History Admissions 2009

[gimlet]

From talking with Temple's DGS last week, I did not get the impression that anything like this would be happening. I was told that the funding waitlist is relatively deep and that they will start working through that after the April 1 deadline-- and that in years past they have had around 80% funded / 20% not after going through this process. I could be wrong, but the tone of that conversation implied that their admissions are done. I have never been able to reach Temple's graduate secretary but had good luck leaving a message on the DGS's machine, she called me back that same day.

I think that anyone who does not receive a response after April 15 would have cause to ask a department if their application was ever reviewed, the service that you are expecting from paying your application fee. However, even though they are in the wrong, I think it would be difficult to write a letter asking for your fee back without sounding tacky or bitter (you run that risk questioning whether they reviewed your app too, unfortunately). It's not like you're writing to the customer service desk at Macy's, you know? I heard Columbia had some technical problems getting their rejections out-- the supposed reason for the two flights of them-- but hadn't heard of anybody still waiting. Hang in there!

I got my fee back from William and Mary's American Studies program, but they offered to give it back after reviewing the applications and deciding to admit no one this year. Very different circumstances.

[Sgt. Pepper]

For some of us, it's much easier to get time off during the week...

True. I work everyday except Saturday, so either way I'm getting screwed and losing a large chunk of my weekly income... it makes me so sad.

[kahlan_amnell]

So, I just called Rutgers and Temple.

No one answered at Temple, perhaps I will try calling the DGS later.

Rutgers told me that they have made most of their decisions, and plan to decide on the remaining applications this week and get decisions posted on the website by April 1st.

[manilowese]

uh-oh! i saw someone was accepted to northeastern's M.A. in public history? who is it - are you going? i applied to that program myself, so i will be anxiously checking my mail these next few days.

[OnceAndFutureGrad]

First time poster to this thread - but I just wanted to say - I got accepted to UConn Medieval Studies with a teaching assistantship. I know I was on a waiting list. Sooo happy. Best of luck to everyone else.

[fortiesgirl]

First time poster to this thread - but I just wanted to say - I got accepted to UConn Medieval Studies with a teaching assistantship. I know I was on a waiting list. Sooo happy. Best of luck to everyone else.

Congrats!

[Dirt]

First time poster to this thread - but I just wanted to say - I got accepted to UConn Medieval Studies with a teaching assistantship. I know I was on a waiting list. Sooo happy. Best of luck to everyone else.

Congratulations! Maybe I'll see you there in the fall.

[virmundi]

First time poster to this thread - but I just wanted to say - I got accepted to UConn Medieval Studies with a teaching assistantship. I know I was on a waiting list. Sooo happy. Best of luck to everyone else.

Congratulations, Recycled! Hopefully this means I'll see you around the AMA in years to come.

[kahlan_amnell]

I have never been able to reach Temple's graduate secretary but had good luck leaving a message on the DGS's machine, she called me back that same day.

I emailed the DGS a few days ago and have received no response. I guess I should call her.

[sra08]

Has anyone heard of a program allowing you to enroll up until the first day of their classes? (People accepted with funding have to accept by April 15.) This is the case with one of the programs that I've been accepted to. Is it safe to assume they don't have a waitlist? I would feel badly about waiting a few months or so to see if there's any chance of funding if I were taking up someone else's spot.

[RF237]

Anyone else STILL waiting to hear from Cornell? I tried emailing the grad director, but got no response. I'm thinking of emailing the professor I'd been in contact with, but hate doing that for admissions decisions. Urgh.

[StrangeLight]

Anyone else STILL waiting to hear from Cornell? I tried emailing the grad director, but got no response. I'm thinking of emailing the professor I'd been in contact with, but hate doing that for admissions decisions. Urgh.

at this point i would pick up the phone and call if i were you.

[gimlet]

Has anyone heard of a program allowing you to enroll up until the first day of their classes? (People accepted with funding have to accept by April 15.) This is the case with one of the programs that I've been accepted to. Is it safe to assume they don't have a waitlist? I would feel badly about waiting a few months or so to see if there's any chance of funding if I were taking up someone else's spot.

Temple seemed to be pretty flexible as far as pulling out after you'd accepted-- if you're on the funding waitlist and have a better funding offer elsewhere-- but that's definitely a funding waitlist, not an admissions waitlist. Waitlists are tricky and a lot of the time policies regarding them tend to run counter to this: http://www.cgsnet.org/Default.aspx?tabid=201. I think that the CGS resolution is pretty clear in suggestingthat the admissions process should be done after April 15. Assume nothing and get the program's DGS to answer your questions so you can make an informed decision.

