History Admissions 2009

[misterpat]

I assume I got into UVA, but really all I know is that my status on applynow went from pending to admit last week. It could be the case that only one field has notified thus far (i.e. U.S.)?

I hope you're wrong. I'm a US applicant and still "pending."

[hooleeya]

Does anyone have any information on the University of Virginia or Emory? I've seen a couple of acceptances for UVA, and I saw that a few people were invited to some sort of accepted students weekend at Emory, but I've received no communication from either school.

I heard from Emory via email on February 9 - their department secretary has been very helpful so I would call/email if you haven't heard anything. Good luck!

[StrangeLight]

StrangeLight -

I study early 20th Century Mexico and so a lot of the departments and I limited my search to departments with top Mexicanists that studied around my time and with my particular bent (intellectual/political history). Columbia and Chicago fit that bill exactly. I did my ugrad study at Columbia, and I liked working with the Mexicanists on staff there - I think it is a rising department as well - and I have a lot of ties in the city which make it a compelling opportunity. Columbia has a few strong caribbeanists in the comp-lit or Spanish Language Department that I have heard people bringing them in to be part of their dissertation group if not their official sponsor. Chicago has a very strong Latin American group, but no one really pops for Spanish Caribbean studies.

thanks for the reply.

i had considered applying to columbia but found that there were other schools that fit my thematic interests a little more strongly (african diaspora, labor history). spoke to one professor at another school who did her PhD at chicago. she studies the dominican republic primarily and told me that she found herself somewhat lonely at chicago, felt it wasn't the best uses of her resources.

also, congrats to the admits to ucla! now i wish i had applied there, because i see that international students were offered full funding packages, but i had been scared away when i was told it that international students wouldn't get first year funding. i should've just submitted the app, it's only another $100. :roll: oh well.

[Louiselab]

Does anyone have any information on the University of Virginia or Emory? I've seen a couple of acceptances for UVA, and I saw that a few people were invited to some sort of accepted students weekend at Emory, but I've received no communication from either school.

I was one of the UVA people. The status on my online application changed, and then a few hours later I received an email from the graduate school saying I was accepted with a packet from them to follow. The History department said they would send funding information in a separate mailing directly from them. I don't know if they're done or not, but I think they aren't.

I'm U.S. also (both field and country of origin if that makes a difference).

[Louiselab]

Hello All~

I applied to grad schools last year, so know your pain VERY well. Hang in there, it'll all be over soon.

I am at Michigan now and its our spring break. Last year they called all admitted applicants on the same day, Sun Feb. 17. They keep current students pretty well informed here, and to the best of my knowledge phone calls have not gone out. I hope this helps.

Like I said, I know its REALLY difficult. I wish you success.

Once you get in, visit ALL the programs, choose well and choose wisely!

oh my god, you just made me feel so much better!

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH

I WANT MY LIFE BACK

Amen.

[knickname]

[quote name="Louiselab

[futurePhD]

I hope you're wrong. I'm a US applicant and still "pending."

I'm in the same boat. My field is US and mine still says pending. I'm not sure whether this is good or bad news for us.......

[Louiselab]

My application status says Admit on the website as well for UVA but I have heard nothing from the school at all, via email or postal...I am U.S. History which someone indicated might have heard beyond this but not yet...

I was told having it change to "admit" was a good thing by the dept. So the grad school just probably hasn't finished the fun processing, because the dept said the admissions acceptance has to come from grad admissions, not history.

[cambrai2009]

also, congrats to the admits to ucla! now i wish i had applied there, because i see that international students were offered full funding packages, but i had been scared away when i was told it that international students wouldn't get first year funding. i should've just submitted the app, it's only another $100. :roll: oh well.

I am also really surprise to see that so many International students were offered full funding packages at UCLA. I am in contact with a Prof there who told me again and again how difficult it is for them to offer full funding packages because of the non-resident issue. I guess the two UCLA admits must have been quite exceptional students (I'm not being ironic here!). To the UCLA International admits (if there are some on this forum) : what is your field? and did you get an email from the department or your potential advisor?

