misterpat Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 I also happen to be applying to UCSB (a more popular choice than I realized apparently), but more than anything, I'm just looking forward to the first indication that anyone has heard anything from a history program. At least knowing that decisions are actually coming out, I won't feel quite so ridiculous with my status checking and gradcafe results watching. If you want to feel less neurotic, go browse the forums at http://www.top-law-schools.com "Should I disclose that I got suspended in 7th grade? OMG!"
synthla Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 If you want to feel less neurotic, go browse the forums at http://www.top-law-schools.com That actually helps. I can tell you from experience that they aren't any less crazy when they actually get to law school. That's probably why I never felt like I belonged there. You don't have to worry about a law student stabbing you in the back; most have no compunction about stabbing you in the front. Uber-competitive.
misterpat Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 That actually helps. I can tell you from experience that they aren't any less crazy when they actually get to law school. That's probably why I never felt like I belonged there. You don't have to worry about a law student stabbing you in the back; most have no compunction about stabbing you in the front. Uber-competitive. I feel like you have a leg up on me with your legal background in the UCSB game. I do hope you applied for something that isn't Modern US.
synthla Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 I feel like you have a leg up on me with your legal background in the UCSB game. I do hope you applied for something that isn't Modern US. Nothing related to Modern US, so nothing to worry about for you. Actually, you probably wouldn't need to worry anyway. I've gone back and forth on the potential impact of a law degree on admissions decisions. Ultimately I think the biggest positive is that it shows that I've at least gotten through a previous graduate program, but at the end of the day, it's not necessarily that relevant to history. Plus people sometimes have preconceptions about people who went to law school. And those forums you pointed out don't help in that respect... :wink:
misterpat Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 Nothing related to Modern US, so nothing to worry about for you. Actually, you probably wouldn't need to worry anyway. I've gone back and forth on the potential impact of a law degree on admissions decisions. Ultimately I think the biggest positive is that it shows that I've at least gotten through a previous graduate program, but at the end of the day, it's not necessarily that relevant to history. Plus people sometimes have preconceptions about people who went to law school. And those forums you pointed out don't help in that respect... :wink: Hahaha yes indeed. But when I was browsing faculty profiles, it seems like a lot of legal history scholars got a JD before they went for the PhD. And UCSB has Laura Kalman, so I figured you might be doing Recent US Legal.
Louiselab Posted January 29, 2009 Posted January 29, 2009 I'm so excited that it's almost february! How thrilling that we've almost arrived at the moment... this magic moment. Is anyone else really excited about turning the calendar from January to February??
Sonic Posted January 29, 2009 Posted January 29, 2009 I'm excited! My colleagues are already taking bets on which will come first, some decision letters or my masters thesis defense (early March). I'm ready for some mail that isn't a bill or some email that isn't about having to move my car for the "Snow Emergency".
Auzzfest Posted January 30, 2009 Posted January 30, 2009 Interested in what you guys think this might mean. I got an email today from a graduate program assistant saying that one of my rec's forgot to completely fill out their cover sheet. The first three lines were very urgent sounding, saying that this afternoon it became necessary that the form be resent. She continued to say that it must be at the department by tomorrow at 3pm. Yet, then she 180'd on me..writing, "Please know that the absence of this form in no way affects whether or not you will be admitted or denied. But, there are other considerations which are under review. If you are unable to reach the professor, please explain in an email why the original Coversheet was not complete." Although I guess it's good that they are looking at my application, I really have no idea how to read into it. Especially the part about "other considerations." Anyways thanks for your thoughts in advance.
synthla Posted January 30, 2009 Posted January 30, 2009 Interested in what you guys think this might mean. I got an email today from a graduate program assistant saying that one of my rec's forgot to completely fill out their cover sheet. The first three lines were very urgent sounding, saying that this afternoon it became necessary that the form be resent. She continued to say that it must be at the department by tomorrow at 3pm. Yet, then she 180'd on me..writing, "Please know that the absence of this form in no way affects whether or not you will be admitted or denied. But, there are other considerations which are under review. If you are unable to reach the professor, please explain in an email why the original Coversheet was not complete." Although I guess it's good that they are looking at my application, I really have no idea how to read into it. Especially the part about "other considerations." Anyways thanks for your thoughts in advance. I will agree, that is strange - although I have interacted with a number of graduate assistants who I doubt would score as well on the GRE AW section as some of the posters on these forums, and haven't been entirely clear in responses. It almost sounds like she was cut and pasting from old emails that didn't quite fit together. I like how you're asked to explain why the coversheet wasn't complete, but it's not as if you were the one who failed to fill in the blanks - um, guess the prof flubbed it? Do you know what data was omitted?
