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Fall 2012 Applicant Chit Chat


goldielocks

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And I think -- if I interpreted those rejections correctly -- they were both Medievalists who were contacted by a POI. So, seems like a kindness on the part of that particular POI.

But yes. If Columbia is going to reject me, I'd like them to hurry up and yank the bandaid off already. Same for UNC. The posting that says someone talked to the UNC coordinator who said if you didn't hear by the end of this week "it would be wise to look at other schools"? That's still too vague for my taste.

I'm waiting for fat ladies. And cold, hard, rejection letters.

One of the medievalist rejections said it was from a POI, the other said it was from the director.

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Has anyone heard anything from Emory? I saw an acceptance for Ancient History on the results page, but that was it. Anyone care to give some information about their acceptance?

The Ancient History result is mine. Yesterday morning i received the email from the department. Definitely relieved since a lot of my schools had accepted within the first week of February. I was getting nervous O_o

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There is actually a new box on my page that links to a decision letter... Sorry that you haven't heard anything yet -- again, I don't know what their process is, so it is very possible that they are still putting acceptances onto the site!

Okay! I'll keep an eye out for that new box. UCSB is the last PhD program I have to hear back from, but it probably was the best fit for me so I'm keeping my fingers crossed =) Thanks for the info!

Anyone heard anything from the University of Washington yet? I think I am going to pin all my hopes on there.

I heard something about how the snow threw their schedule off... Who knows what that means, or how that affected adcom committees, but I'd say we won't be hearing from them until next week at the earliest.

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One of the medievalist rejections said it was from a POI, the other said it was from the director.

And that's what's piqued my interest the most ... why did only the medievalist hear back ... and strangely enough they didn't waitlist anyone ... so is their cohort set regardless of who accepts and who declines? You would think they would have at least room for 5 people on a wait list or something ... or is my math off?

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And that's what's piqued my interest the most ... why did only the medievalist hear back ... and strangely enough they didn't waitlist anyone ... so is their cohort set regardless of who accepts and who declines? You would think they would have at least room for 5 people on a wait list or something ... or is my math off?

Well the question with all of this has always been: what sample size do forum members comprise in the overall application and acceptance pool? My hunch (but maybe Aedes can look at the numbers here) has been something around 10-15% of total acceptances at each school. This is from seeing around 2-5 acceptances at schools that take in 30 to yield low 20s. Overall numbers are harder to gauge, since we don't know the total applicant pool though.

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Well the question with all of this has always been: what sample size do forum members comprise in the overall application and acceptance pool? My hunch (but maybe Aedes can look at the numbers here) has been something around 10-15% of total acceptances at each school. This is from seeing around 2-5 acceptances at schools that take in 30 to yield low 20s. Overall numbers are harder to gauge, since we don't know the total applicant pool though.

Well even still guaging off of estimated numbers from years past, you should at least have seen one person waitlisted from columbia as we had 2 acceptances and 2 rejects here alone. I do have to say mathematics was never my forte so if my logic flawed then you know why

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snapback.pngmaeisenb, on 16 February 2012 - 03:08 PM, said:

Well the question with all of this has always been: what sample size do forum members comprise in the overall application and acceptance pool? My hunch (but maybe Aedes can look at the numbers here) has been something around 10-15% of total acceptances at each school. This is from seeing around 2-5 acceptances at schools that take in 30 to yield low 20s. Overall numbers are harder to gauge, since we don't know the total applicant pool though.

Well even still guaging off of estimated numbers from years past, you should at least have seen one person waitlisted from columbia as we had 2 acceptances and 2 rejects here alone. I do have to say mathematics was never my forte so if my logic flawed then you know why

Perhaps I'm biased because I think the people who are on this board are really talented and top applicants, but I sorta think that we would have seen more acceptances/at least some wait lists as well because we have really good people on this board...

Also, I so think we need to form our own committee at AHA and other major conferences...

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snapback.png

Also, I so think we need to form our own committee at AHA and other major conferences...

Sign me up! I woud totally start showing up to those things then! The swag bags have been subpar for years but if there is a grad cafe committee I would be a religious attendant!

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(Sorry for the broad question - I'm just having an "ahhhh I'm not qualified at all for this" kind of day and freaking out about...well, everything :) )

How are YOU not qualified? You've had good success this cycle! I don't want to hear it!

