History Admissions 2009

[manilowese]

me too. :cry:

[scirefaciat]

Hey y'all,

Anyone who's waiting on Texas -- if you haven't heard already, you're not on the list. I called on Monday, and the really nice graduate associate person let me know that everyone who had been admitted had been contacted.

Heartbreaking for me, as this one strikes me out for the year.

Congratulations if you got in, and condolences to you who, like me, didn't

[FormerFlyer]

Anyone who's waiting on Texas -- if you haven't heard already, you're not on the list. I called on Monday, and the really nice graduate associate person let me know that everyone who had been admitted had been contacted.

Does anyone know if the same is true for Northwestern and Chicago? There seems to have been a round of admits via email from faculty at both schools.

[rwallace]

Hey y'all,

Anyone who's waiting on Texas -- if you haven't heard already, you're not on the list. I called on Monday, and the really nice graduate associate person let me know that everyone who had been admitted had been contacted.

Heartbreaking for me, as this one strikes me out for the year.

Congratulations if you got in, and condolences to you who, like me, didn't

0/2

[rustonite]

dunno if anyone else is looking to be a future Tiger, but according to the grad director, LSU hasn't made any decisions yet.

[sra08]

Well, misery loves company, and I'm relieved to see that I'm not the only one who's 0-for right now. 0-5 to be precise--nos from Berkeley, Wisconsin, Yale, Harvard, and Stanford. Granted, those are all very competitive schools, and Berkeley wasn't even a good fit, but it still hurts. A lot. (I assume I'm probably rejected from Columbia as well, quite possibly UCLA.) My adviser told me a year ago that she was sure I'd get into a top place, and various other profs. and acquaintances in the academic field have said the same thing. It's been hard to let go of the dream of going to Harvard or Stanford, my two top places. I'm still holding out hope for Rutgers, and a few other places which are lower on my list, but it's been incredibly disappointing. My GRE scores are not stellar, but certainly in range, and I have great grades, especially in history, from a well-regarded LAC. I have one conference presentation, and one interdisciplinary summer research award. My adviser, known to be a tough grader, gave my writing sample, a semi-final draft of a thesis chapter, an A+. I know I should have been aware how competitive these programs are, especially in this economy, and since I've spent so much time researching the process. But I still had some probably unrealistic hopes which were deflated, and it feels crappy.

I'm starting to investigate other plans for next year, with the hopes of reapplying. I want to address my languages, which I suspect is the weakest aspect of my application. (Even though I'm an Americanist, I stupidly suggested a specific research interest that's pretty international in scope. I now have a clearer idea of what I really want to do. Perhaps I should have waited to apply in the first place.) Anyway, I just wanted to vent a little, and this seemed like a good place to do it. I know some of you here have been through the re-application process, and I'd be curious to hear about your experiences.

[feisty]

Out of curiosity, how many people here are applying while seniors in college?

I have an unfounded hunch that this year in particular, schools are being harsher on people who are still undergrads. For a number of abstract reasons.

[synthla]

My adviser told me a year ago that she was sure I'd get into a top place, and various other profs. and acquaintances in the academic field have said the same thing.

I had a similar experience; while I've been lucky enough to now have a couple options (although not in the league of schools that you mentioned), it seems clear that the admissions process and standards have changed dramatically from when our professors were going through the same process. And it's made worse when those professors aren't at big research universities (like the ones at my LAC) so they're really quite removed from the process.

[rwallace]

Out of curiosity, how many people here are applying while seniors in college?

I have an unfounded hunch that this year in particular, schools are being harsher on people who are still undergrads. For a number of abstract reasons.

I just graduated this past spring, and I believe you are correct.

