Fall 2016 Applicants

[serenade]

22 hours ago, jpb said:

I'm happy to say that I received an invitation to Notre Dame's recruitment event in a couple of weeks; however, it seems a bit odd in that my invitation today indicated that they'd be doing interviews (along with other standard recruitment activities). I know that I haven't been accepted at this stage. I'm just wondering if anyone knows anything about Notre Dame's processes. That is to say, are their "recruitment/interview" days a mere formality, or will a significant portion of the invitees ultimately get denied admission?

I'm sure that I'm overthinking everything, but it would be delightful to begin the cycle with a "yes" rather than a "no"!

Congrats on the invitation! I'm a current student in the History Dept there. The interview visit is not a formality. They will likely only admit 40-50% of the candidates at the interview. I don't say this to scare you, but just to encourage you to bring your A game to the interview. If you have any more questions about the interview visit or ND in general, PM me or post on this board and I'd be happy to try to answer them. Those of us who are current grad students get assigned prospective students to take to coffee/lunch/dinner, so I hope to meet you if our paths cross while you're up here! 

Edited January 29, 2016 by serenade

[serenade]

On January 28, 2016 at 8:55 PM, IndianaJones said:

Long time lurker here un-lurking myself to say, first of all, hello all and I wish the most successful application season for all of you! Additionally, since this is my first PhD application round I'd love some advice, especially regarding interviews. One of my favorites is Notre Dame, who seems to have released interview invites today. Any idea if that is a formal process of theirs? From their results history, it's hard to glean an exact pattern and I'm a nervous wreck!  I've also seen NO change in status on my application pages - they still just say "submitted" - have they even been reviewed yet or am I expecting too much?

Current ND History grad student here. Yes, you're correct - the department sent interview invitations out today. The bad news is if you didn't get one, that means you're not in the first round of their picks. The good news, however, is that your status page does not say "rejected." From what I remember last year, I saw ND History rejection statuses on the gradcafe results page around the same time I got my interview invitation. So it sounds like you haven't been rejected yet. Among those at the interview in a few weeks, probably 40-50% will get admission offers. However, not all of those who are given offers will choose ND. If those people turn down ND before April 15, ND will then get in touch with their second round of picks. There are people in my current cohort who were not invited to the interview week but were made offers later. So don't give up! 

[sts4656]

6 hours ago, Neist said:

Same to both of you!

Maybe we'll be the 3-4 people who get into Cornell STS.  

Thank you, I hope so but today started for me very negatively since I saw that somebody received an e-mail from MIT HASTS for interview on 26th January... :/

Edited January 29, 2016 by sts4656

[JTE]

Ah the annual Berkeley massacre.

[sts4656]

12 hours ago, datini said:

To mvlchicago:

You've made an unfortunate generalization about history MA's: they are not necessarily people who needed to go to an MA program "to find out what they are doing."

Someone on the results board said about their rejection from Berkeley: whatever, they're all communists there anyway.  If this was a joke---and the tone was not joking but insolent---it is a stupid joke.  If it is serious, Berkeley was smart to reject you.  You've embarassed everyone else by such a vile, ignorant comment.

About MIT HASTS: are there other applicants to HASTS who have been interviewed or contacted for interviews besides the person who posted above?

@datin I applied to MIT HASTS, but haven't received any e-mail from them..  

[L13]

Berkeley is so ridiculous, SMH...

[RamyaS]

13 hours ago, Neist said:

Same to both of you!

Maybe we'll be the 3-4 people who get into Cornell STS.  

Yes absolutely! Good luck!

I'd like to hear from Yale and Columbia soon! I am expecting to get rejected, despite having one of my recommenders being from Yale.  Quickly already!

[insidethesun]

5 minutes ago, L13 said:

Berkeley is so ridiculous, SMH...

In what way? All of the rejections?

[emiliajulia]

Proud co-victim of the Berkeley massacre, 2016.  and--many congrats to the NYU admit!! I'm finishing my MA there at the moment, so get in touch if you have any questions about New York/the school! 

[tipmar]

Congrats to the NYU admit! knowing decisions have been made will certainly distract me from my work this coming weekend....

What field are you, if you don't mind sharing?

[Neist]

8 hours ago, sts4656 said:

Thank you, I hope so but today started for me very negatively since I saw that somebody received an e-mail from MIT HASTS for interview on 26th January... :/

I wouldn't worry too much yet. If the results of previous years are to be trusted, January 26th is very, very early for HASTS. Most results are in late February through March.

Maybe they just needed to clarify something about that applicant? Or maybe it was an interview a POI did personally? Who knows.

[hbnj]

My plan for the coming weeks: delete all of my passwords from my computer's memory that way I can't constantly check to see if decisions have come in! 

 

[alain]

Congrats to the NYU admit!

 

Now I'm stressed/scared. 

[DGrayson]

9 minutes ago, hbnj said:

My plan for the coming weeks: delete all of my passwords from my computer's memory that way I can't constantly check to see if decisions have come in! 

 

I have an Apple Watch so that the rejections can go right from the school to my wrist, reducing the time I would have spent not crying.....

[JTE]

Congrats to the NYU admit, big ups! Also, whoever commented on their Berkeley rejection "whatever that place is full of communists anyway," you made me chuckle.

[hbnj]

@JTE - Fellow Emory applicant: was told by the department that they might be another 6 weeks in coming out with decisions. 

Also, congrats to the NYU admit (didn't see that earlier)!!!!!!!!!!!

[L13]

3 hours ago, insidethesun said:

In what way? All of the rejections?

Haha, yes, I don't understand why they consistently get the largest number of rejection notifications on GradCafe out of all history programs. If the ratio of reported results to applicants is roughly the same for most programs, they must get the most applicants out of any history program by far.

Edited January 29, 2016 by L13

[insidethesun]

1 minute ago, L13 said:

Haha, yes, I don't understand why they consistently have the largest number of rejection notifications on GradCafe out of all history programs. Do they get the most applicants? Do they make their grad students post scores of fake rejections to GC for some reason? I just don't get it.

Ah, okay. Yes, I noticed that as well. It is my understanding they receive between 400-500 applications.

[L13]

Just now, insidethesun said:

Ah, okay. Yes, I noticed that as well. It is my understanding they receive between 400-500 applications.

Ah, that makes sense. I edited my post to elaborate on that possibility a bit.

[Josh J.]

42 minutes ago, L13 said:

Haha, yes, I don't understand why they consistently get the largest number of rejection notifications on GradCafe out of all history programs. If the ratio of reported results to applicants is roughly the same for most programs, they must get the most applicants out of any history program by far.

Yale supposedly got 10,000 applicants last year, according to their rejection letters...

[DGrayson]

3 minutes ago, Josh J. said:

Yale supposedly got 10,000 applicants last year, according to their rejection letters...

That's probably the number that applied to all programs in the School of Arts and Sciences. That would be crazy for one department.

[insidethesun]

3 minutes ago, DGrayson said:

That's probably the number that applied to all programs in the School of Arts and Sciences. That would be crazy for one department.

That's probably the case. It is safe to assume that all of the top ranked programs receive around the same amount.

[tenochtitlan]

11 hours ago, sts4656 said:

Thank you, I hope so but today started for me very negatively since I saw that somebody received an e-mail from MIT HASTS for interview on 26th January... :/

Same here, friend. Very sad to see someone was offered interview already.

[bettafish]

The calm before the next storm of rejections

 

[tenochtitlan]

Has anyone heard/applied to Penn's History and Sociology of Science programme? Previous years suggest the interview emails were sent a long time ago... :\