Thanks!

[StrangeLight]

yeah, i was told repeatedly by a professor who was very interested in working with me that i needed to look into outside fellowships and student loans for the first year because they simply would not fund international applicants. i didn't apply because i'm not going to go anywhere that doesn't offer full funding, but now... i don't know, maybe i'll look at that as a mistake. i'll just tell myself that i wouldn't have been accepted anyway.

[rwcole39]

The Stanford perfunctory rejection cascade has begun, methinks!

[slawkenbergius]

The Stanford perfunctory rejection cascade has begun, methinks!

Yup! Thank God for gradcafe--I could tell I was rejected three weeks ago.

[kahlan_amnell]

Hello All~

I applied to grad schools last year, so know your pain VERY well. Hang in there, it'll all be over soon.

I am at Michigan now and its our spring break. Last year they called all admitted applicants on the same day, Sun Feb. 17. They keep current students pretty well informed here, and to the best of my knowledge phone calls have not gone out. I hope this helps.

Like I said, I know its REALLY difficult. I wish you success.

Once you get in, visit ALL the programs, choose well and choose wisely!

Thanks for the information! So they do call everyone who was admitted? Good to know for when acceptances via phone for Michigan start showing up in the results.

[earlyamerican]

The hell? A Chicago rejection via email? Is that any of you or some kind of fluke?

[RJR08]

Hi all, I was admitted to Chicago last week. I was told by the prof there that they are making 40% fewer offers this year than last. I was told via informal phone call, congratulations from multiple people in my area (Latin American History) as well as a formal e-mail by the department (chair of admissions and the department) letting me know the fellowship amount, etc. In all communiques they said this was early notice of my admission and that the official letter from the Dean of Students is to follow over the next week.

I hope this gives people particulars as to how at least one person was admitted.

I'm waiting on Columbia - anyone know how many they usually admit to fill their class? I saw some people mention Columbia is announcing, and further specifics there?

I want to say around 29. The total class size ended up being 23 this year. hope this helps.

[Shancis]

I am waitlisted at Notre Dame. I was contacted by the director of graduate studies notifying me that primarily due to financial constraints the department has to admit fewer students this year. Thus, I am on a waitlist of no more than three student alternates. I am unsure whether this is good or bad.

[manilowese]

Oh, thanks for letting me know. Well, at least you know something! I have no idea about the status of my application. :?

Waiting list sounds good to me - Hope that works out for you!

I wonder why they contacted the waiting list first. It doesn't seem like anyone else has been notified of acceptance or rejection yet. Hmm.

[reallywantcolumbia]

OK, so I've been biting my nails and losing my mind for the last three months or so- thinking I was alone in my misery. A fellow grad school applicant friend told me about gradcafe about two days ago. I've basically spent the last 4 hours reading all 722 posts on this discussion board. Needless to say, its been awesome!

[RF237]

I also applied to WashU, and haven't heard a peep. I applied there last year as well, and was rejected, but it wasn't until early March that they finally decided to tell me. It was awful!

[manilowese]

oh no! that is awful. i hope they let us know sooner this year. :shock: like asap.

[partingsea]

Here I am, clicking on the e-mail box for the past two and a half hours, doing nothing else! The suspense of expecting them to send me a decision e-mail in between my clicks...

Has Columbia made its announcement?? Or is it in the process of making them?

Why do so many (seemingly) people say they're waitlisted or accepted or rejected...

and I haven't heard a word from them?!

[rwallace]

To all those who have received offers, did you all hear from professors through email before you were formally notified?

So far I have recieved one rejection, Indiana, and have not heard a word really from any Professor at any other program to which I applied. Needless to say I feel very anxious right now. Is it typical to be contacted before hand before recieving an acceptance letter?

