Fall 2017 applicants

[jazzman]

12 hours ago, psstein said:

Accepted to HoS at Wisconsin. Informal email with details to follow next week some time.

Congrats! Wisconsin's HoS program is a strong one, I've heard.

 

[angesradieux]

11 hours ago, wjd said:

Hey all, I've got news from Vanderbilt -- I was chatting with one of my professors today (I'm still an undergrad there for 3 more months!) and she told me that they're only admitting 12 people to fill 7 spots this year. They took on a really big cohort last year, so there isn't as much funding as usual. She said letters *should* be going out by the end of next week, but don't quote me on that.

On that note, if anyone has questions about Vanderbilt or Nashville, please reach out to me. My wife and I have lived off-campus for 2 years now, so I've got a pretty good handle on the lay of the land.

Darn it, I was hoping they'd go out this week. Vanderbilt's the last school I'm waiting on. I'm kind of assuming it's a rejection since I've heard other people also saying they're taking an unusually small number of students this time around, but I just want to know for sure. Once I have all the decisions in hand I can stop obsessing over it and find something else to stress myself out over.

[NCAtlanticist]

For those of you who finally broke down and emailed your POI, what did you say? How was your admissions inquiry worded?

[wjd]

8 minutes ago, NCAtlanticist said:

For those of you who finally broke down and emailed your POI, what did you say? How was your admissions inquiry worded?

I'd suggest emailing the graduate admin/coordinator if there is one.

[wjd]

News from Columbia's graduate admin:

"Dear _______, notification to admitted students was sent out yesterday. If you did not receive any notification, you may assume that you were not admitted. Formal notice of non-admittance will go out beginning next week.
 

Best,
 

Sharee"

[NCAtlanticist]

8 minutes ago, wjd said:

News from Columbia's graduate admin:

"Dear _______, notification to admitted students was sent out yesterday. If you did not receive any notification, you may assume that you were not admitted. Formal notice of non-admittance will go out beginning next week.
 

Best,
 

Sharee"

Thats pretty shitty of Columbia. I just got denied from UGA and they sent three paragraphs about my rejection. More or less no one wanted to advice a dissertation on African American history... all about the Civil War.

[wjd]

16 minutes ago, NCAtlanticist said:

Thats pretty shitty of Columbia. I just got denied from UGA and they sent three paragraphs about my rejection. More or less no one wanted to advice a dissertation on African American history... all about the Civil War.

To be fair, I did cold email the graduate admin, so I wan't expecting much more than "nope, sorry."

Sucks to hear that about UGA, though I suppose a nuanced rejection letter is better than having an advisor who doesn't care about your work.

[voforange]

I emailed my POI from Harvard yesterday and he forwarded it to the grad admin, and he said to wait for the website.  so I guess I didn't get in. oh well. 

[voforange]

This was the response from Harvard grad admin: ugh

 

All formal notification goes out from the Admissions Office and should be sent out by late February at the latest.  This is the paper notification, they will also enter the results into the system in mid-February.

If you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

 

best,

 

 

 

[RurikNjalsson]

First post! Applying to five programs, with one specifically in history and the other four specifically in medieval studies. All Master's, as I have a rather low GPA and a dearth of experience in history, due to switching my focus from psychology to history rather late in the game. Recently contacted two of my schools, both of which let me know they were making their decisions within the next two weeks. Note: knowing this has not alleviated my anxiety. Luck to all!

[russianblue]

8 hours ago, laleph said:

Hello all, 

Long-time lurker here. About Chicago: according to one of my POIs, admissions were cut in half this year because the department admitted too many people the last two years. I was offered a funded masters a few days ago – in lieu of the PhD – but haven't received official notice. That doesn't necessarily mean anything, though. Some POIs are just not as communicative about the status of your application as others are. Case in point: was just accepted to Columbia via the portal. No word from my POI. Don't lose hope yet! 

1

Congrats on Columbia! It was a reach for me, but I was still hoping. I'm happy for everyone who received an acceptance, though!

And thanks for the info--I hear that is the story in a lot of places. I know OSU has drastically cut their intake. I was on the Graduate Studies Committee last semester at my school and heard that generally, application numbers are much lower, but that schools are also accepting fewer. 

[russianblue]

3 hours ago, jazzman said:

Yes, emigres fleeing the Revolution were quite a few. But non-jewish emigres during Imperial Russia, I'd have thought them to be few and far in between. I'm intrigued, that's interesting. Would you only be concentrating on Russia proper (so Russian slavs) or also looking to German Russians in the Balkans, and Ukrainians?

 

Sorry if I was vague, my current emphasis is on non-Jewish emigres (mostly socialites/artistic figures that ended up in Paris), but were I to extend further back into the Imperial Era I may end up looking at Russian Jews more--that may depend on what program I end up at and my linguistic capacity. I distinguished between the two only because the exodus of Russian Jews is largely disconnected from my current research.

At the doctoral level, I'm interested in stepping outside of high culture and elites more than I've been able to do so far. I'm incredibly interested in shifting my focus outside of ethnic Russians in high society. I am particularly interested in looking more towards Ukraine and the various borderlands in that region. That's one reason I'm gunning so hard for Chicago--I'd love to work with Faith Hillis. It's looking less optimistic, though.

