Fall 2017 applicants

[angesradieux]

5 minutes ago, kindkw123 said:

Thanks! As a student of Chinese history I have two POI's at JHU, Professor William Rowe and Professor Tobie Meyer-Fong

Did they happen say anything about if other students are also being contacted?

[kindkw123]

2 minutes ago, angesradieux said:

Did they happen say anything about if other students are also being contacted?

Sorry, no they didn't.

[angesradieux]

3 hours ago, kindkw123 said:

Sorry, no they didn't.

Congrats on the acceptance. I guess at this point I'm figuring it's probably going to be a no for me. Oh well. Hopefully something else works out.

[realmarcelproust]

@ziggysunshine I've yet to hear anything from NYU. I'm not sure if that's because I applied to the joint PhD program with French studies, and not just to the normal history PhD. I'm primarily interested in working with Stephane Gerson and Stefanos Geroulanos. What about you? I did have an interview with Penn though! They said they're not releasing decisions until mid-February, so the posted acceptance is still a bit puzzling to me.

[realmarcelproust]

@angesradieux Yep, Judith Surkis is my POI at Rutgers! She seems like a fantastic scholar and all around human. 

[realmarcelproust]

No acceptances yet, but I did have a Skype interview with Penn this afternoon. I got an email yesterday morning requesting one for this afternoon--is it normal for the turnaround with phone/Skype interviews to be so quick? 

I had no idea who would be interviewing me since the email was sent by the department administrative coordinator, but it turned out it was the DGS (who happens to work on Russia/Modern Euro), my two POIs, and another professor (modern Russia, modern Jewish, HR). I was expecting either members from the Admissions committee or just my POI(s), not both! I'm not at all sure how it went. They started off by asking "why history?," "what work of history has inspired/been a model for your own work?", and then my POIs started asking me a lot of really difficult, though very thought-provoking questions about my senior thesis, how I got from my senior thesis to the work I want to do now, and a bunch more questions about the type of work I discussed in my SoP. It was really intense, at least for me. My two POIs debated back and forth about the connections between modernism and the Annales School's relativization of historical time, which was really cool to see, and they both seemed to think my project was really interesting. One of them asked how the book I mentioned earlier in the interview might help us understand the Annales School/the history of historical thought in France (nb: the two aren't obviously related at all) and then asked me if I thought the Annales School was doing up to something political, and if so what? I had no idea it would get this detailed! Part of the reason I want to do this research is because I want to explore the politics of the Annales School in more detail!!! How was I supposed to have a cogent answer to that? I'm very worried I rambled on and on without sounding articulate or making the points I wanted to make. I was honestly expecting them to spend at least half of the time asking me why I wanted to go to Penn, etc. but it was pretty much entirely about me and my potential dissertation project?? I was definitely not as on my game as I could have been today, but I also think this would have rattled no matter what. Sort of frustrated that the first interview I had was with my top choice, and I'm worried I completely blew it, but whatever. 

FWIW they said they would be releasing decisions in mid-February.

[OHSP]

18 minutes ago, realmarcelproust said:

No acceptances yet, but I did have a Skype interview with Penn this afternoon. 

Thanks for posting this @realmarcelproust, I have a Penn interview next week and am vaguely freaking out. I've been told my interviewers will probably be my POIs. I also got an offer from Duke yesterday so am feeling happy/grateful but anxious - Penn would be a much better fit for me. Btw does anyone know if Princeton ever does interviews? I can't see any from scrolling through past years. 

[realmarcelproust]

@OHSP I'm glad I could help! I honestly think will vary based on your POIs. Also, they gave you more than 24 hours notice for your interview?! I literally got an email yesterday morning saying they wanted to do it the next day, so I had almost no time to prepare. Good luck to you next week! Also I've never heard of Princeton doing interviews. I know a couple people from UChicago who are currently grad students there, and they were never interviewed. 

[wjd]

16 minutes ago, OHSP said:

I also got an offer from Duke yesterday 

Congrats! Great school, great area -- I applied there as well. Your acceptance doesn't bode well for me, since it looks like they've sent all of their acceptances on the same day in years past. The other blue school in the Triangle has offered me though, so I'm not sweating it too much.

[OHSP]

4 hours ago, realmarcelproust said:

@OHSP I'm glad I could help! I honestly think will vary based on your POIs. Also, they gave you more than 24 hours notice for your interview?! I literally got an email yesterday morning saying they wanted to do it the next day, so I had almost no time to prepare. 

