History Admissions 2009

[manilowese]

so where do you teach? maybe i can just come take your job? i'm not having much luck with the grad school applications. :|

[StrangeLight]

ah congrats on making a final decision!

when was your CMU admit-weekend invite? i still have not heard from them...

the admit weekend is really just one day, march 27. i don't know if the school is finished admitting people or not. i was notified by email and a letter came in the mail about a week later, and this was back in february, so i'd suggest emailing the grad secretary to see if they're still making decisions or not. good luck!

[gomezdm]

Has anyone heard from Rutgers lately? The last posted results were on the 25th and 26th of February. Someone had heard that all acceptances have gone out, but you'd think if that was the case one might think that they might get around to notifying wait listed and rejected applicants soon.

Really, honestly, Rutgers has accepted all they plan to accept. Emails went out in late February, and the rest of us will be rejected mid to late March. They do sometimes waitlist people, but if you haven't heard that you're waitlisted you should assume you are rejected. The friends at Rutgers I have who were waitlisted were told relatively early in the process on the years they went through. In the meantime, the prospective student day for the lucky Rutgers folk is next week, and we are not those lucky Rutgers folk. Sorry, but they do usually wait this long to reject people. It's their pattern for whatever reason.

[Ardennes]

I just got an identical letter from Chicago, 1/3 tuition and all. How much do you think a program like that would would raise one's standing for the Ph.D program?

I've also been accepted to Georgetown's Ph.D program without a dime. Would someone mind playing devil's advocate and telling me whether or not a reasonable person could accept either of these offers and not end up destitute? (That was a serious question, not a statement of frustration.) I make $60,000 as a high school teacher right now, which feels like way too much. I'm ready to be poor. On the other hand debt is different and scarier than poverty. Can anyone argue the point that I would be better off with one of these offers than with reapplying to more schools next year? I want to believe!

Still waiting with naive optimism for a few more.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Yeah, I was also accepted to Georgetown but I haven't heard a peep from them beyond the short acceptance and an enrollment form. Were you emailed about the funding or did they mention it in your letter?

It is tough, Georgetown is my first choice but unless they provide something it isn't going to be possible for me to go. It is strange though, their average class size the last few is rather small (9) and according to their site they are suppose offer fellowships in addition to 6-7 TA positions but who knows what that means.

In addition, it is questionable to mail an enrollment form without at least confirming some of the details on funding. All in all, it is a bit baffling.

[gomezdm]

I just got an identical letter from Chicago, 1/3 tuition and all. How much do you think a program like that would would raise one's standing for the Ph.D program?

I've also been accepted to Georgetown's Ph.D program without a dime. Would someone mind playing devil's advocate and telling me whether or not a reasonable person could accept either of these offers and not end up destitute? (That was a serious question, not a statement of frustration.) I make $60,000 as a high school teacher right now, which feels like way too much. I'm ready to be poor. On the other hand debt is different and scarier than poverty. Can anyone argue the point that I would be better off with one of these offers than with reapplying to more schools next year? I want to believe!

Still waiting with naive optimism for a few more.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Being poor is stressful. Being in grad school is really stressful. Combining the two kinds of stress sucks and is bad for the quality of your work. Don't go into debt if you don't have to - there are plenty of programs that will pay you to come to them, and sometimes it just takes several rounds of applications to get into one. That sucks too, of course, but being broke and in debt and stressed out sucks way more - and you're ins a great position now since you have a comfortable job while you wait for good grad school fortune to come around to you.

[StrangeLight]

I just got an identical letter from Chicago, 1/3 tuition and all. How much do you think a program like that would would raise one's standing for the Ph.D program?

I've also been accepted to Georgetown's Ph.D program without a dime. Would someone mind playing devil's advocate and telling me whether or not a reasonable person could accept either of these offers and not end up destitute? (That was a serious question, not a statement of frustration.) I make $60,000 as a high school teacher right now, which feels like way too much. I'm ready to be poor. On the other hand debt is different and scarier than poverty. Can anyone argue the point that I would be better off with one of these offers than with reapplying to more schools next year? I want to believe!

Still waiting with naive optimism for a few more.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

i would recommend reapplying next year and hoping something sticks. doing an entire PhD without any funding will drain you of whatever savings you already have. you've got a solid job and i think you can afford to wait for (1) this economy to blow chunks less, and (2) for a grad school to fully fund you once they have the space and resources available.

[gimlet]

Moses-- stay at your job. Don't do a PhD in the humanities without funding. You'd be lucky-- in 5 years-- to start out at 50K a year with a job (if a job at all) and a 100K in student loans would be a huge burden. There are several people on here that reapplied after a bum year and got much better results the second time around. Hang in there.

[misterpat]

I just got an identical letter from Chicago, 1/3 tuition and all. How much do you think a program like that would would raise one's standing for the Ph.D program?

