2021 Application Thread

[Maguire]

1 hour ago, L13 said:

What’s likely is that after some initial discussion within their departments some profs have learned they’re not going to be able to accept students this year even though the list of accepted students has not been finalised yet, so they’re starting to send early rejection notices to those applicants they’ve been in touch with/hoping to push for as a courtesy.

It doesn’t mean official acceptance emails are imminent.

Seems likely. Although there is currently an acceptance and rejection for Berkeley which usually releases late Jan/early Feb so don’t know quite what to take from that. I think from next week through the rest of Feb is when most applicants will start hearing properly.

Edited January 25, 2021 by scarletwitch

[Maguire]

Anyone on this forum claiming the UC Berkeley acceptances? If so, would you mind sharing your subfield?

[Dayzz]

Hello! Ph.D applicant this year and I received an informal chat request from POI at UCR which took place on Monday (and she invited the director of the department's Graduate Studies Committee, meeting was about 40 mins long). Before that, I was asked for my official transcripts (posted such on the results page). Sounds promising, but I am still nervous because it sounded as if their decision would be based on my transcripts which won't arrive until the end of this week. Last night I received a rejection from UCSB's Chicana/o Studies Dep but am still waiting to hear back from Stanford, UCLA and UCI's History program and USC's American Studies. Denials/acceptances are consuming my thoughts and I am constantly checking this website for results and randomly checking school portals/my email. If anyone wants to send me a DM feel free to do so. 

[Maguire]

5 hours ago, Dayzz said:

Hello! Ph.D applicant this year and I received an informal chat request from POI at UCR which took place on Monday (and she invited the director of the department's Graduate Studies Committee, meeting was about 40 mins long). Before that, I was asked for my official transcripts (posted such on the results page). Sounds promising, but I am still nervous because it sounded as if their decision would be based on my transcripts which won't arrive until the end of this week. Last night I received a rejection from UCSB's Chicana/o Studies Dep but am still waiting to hear back from Stanford, UCLA and UCI's History program and USC's American Studies. Denials/acceptances are consuming my thoughts and I am constantly checking this website for results and randomly checking school portals/my email. If anyone wants to send me a DM feel free to do so. 

Hi there, best of luck with all of your applications! I wouldn’t worry too much yet because I think far more decisions will be announced in February - so from next week we should hopefully see some more results (and let’s hope they are positive!)

[cheshire]

So it seems from the result search, Harvard has started emailing rejection and wait listed mails. I thought they responded in March but now I am getting all anxious. Anyone here who received any communication from Harvard?

 

[YS90]

Hey!

Did anyone hear anything from UC Santa Cruz or UMich?

Good luck to us all!

[Maguire]

1 hour ago, cheshire said:

So it seems from the result search, Harvard has started emailing rejection and wait listed mails. I thought they responded in March but now I am getting all anxious. Anyone here who received any communication from Harvard?

 

I've applied but haven't heard anything yet. Seems like it depends on who your POI is. Surprised they are getting back so soon as usually it is February people start hearing back. I'm really hoping some other schools start getting back sooner than later too, as usually Duke, Berkeley & UIUC get back around end of Jan/early Feb. I think there will be a lot more decisions coming out next week and the week after. 

[Maguire]

1 hour ago, YS90 said:

Hey!

Did anyone hear anything from UC Santa Cruz or UMich?

Good luck to us all!

I think Michigan (Ann-Arbor) usually gets back around Mid-Feb, with the "official" notifications/letters coming early March? Guess it depends on who your POI is as well in terms of them personally letting you know the decision! I'm hoping we hear soon! 

[cheshire]

51 minutes ago, scarletwitch said:

I've applied but haven't heard anything yet. Seems like it depends on who your POI is. Surprised they are getting back so soon as usually it is February people start hearing back. I'm really hoping some other schools start getting back sooner than later too, as usually Duke, Berkeley & UIUC get back around end of Jan/early Feb. I think there will be a lot more decisions coming out next week and the week after. 

