veilside Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 For all of those wondering about the current status of UNC-CH's History Dept. here it is. I just got off the phone with the graduate cooridinator, and she said that they are still processing, and still reviewing applications and that they expect to send out letters in late March. Very late indeed, but at least they're taking their time in reviewing, not just scanning the GRE's and such as other schools who notified all applicants in January must have done. I know that there is a current thread for stats, but it has gotten bogged down with misc. topics, so here is one dedicated to Chapel Hill, thoughts on the program there and a place for its prospectives to discuss things. I'll start... I am an ancient history applicant, and actually have visited the campus back in October and I have to say that the profs that I had the chance to meet with were great! I really hope that this comes through for me, so far two of the three ivies that I have applied to have told me no. Who else is all out there, what's your field and such???
futurePhD Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Since you've been great about sharing information with all of us, I'll bite. If you are looking for news that will brighten your day however, its probably best you ignore the rest of this message. I applied to Chapel Hill for US History, and for a number of reasons, I feel less than optimistic. The State of North Carolina is currently dealing with a massive budget crisis, worse than most states. Rumors are that the budget for the entire UNC system will be cut by as much as 7 % next year. Almost certainly, graduate stipends are going to take a considerable hit. Secondly, I corresponded with someone in the department in the fall and was told that due to an unusually high acceptance rate last year, there would be less slots than usual for Fall 2009. This was before the Economy took a nose dive in September. I don't mean to be a downer, but you seem like someone who likes to know all the facts. That being said, Chapel Hill is an awesome town, and NC is a beautiful state. The history department is top notch as well. In many ways its my top choice, but I feel like I'm playing blackjack in Vegas against a stacked deck. Hopefully both of us can beat the odds......I can't believe we will have to wait until late March.
habu987 Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 I've been in communication with Dr. Lee, the head of the Military History group. He said that the history department has had 440 applications, and look to only admit 17. That's a pretty substantial hit from what they normally admit. Doesn't look all that good for me, or the other 422 people out there.... Edit: Just heard back from him again. The military history program had 50 applications and they will admit 2--there are a few who are being funded by the military, but for everyone not in that situation, only 2 will be admitted.
Nikki Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 2?! Holy crap! That didn't make me feel any better about all this waiting....
veilside Posted February 26, 2009 Author Posted February 26, 2009 The official numbers for ancient history is that they received 11 applicants, and can accept anywhere from 1-4. Most likely they will prob. take one Greek and one Roman history student in. So that brings it down to a 1/6 chance for me... Plus, from what I have been told by those there at UNC, language experiance is a killer for those going into ancient. Luckilly I have 10 terms Latin, 5 terms Ancient Greek, 2 German and 2 French. So maybe my shot is more like 1:2 since very few apps tend to be properly trained in languages, especially when applying to a history dept. It would be all differant if this was a Classics Dept. that taught ancient history... in that case most apps would have 10+ terms in all 4 languages!! I had a good experiance when invited to go down to visit in the fall, and hope that things work out here for me. Hopefully we hear sooner rather than later.....
habu987 Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Hopefully we hear sooner rather than later..... When I spoke to Dr. Lee two and a half weeks ago, he had said that they'd be making their final decisions over the next few weeks. I had also been told by the department that they would notify at the beginning of March. I sure hope they don't wait another several weeks after that, til the end of March....
habu987 Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 One more update. I emailed Dr. Lee again and he said that, although he's not the one who writes the letters, it should be very soon. I would assume that means in the next week or so, or at the very least, before the end of March.
Ardea Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Good luck with UNC, veilside. I'm in classics rather than history, but Fred Naiden is awesome.
veilside Posted February 26, 2009 Author Posted February 26, 2009 Yes he is... I had the chance to sit down and talk with Richard Talbert, Fred Naiden and Werner Riess... All three of them were very nice and welcoming. UNC is a top choice of mine, but with everything that's been going on this year with the economy and all, things seem shakey.... Thanks for the wish of good luck.
futurePhD Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Interesting that someone just posted an acceptance to UNC on the results page. I wonder if they have made most decisions, or if this is just an exception.
veilside Posted March 4, 2009 Author Posted March 4, 2009 Whoa!! Looks like they've already begun to send out letters. Saw a reject post via postal for someone who applyed for American History there.... Must have lived close to NC... I'm in NY so it might take a day or two..... nervous now.
futurePhD Posted March 4, 2009 Posted March 4, 2009 I live in NC and went to the mailbox with terror this evening after seeing that result. It snowed on Sunday night, so my rejection letter is probably just stuck somewhere in the middle of the state.