I've also been accepted to Georgetown's Ph.D program without a dime. Would someone mind playing devil's advocate and telling me whether or not a reasonable person could accept either of these offers and not end up destitute? (That was a serious question, not a statement of frustration.) I make $60,000 as a high school teacher right now, which feels like way too much. I'm ready to be poor. On the other hand debt is different and scarier than poverty. Can anyone argue the point that I would be better off with one of these offers than with reapplying to more schools next year? I want to believe!

Still waiting with naive optimism for a few more.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

My guess is that the MA would be a better idea than going into a doctoral program without funding. There have been some people on these boards from cycles past that did Masters in Humanities/Liberal Arts/Social Science degrees at Harvard/NYU... Perhaps you could dig them up and PM them and inquire whether their admissions cycles went better the second time around with their expensive MAs.

My guess is that the MA would show you are commited to your discipline, would possibly give you access to better Professors who will write you LORs, and will give you the possibility to produce a new Writing Sample under the supervision of a faculty member.

In other words, I would think that the MA is going to be what you make of it. But it's still a gamble, and not a gamble I am willing to take.

If Georgetown said they can't fund you during your first year, but said after that you may have funding available, that may be a different story. But I would think that if you are enough of a sucker to enroll in their PhD program and pay for it, they're going to milk you for every last dime.

[Highfructose]

I got rejected from Cuny & NYU today, and into Mapss with 2/3 tuition. So now I got an unfunded PhD offer from UCLA, and 3 MA offers all with lukewarm partial tuition wavers. I guess I didn't do as bad as I could have this round of applications, but it's still disappointing to not get a funded PhD offer. I feel so - rejected.

Anyway its not the end of the world, at least I get to continue to study history.

I think i am leaning towards doing a one year masters at LSE. A year abroad sounds great right now and I am sure living in London will teach me a lot if not just by osmosis. I could work on my languages, travel a decent bit, and try to enjoy myself.

I learned a lot from going through the gauntlet this year and through obsessively combing these forums and I think next round I'll do a lot better ~ especially without having to finish my senior thesis and while doing my apps.

[8in2009]

I think i am leaning towards doing a one year masters at LSE. A year abroad sounds great right now and I am sure living in London will teach me a lot if not just by osmosis. I could work on my languages, travel a decent bit, and try to enjoy myself.

Studying in London would be pretty fun, even if it's not funded. And it would probably look great on next year's applications.

[gimlet]

Has anyone heard from Rutgers lately? The last posted results were on the 25th and 26th of February. Someone had heard that all acceptances have gone out, but you'd think if that was the case one might think that they might get around to notifying wait listed and rejected applicants soon.

Has anyone else heard from Temple? I've only seen two results posted for this year, one acceptance and one rejection, one of which was gotten by e-mailing to check status.

I'd like to hear from my last three schools so I can concentrate more on finishing my MA thesis.

I was the one who posted the PhD acceptance from Temple today. It was dated March 9th, and just arrived in Utah this afternoon. Good luck.

[RF237]

I got rejected from Cuny & NYU today, and into Mapss with 2/3 tuition. So now I got an unfunded PhD offer from UCLA, and 3 MA offers all with lukewarm partial tuition wavers. I guess I didn't do as bad as I could have this round of applications, but it's still disappointing to not get a funded PhD offer. I feel so - rejected.

Anyway its not the end of the world, at least I get to continue to study history.

I think i am leaning towards doing a one year masters at LSE. A year abroad sounds great right now and I am sure living in London will teach me a lot if not just by osmosis. I could work on my languages, travel a decent bit, and try to enjoy myself.

I learned a lot from going through the gauntlet this year and through obsessively combing these forums and I think next round I'll do a lot better ~ especially without having to finish my senior thesis and while doing my apps.

London does sound like a good idea--if you're going to pay for a master's, you may as well get the experience of living in a different country at the same time. I did my master's in England, and even turned down funding in the US to do it. It was a great year--another benefit of UK masters is paying only one year of tuition instead of two!

[8in2009]

Wow, responses from two graduate programs in one day. An acceptance and a rejection. After waiting seven months, what are the odds? :-)

[knoyz]

[gimlet]

Wow, responses from two graduate programs in one day. An acceptance and a rejection. After waiting seven months, what are the odds? :-)

I got an acceptance and a rejection today too! I've heard from 4 of my 6 schools in the last 3 days-- having already heard from the other 2. It is a little surreal to know what my options are all of the sudden. Hope things went your way!

[Highfructose]

2/3 of 38,000 is something like 26,500, I don't have the letter with me but I remember it was 26000something, and I think they called it a scholarship - but yeah its essentially remission. Looks like I got one of the better deals on the Mapps-- it would only cost like 12ksomething(+living expenses). I still don't find it especially appealing.

