Applications 2019

[dr. t]

13 hours ago, Tigla said:

Acceptances for Berkeley do not go out until mid-February, according to my POI. Also, the UC Berkeley history webpage says this:

"When will a decision be made? The department, via the Graduate Division, will typically contact applicants via the Slate online application system by mid-February."

 

From my past cycles, any acceptances at "major schools" (already been debated in this topic) before February, which show up on the Results page, tend to be dodgy and unreliable. It could be someone entering their information wrong or just some troll stirring the pot.

Not quite. Berkeley is a state school, so it has two different sources of funding: departmental and university. The best candidates are given the departmental funds (which are usually more - in the case of Berkeley $10,000 more per year), and this only requires the approval of the department. This accounts for the first wave of Berkeley acceptances (not sure if these are usually informal contacts) which almost always appear on the results page during the last week of January. The remaining candidates are forwarded on to the graduate school for approval and funding, which creates a second wave in mid-February, followed by rejections and wait-lists.

A lot of people over the years have made noise about trolling on the results page. While it's possible, it's not a frequent occurrence, and concern here usually just indicates that the person in question is worried that someone got an acceptance to a school which the wish to attend and they have not.

[DanaJ]

19 hours ago, fortsibut said:

Hoping for an admit for you!  When have USF and UK's decisions come out, historically?

Much appreciated!  I'll have a couple of drinks and feel sorry for myself if I go 0/4, but I think that my Cornell application was particularly strong so that's keeping my spirits up for now.  ?  Congrats on your Duke acceptance and good luck with the rest of your application cycle as well!  Must feel great to have at least one very good acceptance already!

UK didn't even have an application deadline until Jan 15, the results page looks like March. USF seems to be early Feb. I'm pulling for you too!!!

[DanaJ]

Has anyone heard anything from Notre Dame? I see on the results page that there has been one interview and one rejection reported, no one accepted yet. I didn't get an interview so I don't expect to get in, but it would still be nice to hear something! 

I did have a 45 minute phone call with a potential POI in November but I'm sure that does not count for an interview.

[Sigaba]

9 hours ago, Karou said:

To add to the discussion on fit, I think that most of us wouldn't talk about it to professors in the same manner that we've been discussing it amongst ourselves here, where we may be more inclined to share our anxieties with one another about whether a program is a place where we could thrive. 

 

MOO, a good rule of thumb for posting anything on an internet bulletin board or social media is to not post anything one would not mind reading on the front page of the New York Times.

And, FWIW, I have learned the hard way that how one thinks and communicates privately about the craft, the profession of academic history, and the Ivory Tower generally shines through much more than one realizes and also in ways one doesn't expect. 

Finally, for those who have the sensibilities of the "Millenial generation," previous generations are strugglingly mightily with the changing times. 

[gsc]

2 hours ago, telkanuru said:

Not quite. Berkeley is a state school, so it has two different sources of funding: departmental and university. The best candidates are given the departmental funds (which are usually more - in the case of Berkeley $10,000 more per year), and this only requires the approval of the department. This accounts for the first wave of Berkeley acceptances (not sure if these are usually informal contacts) which almost always appear on the results page during the last week of January. The remaining candidates are forwarded on to the graduate school for approval and funding, which creates a second wave in mid-February, followed by rejections and wait-lists.

A lot of people over the years have made noise about trolling on the results page. While it's possible, it's not a frequent occurrence, and concern here usually just indicates that the person in question is worried that someone got an acceptance to a school which the wish to attend and they have not.

This may be the case for Berkeley, but I’d hesitate to apply that to all public universities. In my experience at schools w/ two funding streams, the most promising candidates are nominated for fellowships (usually for 1st/ 5th year, etc) from the graduate school, and are accepted first. This is because the graduate school has a deadline for its university-wide fellowships; often it’s very early, like at the end of January, so departments have to quickly identify the most promising candidates, accept them, and forward them on to the graduate school. The remaining candidates receive TAships or internal fellowships from the department. There’s no deadline there, so they’re accepted later on.

Having said that, at my program (which is public) all admits receive identical funding, from the same funding stream, and all acceptances go out at the same time. 

I’m bringing this up only because I think there’s more variance among programs than common GC wisdom would sometimes suggest, and no matter how many general patterns can be drawn from everyone's collective experiences with admissions, funding, admin, finance, etc, it's still going to be a black box. Grad school is unfortunately full of black boxes, so once you've researched what's there to research/ submitted the best that you can submit, you've just got to get comfortable with the fact that some things will remain opaque to you and they have to be waited out. 

Edited January 29, 2019 by gsc

[John Stamos]

If I get accepted into a PHD program and accept does that mean I am good to go? 

I'm super nervous, and irrationally so I suppose, that say I chose my top program and have funding lined up that my adviser might move and say suffer an accident or something rare. 

If something like this occurs are you still guaranteed a spot like in undergrad? Is a phd different? 

[I_Am_In_Paine]

Are there any other early Americanists out there applying this cycle? I was thinking if there's interest it might be nice to get a thread going to commiserate over waiting, and once the time comes--decisions!

[TMP]

Just now, villageelliot said:

Are there any other early Americanists out there applying this cycle? I was thinking if there's interest it might be nice to get a thread going to commiserate over waiting, and once the time comes--decisions!

I don't know what you're really asking but yes, once you accept a (funded!) offer, you are going to that PhD program (and if accepted at other places, decline their offer).  Sure, anything can happen but they are really rare and I wouldn't worry about those things until they actually happen!  I've never heard of an offer being revoked.

