History Admissions 2009

[synthla]

Anyone else heading to the Davis recruitment weekend March 14-15?

Anyone have any follow-up on the Davis weekend? It's the only school I haven't heard from and I assume that I've been denied, but it seems they're taking their time telling us rejectees. :wink:

[futurePhD]

Update for anyone waiting on Penn State:

I emailed the DGS this morning regarding my application status. I was told that the evaluation process is complete and that I have been rejected. I will say,however, that the rejection email was the most considerate one that I have received.

[Sonic]

Anyone have any follow-up on the Davis weekend? It's the only school I haven't heard from and I assume that I've been denied, but it seems they're taking their time telling us rejectees. :wink:

I, too, am a Future Davis Rejectee who wishes they would just get their act together. I can't wait to see which inadequacies of mine warrant a Y in the box on that website of theirs.

[synthla]

I, too, am a Future Davis Rejectee who wishes they would just get their act together. I can't wait to see which inadequacies of mine warrant a Y in the box on that website of theirs.

Agreed - I didn't see a box for "Overqualified," so absent that, I'm not sure what they could identify. :wink:

[rustonite]

is the person who just put in St. Louis on here? cause we should chat.

[petpolitics]

also, any tips on how to tactfully email a school about admission decisions? is it ~time~ to ask or should i wait some more?

[rustonite]

I just called LSU, cause it had been three weeks since they said they'd have decisions in two. I think if you haven't heard anything in two or three weeks, you're justified in contacting the department.

[petpolitics]

I just called LSU, cause it had been three weeks since they said they'd have decisions in two. I think if you haven't heard anything in two or three weeks, you're justified in contacting the department.

Unfortunately, they did not give us a time frame. They told us we can check our application status back in January but nothing has changed since I submitted my application.

[John_E]

Just got an email from a school. Back story: I've been accepted with funding, and a TAship. Then the school sent me a letter to the effect that they needed to know if I wanted the TA job, and they needed to know by March 16. They sent me another email today, asking the same thing.

I thought we'd gone over this already, but I said it again: I wrote them a very nice email stating that, yes, I did want a TAship.

They wrote me back immediately and said, no, they needed to know "whether you accepted our offer of a TAship for fall (as this would also accept our admittance). We would then count on your enrolling in our program for the fall. Please clarify!"

I mentioned it to a buddy of mine who's also applying to doctoral in History, and he said Indiana U. wrote him the following:

"I realize that you may be considering admission and aid offers from other universities. You should be aware that American universities are party to an agreement that prohibits any of us from forcing applicants to make a decision before April 15."

So I'm a little confused. I wrote back to the school asking THEM to "clarify" if they are putting me on the spot.

Anybody know about this stuff? Is this alleged agreement true?

[Nicolay]

Most US graduate programs subscribe to a policy generated by the Council of Graduate Schools. That policy says that prospective graduate students should have until April 15 to consider offers of financial assistance including graduate fellowships, scholarships, and the like. You can see the precise wording of the policy and the list of participating schools at this internet address http://www.cgsnet.org/Default.aspx?tabid=201

[John_E]

Most US graduate programs subscribe to a policy generated by the Council of Graduate Schools. That policy says that prospective graduate students should have until April 15 to consider offers of financial assistance including graduate fellowships, scholarships, and the like. You can see the precise wording of the policy and the list of participating schools at this internet address http://www.cgsnet.org/Default.aspx?tabid=201

Thanks Nicolay, good to know.

[misterpat]

Sounds like they're trying to bully you into making a decision sooner than later, kind of like when a cop tries to make you do something you don't have to do (surrender information, come to the station, etc.), counting on the fact you won't know your rights and object.

As a person on two funding-waitlists, I can't say I mind Universities trying to get decisions out of people before April 15. But they could probably go about it in a better way.

[gimlet]

I feel like being waitlisted is bullying. I got waitlisted at Temple and they say they will not do anything with the waitlist until after the April 1st deadline. I am torn between taking a funding risk at a school with good job placement and staying at a school with a funding offer but more tenuous placement. I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. I feel very naive for thinking it would be such a cut and dry matter of funding or not. :|

[8in2009]

I feel like being waitlisted is bullying. I got waitlisted at Temple and they say they will not do anything with the waitlist until after the April 1st deadline. I am torn between taking a funding risk at a school with good job placement and staying at a school with a funding offer but more tenuous placement. I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. I feel very naive for thinking it would be such a cut and dry matter of funding or not. :|

I sympathize, but I don't think it's fair to say that "being waitlisted is bullying." The school is trying to give you as much chance as possible. If you get off the waitlist with funding tomorrow, you won't think the waitlist was such a bad idea. :-) Bullying is when someone takes away your options, not when they give you options.

[gimlet]

I sympathize, but I don't think it's fair to say that "being waitlisted is bullying." The school is trying to give you as much chance as possible. If you get off the waitlist with funding tomorrow, you won't think the waitlist was such a bad idea. :-) Bullying is when someone takes away your options, not when they give you options.

