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Fall 2015 Applicants


dr. t

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I keep telling myself that all of the waiting will be over in just a few weeks, but I'm having trouble believing it. hopefully next week will yield results of some kind so I can get cracking on my dissertation with a clear head. Good luck everyone! Don't let the man get you down.

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Great question Heimat. Another question I am currently pondering: How much do you think an interview/informal skype/call (whatever you want to call it) from one's POI at a program influences your chances? Does anyone have an experience they would like to share regarding getting an interview at a program but then later being rejected? Or not getting an interview/having any contact with POI and then getting in to program? Basically just looking for some seasoned opinions about this aspect of applying!

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US is always our biggest field. It took 5 admits this year.

 

Other fields - Africa (1), Britain (1), EME (2), East Asia (3 - all China this year), History of Science (2), Jewish (1), Latin America (1), Middle East/Central Asia (2), Medieval Europe (1), Modern Europe (2), Russia/E. Europe (2), Transnational/International/Global (1).

 

Wow! Not one Japanese historian (not that I would've been picked regardless).

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ill share my email:

I am sorry to inform you that we cannot recommend your admission to the graduate program in history. We have given your application close and careful consideration. Our decision is based on a full assessment of the evidence presented to us. We received nearly 150 applications for 10 places in our incoming class, and the department is unable to offer admission to every qualified candidate.

Despite the unhappy news this letter brings, my colleagues and I wish you the very best and thank you for your interest in Indiana University.

If you have any questions concerning your application, please email us at histadm@indiana.edu.

Yours sincerely,

John H. Hanson

Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies

JHH/ch

 

I'm really sorry! I got the same letter as well. You have a broad list of great programs so don't sweat it.

 

Got confirmation from UNC over admission an hour later so I'm not too bothered if all the rest get rejected either (have 7/12 pending)!

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US is always our biggest field. It took 5 admits this year.

Other fields - Africa (1), Britain (1), EME (2), East Asia (3 - all China this year), History of Science (2), Jewish (1), Latin America (1), Middle East/Central Asia (2), Medieval Europe (1), Modern Europe (2), Russia/E. Europe (2), Transnational/International/Global (1).

Any idea how many people applied?

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Wow! Not one Japanese historian (not that I would've been picked regardless).

 

Yeah, I was a bit surprised by that myself, so I looked into it - two years ago we enrolled one Korea historian and last year we accepted a Japanese historian, a Japan/Korea historian, and a Chinese historian (not sure how many of those three enrolled). So it was China's turn, I'd guess (especially if the enrolled Chinese historian last year didn't accept our offer).

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This is for Stanford, right? I didn't think they had any medievalists - at least, their department web page says they don't.

 

Yeah, Stanford. I don't know what's going on with the medievalists - we had a search in early 2013 and I know we made an offer, but I think it didn't work out. But they have an admit on the list, so who knows. Maybe one of the Early Modernists is looking after them; Baker, Stokes, or maybe Findlen (Early Modern Europe) or Como (Early Modern Britain) might be possibilities. The admit does early religious stuff (to be incredibly vague/circumspect). Perhaps we're running another medieval search soon, and they're accepting this kid with the expectation that they will soon have a proper POI. (It's not absolutely critical to have a POI around first year; I know people whose POI's were on sabbatical their first year, and they turned out fine.)

 

One thing to keep in mind is that we need TA's for undergraduate classes. If they're expecting to have a medievalist soon, they need to accept a medievalist grad student this year so he/she will be ready to TA next year (we don't TA first year).

Edited by hazelmoor
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Yeah, Stanford. I don't know what's going on with the medievalists - we had a search in early 2013 and I know we made an offer, but I think it didn't work out. But they have an admit on the list, so who knows. Maybe one of the Early Modernists is looking after them; Baker, Stokes, or maybe Findlen (Early Modern Europe) or Como (Early Modern Britain) might be possibilities. The admit does early religious stuff (to be incredibly vague/circumspect). Perhaps we're running another medieval search soon, and they're accepting this kid with the expectation that they will soon have a proper POI. (It's not absolutely critical to have a POI around first year; I know people whose POI's were on sabbatical their first year, and they turned out fine.)

 

One thing to keep in mind is that we need TA's for undergraduate classes. If they're expecting to have a medievalist soon, they need to accept a medievalist grad student this year so he/she will be ready to TA next year (we don't TA first year).

 

That seems like a hell of a leap of faith to ask a student to take...

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That seems like a hell of a leap of faith to ask a student to take...

 

Yeah, it would be. On the other hand, we have crazy good stipends and support & a big institutional name, and if the student has at least a secondary field connection with a professor already here, they might be willing to go for it. 

 

[support info, for the record: five years at $28K annually (plus four years summer support, an additional $5K each summer), tuition, health insurance (really good coverage, includes things like trans surgery), conferences and research travel (3 grants for each, $1500 for each grant - so $9K total).]

Edited by hazelmoor
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Thanks for the reply, that's it, isn't it, it all feels so detached so no news is worse than confirmed rejections at the moment, it feels like you've been forgotten about! But yes, it's all we can do to try and not lose faith simply on account of no contact and simply put it down to 'fit' and bureaucracy. What's your focus chtodelat?

 

My focus is late Imperial Russian nationalism and the government's shifting views of the narod (loosely translated as people) on their policy making process. A niche to say the least. But, it does inform us on events in Russia today so I thought that I would have at least decent chances of acceptance on that basis. Clearly I was wrong.

Edited by chtodelat
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I too thought my niche area of concentration would afford me certain advantages, but I'm still in limbo. C'est la vie I suppose, maybe nobody shared my research interests. Yet, while I did not contact POI at all the institutions to which I applied (something I'm starting to regret as those personal connections likely would have proved beneficial), those I did contact seemed interested in my research and supportive. IDK, this waiting is just maddening.

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