[benjybrentwood]

Two questions---

1) For those who attended the NYU visit weekend- any clue about when we'll all hear something? What was the weekend like?

2) I see one or two people have heard from Michigan- anyone else know when the rest of us should expect to hear something?

Thanks!

B

[rwcole39]

1) For those who attended the NYU visit weekend- any clue about when we'll all hear something? What was the weekend like?

My potential advisor told me that the final graduate admissions meeting is being held early this week, with decisions to go out soon thereafter. The weekend was odd--some of us were interviewed, others weren't. They occasionally talked to us as though we were already admitted, and other times our status was much more vague. So I really am not sure what's going on.

[daydaydvd]

OK, so I've been biting my nails and losing my mind for the last three months or so- thinking I was alone in my misery. A fellow grad school applicant friend told me about gradcafe about two days ago. I've basically spent the last 4 hours reading all 722 posts on this discussion board. Needless to say, its been awesome!

as for acceptances/rejections/waitlists -

I first got waitlisted by Yale (a horribly impersonal email - did any waitlisted people at Yale get invitations to the accepted student days? Cos I didn't)

Then came Princeton, Wisconsin and Berkeley - all rejections. I was mightily pissed off at Wisconsin - I mean, come on, you don't even bother to send out an email - how much effort does that take?!

Then, finally, I got accepted into Michigan. Since then I've received three emails from three different profs there - quite gratifying. they said the official letter was coming early March and seemed really really keen to get me there. No word yet on accepted student days and no word on funding. According to the website, all PhDs get a full 5-year package - so I'm not too worried.

Basically that leaves Columbia and Harvard. Now, given what I've read on this forum, I'm not particularly hopeful about Harvard. I'm sitting in India and I figure that my rejection letter is making its way across the oceans. BTW, does anyone else think its weird that they would send out snail-mail decisions to people living on the other side of the world?

Now, the big one - Columbia. I REEEEEAAAALLLLLLYYYYYY want to go there. Its pretty much perfect for what I want to do. And I got a waitlist email this morning. The email was actually really nice/semi-personalized. And they invited me to their accepted students' day. And offered to pay $200.

So, I'm in a dilemma and could seriously do with some advice. First off, I've got one acceptance under my belt and that's great. Michigan might not be the perfect fit for me, but it's still a damn good school. BUT, if I got into Columbia, I would go in a heartbeat. The email Columbia sent, said they accepted 20 people out of 500 applicants. Is there really any chance at all of getting in off the waitlist? Should I email/pursue professors there? Should I wait till the last moment before accepting Michigan? I'm really kinda losing my mind here. Especially since there is almost no hope of me making it to the accepted student day - $200 will not buy you a plane ticket to NYC from India. Does anyone have any idea when waitlist decisions are made? Yale said something about mid April, but Columbia didnt mention anything. I thought I read somewhere that schools aren't 'allowed' to offer waitlisted people admissions until after April 15th - true/untrue?

so yeah......arrrrgggghhhhhhh! Will somebody, anybody, take me out of my misery! Anyone know how this whole waitlist stuff works?? Could really do with some help here!

p.s one more thing - In the highly unlikely case that i get off of the waitlist at Yale and not Columbia, does it make more sense to go to Michigan (where people seem genuinely excited to have me) or to go to Yale (which is obviously a lot more lukewarm) - both schools are pretty even in my personal ranking. yale would be a little more prestigious/ I would prefer to be on the east coast

applied: LSE, Cambridge, (MAs), Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Michigan, Berkeley, Wisconsin

Accepted: Michigan, LSE

Waitlist: Yale, Columbia

Rejected: Cambridge, Princeton, Berkeley, Wisconsin

Waiting: Harvard

Normally, there are very few in the waitinglist. As far as I know, the waitlist is based on the area. Givine that you apply to Asian history, you got your turn if the admitted asian history guys reject the offer. Anyway, it is your right to ask the department how big is the waitinglist and how they rank the waitinglist, and what is your place?