Bullying is a poor word choice-- but if they were willing to make waitlisted people offers during the pre-deadline period, I could just hang out until April 14. The program hasn't given me that option. Going to a program without guaranteed funding is risky business, and I felt like my email from the DGS was kind of flippant considering the gravity of the situation. After spending hundreds of dollars on apps and three months waiting, I feel a little emotionally knocked around to begin with, and continued uncertainty is just unpleasant. I am by no means ungrateful for my opportunities, I hope I didn't give that impression.

[synthla]

Strangelight: Congrats on accepting Pittsburgh! I know it wasn't an easy decision, necessarily, but for what it's worth (from a complete stranger), I think you made the right choice.

[StrangeLight]

thanks! that's really nice of you to say. i'm extremely happy with my decision. it doesn't matter how many rejections you get as long as a program that you really, really want accepts you, and i was lucky enough to have that happen to me. there were two schools in particular that i applied to that i considered to have a "dream faculty" for my subfield, and pitt was one of them.

have you made any decisions yet?

[synthla]

thanks! that's really nice of you to say. i'm extremely happy with my decision. it doesn't matter how many rejections you get as long as a program that you really, really want accepts you, and i was lucky enough to have that happen to me. there were two schools in particular that i applied to that i considered to have a "dream faculty" for my subfield, and pitt was one of them.

have you made any decisions yet?

I know exactly what you mean - Indiana was basically at the top of my list from the start and they were my first acceptance and still have the best overall package and I really enjoyed my visit, so I feel quite lucky. I really just need to accept, but I'm still waiting on one school, even though I'm sure it's a rejection at this point. Last time I did grad school applications, I didn't wait until I heard from everyone before deciding, and this time I'd really like to have every card on the table.

[Scare Quotes]

To those of you lucky enough to have choices between various options -- here's my unsolicited advice for the year. Especially if you feel torn between two or more offers, make your decision well before the April 15 deadline, and (sorry waitlist folks), live with it for a day or two before you click "decline" on your other offers. I changed my mind *on* April 15 last year after having accepted one offer and declined another, and it's not a experience I'd recommend to others!

[kahlan_amnell]

I'm trying to decide how much longer I should wait before I e-mail the schools I'm waiting on to ask about the status of my application. I'm thinking that if I don't hear by the end of March I'll ask, but do you think I should ask sooner?

[gimlet]

I'm trying to decide how much longer I should wait before I e-mail the schools I'm waiting on to ask about the status of my application. I'm thinking that if I don't hear by the end of March I'll ask, but do you think I should ask sooner?

You should probably email right now-- I think it's reasonable to want a month to decide if need be. Particularly with Temple (where I too applied)-- their admissions were dated the 9th or 10th of March, and their technical decision date is April 1 (though you can get on the special "waiting to respond until the April 15th" list if you're waitlisted for funding...oy). You can also check on the "Owlnet"-- if you don't have an ID and code you can email the tech people for one-- or just call the DGS, she is pretty nice-- but my impression of that program is that they are not particularly great communicators and it's better just to call. I got an admissions packet from them but had to call about funding. Good luck with Temple and the rest of your schools.

[kahlan_amnell]

gimlet said:

You should probably email right now-- I think it's reasonable to want a month to decide if need be. Particularly with Temple (where I too applied)-- their admissions were dated the 9th or 10th of March, and their technical decision date is April 1 (though you can get on the special "waiting to respond until the April 15th" list if you're waitlisted for funding...oy). You can also check on the "Owlnet"-- if you don't have an ID and code you can email the tech people for one-- or just call the DGS, she is pretty nice-- but my impression of that program is that they are not particularly great communicators and it's better just to call. I got an admissions packet from them but had to call about funding. Good luck with Temple and the rest of your schools.

April 1, huh? I've been checking Owlnet and still no decision. Perhaps I will e-mail them.

Rutgers is on spring break this week, so e-mailing them before Monday at the earliest probably won't get me any answers.

[rustonite]

uff, finally heard from my last two! got into LSU with funding, got rejected by Ohio State. I didn't realize until now exactly how much stress I've been carrying around. I feel like my whole body has just relaxed completely.

good luck to everyone who's still waiting. now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get drunk.

[gimlet]

uff, finally heard from my last two! got into LSU with funding, got rejected by Ohio State. I didn't realize until now exactly how much stress I've been carrying around. I feel like my whole body has just relaxed completely.

good luck to everyone who's still waiting. now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get drunk.

congrats!!! it really is good to at least know... i'm really looking forward to gaining back all the weight i've lost from the stress... in celebratory beer pounds of course.

[petpolitics]

uff, finally heard from my last two! got into LSU with funding, got rejected by Ohio State. I didn't realize until now exactly how much stress I've been carrying around. I feel like my whole body has just relaxed completely.

good luck to everyone who's still waiting. now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get drunk.

that's how i felt at the beginning of this process, when i was done with the GREs. now, i can't wait until april 15th.