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Fall 2012 Applicant Chit Chat


goldielocks

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In regards to decisions that are coming out, are they strictly M.A./Ph.D. and Ph.D. acceptances? I ask because I applied to Yale and UPenn’s terminal M.A. programs in history. Do schools evaluate and accept or deny students for the terminal M.A. programs at the same time as the combined M.A./Ph.D. programs or do they do them afterwards? I realize that this question is likely school-specific, but any help or insight is greatly appreciated.

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My understanding is, in general, MAs are decided after PhDs. If you are applying to a program that only has an MA (which I doubt is the case), you might could expect to hear earlier. I know Miami only took MA applications, so I expect I'll hear within the next couple of weeks.

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Hi all,

Thanks for the congrats! For those of you worrying/reapplying, I got denied from the four schools I applied to last year. I'm very fortunate to have gotten in this year. I hope this doesn't apply to any of you, but there is life after getting rejected during a round of apps. It's so clear it's a crap shoot, especially in US history.

I study US 19th century.

Hope to hear from more of you soon!

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Just check my UT Austin status on the website... denied. Oh man, I really hope it's not a repeat of last year. Please please please!

Me too =( Oh well, there's more opportunities out there!

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35 users right now!!! There are some entertaining and highly applicable threads under the "Waiting it Out" forum in the "Applying to Grad School" section of the menu, FYI. It might offer a nice diversion for anyone feeling stir-crazy...

Edited by Hopin'-n-Prayin'
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Hi all,

Thanks for the congrats! For those of you worrying/reapplying, I got denied from the four schools I applied to last year. I'm very fortunate to have gotten in this year. I hope this doesn't apply to any of you, but there is life after getting rejected during a round of apps. It's so clear it's a crap shoot, especially in US history.

I study US 19th century.

Hope to hear from more of you soon!

Hey, we share the same subfield as well as UVA...... I'm kinda afraid of you. Can I ask who you want to work with at UVA? You can PM me if you like.

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The reject was me. It really sucks being the first rejection I've had.

I'm sorry for your rejection. :( I hope you get some good news soon.

Just wanted to ask, did your status change on the Buffalo online application? Mine still says "Not Reviewed."

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I'm sorry for your rejection. :( I hope you get some good news soon.

Just wanted to ask, did your status change on the Buffalo online application? Mine still says "Not Reviewed."

Mine says under review by commitee. I know someone else's still says not reviewed. Buffalo is crazy weird.

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What sort of response did the folks who have heard from Hopkins get (e.g. mass email, or personal contact)? Has anyone who has been contacted received a non-acceptance? This is nerve wracking.

I got an email from the graduate coordinator and my adviser was CCd. Don't know if this qualifies as mass or personal. It had an offer letter attached.

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Fortunately, I'm able to claim one of the UT acceptances for American history. I received an email early this morning from the Grad Program Coordinator letting me know that I've been "approved for admission." Attached to the email was a personalized letter from my POI that outlined funding (again, incredibly lucky, but I'm fully funded) and invited me to visit in March. I hope that provides other users with some insight into the process. I know I've been stalking these boards and always appreciate finding out the details.

To all the other loyal posters on this board, please keep your head up. It's only February 1. The waiting game is killer, I know, but I'm sure good news is on the way!

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regarding people being surprised at the timing of UT's notifications, given previous years' patterns:

the faculty are human beings. they are busy and they have a lot of responsibility. you know what else happens during a spring semester? job searches (incredibly time-consuming for a whole department, even more so for those on the job committees), MA and PhD defenses, comps exams, budgetary planning and new-hire planning for the following year, fellowship distribution, on top of the usual research/teaching/service duties that last all year long. a department may be hiring 2 or 3 new professors in a single year and choose to push up or push back their timetable for reviewing grad student applications. while it can be helpful to deduce a pattern of when school X might notify you based on previous years' data, things are a little different every year. there is no need to lose sleep over hearing nothing from a school when your estimated date of their notification has come and gone.

there's also no need to assume that you're rejected until you get actual notification that you are. many schools do rolling admissions, admitting the clear yes's and rejecting the clear no's in the first round, then working on the fuzzy group in between at later dates.

also, try not to totally bombard graduate secretaries with phone calls. small programs get over 100 applicants, ones with larger incoming classes get closer to 400-500 applicants, and there's usually only one graduate secretary. if you have to call to avoid a nervous breakdown, be really nice and patient and grateful with them. these people will be very important to your survival in whatever program you ultimately attend, don't be the one that calls every week or two.

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I want to second what Strangelight just said. It can be frustrating when you are waiting, I know, but calling the graduate secretaries is almost never the answer. I almost typed never the answer. Not only are people who are on the adcomms also often on hiring committees, but the department administraters often loose entire days to campus visits as they bring job candidates around.

I can tell you Princeton ran three job searches in January (and has one more still pending). Professors were dealing with both reading writing samples and trying to make reasoned judgements on hiring candidates at the same time. It was pretty amazing to watch and gave me a lot of respect for how much work those doing departmental service end up doing.

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