Nicolay Posted January 30, 2009 Posted January 30, 2009 The results board shows the first History Ph.D. admission for the year. Congratulations to the person admitted to the Minnesota history program and best wishes to everybody else!
limeinthecoconut Posted January 30, 2009 Posted January 30, 2009 The results board shows the first History Ph.D. admission for the year. Congratulations to the person admitted to the Minnesota history program and best wishes to everybody else! +1
pawnee68502 Posted January 30, 2009 Posted January 30, 2009 +1 Congrats Seahistory!!!!!! As fellow UMinn applicant, mind if I ask it it was via phone or email?
limeinthecoconut Posted January 30, 2009 Posted January 30, 2009 No, I was not the admit. Didn't apply there. I was just echoing Nicolay's sentiments. Sorry for the confusion caused. Good luck with UMinn, though!
pawnee68502 Posted January 30, 2009 Posted January 30, 2009 Oops! How embarrassing! :oops: Anyhoo, my congrats to the Minnesota admit!!!
synthla Posted January 30, 2009 Posted January 30, 2009 And so it begins; and to think I'm going to be out of town and away from my computer most of the weekend. How will I satisfy my compulsion?? Congrats to the first admit!
John_E Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 Hi y'all, new guy here. I'm in an MA program right now. Have applied to 8 doctoral programs. My field is environmental history. I'm on pins and needles. My GREs are 630v/530q/5.5w... I don't know if that's good enough to get into good programs these days. The verbal is 96% (did they make the test harder last year?), which surprised me. Hopefully it will be OK. I'm freaking out because, duuuuh, I neglected to check the status of my application at Penn State. Deadline was Jan 1. I just now checked the website and found that one of my recommenders' letters has not arrived. Why didn't P.S. notify me? More to the point, why didn't I check? Aaaargh! Now I have to wait 'till Monday to call them. You know what, I'm going to call tomorrow (Saturday), maybe someone will be around. Also, I'll call my prof.
John_E Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 Interested in what you guys think this might mean. I got an email today from a graduate program assistant saying that one of my rec's forgot to completely fill out their cover sheet. The first three lines were very urgent sounding, saying that this afternoon it became necessary that the form be resent. She continued to say that it must be at the department by tomorrow at 3pm. Yet, then she 180'd on me..writing, "Please know that the absence of this form in no way affects whether or not you will be admitted or denied. But, there are other considerations which are under review. If you are unable to reach the professor, please explain in an email why the original Coversheet was not complete." Although I guess it's good that they are looking at my application, I really have no idea how to read into it. Especially the part about "other considerations." Anyways thanks for your thoughts in advance. I would call them. You will get a better sense of what's going on, what you should do, etc.
misterpat Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 Hi y'all, new guy here. I'm in an MA program right now. Have applied to 8 doctoral programs. My field is environmental history. I'm on pins and needles. My GREs are 630v/530q/5.5w... I don't know if that's good enough to get into good programs these days. The verbal is 96% (did they make the test harder last year?), which surprised me. Hopefully it will be OK. I'm freaking out because, duuuuh, I neglected to check the status of my application at Penn State. Deadline was Jan 1. I just now checked the website and found that one of my recommenders' letters has not arrived. Why didn't P.S. notify me? More to the point, why didn't I check? Aaaargh! Now I have to wait 'till Monday to call them. You know what, I'm going to call tomorrow (Saturday), maybe someone will be around. Also, I'll call my prof. First of all, websites are often wrong. My UCSB one says one of my letters is missing, and my letter is there. Other people here will tell you, they sometimes stop updating those after a certain point in the process. Secondly, your GREs should get you past the initial stage at many schools. I am surprised, though, that your 630 is 96th percentile, since my 680 was also 96th percentile. Finally, if they have started reviewing appliations (and odds are that they have), you probably aren't going to be able to include that letter in your application.
John_E Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 Whoops, error, my verbal GRE was 690 (hope I didn't make that error on an application, ha ha). Yep, I'm betting I'm probably too late for the letter. But ya never know. Waiting to hear back...
slawkenbergius Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 Who had that interview with Harvard? If you're around, could you post what it was like? Do history departments do interviews all of a sudden?
synthla Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 Who had that interview with Harvard? If you're around, could you post what it was like? Do history departments do interviews all of a sudden? I had an informal telephone interview with a POI at one of my schools (not Harvard). I thought it was very helpful and definitely raised my interest level in the school (and it in me, I believe), but I don't think it was standard procedure.
technocat Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 Synthla, can you say anything about what the interview was like at all? What did you talk about--your interests, your qualifications, the school in general? I have an informal telephone interview scheduled with a potential advisor that I wasn't expecting and just want to get an idea of what I'm in for.
synthla Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 Synthla, can you say anything about what the interview was like at all? What did you talk about--your interests, your qualifications, the school in general? I have an informal telephone interview scheduled with a potential advisor that I wasn't expecting and just want to get an idea of what I'm in for. Sure. Most of the conversation was about my interests; I mentioned some of my narrower historical interests in my SoP, but made it clear that I was open to other possibilities, and I believe the professor was just trying to determine if they would be the best possible advisor for me. Research experience was also discussed... I was not a history major in undergrad but I decided to use a history paper as my WS because of its relevance to my proposed field even if it wasn't the heaviest in primary source citations. (Based on our conversation, I ended up sending a second WS to this particular professor that was in a completely different area, but was all primary source research.) Then we talked about the school in general and I had the chance to ask questions. It was pretty free-flowing and ended up lasting nearly an hour. Completely low stress, and I think I got at least as much out of the interview as the professor did. We have kept in touch since and I am hoping decisions come out soon.
Louiselab Posted February 1, 2009 Posted February 1, 2009 ummm... any school names for the interviews? I just want to know how badly I should be nervous now.
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