PhD Applications Fall '17 Season

[seung]

Just heard from POI @ Yale. Though being recommended for admission, I was ultimately not admitted by the graduate school. Very disappointed. the thing I don't know is if I've been rejected or waitlisted.

[Marcion]

57 minutes ago, seung said:

Just heard from POI @ Yale. Though being recommended for admission, I was ultimately not admitted by the graduate school. Very disappointed. the thing I don't know is if I've been rejected or waitlisted.

 

That sucks  

[turktheman]

1 hour ago, seung said:

Just heard from POI @ Yale. Though being recommended for admission, I was ultimately not admitted by the graduate school. Very disappointed. the thing I don't know is if I've been rejected or waitlisted.

Heartbreaking. Not that it's any consolation, but if you get interviewed and nominated by Yale, then the professors must have thought you were a good fit and were ready for doctoral work at Yale. Bureaucracy and funding got in your way. I hope you get off the waitlist (If waitlisted) or get into another great program, of which there are many.

[Eshtah]

I can't take it any longer. If you guys know anything, please let me know. I have applied to Columbia for a PhD in Religion (Islamic Studies) and I was interviewed in the middle January. I know that the committee met and made a decision last Tuesday (14th) and I have seen two people post here that they were accepted to the program. Is there reasonable hope left that I might still be admitted or should I give up hope since I haven't received any news yet?

I am an international applicant, if that makes any difference...

[Eshtah]

2 hours ago, seung said:

Just heard from POI @ Yale. Though being recommended for admission, I was ultimately not admitted by the graduate school. Very disappointed. the thing I don't know is if I've been rejected or waitlisted.

How can that even happen?

[Marcion]

Has anyone heard anything from Vandy's PhD in Historical Studies? 

[turktheman]

1 minute ago, Marcion said:

Has anyone heard anything from Vandy's PhD in Historical Studies? 

 In their GDR or history department? I have a friend who got into Vanderbilt' s history program specializing in Sephardic history and Judeo-Arabic. I'm pretty sure he's turning it down soon.

[turktheman]

6 minutes ago, Marcion said:

Has anyone heard anything from Vandy's PhD in Historical Studies? 

 Scratch that. I see Historical Studies is under GDR. Sorry, I don't know.

[seung]

1 hour ago, Eshtah said:

How can that even happen?

 The Yale admissions process is quite different than that of other schools. The department recommends more applicants that are typically admitted, and the graduate school  has much greater say in the final decisions. I really do not understand how the explicitly said that the department does not rank it's recommendations. graduate school ranks the recommended applicants, because the POI explicitly said that the department does not rank it's recommendations.

[seung]

1 hour ago, Eshtah said:

I can't take it any longer. If you guys know anything, please let me know. I have applied to Columbia for a PhD in Religion (Islamic Studies) and I was interviewed in the middle January. I know that the committee met and made a decision last Tuesday (14th) and I have seen two people post here that they were accepted to the program. Is there reasonable hope left that I might still be admitted or should I give up hope since I haven't received any news yet?

I am an international applicant, if that makes any difference...

They have already sent out letters to those who have been admitted. Sorry eshtah:( I applied to Columbia and haven't heard. That means we Have either been rejected or waitlisted. We must wait and see

[seung]

2 hours ago, turktheman said:

Heartbreaking. Not that it's any consolation, but if you get interviewed and nominated by Yale, then the professors must have thought you were a good fit and were ready for doctoral work at Yale. Bureaucracy and funding got in your way. I hope you get off the waitlist (If waitlisted) or get into another great program, of which there are many.

Thanks turktheman. I appreciate it.

[NewPhD]

12 hours ago, Rabbit Run said:

Not sure, but I don't think Religion, Ethics, Politics does at least.

Thanks!

[menge]

4 hours ago, seung said:

Just heard from POI @ Yale. Though being recommended for admission, I was ultimately not admitted by the graduate school. Very disappointed. the thing I don't know is if I've been rejected or waitlisted.

I think I'd rather never know that I got that close. Definitely sucks. You must have a strong application though, so keep your head up! Seems like you have a good chance of getting in somewhere. 

[seung]

20 minutes ago, menge said:

I think I'd rather never know that I got that close. Definitely sucks. You must have a strong application though, so keep your head up! Seems like you have a good chance of getting in somewhere. 

My thoughts exactly

[Eshtah]

47 minutes ago, seung said:

They have already sent out letters to those who have been admitted. Sorry eshtah:( I applied to Columbia and haven't heard. That means we Have either been rejected or waitlisted. We must wait and see

Which area did you apply for?

I got accepted at UC Davis, so that's something and I still have 4 more applications that I know nothing about. But I am totally heartbroken. I really thought the interview went well and they seemed genuinely interested in my project.

Oh well, life must go on... 

[Adonalsium]

 

6 hours ago, seung said:

Just heard from POI @ Yale. Though being recommended for admission, I was ultimately not admitted by the graduate school. Very disappointed. the thing I don't know is if I've been rejected or waitlisted.

If you really just heard from POI @ Yale that's insane that they called you at 5-6AM their time... Anyone else here still waiting to hear from Yale?