[gimlet]

I got rejected from Cuny & NYU today, and into Mapss with 2/3 tuition. So now I got an unfunded PhD offer from UCLA, and 3 MA offers all with lukewarm partial tuition wavers. I guess I didn't do as bad as I could have this round of applications, but it's still disappointing to not get a funded PhD offer. I feel so - rejected.

I don't think partial tuition for the MA is so bad-- I didn't have it my first year but got public history experience my first year and secured funding for my second. If the schools aren't too pricey, it might not be such a bad deal... at least compared to having to look for a full time job in this economy and having to blow all the cash on apps again next year. I think next year will be even worse for applications. Just my two cents.

[rustonite]

I think the next five or six years are going to be bad for admissions. Get in now, if you can.

[Lisa]

For those of you who are - like myself - still waiting for something from Columbia, I emailed them a couple of days ago and got a reply... that they "will be sending out decisions by mid March."

By the way, has Michigan finished sending out their decisions? I'm a Fulbrighter, so I hear decisions a little bit slower (via Fulbright offices), but I STILL haven't heard anything from Michigan. Goodness, if I've been rejected, I'd like to be told straight away... Have they finished announcing?

I applied in comp lit, but I haven't heard anything from UMich either.

[fortiesgirl]

I got rejected from Cuny & NYU today, and into Mapss with 2/3 tuition. So now I got an unfunded PhD offer from UCLA, and 3 MA offers all with lukewarm partial tuition wavers. I guess I didn't do as bad as I could have this round of applications, but it's still disappointing to not get a funded PhD offer. I feel so - rejected.

Anyway its not the end of the world, at least I get to continue to study history.

I think i am leaning towards doing a one year masters at LSE. A year abroad sounds great right now and I am sure living in London will teach me a lot if not just by osmosis. I could work on my languages, travel a decent bit, and try to enjoy myself.

I learned a lot from going through the gauntlet this year and through obsessively combing these forums and I think next round I'll do a lot better ~ especially without having to finish my senior thesis and while doing my apps.

I got rejected from CUNY yesterday. Were you the one who posted that you received early notification regarding your acceptance from the professor at NSSR? I'm just curious because I haven't heard from that program other than they will begin mailing decisions today, and that it took them longer than usual to render their decisions.

[Moses]

I think the next five or six years are going to be bad for admissions. Get in now, if you can.

Yes, someone who actually read the assignment! (To play devils advocate). Everyone else, thanks for the good advice. I'm pretty sure you're right.

In response to Ardennes, I also only recieved the form letter. I called the history dept and they told me that I hadn't been approved for any funding. My guess is that it's the same for you, but definitely call and see. Perhaps this is why Georgetown's incoming classes are small?

Decisions, decisions.

[Auzzfest]

Yeah, I was also accepted to Georgetown but I haven't heard a peep from them beyond the short acceptance and an enrollment form. Were you emailed about the funding or did they mention it in your letter?

It is tough, Georgetown is my first choice but unless they provide something it isn't going to be possible for me to go. It is strange though, their average class size the last few is rather small (9) and according to their site they are suppose offer fellowships in addition to 6-7 TA positions but who knows what that means.

In addition, it is questionable to mail an enrollment form without at least confirming some of the details on funding. All in all, it is a bit baffling.

Question for both Ardennes and Moses. Were you guys contacted by faculty at Georgetown? What did they say? I was contacted by my perspective advisor back on the 26th of Feb, and he had a lot of really nice things to say, but the bottom line was that for now I had been waitlisted for funding. I then received my acceptance letter on March 4th and surprisingly it included the following: "You are presently being considered for a departmental scholarship or fellowship. If an award is made, you will be notified by separate letter." Did your acceptance letters say the same thing? Thanks for the info.

Also, still have not received my rejection email from NYU, do you guys think they are sending them out one bye one, in mass, or completely randomly?

[Highfructose]

I got rejected from CUNY yesterday. Were you the one who posted that you received early notification regarding your acceptance from the professor at NSSR? I'm just curious because I haven't heard from that program other than they will begin mailing decisions today, and that it took them longer than usual to render their decisions.

Yep, I got an early notification because the Chair is friends with my adviser here. The email seemed to imply there would be at least some kind of funding although I am betting 1/2 off tuition or something. Only thing else he said was that it is taking them an extremely long time to get out their decisions this year for some reason.

[petpolitics]

anyone else really anxious about the waiting list process?

also, is anyone on a waiting list for funding? it probably depends on each school, but if i attended a school without funding for my first year, would i be able to receive funding for subsequent years?

[limeinthecoconut]

anyone else really anxious about the waiting list process?

also, is anyone on a waiting list for funding? it probably depends on each school, but if i attended a school without funding for my first year, would i be able to receive funding for subsequent years?

I think I am on the wait list for funding at Washington. Not very optimistic, according to the DGS. I am not sure about other schools, but in Washington, apparently getting funding after the first year is possible.

Bleargh. :shock: