2022 Application Thread

[TMP]

9 hours ago, dr. telkanuru said:

This isn't IU, is it? But this is nonsense, regardless.

It's a school in the Deep South, @dr. telkanuru. The Program B, if I think what it is, sounds like a better deal to me, @Strider_2931. 

[Atsm]

I was just accepted from the waitlist for UMich history/women's studies joint PhD (my number one choice for two cycles). Any Michigan insiders around want to connect? I accepted already but would nonetheless love any doses of sane advice and information anyone can throw my way! I'm equal parts thrilled and terrified--hope that's normal ?

[Strider_2931]

@TMP Yes, exactly, Deep South. Unless we're talking about alligators, then it's the northern extent of their range apparently.

@dr. telkanuru I wasn't accepted at IU. Unfortunate because a new environmental historian arrived there in the fall semester from KU. Also, having studied the early-twentieth century US for my MA, I am very familiar with Michael McGerr's work. 

They have a great resource in the Environmental Resilience Institute at IU and a new emphasis in their doctoral program on 'Histories of Slavery, Freedom and Unfreedom'. Any MA students and other future PhD applicants interested in studying late-nineteenth or twentieth century environmental justice movements, I recommend exploring IU in depth.

[dr. t]

15 minutes ago, Strider_2931 said:

I am very familiar with Michael McGerr's work. 

Figure out who I am and then let's get a coffee sometime.

[TheGradCocaCola]

Hello. I am an international student and I would like to share with you the result of an experiment I did.

On page 35 of this thread, I made a comment saying that I had been rejected by Columbia's PhD program, but that the university had invited me to apply for one of their master's programs in History. I asked if anyone else here had received a similar invitation and @CaitlynM reported that she also received the email. Then @jpbends, @Sigaba and @wluhist16 brought valuable insights (advice for which I am very grateful) into the dangers of entering a terminal masters, due to high costs, lack of funding and, if that wasn't enough, being seen as a second-class graduate student.

Well, here's what happened: when I was rejected from the PhD program, I sent an email to my POI, who is a very helpful person and who I've talked to a few times, asking if the Professor could give honest feedback on my application, so that I could know my weaknesses and improve. Here is an excerpt from what was written to me:

"I can tell you that you have a very interesting trajectory and are certainly highly qualified for doctoral study, and I'm sure that your application was taken seriously. You clearly are already a seasoned and skilled researcher, which also would work in your favor. The writing sample that you sent us shows those strong research skills and your promise as a historian. You should know, however, that the writing sample is very poorly translated, and this would have worked against you; as a graduate student here, you would have to produce a lot of academic writing and are expected to start off with strong English writing skills. I also noticed in your statement that your thinking seems to be too focused on a narrow field of research and mostly looks inward to a country but not beyond it. The statement also makes too many assumptions about what the reader will already know about what you are writing about. (Remember, the people reading your statement are not specialists in that nation.)"

So, I checked the invitation to apply for the master's and noticed that, in order to try it, I wouldn't have to pay a new fee or bother my professors again to send the letters of recommendation. All I would have to do was submit a new statement and a new writing sample, which I did.

This week, I received the news that I was admitted, with an offer to enroll for the MA/MSc in International and World History (Columbia & London School of Economics).

Detail: as I did not have high hopes of being accepted and, even if I were, I already knew in advance that I would probably not have the financial conditions to accept the offer, in addition to the unavailability of time to prepare new materials, I sent exactly the same statement and exactly the same writing sample. I was like, "let's see what happens".

I would be happy to hear your views on the matter, but it seems to me that the logical conclusion from this is that the $62,840 tuition made the admissions committee ignore my English writing problems and other weaknesses:

?  "We believe you have outstanding promise to excel in this challenging program."  ?

Edited April 20, 2022 by TheGradCocaCola

[OHSP]

5 hours ago, TheGradCocaCola said:

I would be happy to hear your views on the matter, but it seems to me that the logical conclusion from this is that the $62,840 tuition made the admissions committee ignore my English writing problems and other weaknesses:

?  "We believe you have outstanding promise to excel in this challenging program."  ?

Yup. 

[dr. t]

7 hours ago, TheGradCocaCola said:

I would be happy to hear your views on the matter, but it seems to me that the logical conclusion from this is that the $62,840 tuition made the admissions committee ignore my English writing problems and other weaknesses:

Yes, this is the only logical answer. Sorry.

[psstein]

On 4/14/2022 at 12:07 AM, Strider_2931 said:

His viewpoint seemed to be that the opportunity to teach and work at the journal were worth their weight in gold.

Run from this offer. Teaching is important, yes, but far too many graduate students fall into the "teaching experience trap," where they delay finishing the dissertation for the sake of teaching (or TAing) one more course. There's a minimum number of courses you need to independently teach to be a viable job candidate, but it's not a "two is good, four is better" sort of thing. It's "check the box, do what you need to, and get the dissertation done."

Put another way, you can out-publish a mediocre teaching record. You cannot out-teach a mediocre (or poor) publishing record.