[axiomness]

17 minutes ago, Adonalsium said:

 

If you really just heard from POI @ Yale that's insane that they called you at 5-6AM their time... Anyone else here still waiting to hear from Yale?

 

I'm still waiting. But something similar happened to me at Yale last year (called by POI and told I was recommended) and I didn't get in. POI said that because of that I was less likely to get it this year. Which stymies me. I suppose we can 'safely' assume that if we haven't heard, we didn't get in.  

[SG_SC]

Has anyone else applied to Duquesne? If so, any word yet? I know the due date was rather late, but I'm having the palpitations waiting to hear. 

[NT PhD ... Hopefully]

So I would really appreciate some comments and advice, if you guys don't mind. I applied to PhD programs in NT this year. I will graduate with my MDiv this spring, so I just have an undergraduate and MDiv.  I have been rejected at SMU, waitlisted at Baylor, and have yet to hear anything from others except TEDS.  The grad director called me and advised me that the committee felt I needed more preparation.  Therefore, TEDS offered me a spot in the ThM program, which would lead to the PhD. I know that most will have more than one grad degree so I am thinking getting the ThM would be a good move, especially for future applications. Any advice on the ThM?  Good move?  Better prep?  Stronger applicant next time round?  Etc?

[marXian]

6 minutes ago, SG_SC said:

Has anyone else applied to Duquesne? If so, any word yet? I know the due date was rather late, but I'm having the palpitations waiting to hear. 

This was five years ago, but I have a friend at Duquesne now who didn't hear until the end of March--like the 27th or 28th or something. I remember it was the last school he heard from, and he thought he was going to be shut out.

[Epaphroditus]

50 minutes ago, NT PhD ... Hopefully said:

So I would really appreciate some comments and advice, if you guys don't mind. I applied to PhD programs in NT this year. I will graduate with my MDiv this spring, so I just have an undergraduate and MDiv.  I have been rejected at SMU, waitlisted at Baylor, and have yet to hear anything from others except TEDS.  The grad director called me and advised me that the committee felt I needed more preparation.  Therefore, TEDS offered me a spot in the ThM program, which would lead to the PhD. I know that most will have more than one grad degree so I am thinking getting the ThM would be a good move, especially for future applications. Any advice on the ThM?  Good move?  Better prep?  Stronger applicant next time round?  Etc?

A ThM might help for the next time you apply, but if you go that route, I would suggest maybe considering other schools, too. I've found that ThMs at schools like TEDS are often more expensive than at other more prestigious schools. And when you say the ThM would "lead to the PhD," do you mean they would help make that happen? Or just that you could apply again? If the former, then it's worth considering.

The thing with ThMs (you'll find many posts on this) is that since they're one-year degrees, it's often hard to get to know the professors well enough to get new LORs and you will just have finished one semester of courses by the time you re-apply. If you're willing to wait two years, you could finish a ThM, then apply the following fall.

[seung]

1 hour ago, Adonalsium said:

 

If you really just heard from POI @ Yale that's insane that they called you at 5-6AM their time... Anyone else here still waiting to hear from Yale?

Funny. I read the email at 5. Email was sent last night. Is that sufficiently precise?

[rheya19]

What kinds of questions should I expect in my interview next week? I'm assuming I'll get "Tell us about your research" and "Why do you want to come to this school," but are there other specific things I should be prepared for?

[Marcion]

11 minutes ago, rheya19 said:

What kinds of questions should I expect in my interview next week? I'm assuming I'll get "Tell us about your research" and "Why do you want to come to this school," but are there other specific things I should be prepared for?

Expect to be asked where else you applied. Other questions will be like, "Do you see yourself more a researcher or as an educator?" I was asked, "How do you describe your work, what "type" of scholar do you consider yourself?" You might get asked, "What have you been reading lately?" One of my friends was asked that recently.

[mdivgirl]

8 minutes ago, rheya19 said:

What kinds of questions should I expect in my interview next week? I'm assuming I'll get "Tell us about your research" and "Why do you want to come to this school," but are there other specific things I should be prepared for?

I had two interviews (at the one school I applied to).  The first was with the people in my area I would be working directly with and that was all a nice chat about my intended thesis.  They ended up telling me that they didn't cover exactly the time I was going for but that no one else really did and it was a good topic so I would need to do more independent studies where they didn't offer classes but they were still really interested.  I just went along with them and tried to sound like I had some idea of what I was talking about.  In the second interview, I got questions about what historical methodology I was interested in (other than a person who I mentioned) and what broad areas I was interested in studying for my focus for the comp exams.  The interviewers were nice, but really outside my specialty, so I did not do as well in that one.  Also, if you know who is interviewing you, look up their work or any on-line videos of them giving lectures or interviews if available.  I didn't have a chance to do that for everyone involved (because I was really trying to go deep in preparing to talk about my specific area), but it would have helped if I had.  Be prepared to talk about the historiography (or lack thereof -- if there isn't much done from your angle, all the better) and your approach.  My other tip -- my two interviews were back to back and the first definitely went better.  I think it might help if you have more than one to realize that those in the second interview have not heard what you said in the first so it's OK to repeat yourself.  At the same time, they might be asking really different questions so make sure you don't JUST repeat yourself.

Be confident and hold your own.

I have interviewed exactly once, so not sure I know much, but hope that helps.