They initially gave me a few days notice and then when I realised that the interview would be at 3am my time (I'm not in the US), they kindly rescheduled  I actually kind of wanted to get it over and done with sooner - I'm in the final stages of writing my MA dissertation (it's a 100% research MA so 40k thesis) and the entire grad school thing has been super distracting. 

Also, thanks @wjd! Where are you in? (I'm assuming UNC Chapel Hill - am embarrassingly not really up on the research triangle schools) 

Edited January 27, 2017 by OHSP

[wjd]

@OHSP, you're correct -- I'm in at Chapel Hill. It's an intriguing fit, and I'm excited to visit and learn more about the program. The Triangle seems to be a good location as well: cost of living is low, Duke and NC State are a short trip away, and the public transportation across the area (in addition to within the individual cities) seems to be adequate.

[LastEmperor]

Anyone hear back from Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton yet? I've heard from Columbia to do skype talks with POIs, but I guess UPenn is not looking good for me if they're doing interviews. 

Edited January 27, 2017 by LastEmperor

[OHSP]

28 minutes ago, LastEmperor said:

Anyone hear back from Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton yet? I've heard from Columbia to do skype talks with POIs, but I guess UPenn is not looking good for me if they're doing interviews. 

I definitely wouldn't give up hope re Penn - I suspect I have an interview partly because I am (kind of) changing geographical fields and I think they'd want to know more about that (and, also, because of Penn's 10 page writing sample limit, I used a sample that was very much outside of my field). I've spoken to a few Penn grad students who are in their first year at the moment and only 1 had an interview. 

Edited January 27, 2017 by OHSP

[LastEmperor]

@OHSP Ah okay, that's good to hear. Also I just read that you're waiting to hear back from Princeton as well, so I guess we're in the same boat. 

[Sigaba]

7 hours ago, realmarcelproust said:

No acceptances yet, but I did have a Skype interview with Penn this afternoon. I got an email yesterday morning requesting one for this afternoon--is it normal for the turnaround with phone/Skype interviews to be so quick? 

I had no idea who would be interviewing me since the email was sent by the department administrative coordinator, but it turned out it was the DGS (who happens to work on Russia/Modern Euro), my two POIs, and another professor (modern Russia, modern Jewish, HR). I was expecting either members from the Admissions committee or just my POI(s), not both! I'm not at all sure how it went. They started off by asking "why history?," "what work of history has inspired/been a model for your own work?", and then my POIs started asking me a lot of really difficult, though very thought-provoking questions about my senior thesis, how I got from my senior thesis to the work I want to do now, and a bunch more questions about the type of work I discussed in my SoP. It was really intense, at least for me. My two POIs debated back and forth about the connections between modernism and the Annales School's relativization of historical time, which was really cool to see, and they both seemed to think my project was really interesting. One of them asked how the book I mentioned earlier in the interview might help us understand the Annales School/the history of historical thought in France (nb: the two aren't obviously related at all) and then asked me if I thought the Annales School was doing up to something political, and if so what? I had no idea it would get this detailed! Part of the reason I want to do this research is because I want to explore the politics of the Annales School in more detail!!! How was I supposed to have a cogent answer to that? I'm very worried I rambled on and on without sounding articulate or making the points I wanted to make. I was honestly expecting them to spend at least half of the time asking me why I wanted to go to Penn, etc. but it was pretty much entirely about me and my potential dissertation project?? I was definitely not as on my game as I could have been today, but I also think this would have rattled no matter what. Sort of frustrated that the first interview I had was with my top choice, and I'm worried I completely blew it, but whatever. 

FWIW they said they would be releasing decisions in mid-February.

Either you aced the interview and they were raising the bar a little bit at a time to see how high you could jump or it was a bad interview. Unfortunately, there'll be no way to know until you hear back from Penn. That is, unless you recorded the interview and know someone who could "decode" the sidebar between the POI's for you. (If you end up at Penn, you're going to need to understand that dynamic very well before you pick your committees. The next to last place you want to be as you prepare for and take your quals is in the contested space between two historians who expect a grad student to pick a side.)

Either way, treat it as a learning experience. You got a good taste of the kinds of conversations you'll have with professors and other students in graduate school.

If you don't have a line on how to answer the questions that stymied you, you should develop one within the next couple of days. It's not the last time you're going to get those kinds of questions.