I actually had a DGS suggest to me that I accept 2 schools to see how funding panned out. It seems tacky and unethical to me when there are plenty of people at a school who'd like funding, or a space at all, and people are just using the school for a plan B after April 15th. Every situation is different, but I didn't feel comfortable doing that.

[misterpat]

Temple seemed to be pretty flexible as far as pulling out after you'd accepted-- if you're on the funding waitlist and have a better funding offer elsewhere-- but that's definitely a funding waitlist, not an admissions waitlist. Waitlists are tricky and a lot of the time policies regarding them tend to run counter to this: http://www.cgsnet.org/Default.aspx?tabid=201. I think that the CGS resolution is pretty clear in suggestingthat the admissions process should be done after April 15. Assume nothing and get the program's DGS to answer your questions so you can make an informed decision.

I actually had a DGS suggest to me that I accept 2 schools to see how funding panned out. It seems tacky and unethical to me when there are plenty of people at a school who'd like funding, or a space at all, and people are just using the school for a plan B after April 15th. Every situation is different, but I didn't feel comfortable doing that.

Were you funded right away, gimlet? Or funding wait-listed?

I'm trying to figure out what I should do for this April 1 deadline, since I can't attend if they don't award me funding. (I'm on the wait-list, obviously)

[gimlet]

Misterpat- I am on the funding waitlist but went ahead and accepted. I felt good about my chances for funding and was willing to take the risk for the first year (they tend to be able to fund 80-100% of students and second year funding is basically guaranteed). Temple's job placement for its PhDs is much better than the program I'm in for my MA (where I was offered funding) and long term, I would rather have a job and some student loans than no job at all. I have never been in the "no funding = no go" camp; I think people use funding to downplay a lot of other important factors such as location, research resources, people to work with, public history training, etc. that make a much bigger difference in quality of education than where ones works their first year. *gets off soapbox*

Have you talked to Petra about the April 1st deadline? When I was undecided, she offered to put me on a "contingent upon funding" list that would give me until April 15th to decide. She is aware of the whole CGS thing and seemed really willing to accommodate that, as it wasn't something she had been aware of until this year. My impression is that they wanted funded people to respond by April 1 so they could make offers to those on the waitlist asap. Have you heard anything back from Missouri?

[sra08]

Both of my accepted PhD programs (and the one program which accepted me for an MA) are offering me no funding for the first year, though there are jobs within the department available. TA/RAships are available on a competitive basis after that, though both are publics and it's worrisome that a lot of publics are cutting down on TAships. So for me it's either going to a program without guaranteed funding or trying to find a job and re-applying next year. All things considered, I think I'll probably go to one of the programs and work like hell to get funding for the second year. One thing that going through the process has taught me is that location really is important, especially for my SO, which means it's really important for me, too, and that I'd prefer to stay on the West Coast if possible. And on the West Coast, there are two programs which are clearly above the rest in terms of fit. One of them is a program to which I've been accepted, and the other is Stanford. So I'm thinking it makes sense to gamble a bit and go to the other program (UCLA) next year, especially if I can impress the potential adviser who I interviewed with and will be meeting again this week. I am nervous about breaking the cardinal rule of Humanities PhD programs, but I think I can do more to help my chances by being in graduate school than by going through this truly horrific process again in a year.

[TMP]

sra08- Stanford accepted you for PhD? But it's a private... didn't they offer 5 year funding package? Good luck with UCLA if you do definitely decide to gamble with it!

[sra08]

Oh, no, I was rejected from Stanford. I didn't make that clear. My point was that it seems silly to hope that I'll be accepted to Stanford if I do another round of applications.

[misterpat]

Misterpat- I am on the funding waitlist but went ahead and accepted. I felt good about my chances for funding and was willing to take the risk for the first year (they tend to be able to fund 80-100% of students and second year funding is basically guaranteed). Temple's job placement for its PhDs is much better than the program I'm in for my MA (where I was offered funding) and long term, I would rather have a job and some student loans than no job at all. I have never been in the "no funding = no go" camp; I think people use funding to downplay a lot of other important factors such as location, research resources, people to work with, public history training, etc. that make a much bigger difference in quality of education than where ones works their first year. *gets off soapbox*

Have you talked to Petra about the April 1st deadline? When I was undecided, she offered to put me on a "contingent upon funding" list that would give me until April 15th to decide. She is aware of the whole CGS thing and seemed really willing to accommodate that, as it wasn't something she had been aware of until this year. My impression is that they wanted funded people to respond by April 1 so they could make offers to those on the waitlist asap. Have you heard anything back from Missouri?

