History 2010

[Victorianna]

I noticed that there is a post for a rejection from Penn State. Has anyone else received new from Penn State? I frantically logged on today to check status with my heart pounding out of my chest, but there is no news. Perhaps no news is good news?

[BCHistory]

I noticed that there is a post for a rejection from Penn State. Has anyone else received new from Penn State? I frantically logged on today to check status with my heart pounding out of my chest, but there is no news. Perhaps no news is good news?

I checked, and no news for me either. It's just the same old status I've had since I first submitted it: "The Graduate School has received your application and fee payment."

Looking back through past years' results, this would be extremely early to hear anything from Penn State.

[Victorianna]

True. I am so eagerly awaiting news that I have been jumping at the slightest provocation. It does make me wonder why someone would post that though

[dflanagan]

Looks like people got into Louisiana State and SUNY Buffalo, congratulations future historians!

[dflanagan]

also, a rejection from Harvard was posted... how did they check the website? I can only log into my submitted application... and it just says it was submitted.

[Caligula]

I'm wondering if this is fake. I mean, who would be "in shock" upon being rejected form Harvard for a Ph.D. in History?

[dflanagan]

hmm that's a good point. I mean those stats were good, certainly qualified, but what about fit? Who were his potential advisors? Not that I'm such a great fit at Harvard... nor did I attend Princeton undergrad...

[Caligula]

Who cares if you went to Princeton for undergrad? Certainly not the adcoms.

Where you did your undergrad is largely irrelevant. An applicant with a BA in History from Princeton is no more (or less) qualified than an applicant with a BA in History from Wayne State.*

A quick glance at the CVs and biographies of current grad students on department websites makes it VERY clear that the prestige/ranking of one's undergraduate institution is not taken into consideration.

*I attended neither of these schools.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Caligula

[cm125]

Who cares if you went to Princeton for undergrad? Certainly not the adcoms.

Where you did your undergrad is largely irrelevant. An applicant with a BA in History from Princeton is no more (or less) qualified than an applicant with a BA in History from Wayne State.*

A quick glance at the CVs and biographies of current grad students on department websites makes it VERY clear that the prestige/ranking of one's undergraduate institution is not taken into consideration.

*I attended neither of these schools.

While I agree that it is not the most important aspect of an application, it is more important than that-- I had professors at several Ivy league departments tell me that having a good GPA from a prestigious school was an integral component of an application they would accept.

I also had the same reaction to the Harvard post. There is no way to log in to check status and as mentioned before, who is shocked to get rejected from one of the top programs in the country?

[Caligula]

"I had professors at several Ivy league departments tell me that having a good GPA from a prestigious school was an integral component of an application they would accept."

That is very interesting. Most, if not all, of the professors I have spoken with say that a good GPA is very important, but prestige/ranking of undergrad is hardly considered, if at all. I guess this just goes to show you that every adcom/professor has a different way of looking at applications, even within the same program!

[hopkinsgirl]

yeah, is it possible the poster who got 'rejected' from harvard is faking? i also fiddled around with the website for a while but no decision comes up for me.... people need to stop playing with my emotions!

[TMP]

Congrats to the Duke admit!

[Blazer12]

Any of the Wisconsin people out there heard any rumors about funding (besides what it says in the letter about news coming in 4-6 weeks)?

[Victorianna]

Congratulations to the prospective Penn State student who was invited to attend interview weekend. I wonder if they have invited all the students they intend to extend offers to.....

[C-Money]

yeah, is it possible the poster who got 'rejected' from harvard is faking? i also fiddled around with the website for a while but no decision comes up for me.... people need to stop playing with my emotions!

As far as I can tell, you can't check your status online. Very weird--hard to imagine that anyone would troll this site....

[C-Money]

Congrats to the Duke admit!

Wasn't me--now I'm worried about Duke too

[deuterides]

Any of the Wisconsin people out there heard any rumors about funding (besides what it says in the letter about news coming in 4-6 weeks)?

I haven't heard anything since the same initial letter.

Congrats though. Hopefully you're as excited about getting in as I am.

Edited January 30, 2010 by deuterides

[deuterides]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have a good idea for responding to an offer, like a thank-you note?

Edited January 30, 2010 by deuterides

[Nytusse]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have a good idea for responding to an offer, like a thank-you note?

I've been wondering myself, but I have been told to keep it simple, especially if you are still waiting on other possible admits.

[jz83]

Hi all,

I applied to Latin American history programs.

I have a question: do history departments have admitted student days? If so, is there any way to figure out when they might be?

[Blazer12]

I haven't heard anything since the same initial letter.

Congrats though. Hopefully you're as excited about getting in as I am.

Congratulations to you too! I am excited, just worried about the funding situation, as I've heard that its not good.

[cm125]

Congratulations to you too! I am excited, just worried about the funding situation, as I've heard that its not good.

Yeah, obviously the letter said 4-5 weeks for a final decision, so I was just waiting for that time to hear what funding was being made available. As far as writing the department, I just sent my contact info to the grad. asst. as the letter asked. I actually didn't even contact the professor who was placed as my advisor before, solely because I was way too intimidated to send him an email and basically afraid of being rejected in a personal format. Odd, but I guess we all are.

[Nytusse]

Hi all,

I applied to Latin American history programs.

I have a question: do history departments have admitted student days? If so, is there any way to figure out when they might be?

If the History department website has its own events calendar, it could show up there. I saw it on Wisconsin's calendar, but I don't know if that is only because they had already sent out some admissions. I haven't tried other schools yet.

[C-Money]

As far as I can tell from the information on the University of Wisconsin graduate school's web-site (see below), historically, roughly 1/4 of full-time history graduate students are funded by university fellowships in any given year. Since fellowships usually apply to the first and fourth years of the PhD program, and generally come with teaching or research assistant positions for the second and third years, the fraction of full-time students that recieve funding packages based on fellowships may be significantly higher than 1/4, but that's unclear from the information provided, since they don't break it out that way.

http://www.grad.wisc...s/1082/499.html

[Nytusse]

As far as I can tell from the information on the University of Wisconsin graduate school's web-site (see below), historically, roughly 1/4 of full-time history graduate students are funded by university fellowships in any given year. Since fellowships usually apply to the first and fourth years of the PhD program, and generally come with teaching or research assistant positions for the second and third years, the fraction of full-time students that recieve funding packages based on fellowships may be significantly higher than 1/4, but that's unclear from the information provided, since they don't break it out that way.

http://www.grad.wisc...s/1082/499.html

My general hunch is that they are likely trying to fund that first group of admits, since it is so very early to admit people. What I don't understand is why other admits from Wisconsin from different disciplines have already been notified that they were nominated for University fellowships, when presumably some of the History folks have been too?