Chances of Getting An Acceptance?

[swampfox22]

Hey everyone, I'm a history major in South Carolina and have sent out 7 applications (from December 5 to January 15) to a bunch of history phd programs throughout the east coast (primarily the North East). I have a good gpa (3.9), but my GRE scores (especially in math) left something to be desired (though my English score was pretty good). I think my recommendation letters were positive, and I have an article awaiting publication in a SC journal on medical history. With all that said, I'm freaking out--imagining the worst possibility that no schools will accept me (especially considering my interest is in a niche section of colonial history called Atlantic world). My schools I have applied to so far are: U Penn, William and Mary, UNH, UCT, NYU, U Pittsburgh, and Johns Hopkins. My question is what are the chances I could get rejected from all these schools? I'm prone to think of the worst possibility before I have received any news. I recently got a rejection from the Fulbright program to study in England, so now I'm worrying a train of other rejections will come.

 

Signed,

 

Someone Who Needs to Calm Down  

Edited January 22, 2015 by swampfox22

[kurayamino]

It sounds like you've done everything right swampfox and I can completely understand your anxiety! Doing everything right just gets you a ticket to get in, but it doesn't guarantee your number could be called. As a fellow humanities major with pretty abysmal math scores on the GRE I was anxious as well, but I was told that the quantitative section doesn't even play a part in humanities admissions. The most important factors are your SOP, writing sample, and LOR. The GRE just sort of puts your name out there.

I can't say much to alleviate your anxiety, but I can say you're not alone. Just keep your chin up and don't let that Fulbright rejection get you down. Remember, that's a program open to every major, to every country in the world. That's a lot of competition and while you've still applied to competitive schools, it won't be nearly as bad as the Fulbright. Fingers crossed for you!

[swampfox22]

Thanks

[Feanor]

Yesterday, I was also freaking out about the possibility of not getting accepted anywhere - today, I got an offer from Oxford (which may be my only offer, but you just need ONE).

 

You've done what you can, now just try to sit back and relax...ok, that's impossible. But try to do something besides spamming F5 in your email, it won't help.

 

Besides, Fullbright is very competitive, isn't it? You may still be very qualified, even though you weren't selected.

[empress-marmot]

Hello! 

 

As kurayamino said, you sound like a really qualified applicant. I'm not a math person, so I can't do a probability calculation on this. Anyway, if you've done everything possible on your end of things, just relax. Eat foods you aren't supposed to eat. Indulge in a free trial of Netflix--by the time it ends, you'll have some results back in. (at least, that was my reasoning)

 

If you're really terrified about it, you can always research some safety programs with late deadlines. I'm sure it won't come to that, though. 

 

Good luck! 

[fiveby5]

Hi Swampfox!

 

The Fulbright for England is the most competitive of all of them (and Fulbright anywhere is already super competitive) so please do not count yourself out of anything because of that! Seriously should not factor in to any idea you have about your PhD skillz/prospects. Good luck! 

[SubmarineReflection]

Hi Swampfox!

 

The Fulbright for England is the most competitive of all of them (and Fulbright anywhere is already super competitive) so please do not count yourself out of anything because of that! Seriously should not factor in to any idea you have about your PhD skillz/prospects. Good luck! 

Oh my god, your profile picture and your username- 

[t1racyjacks]

Swamp, are you my twin? Also a 3.9 GPA, applied to 7 schools, and my niche is Atlantic world colonial America. Though we only have Upenn in common

 

I would think our niche would make us more viable candidates to be honest. Atlantic World history is an emerging field, and thus most of the profs researching it are assistant or associate professors aged only about ~35 (meaning they probably have openings for grad students).

 

I wish you the best of luck! Let's keep track of our progress...

I'm in an emerging field I think. Um, I'm working on how market trends in academia affect the theorisation of aesthetics. Where would that put me? 'critical theory'? It's a weird mix between the history of literary criticism, the process of canonisation, disciplinary studies and philosophy (by which I mean texts theorising about aesthetics from Plato on). Thing is I don't wanna work on anything else. But wondering if there are students working on this. I don't know any grad students who are interested in this and it seems to be like a very marginal thing in departments........ my faculty just tell me 'aaahhhhh anyone who is trained in critical theory can be interested in this'. but I'm not even sure.

 

I think it has to be done though. The corportisation of academia has got to the point where we cannot ignore the way structural strain affects the ways in which we deal with literature. of course, if I didn't think this way I wouldn't be doing it