[I_Am_In_Paine]

24 minutes ago, TMP said:

I don't know what you're really asking but yes, once you accept a (funded!) offer, you are going to that PhD program (and if accepted at other places, decline their offer).  Sure, anything can happen but they are really rare and I wouldn't worry about those things until they actually happen!  I've never heard of an offer being revoked.

I think you quoted the wrong comment there...

[historygeek]

Congrats to everyone getting their acceptances! ❤️ I just saw a UChicago and an Auburn. 

[TsarandProphet]

Just got an acceptance letter to the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign! So excited!

[historygeek]

6 minutes ago, TsarandProphet said:

Just got an acceptance letter to the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign! So excited!

Congrats!

[psstein]

2 hours ago, John Stamos said:

If I get accepted into a PHD program and accept does that mean I am good to go? 

I'm super nervous, and irrationally so I suppose, that say I chose my top program and have funding lined up that my adviser might move and say suffer an accident or something rare. 

If something like this occurs are you still guaranteed a spot like in undergrad? Is a phd different? 

Unless you failed to disclose information on your application (e.g. you're a violent felon), you're likely not going to have an issue. I know one tenured professor whose advisor died as he was finishing his dissertation. Another faculty member supervised him for the remaining time.

[John Stamos]

I'm just super anxious sense I will probably have 4 or 5 phd programs to choose from that if I choose a program and quit my current job, basically hang it all on the line for a school with adviser offering funding, what happens if the adviser loses the funding or does't follow through? 

I mean at that point from April (when i've decided) till August I will be committed to a program, have turned all the other schools down, ready to quit my current job, moved out of my apartment and planned to move to a new location. What if that guaranteed 30K for a project with an adviser falls through?  Does no one else have these irrational fears? What would happen to the applicant? If they still get admitted it would suck to have turned down other schools with the assumption that the school they have accepted was offering more money only for it to fall through but some rare chance. 

[OHSP]

3 minutes ago, John Stamos said:

I'm just super anxious sense I will probably have 4 or 5 phd programs to choose from that if I choose a program and quit my current job, basically hang it all on the line for a school with adviser offering funding, what happens if the adviser loses the funding or does't follow through? 

I mean at that point from April (when i've decided) till August I will be committed to a program, have turned all the other schools down, ready to quit my current job, moved out of my apartment and planned to move to a new location. What if that guaranteed 30K for a project with an adviser falls through?  Does no one else have these irrational fears? What would happen to the applicant? If they still get admitted it would suck to have turned down other schools with the assumption that the school they have accepted was offering more money only for it to fall through but some rare chance. 

The school won't fall through and you'll just have a different advisor. The US system doesn't bind you to an advisor, and it's also unlikely that a program would admit someone who can only be advised by a single faculty member. Meanwhile.... maybe don't count your chickens before they hatch, especially chickens with 30K funding packages. 

[John Stamos]

OHSP, when it comes down to it if one school is offering full tuition and an 18k stipend while the other is offering the same plus additional money per the adviser's research project, I'm going to be taking the latter offer. It only makes sense. 

[fortsibut]

9 minutes ago, John Stamos said:

I'm just super anxious sense I will probably have 4 or 5 phd programs to choose from

Well, it's always good to be optimistic!  ?

[OHSP]

2 minutes ago, John Stamos said:

OHSP, when it comes down to it if one school is offering full tuition and an 18k stipend while the other is offering the same plus additional money per the adviser's research project, I'm going to be taking the latter offer. It only makes sense. 

You'll know whether and where you've been accepted within a few weeks, so I'd reserve your energy and not spend time fretting over hypotheticals. But also, "the adviser's research project" won't be your research project, it sounds a little like you're more familiar with European schools than US schools. 

Edited January 29, 2019 by OHSP

[Franker89]

Hi everyone! I was curious if anyone could share their thoughts about the University of Minnesota. I was admitted into their History program. I'll figure out more about the program in the next couple of weeks, but I wanted to hear what other people about the program? Is it a solid school to get into? Will I struggle for employment afterwards? etc. 

[John Stamos]

OHSP, another thought for you - which is better choosing an ivy league with no personal adviser mentorship ala big program and feeling like just a number, or choosing a state school with an adviser who is a leader in the field and has already contacted me? Basically name recognition vs adviser? Which one matters more for landing an academic gig?

[urbanhistorynerd]

Just saw the Uchicago one! Congratulations! I applied - lets see if I get any good news today or tomorrow! 

[Boolakanaka]

@DanaJTypically, if you were to look at the tippy top programs, which invariably have Ivy-plus representation, they consistently have their own undergraduates most represented. This is true for both professional (law, medicine..etc) and PhD programs....

[John Stamos]

I have an interview coming up but it is not formal and the adviser has already spoken with me about a project to work on. And my app has already been reviewed just no acceptance yet.  For all I can tell the interview is really just a meet and greet and is being specifically set-up for me meaning it's not like there are 5 applicants or other people coming. Is it safe to think that I'm the prime candidate or should I just assume that others are being interviewed as well?  

[historygeek]

Just got an email that I was selected to interview with City Year Providence. I'm excited that they want to interview me, but I hate giving legitimacy to the idea that I need a contingency plan.

Anyways, here's hoping that the next two weeks bring us some good news!

[historygeek]

Also, is it a good sign that I had been asked to visit before applications were due? I'm probably over-thinking a lot of things, but I visited one of my choices in October and met with all of the people I was interested in working with, as well as the grad program director. One of the professors emailed me (a reply to my thank you note) that she hopes I go there. Am I just overthinking to make up for my anxiety?