Yeah, me neither. My status still shows "submitted". I have applied to only a handful (Princeton, Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge for history and Yale for Anthro) and I expect Princeton will be the first to respond with a 15th Feb deadline for communicating decision.

 

Congrats on Edinburgh and Cambridge. I had my interview with my POI (Cambridge) sometime early January. But my application is still under review (department). This wait period is nerve wrecking.

 

[Maguire]

8 minutes ago, cheshire said:

Yeah, me neither. My status still shows "submitted". I have applied to only a handful (Princeton, Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge for history and Yale for Anthro) and I expect Princeton will be the first to respond with a 15th Feb deadline for communicating decision.

 

Congrats on Edinburgh and Cambridge. I had my interview with my POI (Cambridge) sometime early January. But my application is still under review (department). This wait period is nerve wrecking.

 

Good luck!! I applied to a ton of places as you can see so I'm hoping some of the US ones come to fruition! I went through the process of contacting professors before applying in the fall, and many made clear that they routinely accept undergrads straight through so thus I decided to give it a shot. 

Re Cambridge - I applied for MAs in the UK, so that is probably why I got in so early there as there's no interview process. I think based on past results, Princeton will probably come through either next week or the following week (my bet would be on the week of the 8th) and I think Yale will be pretty much the same as acceptances for them usually come in early Feb. 

[Historyman217]

My POI at Berkeley informed me that decisions would come out next week. Sounded grim about the number of accepted students. Good luck to everyone! 

[Maguire]

1 minute ago, Historyman217 said:

My POI at Berkeley informed me that decisions would come out next week. Sounded grim about the number of accepted students. Good luck to everyone! 

Oh wow! Yeah I think several places will be getting back next week! Have you had your Berkeley decision yet + do you know how many they are admitting this year?? 

[Historyman217]

I didn't get informed one way or another. POI isn't on Adcom. I am assuming rejection but holding out hope for waitlist or even a possible admit. European history BTW. 

[Maguire]

Just now, Historyman217 said:

I didn't get informed one way or another. POI isn't on Adcom. I am assuming rejection but holding out hope for waitlist or even a possible admit. European history BTW. 

Best of luck to you! I'm really unsure as to my chances there, had positive email exchanges back in August/September but quite nervous now! I'm an Americanist

[coffeehum]

I am nearly positive that I am reading too much into this, but did any other UMich applicants notice the addition of a note about CertiFile on the ApplyWeb portal? No updates on status or anything, but I've checked the portal every day and this is the first time I've seen this addendum. Please forgive my grasping at straws...

I should also note, I have a few other schools on ApplyWeb and none of them include this update.

Edited January 29, 2021 by coffeehum

[Mathology]

Anyone applied to PhD History at University at Buffalo (SUNY) here? I heard they have cancelled the application process for Fall 2021 cohorts based on budgetary reasons. I reached out to the DGS already,expecting feedback for the past two days. It's frustrating lol.

Does anyone have more information, I will appreciate.

[Maguire]

19 minutes ago, coffeehum said:

I am nearly positive that I am reading too much into this, but did any other UMich applicants notice the addition of a note about CertiFile on the ApplyWeb portal? No updates on status or anything, but I've checked the portal every day and this is the first time I've seen this addendum. Please forgive my grasping at straws...

I should also note, I have a few other schools on ApplyWeb and none of them include this update.

Hi, mine has always been there since I attached something via CertiFile so I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. I don’t think we can expect to hear from them until the second week of February at least based on past results

[pattycat]

1 hour ago, coffeehum said:

I am nearly positive that I am reading too much into this, but did any other UMich applicants notice the addition of a note about CertiFile on the ApplyWeb portal? No updates on status or anything, but I've checked the portal every day and this is the first time I've seen this addendum. Please forgive my grasping at straws...

I should also note, I have a few other schools on ApplyWeb and none of them include this update.

Hi there--I'm not a History applicant, but the CertiFile button showed up in my portal as well so I'm poking around trying to figure out if it means anything.

