Applications 2019

[Ccthomas95]

1 hour ago, villageelliot said:

Anyone know what's up with NYU? I find it curious that there's a few waitlist results being posted despite there being no wave of acceptances yet. 

I was wondering this too! It’s the uni that I’d love to go to, so I’m on edge waiting to hear anything!

[elx]

I'm waiting on NYU too -- I was really hoping to get on their waitlist, lol. Today's gonna be a long day.

1 hour ago, e_randolph said:

Not sure whether NYU is sending out all responses, but I did get a waitlist email from the program admin fairly early this morning. Best of luck to both of you, hopefully they don't keep you waiting long!

Congrats! I think--hope you get off the waitlist!

Edited February 5, 2019 by elx

[daradara]

6 hours ago, elx said:

Ah okay, cool cool. No doubt no doubt. Nice.

@daradara I'm not sure if that's true -- like I know that Duke sent out their acceptances already but since I've not got an official rejection, I'm still holding on to (false) hope. Even if good news are realistically never going to come by this point.

I think most are in the same boat, holding on to (only potentially!) false hope until officially being rejected. The process is not the most transparent after all. 

[psstein]

2 hours ago, urbanhistorynerd said:

 

Great advice from both of you - thank you! I wrote that comment in hurry while at work - let me say I told my POI there that I would not make any choices until I visit NW and speak with him. This is also a professor who's work very much influenced my own, I feel very lucky to actually be able to speak to him over the phone. And although I won't be ruling out any program until I can ask serious questions and contemplate, Harvard fits nearly perfectly with my proposed research. Unfortunately, the prof at NW would be the only one remotely in my field of research, and even then, he still in a different thematic theme. 

Regardless, I'm still very interested in the university but I just want to make it clear to him that, at this point, I'm considering the other school over NW. But you're definitely right. I still need to really meet everybody at Harvard to get a feel if this is a place where I want to spend the next 5-7 years in. I was just wondering how other people in my boots handled telling other schools they will be attending a different program.

And I'm also taking placement after graduation into considerable account. Even if I find Northwestern to be more opening and welcoming than Harvard, is passing up Harvard's placement rate really worth it? Nearly everybody around here says the same thing: it's about finding a job afterwards. If NW gives more individual attention (which it seems like it does, so far) than Harvard, would that be worth it if getting a tenure-track is much more difficult afterwards? 

I'm going to send you a PM about placement as well. Harvard is an excellent program, but something that may prove useful for you is figuring out what your potential advisor's students' work looks like. I didn't do this when I made program decisions, which was not a good decision. Long story short, I ended up wanting to do something much more rooted in technical history of science than the person I applied to work with was interested in doing. I ended up changing advisors and fields entirely during my second semester of graduate school. I would lie if I said it didn't negatively affect my work.

I would also point out that your research interests will shift somewhat. Someone whose work aligns perfectly with yours right now may not do so in four or five years.

1 hour ago, historygeek said:

I was wondering the same thing.

Would it be arrogant to take the fact that I haven't gotten a waitlist email as a good sign, lol?

NYU has a bizarre notification system. I think they either accept or reject in waves. My best friend in graduate school got a rejection very late in the process.

[I_Am_In_Paine]

24 minutes ago, elx said:

I'm waiting on NYU too -- I was really hoping to get on their waitlist, lol. Today's gonna be a long day.

It's going to be very long, especially now that I realized decisions don't only come during normal business hours. My email from W&M came around 7pm EST last night. I'll be on edge til I go to sleep.

[OHSP]

9 minutes ago, psstein said:

NYU has a bizarre notification system. I think they either accept or reject in waves. My best friend in graduate school got a rejection very late in the process.

Everything's different this year. For example, they've never notified waitlisted candidates before. They want a very small incoming cohort so I doubt they've sent many first round offers, and the chances of getting off the waitlist might be relatively good because of that.

[frantz]

17 minutes ago, OHSP said:

Everything's different this year. For example, they've never notified waitlisted candidates before. They want a very small incoming cohort so I doubt they've sent many first round offers, and the chances of getting off the waitlist might be relatively good because of that.

Not sure this is accurate. Looks like there were at least three people last year, going through the list of reported results, who were notified by email that they were waitlisted. The only difference seems to be that they were notified after acceptances seem to have been sent.

[elx]

1 minute ago, frantz said:

Not sure this is accurate. Looks like there were at least three people last year, going through the list of reported results, who were notified by email that they were waitlisted. The only difference seems to be that they were notified after acceptances seem to have been sent.

