Fall 2014 Applicants

[levoyous]

How about you just procrastinate a bit less..?

 

Or quit my job - that would definitely help.

[levoyous]

I'm surely not the first person to think of this, but in case it's helpful: I'm running a CTRL+F on every SOP for the names of every place I'm applying. So if there's accidentally a School A in School B's SOP, voilà. Already found one. 

[Sigaba]

There's a Futurama episode in which a Physics professor named Katz turns out to be a highly sophisticated puppet controlled by an intelligent cat. This just reminded me of that.

 

Don't feed the troll.

[djp2]

Two more applications to go. I'm running out of steam and starting to think I approached the SOPs wrong, but it's too late to start from scratch.

 

 

Anyone have an opinion on the relative amount of space one should devote to research topic vs. personal development/qualifications/why you want to study with Person X at University Y? I devoted most of my space to the former, with a couple tight paragraphs going over the latter. I guess it really depends on who is reading it. 

[HistThrift]

Two more applications to go. I'm running out of steam and starting to think I approached the SOPs wrong, but it's too late to start from scratch.

 

 

Anyone have an opinion on the relative amount of space one should devote to research topic vs. personal development/qualifications/why you want to study with Person X at University Y? I devoted most of my space to the former, with a couple tight paragraphs going over the latter. I guess it really depends on who is reading it. 

 

That's how I tackled it -- I think they want to know more about you as a student, and then they can make the determination for themselves whether you'd be a good fit for Professor X or Y or whether you'd be better off somewhere else.

[djp2]

That's how I tackled it -- I think they want to know more about you as a student, and then they can make the determination for themselves whether you'd be a good fit for Professor X or Y or whether you'd be better off somewhere else.

Hopefully you're right! I've read so many different SOP examples, many taking completely different approaches, but it's hard to say what will ultimately be successful.

[levoyous]

Two more applications to go. I'm running out of steam and starting to think I approached the SOPs wrong, but it's too late to start from scratch.

 

 

Anyone have an opinion on the relative amount of space one should devote to research topic vs. personal development/qualifications/why you want to study with Person X at University Y? I devoted most of my space to the former, with a couple tight paragraphs going over the latter. I guess it really depends on who is reading it. 

 

Know how you feel about running out of steam - I'm applying to departments in three disciplines, so have had to write so many statements. 

I've done it both ways: some places where my project is a less obvious fit, I made that part more concise to avoid sounding too strongly committed to one way of looking at it. On others where I know certain faculty members will find it congenial, I said more and was a little bolder.

[ReallyNiceGuy]

Everything for every school, including LORs, is officially done.

 

Time to wait...

[sankofa]

New to the board. I was reading fall 2012 and was intrigued. I too have submitted all of my applications and am anxious. Looking forward to the wait process with you guys I am hoping I get at least 1 of the 6 schools I applied for.

[Andean Pat]

New to the board. I was reading fall 2012 and was intrigued. I too have submitted all of my applications and am anxious. Looking forward to the wait process with you guys I am hoping I get at least 1 of the 6 schools I applied for.

 

Good luck! If anything, keep yourself entertained. The waiting is terrible. I was on holidays through feb 20th, more or less, so it was a loooooooong wait. Where did you apply? (if you don't want to say, it's OK ) 

[sankofa]

Emory, unc chapel hill, unc greensboro, duke, uva, and uga. My focus is southern and African American history. My top choice is emory due to a poi there. I am hoping my writing sample helps. I submitted all 75 pages even though I wasn't supposed to lol

[sankofa]

Good luck! If anything, keep yourself entertained. The waiting is terrible. I was on holidays through feb 20th, more or less, so it was a loooooooong wait. Where did you apply? (if you don't want to say, it's OK )

Sorry I forgot to quote you. Thanks for asking. I'm nervous because most of those schools pick a very small number. Do you know if having the exact same research as a poi will increase your chances ?

[levoyous]

Sorry I forgot to quote you. Thanks for asking. I'm nervous because most of those schools pick a very small number. Do you know if having the exact same research as a poi will increase your chances ?

 

Fitting faculty interests tends to be a strong factor in most departments' decision-making, at least from the tens of thousands of posts I've read on the subject. Also I have no idea, but having a 75-page writing sample might make you seem credible regardless of its merit otherwise (not that they'll read even 25 pages of it).