[rwallace]

Well, misery loves company, and I'm relieved to see that I'm not the only one who's 0-for right now. 0-5 to be precise--nos from Berkeley, Wisconsin, Yale, Harvard, and Stanford. Granted, those are all very competitive schools, and Berkeley wasn't even a good fit, but it still hurts. A lot. (I assume I'm probably rejected from Columbia as well, quite possibly UCLA.) My adviser told me a year ago that she was sure I'd get into a top place, and various other profs. and acquaintances in the academic field have said the same thing. It's been hard to let go of the dream of going to Harvard or Stanford, my two top places. I'm still holding out hope for Rutgers, and a few other places which are lower on my list, but it's been incredibly disappointing. My GRE scores are not stellar, but certainly in range, and I have great grades, especially in history, from a well-regarded LAC. I have one conference presentation, and one interdisciplinary summer research award. My adviser, known to be a tough grader, gave my writing sample, a semi-final draft of a thesis chapter, an A+. I know I should have been aware how competitive these programs are, especially in this economy, and since I've spent so much time researching the process. But I still had some probably unrealistic hopes which were deflated, and it feels crappy.

I'm starting to investigate other plans for next year, with the hopes of reapplying. I want to address my languages, which I suspect is the weakest aspect of my application. (Even though I'm an Americanist, I stupidly suggested a specific research interest that's pretty international in scope. I now have a clearer idea of what I really want to do. Perhaps I should have waited to apply in the first place.) Anyway, I just wanted to vent a little, and this seemed like a good place to do it. I know some of you here have been through the re-application process, and I'd be curious to hear about your experiences.

Out of curiousity what is the language(s)? Your situation sounds very similar to mine. I want to study Sino-American relations and the fact that I have very little formal class experience studying Chinese I believe has hurt me the most. Still wondering what the best way to address this problem is other than taking additional classes.

[Sonic]

Out of curiosity, how many people here are applying while seniors in college?

I have an unfounded hunch that this year in particular, schools are being harsher on people who are still undergrads. For a number of abstract reasons.

I think they're being harsher more generally. I'm out of undergrad and in a Masters program and have not had any luck -- no word from lots of programs that have notified, a couple unofficial emails conveying "waitlist", and a "waitlist but likely rejection" from my current program (not the best fit, but still upsetting). All of my communication has indicated that there are tons of applicants and very few spots. I'm sure there are also internal department issues, like hiring freezes and delayed promotions, that we're not always aware of.

What I really wonder is how the departments are adapting their review process. A few schools seem to just have really bumped up GPA and GRE standards, which may have held me out of the review pile altogether, and a couple of schools have been open about the fact that they are going to take a lot more time to review materials this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that most of my schools picked the latter option for this process.

[hooleeya]

Out of curiosity, how many people here are applying while seniors in college?

I am! I've read over and over that the whole process is a crapshoot, and now that I pretty much know where I'll be going next year, I can say that I completely agree. I've been fortunate enough to end up on the good side of everything and have been accepted to my top choice - the only concrete reason I can come up with is that my interests fit very well with many of the faculty in the department because my GRE scores weren't stellar, I only have Latin, Italian, and Spanish (no French or German) and I'm applying from a small LAC. Granted, many of the faculty with whom I'll be working have visited my school and know its academic reputation, and my writing sample, SOP, and LORs were all strong, but there are many more qualified people who frequent this board alone who probably should have gotten in instead of me. Anyway, my point is that if you didn't get in where you wanted this year, you should beat yourself up too badly about it since so often it really does seem to be good fortune rather than credentials that gets people accepted.

[feisty]

I also graduated in spring 2008, and even though I'm still a young'in I think it makes me automatically a little more desirable to have been out of school for a little while.

I've only heard from 2/7 schools so far but I have some ideas

The overarching theme of grad school admission boards is that they do the wacky things they do to be sure the applicant "really wants this" or whatever. This is especially pertinent this year. One way to tell is: "what is the applicant sacrificing to get a PhD?" and the most obvious way to calculate this is with money.

We've all more or less agreed that more people are applying to grad school in general to avoid the job market, and for an undergrad this would be an easier move to make. An undergraduate probably isn't making a salary, so monetarily they probably have nowhere to go but up. Whatever jobs they hold as a student probably don't bring in a lot more than a stipend. And in this economy, I think grad school probably looks just as good as "looking for jobs in advertising"/unemployment.

I am a 22 y/o still-new employee at a bizarre job that lies at the apocalyptic crotch of finance and journalism (read: doomed). Even with my little salary, when I saw how much my stipend at my one acceptance would be, the grim sacrifice I am making became abundantly, hilariously clear.