[archi]

2 hours ago, wjd said:

News from Columbia's graduate admin:

"Dear _______, notification to admitted students was sent out yesterday. If you did not receive any notification, you may assume that you were not admitted. Formal notice of non-admittance will go out beginning next week.
 

Best,
 

Sharee"

Ah well. Thanks for biting the bullet and asking for the rest of us

[wjd]

2 hours ago, russianblue said:

generally, application numbers are much lower, but that schools are also accepting fewer. 

cynical take: at least the job market will have fewer PhDs competing for positions when I finish?

[Quickmick]

4 minutes ago, wjd said:

cynical take: at least the job market will have fewer PhDs competing for positions when I finish?

So there should only be 1/2 a gagillion. 

[wjd]

3 minutes ago, Quickmick said:

So there should only be 1/2 a gagillion. 

Lol undoubtedly. A significant part of this process has been coming to terms with the fact that this path is an all-in bet on myself. Get tenure or die trying. 

[wjd]

From the graduate admin at UC-Santa Barbara: looks like the reported acceptances may just be a first wave.

"Hi _____

Decisions will be made in the next 6 weeks or so. Thank you for your patience. "

 

Edited February 8, 2017 by wjd

[Neist]

6 hours ago, jazzman said:

Congrats! Wisconsin's HoS program is a strong one, I've heard.

 

It's a pretty good one.  At the very least, it's a program that I, as a graduate student in HoS, wouldn't think attending their program would be settling for less of an education.

The funding probably won't be as strong because Wisconsin doesn't have as huge of an endowment like an ivy school, but a lack of crazy ivy league funding hasn't bothered me yet at U. of Oklahoma. 

1 hour ago, wjd said:

cynical take: at least the job market will have fewer PhDs competing for positions when I finish?

Anecdotally, our program received much fewer applicants than last year. But last year certainly wasn't average; it was considerably larger than average.

*shrugs*

[psstein]

44 minutes ago, Neist said:

It's a pretty good one.  At the very least, it's a program that I, as a graduate student in HoS, wouldn't think attending their program would be settling for less of an education.

The funding probably won't be as strong because Wisconsin doesn't have as huge of an endowment like an ivy school, but a lack of crazy ivy league funding hasn't bothered me yet at U. of Oklahoma.

Yeah, when I started the process, I said I'd be pretty happy if I only got into Wisconsin and Minnesota. I've gotten into both. Still waiting to hear from Princeton, Hopkins, Indiana, and Harvard. Going to Princeton would be a dream come true, albeit one that probably won't happen.

Rejected from Columbia, Yale, and (presumably) Chicago, none of which were particularly good fits. My PoI at Columbia focused most on early modern laboratories, whereas my research is early modern Jesuit science as well as science and religion.

[cyclingonthemoon]

5 hours ago, voforange said:

This was the response from Harvard grad admin: ugh

 

All formal notification goes out from the Admissions Office and should be sent out by late February at the latest.  This is the paper notification, they will also enter the results into the system in mid-February.

If you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

 

best,

 

 

 

Harvard history department had sent out unofficial acceptance letters. So did UChicago. Both schools claimed that they had downsized the acceptance pool significantly. So if there is no news, it may be a bad news. 

[psstein]

2 hours ago, wjd said:

cynical take: at least the job market will have fewer PhDs competing for positions when I finish?

Probably not. The market has the people who graduated during your year, plus people who graduated the year before, plus people who re-enter, etc.

 

[jazzman]

4 minutes ago, psstein said:

Going to Princeton would be a dream come true, albeit one that probably won't happen.

 

Don't give up hope yet. Princeton may surprise you. Really. Depends on the cohort they are putting together this year.  

[psstein]

3 minutes ago, jazzman said:

Don't give up hope yet. Princeton may surprise you. Really. Depends on the cohort they are putting together this year.  

My PoI was one of my LoR's PhD advisors, so hopefully that will help.

[Antebellum]

11 minutes ago, cyclingonthemoon said:

Harvard history department had sent out unofficial acceptance letters. So did UChicago. Both schools claimed that they had downsized the acceptance pool significantly. So if there is no news, it may be a bad news.

First post in this part of the forum. I got my rejection letter from Northwestern a couple weeks ago and also applied to Chicago (in addition to loads of others). NW was a BIG hit on my confidence because I had thought that it and Chicago would be ones that I might have had a better chance at getting into because a prof I've worked with closely while doing my current MA is fairly close to some of the profs in each program. Now hearing that Chicago and Columbia have sent out offers already and having not heard from them means I'm probably 0/3 so far.

I guess there's nothing left to do though except keep our chins up and hope for the best! I'm pretty much begging to just get into ONE program!

[cyclingonthemoon]

11 minutes ago, Antebellum said:

First post in this part of the forum. I got my rejection letter from Northwestern a couple weeks ago and also applied to Chicago (in addition to loads of others). NW was a BIG hit on my confidence because I had thought that it and Chicago would be ones that I might have had a better chance at getting into because a prof I've worked with closely while doing my current MA is fairly close to some of the profs in each program. Now hearing that Chicago and Columbia have sent out offers already and having not heard from them means I'm probably 0/3 so far.

I guess there's nothing left to do though except keep our chins up and hope for the best! I'm pretty much begging to just get into ONE program!

Unfortunately what I heard is that American history is a field that schools plan to take in less, because the job market is too crowded. Judging from your username you are an Americanist? It is a tough time really.