 

I noticed you're from Jackson? I'm from Texas and my sister just moved to Jackson this year.

[sankofa]

Fitting faculty interests tends to be a strong factor in most departments' decision-making, at least from the tens of thousands of posts I've read on the subject. Also I have no idea, but having a 75-page writing sample might make you seem credible regardless of its merit otherwise (not that they'll read even 25 pages of it).

I noticed you're from Jackson? I'm from Texas and my sister just moved to Jackson this year.

Greetings,

Thanks for your response ! Also nice to meet you and know that you are a fellow southern like me! Maybe we can help each other out during this waiting process lol. I do thank you for your kindess. I'm really nervous

[Conmel]

Have just completed my sixth application, possibly have one more to do but it's for a UK school (SOAS) so plenty of time left for it - I'm just waiting for some feedback from a couple of professors there. Seems as good a time as any to introduce myself on here, I'm an Irish student with an MA in Middle Eastern History from Tel Aviv University. My area is modern Middle Eastern/Islamic history, I am especially interested in late 19th/early 20th century transnational Islamic networks established by the ulama of the Arab Middle East and British India. Have applied at UCLA (History), Columbia (History), NYU (History & Middle East Studies), Harvard (History & Middle East Studies), Princeton (Near East Studies) and LSE (International History), with SOAS application still to be made.

 

Obviously they're all top-bracket schools so I'm running a bit of a risk of disappointment, but I figure for me to uproot my wife from her great job here and move to the US for 5+years, it's gotta be worth it in all aspects, i.e. an offer we can't refuse.

[jamc8383]

Fitting faculty interests tends to be a strong factor in most departments' decision-making, at least from the tens of thousands of posts I've read on the subject. Also I have no idea, but having a 75-page writing sample might make you seem credible regardless of its merit otherwise (not that they'll read even 25 pages of it).

 

I noticed you're from Jackson? I'm from Texas and my sister just moved to Jackson this year.

 

I completely agree that "fit" has a big role to play in admissions decisions. Why would a school admit a candidate if they don't have the faculty resources to support their project?  

 

However, I am inclined to disagree that a 75-page writing sample will "make you seem credible." Graduate school is about demonstrating an ability to make a concise, well-reasoned argument (when journals accept your research for publication, they routinely limit you to 6,000 to 8,000 words, including bibliography!).  

 

Granted, Emory doesn't specify a page limit, but (as levoyous points out) it's unlikely that they'll read more than 25 pages, which could be problematic since they will only be getting a small portion of the overall picture (and it might not be the portion you would've chosen to highlight).  Will they even be getting to the meat of your primary source analysis?  Will they get a sense of your methodologies and how you are applying theory in the reading of your sources?  To what extent will you have demonstrated a capacity to engage with the historiography?  That's the benefit of a smaller sample; you have more control over what they read.  You essentially get to "package" your research.  To a certain degree, you have given up this control.

 

I don't know that an outsized writing sample, in and of itself, will militate against your chances for admission, but neither do I think that it will be in your favor.  

[Andean Pat]

Greetings,

Thanks for your response ! Also nice to meet you and know that you are a fellow southern like me! Maybe we can help each other out during this waiting process lol. I do thank you for your kindess. I'm really nervous

 First of all good luck to you!! You shouldn't be nervous because the part that depended on you is over. What follows is beyond your control so it is simply not worth to waste time and energy thinking about it. You will be anxious, and you will check your e-mail A MILLION times, believe me. So, if I can give you some "tips", here they are:

 

* Most departments will be on winter break and will not resume work until January, probably around the 7th. Until then, your application hasn't even been seen by your POI. So, like them, just relax and enjoy the holidays. 

 

* My two-month wait was hectic in many ways, but something that kept me "on track" was doing sports and reading for fun. If you don't like either of these, you can try holding on to a hobby or keeping yourself as busy as possible. 

 

* Another "trick" is to avoid talking about applications unless someone asks you. I didn't do this but I know people that apply this to things they don't want to be anxious about.

 

Now that I read them, they are not very smart tips, but maybe you find them useful in some way. 

 

About the 75 pages... Yeah, I don't think they will read the whole bunch. But I really don't know. I thought POIs read some pages only until the other day when my advisor made a reference to my writing sample. WTF? You've read it like a year ago! So, who knows?

 

All the best!!! 