Only 8 or so months out of school, I'm not any more mature than an undergraduate. I'm not any smarter. In fact I'm probably more rusty and restless.

It's silly and arbitrary, but as a sort of quick and easy purge of excess applications I wouldn't be surprised if schools were more quick to dismiss a current undergrad, even if they didn't make a policy of it.

Just a thought. There are probably other, better reasons. As I said: rusty, restless, etc.

[kahlan_amnell]

Out of curiosity, how many people here are applying while seniors in college?

I have an unfounded hunch that this year in particular, schools are being harsher on people who are still undergrads. For a number of abstract reasons.

MA student here and I'm 0-4, with 6 schools left to hear from. I don't know if things are worse for undergrads or not.

[synthla]

The overarching theme of grad school admission boards is that they do the wacky things they do to be sure the applicant "really wants this" or whatever. This is especially pertinent this year. One way to tell is: "what is the applicant sacrificing to get a PhD?" and the most obvious way to calculate this is with money.

I should forward this to some of my schools; I'm giving up a six-figure salary and thought that would make a bigger impact in terms of perceived dedication, but, alhough I didn't exactly put numbers in my application, I wonder if this has made some schools actually more skeptical that at the end of the day I will actually pull the trigger and do it. (In fact I had one professor ask me that - "are you 100% certain you'll be in grad school this fall?").

[feisty]

I should forward this to some of my schools; I'm giving up a six-figure salary and thought that would make a bigger impact in terms of perceived dedication, but, alhough I didn't exactly put numbers in my application, I wonder if this has made some schools actually more skeptical that at the end of the day I will actually pull the trigger and do it. (In fact I had one professor ask me that - "are you 100% certain you'll be in grad school this fall?").

Good point. I guess it can really go both ways.

[misterpat]

I should forward this to some of my schools; I'm giving up a six-figure salary and thought that would make a bigger impact in terms of perceived dedication, but, alhough I didn't exactly put numbers in my application, I wonder if this has made some schools actually more skeptical that at the end of the day I will actually pull the trigger and do it. (In fact I had one professor ask me that - "are you 100% certain you'll be in grad school this fall?").

I've heard that programs are sometimes afraid of people who have been in the "real world" for a while, earning a decent salary. It's a big change going from a real-job to academic indentured-servitude. But I think that you could make the case that you've saved up enough to live a little more comfortably than the straight-from-undergrad folks who are living on the stipend alone.

[histdee]

MA student here and I'm 0-4, with 6 schools left to hear from. I don't know if things are worse for undergrads or not.

Agreed. I'm a law student in a top program (who was eager to give up a 6-figure starting salary at a law firm to go into academia), and I'm 0-4 with only Columbia left to hear from, and that looks like likely a no at this point, so will go 0-5 overall. There's very little rhyme or reason to this process, from what I can tell. Certainly many more qualified applicants and some less than myself, but patterns? Hard to say.

[synthla]

Agreed. I'm a law student in a top program (who was eager to give up a 6-figure starting salary at a law firm to go into academia), and I'm 0-4 with only Columbia left to hear from, and that looks like likely a no at this point, so will go 0-5 overall. There's very little rhyme or reason to this process, from what I can tell. Certainly many more qualified applicants and some less than myself, but patterns? Hard to say.

Not that it's ideal, but at least in the worst case scenario, you can save money like crazy for a year if you have to reapply. I have never really enjoyed my legal job, but I'm pretty excited to be cashing in on it by hopefully moving someplace with a lower cost of living where I can just buy a house using some of my savings. Finally, I'll have something to show for losing years of my life to the law. (And there's some enjoyable irony to quitting my job to go back to school and also buying a house, when I have so many friends locked into $700K+ mortgages for condos and townhouses here in a sinking real estate market who can't afford not to keep killing themselves at work.) So this goes to misterpat's comment too - I'd hope that would be clear to schools too, but as we're all concluding, the process is just very random/chaotic overall.

[bleistift]

Another member of the working force chiming in here. I'd also be sacrificing a high salaried career in finance to try to join the ranks of academia. I made mention of my job in my SoP this round, as my hours (which aren't bad at all relative to my peers, but draining at times) prevent me from making significant progress to shore up my credentials (in languages, additional coursework, independent research. etc). Doesn't seem to have helped, as I am 0 for 5 with 2 left. My credentials were strong to begin with, at least in terms of foreign languages.

