2023 Application Thread

[delirious]

On 1/9/2023 at 8:40 AM, TheWitWitch said:

Hi everyone, I as mentioned in another post... I was invited for an interview that will be happening later this week. How to best prepare for it? What should I be expecting?

Not sure this will still be helpful to you, but maybe for other people that get interviews...my "cheat sheet" has the following: 1) What am I proposing to study? 2) Why history? 3) What primary sources am I intending to use/where will I find them? 4) Why X school? 5) My questions

Good luck everyone!

[kimedieval]

On 1/20/2023 at 8:01 AM, dr. telkanuru said:

ND is one of the few schools wealthy enough to have a medieval studies center, but there aren't generally that many medievalists in any specific subdiscipline at any one school. It's not something that should worry you about ND, but it is something that should worry you when it comes to the state of academic employment. If you can tolerate South Bend for 7 years, though, you're probably pretty immune to suffering.

I grew up in rural Ohio so I am a true glutton for punishment on this front

[kimedieval]

Well, historically, this will be the interview notification week for ND, so here's to a week of being a nervous wreck 

[Della]

An update for my 'informal chat' with POI: turn out it's actually a super informal and casual meeting. My POI let me talk about my study and research - I was nervous so just briefly introduced it. She didn't ask any questions but said there is some research cluster in the department that she thought would interest me and wondered if I have any questions for her. I asked about her current research and she talked about serveral ongoing projects, and briefly mentioned her mentorship style and other students with research interests that overlap with mine. Basically I think I didn't say anything I'm supposed to say as an interviewee/applicant to impress her. Instead, I was totally impressed by her passion and all the interesting projects going on in the department. Now I feel like I would be so disappointed if I couldn't be part of it. My preparation for all the tough and difficult questions is useless, I'm not sure how I should feel about the only interview I got this round...

Edited January 23, 2023 by Della

[AmramtheAgronomist]

Hi everyone!
A friend has told me that Harvard committees will meet before the weekend. She estimates that official answers will be given in February's second or third week. No interviews are expected.

Does anyone have this type of information on other universities? Besides Harvard, I applied to history PhD programs at Yale, Columbia, NYU (joint program history and Middle East), Princeton (Near Eastern studies), University of Chicago, Duke, Michigan (Ann Arbor), UC Santa Barbara, and UC San Diego. 

I know that the best thing to do is just wait patiently, but man, It's hard!

And about Chicago - I wasn't invited to an interview yet. So how much is it a bad sign?

Cheers!

[ladydobz]

On 1/20/2023 at 10:01 AM, dr. telkanuru said:

If you can tolerate South Bend for 7 years, though, you're probably pretty immune to suffering.

??? I laughed so hard reading this... I live near Indy, so am quite familiar with ND. 

[ladydobz]

On 1/21/2023 at 12:44 PM, greenlandsharki said:

I recently applied to MA programs in history at the University of Rochester, University of Maryland, Syracuse University, and Binghamton University. I began undergrad as a science major and switched to history in my 3rd year, but those first two years have negatively impacted my gpa. Has anyone figured out how to understand where you stand in regard to your possibility to get into a school? I felt with undergrad I knew exactly which schools were reach and safety, but with grad I have no idea.

Note: Also how do you guys have those fancy little things under your posts that say where you applied and what your results were? I tried making it by putting it in my "About Me" section but it did not show up.

So, I had this issue. I graduated with my original BA in 2011, but since I had some issues of switching majors, I had a not great GPA. I went back and did a second BA in History, where I got a 4.0 GPA, but since it is a cum GPA across all academics, it didn't raise it super highly. I ended up at a lesser school (in terms of prestige) than I was hoping, but honestly, this program has been amazing for me. I wish you all the luck with your schools, and would just caution patience and resilience. 

[kimedieval]

Someone got a Notre Dame History interview (unless they were lying in the results page) pardon me while I scream.

[CheckYesJules]

Woke up to find out I was waitlisted at Duke. Shocked to even have been considered! What do I do now? Do I reach out to inquire my spot on the waitlist to PI or admissions? I already confirmed that I wanted to remain on it. 