Although I would like to see the discussion of this question. I was thinking about other topics I could see myself researching (withing my pre-existing regional and thematic interests though). I know if I go for an MA first I can thoroughly explore these different topics. But I would like to hear about how people's work has changed over the course of an PhD.

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Oseirus- I do agree that there seems to be something "missing" from Columbia and I didn't mean my comment as a response to your specific points, since I agree with you on Columbia. Just more of an overall question.

Pugsley- While I do agree that the level of talent on this board is much higher than the average applicant, I'm still not sure it's that much about the numbers I gave. As an example, Harvard aims for a class of 20 or so and there were 3 acceptances and 1 wait list, which are in line with my numbers. There are probably another dozen or so people who applied there who post frequently on this forum, so the overall numbers are better than average for sure, but they still only make up a small percentage of the overall accepted pool.

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Nobody for Temple? I'm feeling pretty down in the dumps......

I know. I am too. I had already kind of accepted my rejections until my adviser said that she was "truly startled" by what happened. That made me realize that maybe I am qualified enough to apply to these schools and that maybe it isn't just a natural thing that I'd be rejected.

Edited by taybaxter
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How are YOU not qualified? You've had good success this cycle! I don't want to hear it!

Although I would like to see the discussion of this question. I was thinking about other topics I could see myself researching (withing my pre-existing regional and thematic interests though). I know if I go for an MA first I can thoroughly explore these different topics. But I would like to hear about how people's work has changed over the course of an PhD.

I appreciate the vote of confidence! :)

Broadly speaking, I applied under region X to work with an expert on region X. My primary interests fit solidly within region X. But, I have secondary interests that involve the relationship between region X and region Y. So what if in three years I find myself more on the region Y side of things? Or what if my secondary interests become my primary interests? Is this the kind of thing that happens all the time in graduate programs, and do professors expect this to happen? I don't want to go to a program and have my advisor expect me to do research on particular topics and then gradually shift away from those (as I take coursework in the first couple of years, etc) and then run into problems with my advisor being mad or something. Or maybe this is completely irrational!

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342Just got rejected from USC's American Studies program.

No surprises there, it's crazy competitive and I applied knowing full well it was a shot in the dark.

So now I have heard from a total of 4 schools and I'm batting .500.

Five more to weigh in and screw up my stats, but Babe Ruth made it into the Hall of Fame with a .342 lifetime average. (And yes, I did look that up so I could continue with my baseball metaphor.)

My ego has taken more of a hit tonight from learning just how difficult it is for me to squish these 15 pages into 7. I've fallen vainly in love with my own words and ideas.

The good news about the USC rejection is that I can now freely write a non-academic fangirl-y love-letter to Deborah Harkness gushing over her historical paranormal novel "A Discovery of Witches".

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Yep, got the Yale rejection. To be honest, this one really stung. I don't know why they even interviewed me if they were not interested. The interview was basically a casual conversation that seemed to go pretty well. I don't see how that could have tipped things either way. Oh well. C'est la vie.

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outside of princeton did any of the other Ivies waitlist people? Also, is it strange that only one person has been rejected from Columbia so far? Or is this par for the course?

I think I saw a Yale wait list and a Harvard wait list result on the results page.

Yale, of course, arrived today. Harvard, I think, is also finished sending out acceptances. But, because the Harvard online application has no space for announcing results (I think...), they will probably send out paper rejections, which might arrive in March.

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I think I saw a Yale wait list and a Harvard wait list result on the results page.

Yale, of course, arrived today. Harvard, I think, is also finished sending out acceptances. But, because the Harvard online application has no space for announcing results (I think...), they will probably send out paper rejections, which might arrive in March.

Last year my Harvard rejection arrived on the 18th of Feb (and I live on the West Coast). Be warned, all.

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C&I, I'm the Temple admit. It was a huge surprise because I was denied at UT Austin and haven't heard anything still from OSU. I was beginning to think I wouldn't make it this cycle. Actually, the letter didn't mention anything at all about funding so I guess I still haven't officially made it.

Sorry it took so long to get back on - GC kept crashing. For what it's worth, I looked at last year's results and Temple strung out acceptances for over a month.

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