Might only have found out they were waitlisted because they contacted NYU directly in previous years?

In other news, I just got a phone call (and this never happens, no one ever calls me) and I freaked out so much; just a telemarketer. Yet I'm still shaking

[I_Am_In_Paine]

26 minutes ago, OHSP said:

Everything's different this year. For example, they've never notified waitlisted candidates before. They want a very small incoming cohort so I doubt they've sent many first round offers, and the chances of getting off the waitlist might be relatively good because of that.

Do we know if they've sent any first round offers? I would find it odd that not a single person in this thread applied and got in already if they did indeed send out a wave of offers. Though I did see that one post from last week in the results page.

[I_Am_In_Paine]

5 minutes ago, elx said:

In other news, I just got a phone call (and this never happens, no one ever calls me) and I freaked out so much; just a telemarketer. Yet I'm still shaking

I turned off notifications on my phone for basically everything besides email because I'm tired of feeling a singular buzz, getting excited, and it just being one of my friends posting in a groupme or something.

[OHSP]

13 minutes ago, villageelliot said:

Do we know if they've sent any first round offers? I would find it odd that not a single person in this thread applied and got in already if they did indeed send out a wave of offers. Though I did see that one post from last week in the results page.

The main thing I know is that the first "wave" was always going to be very small because they can't risk a situation where they end up with a cohort of more than ~ 12. Also I guess they must've also notified waitlisted candidates last year, my bad.

Edited February 5, 2019 by OHSP

[Ccthomas95]

I was feeling slightly optimistic about NYU but this is making me panic ?

[elx]

2 minutes ago, Ccthomas95 said:

I was feeling slightly optimistic about NYU but this is making me panic ?

We're in the same boat! NYU was so different from the others I applied to in terms of the personal essay and no GRE requirement, I thought it might be a game changer. My guess is that the first wave was out last week and this waitlist one today was the second, but hugs to you, we'll make it through!

[historygeek]

25 minutes ago, Ccthomas95 said:

I was feeling slightly optimistic about NYU but this is making me panic ?

Low-key same. 

[Guest564]

Vanderbilt sent out the complete set of offers earlier today. Congrats to those admitted! 

[historygeek]

Congrats to the Columbia admit!

[Gotya64]

4 minutes ago, Guest564 said:

Vanderbilt sent out the complete set of offers earlier today. Congrats to those admitted! 

Beyond excited!

[MARTINt]

Does Columbia release its acceptences in waves?

[dsbanis]

@Gotya64

Congrats! Vanderbilt is in the toss-up for my number one pick because of its powerhouse of Germanists, so I'm a little disappointed/surprised that I wasn't in the first wave of letters. I just got into Columbia though despite my concerns the committee wouldn't think I quite fit in. It's funny how these things work out. 

[historygeek]

Does anyone know if Columbia sends out acceptances all at once, or is it over a couple of days? I see a couple of acceptances have come in, and I'm trying to be optimistic, lol. 

[psstein]

UW-Madison folks, you should hear no later than the end of the week.

 

[Balleu]

2 minutes ago, psstein said:

UW-Madison folks, you should hear no later than the end of the week.

Thank you! 

[Balleu]

Seeing some Princeton HOS results start to pop up on the spreadsheet. Hopefully that means History results aren't too far behind. 

[DanaJ]

7 hours ago, urbanhistorynerd said:

Good advice. Intellectual environment is incredibly important to me. I go to a commuter school right now, and I've had to work really hard to try to find that "intellectual environment," and even then, it is still difficult. That is one of my key factors in choosing a program/city. What are the specifics of that?

I can absolutely relate to the intellectual environment issue! I also attend a relatively small commuter school, we have a very small MA community and the town itself is small. I got lucky with a good friend group from my program, they all live in town as well. Even as people graduate we make a point to stay in contact, spend time together, and those who have finished ask about my thesis project often. I also finished my undergrad at this school, so I sometimes run into people I took undergrad courses with. The whole thing makes me happy I chose to do my MA before pursuing the PhD because I learned a valuable lesson in that you CAN build your own community, but it is a challenge. I'm sure those issues are much less challenging with a larger program.

[HardyBoy]

1 hour ago, psstein said:

UW-Madison folks, you should hear no later than the end of the week.

 

Thanks! I wish all programs had a grad student lurking on Grad Cafe giving updates like this.