[angesradieux]

16 hours ago, realmarcelproust said:

@angesradieux Yep, Judith Surkis is my POI at Rutgers! She seems like a fantastic scholar and all around human. 

She advised my undergraduate thesis. She's an interesting person--a little aloof and not always the most responsive to e-mails, but over all nice. After my class presented our theses and awards had been given out, she gave me a book to congratulate me. I also really enjoyed the class I took with her. If you end up going to Rutgers, try to take a class with Jennifer Jones if you can. She's super nice and also incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. She works in a different time period, but she's definitely a worthwhile person to get to know.

 

11 hours ago, wjd said:

@OHSP, you're correct -- I'm in at Chapel Hill. It's an intriguing fit, and I'm excited to visit and learn more about the program. The Triangle seems to be a good location as well: cost of living is low, Duke and NC State are a short trip away, and the public transportation across the area (in addition to within the individual cities) seems to be adequate.

Did you hear anything official from Chapel Hill? I spoke to my POI about two weeks ago, and he basically said that he wants me there, and if he gets his way, I'm in and will be nominated for a university fellowship. However, he said that the department's committee hadn't met yet, and he couldn't make any firm promises because they still had to go through the process of haggling over which professors' picks actually get nominated for fellowships. Then he told me that the first round of acceptances, to students who get the nominations, goes out mid February. He reiterated that I would be in that group if he gets his way when the committee meets, but since then I haven't heard anything more official than what boiled down to "I want you here and will do what i can to make it happen, but a some of the process isn't entirely in my hands." He also said I'm welcome to contact him to ask where they are in the decision making process if I'm curious, but I'm trying to show restraint and poke around here instead. I'm a little afraid that if I come off as overly eager and he thinks it's a done deal that I'm going there, he may not push as much for me to get the nomination and it'll go to someone they think needs more enticing than me. I may be over analyzing it, but I know there are politics involved and I'm super paranoid.

[LastEmperor]

Nvm about my previous post, I just got a phone call to do a Skype interview with UPenn as well. Ugh, this is nerve-wracking. 

[angesradieux]

12 hours ago, LastEmperor said:

Anyone hear back from Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton yet? I've heard from Columbia to do skype talks with POIs, but I guess UPenn is not looking good for me if they're doing interviews. 

Can I just say I'm a little jealous of your list of schools? I wanted to apply to Princeton, but no one there's working on the same region and time period as me. I talked to one of my professors about it, and she said not to bother because the current faculty wasn't a good fit, and especially given how competitive it is, based on the poor fit I wouldn't stand a chance. Same for Harvard. Princeton was a bigger disappointment, though. I would have liked to apply to at least one program in my home state. Unfortunately the big ones are Rutgers and Princeton, and it turned out neither one was a viable option.

Anyway, good luck with your interview. Hopefully it goes well and you get some good news soon.

[wjd]

1 hour ago, angesradieux said:

Did you hear anything official from Chapel Hill? I spoke to my POI about two weeks ago, and he basically said that he wants me there, and if he gets his way, I'm in and will be nominated for a university fellowship. However, he said that the department's committee hadn't met yet, and he couldn't make any firm promises because they still had to go through the process of haggling over which professors' picks actually get nominated for fellowships. Then he told me that the first round of acceptances, to students who get the nominations, goes out mid February. He reiterated that I would be in that group if he gets his way when the committee meets, but since then I haven't heard anything more official than what boiled down to "I want you here and will do what i can to make it happen, but a some of the process isn't entirely in my hands." He also said I'm welcome to contact him to ask where they are in the decision making process if I'm curious, but I'm trying to show restraint and poke around here instead. I'm a little afraid that if I come off as overly eager and he thinks it's a done deal that I'm going there, he may not push as much for me to get the nomination and it'll go to someone they think needs more enticing than me. I may be over analyzing it, but I know there are politics involved and I'm super paranoid.

My POI gave me the same call, and he emailed me a few days later on the 19th to tell me that I was (unofficially) officially accepted and nominated for the fellowship. Not sure which fellowship it is, but the only one listed on the website that I'm eligible for is the Royster Society. Also got an email on Monday from the convenor of my track confirming my nomination for a "university-level" fellowship and also saying that the DGS would be sending me an official offer letter in the mail sometime this week.

