Boston University

[mjbart]

Hi all,

First off, my apologies for a super obsessive compulsive first post. As fellow hopeful historians in waiting, I'm sure you can sympathize.

Did anybody else applying to Boston University's Ph.D program have their status changed to "decision on admission made" today? If so, were you contacted directly about the decision?

I'm fairly optimistic because these are the first batch of decisions, and, assuming the order of the ID numbers on the status checker page represent some objective criteria such as when applications were submitted, the decisions made thus far seem fairly randomly numerically distributed. Additionally, the department website claims to review all complete applications every few weeks, which seems to rule out the possibility of reviewing in order based on area of specialization, or randomly. Therefore, I assume they utilize some subjective criteria - the first group of decisions are probably either those they reject outright, or, more likely (or wishful thinking on my part) their first choice acceptances.

Anybody have any insight?

Thanks, and good luck to all you on all your apps!

Edited February 9, 2011 by mjbart

[katie1421]

Thanks for the heads up, I didn't think it would be worth checking anything related to BU for a while. My status says the same thing: "decision on admission made on 2/8/11." Unfortunately, they don't seem to want me to know what the decision is? Mysterious.

edit: Ah, never mind. It turns out that the departmental decision has to be forwarded to the Graduate School before anyone gets officially notified. That's what I get for not reading the fine print. I'm not really sure I can contribute much insight into whether it'll be good news or bad news, but at least things are moving along.

Edited February 9, 2011 by katie1421

[natsteel]

Same thing here. Wonder how long it will be until we get notified.

[katie1421]

The website seems to suggest that once it's posted that the decision has been made, a letter is sent "within approximately two weeks."

[mjbart]

The department website also says that "the committee will inform those applicants who are admitted of its recommendation within a day or two of each meeting." So it seems like we should know one way or another by the end of this week.

[HistoryGrizzly]

If you know for a fact that they've made the decision, I bet you could call the department directly and ask if you really want to know that badly. I'm trying to hold off on all communications to as many places as possible until I know for sure that admissions decisions have all pretty much been made, even at one school where a professor in their history dept. is actually a friend.

On the other hand, if you know they've made the decision and you don't hear anything for awhile, I'd take it as bad news.

[katie1421]

On the other hand, if you know they've made the decision and you don't hear anything for awhile, I'd take it as bad news.

I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're probably right. Yikes.

[HistoryGrizzly]

I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're probably right. Yikes.

That's the way I think, because I'm a huge pessimist, however, it could be that you are waitlisted and they're just waiting to hear back from their main choices. It really never is totally over until you get the rejection letter.

I've seen a few acceptance letters go out for Chicago, Indiana, and OSU, all of which I have an application at, and I'm downgraded my hopes to "Snowball's Chance in Hell" but I'm not totally giving up until I get the "We hate you" letter from them.

[katie1421]

My hopes are currently hovering around that level as well. Although I'll play the optimist to your pessimist, and say that the only reason for the delay is the fact that it's going to take quite a bit of time for whoever is accepting us to craft precisely detailed and personalized acceptance emails.

[katie1421]

Well, mine was a rejection. Turns out HistoryGrizzly was right all along: the glass really is half empty. /

[history_PhD]

I'm still waiting on this one, but someone I know was accepted. Funding decisions don't go out until March, I think. They are reviewing the applications in segments.

[history_PhD]

I remember someone (Natsteel?) mentioning that the funding situation at Boston was not fabulous. I was hoping that this could be expounded on a bit.

[Emerson]

I remember someone (Natsteel?) mentioning that the funding situation at Boston was not fabulous. I was hoping that this could be expounded on a bit.

History_PhD: here's an example. I got an acceptance email from them yesterday for their PhD program, but they said I would be offered zero funding.

[history_PhD]

Accepted into Boston with a nomination for a fellowship.

[natsteel]

Accepted into Boston with a nomination for a fellowship.

A big congratulations, history_PhD!!!

@Emerson McConville told me that he could take one student in our field at the most, meaning even that was not guaranteed because of the lack of funding. From some other resource, I remember the stipend being quite small-for Boston, especially, but I can't remember where I saw it.

Edited March 2, 2011 by natsteel

[The Dudester]

A big congratulations, history_PhD!!!

@Emerson McConville told me that he could take one student in our field at the most, meaning even that was not guaranteed because of the lack of funding. From some other resource, I remember the stipend being quite small-for Boston, especially, but I can't remember where I saw it.

For what its worth, I have heard that McConville can be a little crabby and really try to "test" you if you go there.

[history_PhD]

A big congratulations, history_PhD!!!

@Emerson McConville told me that he could take one student in our field at the most, meaning even that was not guaranteed because of the lack of funding. From some other resource, I remember the stipend being quite small-for Boston, especially, but I can't remember where I saw it.

Thanks! So, Yale it is? So exciting for you!