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BadgerHopeful

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Ever wonder at what point in the process grad students cross over to the dark side of social awkwardness?? Maybe there's a trend where the socially awkward have a greater success rate in achieving PhDs. Or maybe it's just a prereq...

I think it helps a lot if you went to a party fairly social school for undergrad that taught you all the important social skills that will last a life time. After my MA, I still haven't lost it! :P

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Ever wonder at what point in the process grad students cross over to the dark side of social awkwardness?? Maybe there's a trend where the socially awkward have a greater success rate in achieving PhDs. Or maybe it's just a prereq...

Anyway a little birdie told me Rutgers is getting things moving as well.

A friend of mine recently completed an internship with the National Park Service. She said that the Park Service is made up entirely of people who are nice but shy, leading to a lot of awkward silences at parties. So far I haven't encountered the dark side of academic awkwardness myself, namely rude/jerky people, but I'm sure that will change soon.

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Yeesh, those Penn numbers don't bode well for me. I was worried somewhat about my fit there, and the only professor I really wanted to work with was Dr. Sugrue, who is perfect for what I want to do. But I'm not even sure if he's taking students right now. Applying was a long shot. Just found out today I was rejected from Northwestern, which brings my rejection pile to two out of nine, with the rest pending.

I've also got a bad feeling about OSU. Two people here have already said they were admitted, and generally I feel like when people start to get admitted and you haven't heard something, it probably means you're on the outside looking in for a reason. There was one rejection for Chicago posted on the results page too, and one acceptance, but I haven't heard anything about them, so I have no idea how to take that.

My top two are still alive though!

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Yeesh, those Penn numbers don't bode well for me. I was worried somewhat about my fit there, and the only professor I really wanted to work with was Dr. Sugrue, who is perfect for what I want to do. But I'm not even sure if he's taking students right now. Applying was a long shot. Just found out today I was rejected from Northwestern, which brings my rejection pile to two out of nine, with the rest pending.

I've also got a bad feeling about OSU. Two people here have already said they were admitted, and generally I feel like when people start to get admitted and you haven't heard something, it probably means you're on the outside looking in for a reason. There was one rejection for Chicago posted on the results page too, and one acceptance, but I haven't heard anything about them, so I have no idea how to take that.

Unfortunately, from my experience watching these forums, Chicago and OSU do tend to drag the season out a bit, I believe. But of course they will let you know ASAP if you're rejected but if you still haven't heard anything, it MAY mean that you're waitlisted and they just want to go to their top choice admits first. Being waitlisted is fantastic but it does leave you hanging for quite a while!

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I've also got a bad feeling about OSU. Two people here have already said they were admitted, and generally I feel like when people start to get admitted and you haven't heard something, it probably means you're on the outside looking in for a reason. There was one rejection for Chicago posted on the results page too, and one acceptance, but I haven't heard anything about them, so I have no idea how to take that.

My top two are still alive though!

As one of those admits, I'll give you a bit more information that may bring a bit of relief: My sense is that the only reason I heard so early is because I've been nominated by the History Department for the University Fellowship. I was told by both my PA and the DGS that just being nominated equals automatic admission to the graduate school, which makes me think that they've not necessarily chosen the rest of the history cohort. The other history admit was also nominated for the fellowship, if I remember the Results forum correctly. So definitely don't give up hope.

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I think it helps a lot if you went to a party fairly social school for undergrad that taught you all the important social skills that will last a life time. After my MA, I still haven't lost it! :P

I'm with you! If you were socialized in the real world as an undergrad, you'll do just fine! Two years out of my BA and I'm still totally normal, though I cannot say the same for members of my cohort at my current WS program. Oy.

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As one of those admits, I'll give you a bit more information that may bring a bit of relief: My sense is that the only reason I heard so early is because I've been nominated by the History Department for the University Fellowship. I was told by both my PA and the DGS that just being nominated equals automatic admission to the graduate school, which makes me think that they've not necessarily chosen the rest of the history cohort. The other history admit was also nominated for the fellowship, if I remember the Results forum correctly. So definitely don't give up hope.

I can verify this to be the case. I am a PhD student in History at OSU. Last year, I learned of my admission very early on because I was nominated for--and was later awarded--a University Fellowship. Those nominated for fellowships typically learn of their acceptances early on while OSU will notify others later in the month.

That said, I suspect that we will see a lower number of acceptances this year than we did last year. Of the 30 or so acceptances, about 24 matriculated, which was far higher than OSU expected. I think, as Strange Light suggested about other programs, you'll see OSU only accept the amount of students they actually want to see enroll this year.

Good luck to those you still waiting!

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Anyone besides me optimistic about getting some sort of results this week? I'm thinking that the adcom members up in Wisconsin dig themselves out of the snow and finally post the decisions on the website. Hopefully some of us who haven't heard anything back yet will finally get some (good) results this week. Let's hope so.

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Anyone besides me optimistic about getting some sort of results this week? I'm thinking that the adcom members up in Wisconsin dig themselves out of the snow and finally post the decisions on the website. Hopefully some of us who haven't heard anything back yet will finally get some (good) results this week. Let's hope so.

I'd like to hear back from at least a couple. I already got my Duke rejection, so an acceptance (or anything, so I could stop checking) would be nice.

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Anyone besides me optimistic about getting some sort of results this week? I'm thinking that the adcom members up in Wisconsin dig themselves out of the snow and finally post the decisions on the website. Hopefully some of us who haven't heard anything back yet will finally get some (good) results this week. Let's hope so.

Wish you good luck and you remind me ... next week is a BIG week for me..

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I have a sense Stanford might be tomorrow. If I get an auspcious email my lucky beard's services will no longer be needed and I can finally shave... I'm Korean-American and I am starting to look like Confucius as this point.

Edited by my future is history
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I check the results page here once a day, and I check my email about the same as I always have. I figure when I see a flood of other people responding, I'll know it's time to start looking around. The LAST result probably won't come until March, so, might as well spend Feb. focusing on my last undergrad semester. With two rejections in hand, I think I'd really rather obsess over my research than this.

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Before the first round of notifications went out for UIUC and Northwestern I was making substantial progress on the last chapter of my thesis, now my level of productivity has completely collapsed. I've just been reduced to sitting around, refreshing my browser, and wildly speculating in the absence of solid evidence. I would just like to hear something.

Incidentally, I've heard through back-channels that the European caucus at Rutgers met late last week to discuss applications.

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