habu987 Posted March 4, 2009 Posted March 4, 2009 Whoa!! Looks like they've already begun to send out letters. Saw a reject post via postal for someone who applyed for American History there.... Must have lived close to NC... I'm in NY so it might take a day or two..... nervous now. I'm down here in South Carolina. Gonna be very antsy over the next few days waiting on that letter....
veilside Posted March 5, 2009 Author Posted March 5, 2009 Kind of suprised that there have been no more results posted yet... Makes me wonder if they're doing it very piecemeal as UChicago is....
habu987 Posted March 5, 2009 Posted March 5, 2009 Man, I hope they aren't doing it too piecemeal. I only have a limited amount of sanity, and being in limbo like this makes me wish that those two people hadn't posted on here that they were notified....
habu987 Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 Anyone here know what the deal is with UNC? That is, why two people would have been notified (for those of you who haven't followed this, one posted that they were rejected by mail on Monday and one accepted by email last Friday), but we haven't heard anything from the other 430 some odd applicants, of whom I'm sure at least a few are on this forum. Is this standard practice, or do I have reason to be freaking out right now?
veilside Posted March 6, 2009 Author Posted March 6, 2009 Have you spoken to Dr.Lee recently?? Maybe some useful information can be found there. Post anything that you find out please.... I'm going nuts too.
jfree Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 I haven't heard anything official yet either, but I do work with a professor who is a UNC alumnus and stays in touch with the department. She emailed a contact there who indicated that at least the first round of decisions had been made (not a good decision for me, unfortunately). Looking at previous years, the department seems to be notorious for sending out late decisions. This doesn't seem to be anything new for UNC at all. For instance--even ten years ago or so--my professor didn't know she was accepted (from the waitlist) until late April.
veilside Posted March 6, 2009 Author Posted March 6, 2009 Does that first round of decisions mean they have definite "yesses" and "nos" or that they only know who is a definite "no"??
habu987 Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 Have you spoken to Dr.Lee recently?? Maybe some useful information can be found there. Post anything that you find out please.... I'm going nuts too. Last time I emailed Dr. Lee, he just said that, although he's not the one who writes them, the notification letters would be going out "very soon." This was last Wednesday. So, today, I took a deep breath and emailed the grad secretary politely asking about when applicants would find out their status. Not sure if I just committed academic suicide....
habu987 Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 I haven't heard anything official yet either, but I do work with a professor who is a UNC alumnus and stays in touch with the department. She emailed a contact there who indicated that at least the first round of decisions had been made (not a good decision for me, unfortunately). Looking at previous years, the department seems to be notorious for sending out late decisions. This doesn't seem to be anything new for UNC at all. For instance--even ten years ago or so--my professor didn't know she was accepted (from the waitlist) until late April. That's pretty depressing. From what I was told, UNC had 440 apps for 17 slots. Given that only 2 people have posted status updates, I would have thought that everyone else would be soon to know. Either they do already know and aren't posting, or Carolina has the smallest group of people on the forum out of any of the schools...
anyone Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 I'm the person who posted the acceptance. I don't know why no one else seems to have been notified; I received an email from the department last Friday afternoon (27 February) and on Monday they sent, also by email, the funding info. Near the end of the second email, though, they wrote that they're expected an incoming class of "about 15 new students (in a program of about 140 students)", which seems to imply that they are cutting their numbers quite a bit this year.
Carolina08 Posted March 7, 2009 Posted March 7, 2009 I received a rejection by mail yesterday. It was dated Feb. 27th. I don't know what took so long, I actually live in Chapel Hill! For those of you stressing out you probably shouldn't read too much into this. The department knew I was accepted to my first choice school as of Feb. 18th with a funding package they couldn't match. This may of course have nothing to do with my rejection, but if you were on a committee with half as many slots as last year and you knew one applicant already had a better package elsewhere... Just saying my advisors told me programs tend to avoid accepting people they think will not actually attend. Of course it could also be any number of other reasons. Just trying to alleviate those of you who are beginning to panic. Good Luck!
habu987 Posted March 9, 2009 Posted March 9, 2009 So far we've gotten 2 rejections posted today. Is this finally the week when all of us in limbo find out our statuses?
Nikki Posted March 9, 2009 Posted March 9, 2009 For once I've actually been avoiding the mail! LOL! Usually I check it at least a few times a day.... Nervous!
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