I'm basically on that *Contingent Upon Funding* list at Missouri. I e-mailed the DGS to ask him whether he received my postal-reply (my mailcarrier is kind of nuts, I tried to mail two letters that day and she only took my reply to Missouri, inexplicably leaving the other one in the box) but he hasn't gotten back to me. I'm hoping his reply will update me on how the funding wait-list is going.

I am in the "no funding = no go" camp, despite your reasonable arguments against it. I can't predict the future and don't want to take on $30,000 worth of debt knowing that the job market is kind of shitty and that a substantial amount of people that start PhD programs don't finish them. While I'm pretty sure I will finish mine, I imagine that most of the people who didn't finish their PhDs thought the very same thing.

I suppose I'll e-mail Petra again. I sent one to Sinyan Whitfield, whom they instructed us to send our questions to, but I've never received a reply from her at any point throughout this whole process, so we'll see how that turns out.

[manilowese]

i'm having issues with funding, too. i got offered 25% off tuition for the first year (completion of an M.A.) at Brandeis (which would still be super-expensive), and then consideration for a fully-funded Ph.D. i'm so tempted to accept, but i know it's risky. bleh!

[gimlet]

I am in the "no funding = no go" camp, despite your reasonable arguments against it. I can't predict the future and don't want to take on $30,000 worth of debt knowing that the job market is kind of shitty and that a substantial amount of people that start PhD programs don't finish them. While I'm pretty sure I will finish mine, I imagine that most of the people who didn't finish their PhDs thought the very same thing.

I suppose I'll e-mail Petra again. I sent one to Sinyan Whitfield, whom they instructed us to send our questions to, but I've never received a reply from her at any point throughout this whole process, so we'll see how that turns out.

I totally get your perspective on funding and think it's very reasonable as well. Ultimately it comes down to the fact that it's a very personal choice, and the only thing that really matters is making a choice you can live with. I knew not going to Temple would bring me regret, and and that pretty much forced my decision. I have a friend who turned down an offer from Yale Law School because Ottoman turks light up his life. I have another friend who took funding over Temple's waitlist last year and has been very happy at her school. And really, there are many, many people in this world not in graduate school who are happy to not be impoverished. There are lots of paths to take. I liked this from the NYT this weekend:

"It doesn

[Sonic]

Count me in when it comes to funding dilemmas. I have an unfunded offer from one school that suggested I look for graduate assistantships throughout the university in the hopes that I'd only have to pay one semester of out-of-state tuition and fund my living expenses in a pricey city. When I pressed for more information, they admitted they could not guarantee any funding or jobs for me for the entire process, meaning that even if I managed to secure one of these assistantships every year, I would get my degree and have zero experience as a TA or instructor. Considering that there is no way I can secure an assistantship before the deadline for other programs, I will have to turn that offer down.

The DGS has been apologetic and nice and said he hoped my decision would be based on fit and not money, but the money makes the difference. The fact of the matter was that not having the specter of tuition payments and loans over me every semester for years will make me happier, not to mention less broke. I don't even know whether or not I would roll the dice if I only had that offer. Like gimlet says, it is a very personal choice. Good luck to everyone who is dealing with this.

[Louiselab]

You know what would be great? If you could give someone your funded offer, transfer of ownership. I have two and I would love to give the other one to someone I know who would really love to have that funding. There are some departments that are apparently rolling in dough. Everyone is always asking about funded Masters, and Delaware apparently gives the same funding to MA and PhD students. (tuition plus $15,200 and a cost of living adjustment, health insurance...)

[misterpat]

[quote name="Louiselab

[jsdowns]

So, I've been admitted to the one university to which I applied (seems cavalier, but this was simply the best fit in the United States). I am, however, slightly concerned about the funding situation. I have been offered a fellowship that will cover all fees for the first year but does not include a stipend. Is this bad news? Would it be reasonable to take the money and run with the program and hope that I might merit additional funding later (both from the department and extramural sources)?

I am only slightly pleased, but don't quite know what to make of this . . . it seems the case that some of these applicants have been inundated with funding -- four years with stipend, for example. I wonder if this package simply reflects a dearth of funds in the department, or if it means that I should be discouraged from attending.

Does a one-year fellowship increase the odds of obtaining money later? Any thoughts in general?