[TheWitWitch]

5 minutes ago, CheckYesJules said:

Woke up to find out I was waitlisted at Duke.

Same here, I don't know if I should e-mail someone...Or just wait.

[kimedieval]

Are admissions/interview emails/etc. released alphabetically?

Edited January 24, 2023 by kimedieval

[nightiey]

1 hour ago, CheckYesJules said:

Woke up to find out I was waitlisted at Duke. Shocked to even have been considered! What do I do now? Do I reach out to inquire my spot on the waitlist to PI or admissions? I already confirmed that I wanted to remain on it. 

Wow, mega congratulations!! Where did you find it on the portal? Mine still just says submitted (which I assume means no dice, but hey, Duke was my reach).

[CheckYesJules]

10 minutes ago, nightiey said:

Wow, mega congratulations!! Where did you find it on the portal? Mine still just says submitted (which I assume means no dice, but hey, Duke was my reach).

It doesn't look like they've sent out acceptances so you might still be in the running! My portal said status update with a link to view decision under application proof. 

[orcinusorca]

8 hours ago, AmramtheAgronomist said:

Hi everyone!
A friend has told me that Harvard committees will meet before the weekend. She estimates that official answers will be given in February's second or third week. No interviews are expected.

Does anyone have this type of information on other universities? Besides Harvard, I applied to history PhD programs at Yale, Columbia, NYU (joint program history and Middle East), Princeton (Near Eastern studies), University of Chicago, Duke, Michigan (Ann Arbor), UC Santa Barbara, and UC San Diego. 

I know that the best thing to do is just wait patiently, but man, It's hard!

And about Chicago - I wasn't invited to an interview yet. So how much is it a bad sign?

Cheers!

Hey! I'm also waiting to hear back from Princeton NES. Who is your POI? 

[ladydobz]

I know there were a couple wondering about the Ivies... I saw someone said they've received an unofficial offer from Harvard, so, at least they're making some moves. I also saw someone got an acceptance from UIUC, so, I'm over here like... well, I guess I'm either waitlisted or out for that one... ?

[popolo]

Has anyone else heard from Harvard? Someone else wrote here that the committees are expected to meet only towards the end of the week.

[ladydobz]

4 hours ago, popolo said:

Has anyone else heard from Harvard? Someone else wrote here that the committees are expected to meet only towards the end of the week.

I saw on the main acceptance page that someone got an unofficial offer. So, apparently they're meeting/have met already.

[Della]

Has anyone heard back from Brown? Historically they usually made decision by the end of the Jan. I wondered if they've contact some applicant already before sending out the official acceptance. 

[ATAH]

I am a student at Harvard. Two updates from two profs:

Prof A told me that decisions are NOT yet made. 

Prof B told me that some meetings on admissions were held earlier this week. But the department have NOT yet communicated decisions. 

Sum up -- the post is very likely to be a troll (unless some prof are really really eager to share info with their prospective students).

 

Edited January 25, 2023 by ATAH

[CheckYesJules]

8 minutes ago, Della said:

Has anyone heard back from Brown? Historically they usually made decision by the end of the Jan. I wondered if they've contact some applicant already before sending out the official acceptance. 

I didn't apply, but I saw one acceptance posted. No idea if its legit or not.

[kimedieval]

15 minutes ago, ATAH said:

Sum up -- the post is very likely to be a troll (unless some prof are really really eager to share info with their prospective students).

 

You mean someone would do that? Go on the internet and tell lies?

[ATAH]

1 hour ago, kimedieval said:

You mean someone would do that? Go on the internet and tell lies?

hhh

Edited January 25, 2023 by ATAH

[kimedieval]

Just now, ATAH said:

I guess you are new to graduate hhh

oh, it was a meme reference lmfao 

[CheckYesJules]

2 minutes ago, kimedieval said:

oh, it was a meme reference lmfao 

Insert Cap "I understood that reference" meme. It's the Buster one from Arthur, right?

[orcinusorca]

February is almost here! I hope we all get into our top choices