early March. This process can take several days to complete; there is no way to know when in the process your decision will be sent. No further changes or additions to your application may be made."

[spacea]

6 minutes ago, daradara said:

"Your application is currently in final review. We expect to begin sending out official decisions late February to early March. This process can take several days to complete; there is no way to know when in the process your decision will be sent. No further changes or additions to your application may be made."

That's great to know re: Chicago, thank you!

[daradara]

2 minutes ago, spacea said:

That's great to know re: Chicago, thank you!

No problem! I finally got fed up after hearing from every other school. What makes it so frustrating is that I know they start contacting some applicants in late January. Chicago for all their departments has a rather strange application review process. I think part of it is that they seem to have some issues with funding and that they also feel like they have to compete with higher ranked schools. Therefore, they begin contacting early to try to secure, but their normal process seems to lag behind all those schools, and some of that might be due to waiting to hear if their early-contacted applicants are still interested or not after receiving other offers. Of course, this is all speculation. 

[spacea]

2 minutes ago, daradara said:

No problem! I finally got fed up after hearing from every other school. What makes it so frustrating is that I know they start contacting some applicants in late January. Chicago for all their departments has a rather strange application review process. I think part of it is that they seem to have some issues with funding and that they also feel like they have to compete with higher ranked schools. Therefore, they begin contacting early to try to secure, but their normal process seems to lag behind all those schools, and some of that might be due to waiting to hear if their early-contacted applicants are still interested or not after receiving other offers. Of course, this is all speculation. 

I just realized most of the schools I applied to state they notify "in February" or "by early March", which... is not exactly transparent. Re: Chicago, I know they have notified people in Anthro and CompLit, but those were also departments that interviewed, so. Fingers crossed for all of us. ?

[hctr11]

1 minute ago, spacea said:

I just realized most of the schools I applied to state they notify "in February" or "by early March", which... is not exactly transparent. Re: Chicago, I know they have notified people in Anthro and CompLit, but those were also departments that interviewed, so. Fingers crossed for all of us. ?

If it helps, I was one of those early Feb admits, and Prospective Student Day is on March 7 & 8th. With that in mind, the wait shouldn't be too much longer! Good luck to everyone waiting! ?

[Taorluath34]

Just got my UPenn rejection today, so they should be coming in for others that have been waiting. Hope everyone has a happy weekend!

[daradara]

46 minutes ago, spacea said:

I just realized most of the schools I applied to state they notify "in February" or "by early March", which... is not exactly transparent. Re: Chicago, I know they have notified people in Anthro and CompLit, but those were also departments that interviewed, so. Fingers crossed for all of us. ?

Yes, best of luck spacea! 

An additional thing that I read on this forum is that a History applicant from a previous year was told by Chicago that they would have taken them if they would have expressed more clearly that Chicago was a top 3 choice. Chicago felt that this person would have definitely turned them down, and so did not admit them, even though they would have liked to. Something to perhaps keep in mind for future applicants. I know on my application for Yale I made is clear they were at the top of my list, and while I do not know if it made any difference, it certainly did not hurt. I do know that Chicago History's number of accepted applicants has been trending down yearly, and this probably fuels some of that mentality. 

Edited February 22, 2019 by daradara
Found the discipline

[daradara]

2 minutes ago, Taorluath34 said:

Just got my UPenn rejection today, so they should be coming in for others that have been waiting. Hope everyone has a happy weekend!

Sorry to hear about your rejection. The process of reviewing seems to be over for most schools, so hopefully you hear good news from your remaining three soon!

[fordlandia]

14 hours ago, AfricanusCrowther said:

Hi, bitter grad student here to implore you to ask about sixth-year funding on your visiting weekends. Don’t accept vague reassurances along the lines of “well, sixth-year students often find their way to getting funding somehow.” Get a clear answer. Talk to advanced grad students and read the student newspaper/union newsletter if you have to. And treat periods of “austerity” at universities with the utmost seriousness.

Thank you for this excellent advice - I would not have thought to ask about this! Speaking of which, am visiting Austin this weekend and was wondering if anyone has last minute advice, questions I should ask, etc. Although I've made a running list and browsed the "Interviews and Visits" forum, it'd be good to get a sense of what history applicants have asked during their interviews?

[daradara]

52 minutes ago, fordlandia said:

Thank you for this excellent advice - I would not have thought to ask about this! Speaking of which, am visiting Austin this weekend and was wondering if anyone has last minute advice, questions I should ask, etc. Although I've made a running list and browsed the "Interviews and Visits" forum, it'd be good to get a sense of what history applicants have asked during their interviews?

Have you seen the newest thread, 2019 Visit Days/Decisions? People have given lists of questions they asked/think people should generally ask. It is a very useful thread and I suggest reading it if you have not!

 

 

[fordlandia]

5 minutes ago, daradara said:

Have you seen the newest thread, 2019 Visit Days/Decisions? People have given lists of questions they asked/think people should generally ask. It is a very useful thread and I suggest reading it if you have not!

 

 

Thank you for this - hadn't seen the threat yet! ?

[historykeeno]

Does anyone know if UC Davis has sent out of all of its offers? I'm expecting a rejection, but interested to know if they ever accept from waitlist?

[chicago_style]

4 applied, 1 accepted, 1 rejected, 2 radio silence. 

How many have heard back from Harvard in American History Ph.D.? Duke? Not sure whether to assume so much based on posts here, but it doesn't seem like a ton have been accepted... 

On the bright side, haven't been rejected yet. So there's that. 

[historygeek]

1 minute ago, chicago_style said:

4 applied, 1 accepted, 1 rejected, 2 radio silence. 

How many have heard back from Harvard in American History Ph.D.? Duke? Not sure whether to assume so much based on posts here, but it doesn't seem like a ton have been accepted... 

I applied to Harvard for an American history PhD. AFAIK, all of the acceptances have already gone out. 

[DanaJ]

4 minutes ago, chicago_style said:

4 applied, 1 accepted, 1 rejected, 2 radio silence. 

How many have heard back from Harvard in American History Ph.D.? Duke? Not sure whether to assume so much based on posts here, but it doesn't seem like a ton have been accepted... 

On the bright side, haven't been rejected yet. So there's that. 

Isn't the radio silence frustrating?! 5 applied, 3 rejected, 1 accepted, 1 radio silence... I've seen one acceptance and no rejections from my radio silent school. I feel your pain!

Edit: Technically, it only takes one school to accept you! Presumably you don't apply to a program without a reasonable belief that you will do well and be able to pursue a career after you complete your program, so one is enough! But the wait is hard regardless.

Edited February 22, 2019 by DanaJ

[chicago_style]

2 minutes ago, historygeek said:

I applied to Harvard for an American history PhD. AFAIK, all of the acceptances have already gone out. 

*sigh* Still holding on to something. A TON of rejections were posted back between February 14-15th; the results forum was totally filled with them. Glad I wasn't included in that mass rejection, haha. 

[Jericho]

5 minutes ago, chicago_style said:

4 applied, 1 accepted, 1 rejected, 2 radio silence. 

How many have heard back from Harvard in American History Ph.D.? Duke? Not sure whether to assume so much based on posts here, but it doesn't seem like a ton have been accepted... 

On the bright side, haven't been rejected yet. So there's that. 

I haven't heard from Duke either, there have been acceptances but no wait-lists or rejections, so I assume we're rejected.