[angesradieux]

8 minutes ago, wjd said:

My POI gave me the same call, and he emailed me a few days later on the 19th to tell me that I was (unofficially) officially accepted and nominated for the fellowship. Not sure which fellowship it is, but the only one listed on the website that I'm eligible for is the Royster Society. Also got an email on Monday from the convenor of my track confirming my nomination for a "university-level" fellowship and also saying that the DGS would be sending me an official offer letter in the mail sometime this week.

Good to know. Maybe I'll e-mail my POI to see what's up. I'm a little nervous because my POI has a pretty public feud going with the university. I don't think it'll matter too much to the history department's committee, but you never know. Unfortunately, I found out about the feud after I applied. He's the best fit for me at the university, but had I known I might have tried to make a case for why I could work with someone else. He launched an attack on the athletics at UNC, so again I don't know how much that really matters to admissions committees, but you never know.

[Murf]

Did anyone here apply to George Washington University or the University of Maryland?  According to last year's results both schools didn't release decisions until late February, but the waiting is making me antsy.  To those who applied, have you heard anything from your POI?

[GreenTeaKnits]

Hello! I am another person who has been following this thread but not posting. Wanted to report that this week I got a yes from Temple (email from director of graduate studies) and a no from Minnesota (I applied to the American Studies dept; letter posted to the online application system). Hope this is useful! 

Edited January 27, 2017 by GreenTeaKnits

[cypressknee]

37 minutes ago, GreenTeaKnits said:

Hello! I am another person who has been following this thread but not posting. Wanted to report that this week I got a yes from Temple (email from director of graduate studies) and a no from Minnesota (I applied to the American Studies dept; letter posted to the online application system). Hope this is useful! 

Congratulations on the acceptance to Temple, @GreenTeaKnits! 

[wjd]

59 minutes ago, angesradieux said:

Good to know. Maybe I'll e-mail my POI to see what's up. I'm a little nervous because my POI has a pretty public feud going with the university. I don't think it'll matter too much to the history department's committee, but you never know. Unfortunately, I found out about the feud after I applied. He's the best fit for me at the university, but had I known I might have tried to make a case for why I could work with someone else. He launched an attack on the athletics at UNC, so again I don't know how much that really matters to admissions committees, but you never know.

Oh, you must be talking about Jay Smith. He makes a convincing case in his book that college athletes are being held back from the "education" which is the ostensible lynchpin of the indentured servitude which is big-time college sports. While I know for a fact that savvy and hard-working athletes can get the full educational experience they desire (I speak from personal experience as a football player), it truly was an arduous process that required me to surmount many obstacles -- both spoken and unspoken -- that many of my teammates weren't able to overcome. Even though my work is at the collision point of U.S. and military history and his is in early-modern France, if I go to UNC, Dr. Smith is probably one of the first faculty members to whom I am going to introduce myself.

 

Edited January 27, 2017 by wjd

[angesradieux]

3 minutes ago, wjd said:

Oh, you must be talking about Jay Smith. He made a convincing case in his book that college athletes are being held back from the "education" which is the ostensible lynchpin of the indentured servitude which is big-time college sports. While I know for a fact that savvy and hard-working athletes can get the full educational experience they desire (I speak from personal experience as a football player), it truly was an arduous process that required me to surmount many obstacles -- both spoken and unspoken -- that many of my teammates weren't able to overcome. Even though my work is at the collision point of U.S. and military history and his is in early-modern France, if I go to UNC, Dr. Smith is probably one of the first faculty members to whom I am going to introduce myself.

 

Yup, he's the one. I cracked like an egg and e-mailed him. He did tell me to feel free to keep in touch with him during the process and if I was curious, he'd be happy to tell me what he knows. Hopefully he actually meant it. He seemed like a pretty nice guy when I spoke to him on the phone, but I'm really twitchy about contacting professors. I get pretty nervous and angsty even communicating with professors I've known and worked with for a while. But if I end up going there, I think working with him should be interesting. When we spoke on the phone, it turns out that we have more in common than I initially realized. In fact, the fact that I started out majoring in music attracted him to my application because as it happens, he started out majoring in music as a pianist before ultimately becoming a historian. I had no idea he had any kind of interest in music until then. My undergraduate thesis focused on the careers of two composers, using their work to draw conclusions about how opera changed in response to the Revolution, and I'd really like to continue working on the musical history of France, so being able to work with someone who's also a musician would be fantastic.