I suspect it's tough to compete as undergraduates against candidates with master's degrees, who have 1 to 2 more years of language training, a larger choice of writing samples, and an additional set of LoRs to supplement their application.

[sra08]

Out of curiousity what is the language(s)? Your situation sounds very similar to mine. I want to study Sino-American relations and the fact that I have very little formal class experience studying Chinese I believe has hurt me the most. Still wondering what the best way to address this problem is other than taking additional classes.

I had three semesters of Italian when I applied, am now taking a fourth semester (Advanced). When I applied my Italian was quite rusty, so I put down "beginner" on all my applications out of honesty, though now I feel I know more than a true "beginner." Unfortunately, Italian isn't really considered a useful language for my field; I kick myself for not choosing French to fulfill my language requirement. I said that I wanted to look at the American pacifist movement, including international organizations. I was lucky enough to find out that a prof. at a great program is doing very similar research, and I live close enough that I was able to interview. (I even had the good luck that my profs know her well.) When I spoke with her, she pretty much made it clear that I'd need French and German. I said I'd be willing to learn, but I feel that not having the languages already was a drawback. (I haven't heard the decision from this school yet.) Additionally, my Italian grades are some of the lowest grades on my transcript, which does reflect the fact that my facility for foreign languages is poor in comparison to my abilities in History and English, my minor. (Though my grades in Italian are by no means poor.) In the process of doing my thesis, I've realized that pacifism is not what I want to focus my graduate school scholarship on, though I'm still very excited about my chosen subfield and rough time period. If I end up re-applying, I'll try to study French on my own or at a community college, and my SoP will reflect my new research interests, in which foreign languages are less important.

I agree that grad school admissions right now is just plain difficult for everyone, but I think there may be a perception that those of us who are applying right out of undergrad aren't serious. The first question the prof. who interviewed me was, "why do you want to go to graduate school right after college?" The point about LAC professors not fully understanding the admissions process is probably true, as well. My profs applied to grad school about 30 years ago, and we have no grad program.

[synthla]

Another member of the working force chiming in here. I'd also be sacrificing a high salaried career in finance to try to join the ranks of academia. I made mention of my job in my SoP this round, as my hours (which aren't bad at all relative to my peers, but draining at times) prevent me from making significant progress to shore up my credentials (in languages, additional coursework, independent research. etc). Doesn't seem to have helped, as I am 0 for 5 with 2 left. My credentials were strong to begin with, at least in terms of foreign languages.

I had/have some of the same credential issues (especially when it comes to a relevant writing sample), but stressed in my SoP all of the positives (wide reading in my field, independent language work, etc.) in terms of what I'd been able to accomplish despite having a pretty hard core full-time job for the past few years. Even if my purely academic credentials aren't as impressive as many other applicants, I tried to basically say look, I've actually done quite a bit relative to how much free time I [don't] have, and it shows my dedication to the field that I've spent so much of that limited free time independently pursuing my historical interests. Who knows whether that argument, in particular, resonated with anyone, but that was my thought process.

[StrangeLight]

i got my BA in may 2008. spent the summer and this year adding to my languages. worked as a journalist/assistant news producer. i've been a research assistant for documentary filmmakers (i was nominated for two emmys!) and i've done research for a history prof. i had the top journalism programs fighting over me last year, and this year i can't get into most history PhD programs despite competitive grades, GRE scores, strong writing samples, and really strong recommendations from well-known faculty members. i think it's just a tough year.

also, looks like NYU is notifying the accepted today. if i don't hear something today or tomorrow, i'll assume that means i'm out. poop. poop on a stick.

[bleistift]

I would not blame too much on the liberal arts college. I come from a highly ranked research university from undergrad, and my primary adviser held a visible post and a long and decorated academic CV. He had high expectations for me as well. Although I haven't given him my news yet, I'm sure he will be surprised. Alas it does seem true that things have changed recently.

[petpolitics]

it's a slow day today...

...always make me nervous.