 

AP

[kdavid]

Re: Page Length

 

I've heard that an important component of the application process is ensuring that you can read and follow directions and deadlines. For example, if the SOP had a word limit, did you follow it? Same goes for the WS.

 

Additionally, I've heard that regardless of the WS page length, most adcomms will only read the first few pages anyway.

 

Just imagine, adcomms at competitive schools receive upwards to 600 applications. If each WS was a modest 25 pages, would they really have time to read the entirety of each one?

 

Lastly, I've heard that they'll only read the first few pages of all, but the entirety of WS for applicants which they believe have promise to ensure they're a good fit.

[New England Nat]

I can tell you that the Princeton professors are expected to look at all 500-600 applications they receive each year.  I'm told that it's standard practice to start reading the writing sample and that they know pretty quickly if they want to keep reading.  So while hey may read each application they may only get a couple of pages into the writing sample of half the candidates.

[kdavid]

I can tell you that the Princeton professors are expected to look at all 500-600 applications they receive each year.

 

 

That's good to hear. I feel that with the exception of my GRE scores, my overall application is very strong.

 

I've heard that some schools look at GRE scores and make cuts right away without considering the totality of the application.

 

Additionally, I've been told that my WS gets better as it rolls along.

 

I'd hate to get "cut" before anyone really had a chance to see what I was about.

[New England Nat]

Tony Grafton is the one who told me they each have to look at them all.  And I can tell you that when I was a first year I had a lot of people very far outside my subject area who seemed to at least vaguely remember my project. 

 

Some schools do use GRE as a hard cut off, but that tends to be a standard imposed by graduate schools across the board in all their disciplines.  Or a department may not even consider a candidate who does not qualify for university wide funding that is done by GRE score.

[kdavid]

Bleh. I scored 156/150/5. Not horrible, but not standout either.

 

Hopefully that's good enough to keep my application afloat long enough for the rest of it to be read.

[Loric]

 First of all good luck to you!! You shouldn't be nervous because the part that depended on you is over. What follows is beyond your control so it is simply not worth to waste time and energy thinking about it. You will be anxious, and you will check your e-mail A MILLION times, believe me. So, if I can give you some "tips", here they are:

 

* Most departments will be on winter break and will not resume work until January, probably around the 7th. Until then, your application hasn't even been seen by your POI. So, like them, just relax and enjoy the holidays. 

 

* My two-month wait was hectic in many ways, but something that kept me "on track" was doing sports and reading for fun. If you don't like either of these, you can try holding on to a hobby or keeping yourself as busy as possible. 

 

* Another "trick" is to avoid talking about applications unless someone asks you. I didn't do this but I know people that apply this to things they don't want to be anxious about.

 

Now that I read them, they are not very smart tips, but maybe you find them useful in some way. 

 

About the 75 pages... Yeah, I don't think they will read the whole bunch. But I really don't know. I thought POIs read some pages only until the other day when my advisor made a reference to my writing sample. WTF? You've read it like a year ago! So, who knows?

 

All the best!!! 

 

AP

 

I thought with a rolling admission process I was getting out of the 2-month-or-more wait.. I was wrong.

 

Confirmed by an email to my admissions advisor (we're on speaking terms!) prior to "the holidays" they're looking at last minute apps for the next semester that begins after the break. Then there's no one there, so my app will be reviewed once they get back from the holidays. This conversation was prompted because I got an automated email about an event at the school and was curious about it and my app, etc..

[levoyous]

Just got an enthusiastic response from a POI I emailed months ago and heard nothing from. (They were on leave/traveling). So glad I went ahead and applied anyway.

[jamc8383]

My MA advisor just got an email from one of my POI's (also a member of the adcomm at school X, to which I'm applying) asking if I was "serious" about her program.  Ie: Is school X just a "safety?" Since, apparently, the adcomm is not waitlisting this year, if they offer admission to people who don't accept, they essentially lose an admit.  My advisor had to craft an email that tread the line between "of course, she's very interested in your program" and "but, acceptance depends on a lot of factors (and I can't commit her, more-or-less)"

 

I don't know if this bode's well or not, but I can say that these are exactly the kind of bizarre intricacies of the admission process that terrify me.

 

On another note: how is everyone biding their time?  I'm reworking two articles and starting reading for comprehensive exams in the spring.  Trying not to be so monomaniacal with this application business but, admittedly, FAILING hard.  Others?