[werdnerd]

Hey folks,

For those who are wondering about Berkeley – I am one of the ones who got a decision last Friday. I was rejected though, so probably only heard about it so early because my POI and I really hit it off during the application process. Apparently they only admitted 14 this year – which is small for Berkeley, but honestly not that bad compared to some other programs that are paring down their cohorts this year. Congrats to anyone who got in though! I am over the moon about where I'm headed in the fall, but Berkeley seems like an amazing program.

[coffeehum]

8 minutes ago, pattycat said:

Hi there--I'm not a History applicant, but the CertiFile button showed up in my portal as well so I'm poking around trying to figure out if it means anything.

Hello! Interesting--please let me know if you learn anything! I will do some poking around as well...

[Maguire]

10 minutes ago, werdnerd said:

Hey folks,

For those who are wondering about Berkeley – I am one of the ones who got a decision last Friday. I was rejected though, so probably only heard about it so early because my POI and I really hit it off during the application process. Apparently they only admitted 14 this year – which is small for Berkeley, but honestly not that bad compared to some other programs that are paring down their cohorts this year. Congrats to anyone who got in though! I am over the moon about where I'm headed in the fall, but Berkeley seems like an amazing program.

Hi there, thanks for this information. Have the acceptance emails gone out already or are they going out this upcoming week, as another poster above suggested? Congrats on getting elsewhere though - where are you headed? ?

[flowersandcoffee]

15 hours ago, cheshire said:

So it seems from the result search, Harvard has started emailing rejection and wait listed mails. I thought they responded in March but now I am getting all anxious. Anyone here who received any communication from Harvard?

 

Hi! That was me with the waitlist. I realised the email wasn’t from an administrator but rather the DGS. The email said that only 6 people were offered a spot and congratulated me on the waitlist spot...not sure how I feel about it. I’ve also applied to Oxbridge. I have a spot at Cambridge but yet to hear about funding. I have a feeling Yale Princeton and Harvard will release results next week...

[Maguire]

Just now, flowersandcoffee said:

Hi! That was me with the waitlist. I realised the email wasn’t from an administrator but rather the DGS. The email said that only 6 people were offered a spot and congratulated me on the waitlist spot...not sure how I feel about it. I’ve also applied to Oxbridge. I have a spot at Cambridge but yet to hear about funding. I have a feeling Yale Princeton and Harvard will release results next week...

Best of luck with getting off the waitlist for Harvard! You should be very proud for getting that far. So I guess it is safe to assume they’ve notified the 6 applications they’ve accepted? Was a long shot anyway. I think Yale for sure will be next week and Princeton either next week or the following week! V nervous!

[werdnerd]

14 minutes ago, scarletwitch said:

Hi there, thanks for this information. Have the acceptance emails gone out already or are they going out this upcoming week, as another poster above suggested? Congrats on getting elsewhere though - where are you headed? ?

Thanks, ScarletWitch! As far as I know, acceptances have not yet gone out en masse, but are indeed expected to go out over the next couple of weeks. I think it kind of depends on who in the department is reaching out to you specifically. As for myself, I’ve decided to accept an offer from Cornell’s interdisciplinary phd program in science and technology studies/STS, which suits my project perfectly, so I’m super excited! Had completely disregarded any chance of getting in this year ?

[Maguire]

1 minute ago, werdnerd said:

Thanks, ScarletWitch! As far as I know, acceptances have not yet gone out en masse, but are indeed expected to go out over the next couple of weeks. I think it kind of depends on who in the department is reaching out to you specifically. As for myself, I’ve decided to accept an offer from Cornell’s interdisciplinary phd program in science and technology studies/STS, which suits my project perfectly, so I’m super excited! Had completely disregarded any chance of getting in this year ?

Congrats! Cornell looks like a great school and Ithaca is beautiful. I applied for Government there actually due to a good fit with some POIs in the dept. I’m so nervous about decisions these next few weeks and am not feeling overly optimistic at this point despite having positive responses back from professors when I emailed them back in August. I’m hoping that at least one US school pulls through!