Behind the Scenes

[JerryLandis]

Someone posted on the first page of this threat that Yale was finishing its 'first round of reviews' or something like that, which I accidentally read as 'first round of interviews.' I thought it odd because I had never heard of Yale doing interviews, but then when I realized that no one ever said anything about interviews, and I had simply misread and misinterpreted someone's post, I understood. Sorry to confuse you, as far as I am aware Yale definitely does not do interviews for history applicants.

[pumpkinpie]

Yale does not interview as part of the application, but faculty members have in the past called some admitted students before they were notified of admission to discuss the program. If you look through previous years' posts, you'll find some references to this.

[RaymondDale]

Stanford has completed the process. As to Americanists, they accepted 3 people out of a field of 100.

[bakabeth]

Stanford has completed the process. As to Americanists, they accepted 3 people out of a field of 100.

Thanks for the information. Do you know when they will inform?

[bakabeth]

Stanford has completed the process. As to Americanists, they accepted 3 people out of a field of 100.

Thanks for the information. Do you know when they will inform?

[lifetimestudent]

Re: stanford, are they emailing people with information or just putting it up on the apply-yourself website?

[lifetimestudent]

FYI - I called Stanford, they said that results should be out "next week." I didn't pry as to whether that means the beginning or end of next week.

[quickbrownfox]

Honestly, Michigan's process isn't all that different from other big history departments.

Remember that part on the form where you had to specify your field? Your app gets thrown in that pile. Professors are broken up by geographical field. They read all the applications in that pile. If one application suggests transnational history, then that application gets read by both groups. Each geographical group ranks their preferences and passes the list to the executive committee.

If you didn't specify anything- geographical field or professor, then it's up to the administrative assistants to figure out who the hell you are. If they can guess from your SOP, then they'll throw in a pile. Otherwise, you get thrown out.

Finally, the executive committee has the big job of whittling down the now-combined list of all applicants "recommended for admissions" from various groups. From there, the executive people decide what the program needs. For example, according to a grad student at Michigan, a number of Early Americanists left the program last year for various reasons, so there will be more spots for them to fill in that area this year. If there are already enough labor history people, then they're going reject anyone who's in labor history.

However, there is a trick when there is an affiliated department that offers funding. So say, Latin American studies has money to fund 2 new PhD students through a joint package, then the executive adcoms has to choose the top 2 Latin Americanists to receive that money. An additional student may be considered if s/he is particularly strong as well and there's a spot. Funding from outside sources tends to complicate things a bit but it gets done. So if you're looking to be affiliated with a well-funded department, your chances have increased just by a bit. (This part is another reason why if you can say that you will pay for your own PhD, your chances of getting in have been increased.)

Unfortunately for any applicant, nobody knows what the department will need until the executive committee gets that combined list. I had a friend on this board who was recommended for admissions to Michigan but had been told that Michigan didn't need another urban historian. She was disappointed but elated that she even got recommended. Still, no geographical group knows how many spots they'll get to have for that year. It all depends on the balance. Generally, it's fairly consistent from year to year.

This is why it's important to ask professors about graduate students in your area. If it sounds like there are awfully a lot and none of them are going to finish their dissertation soon, then you might not have a good chance of getting in until somebody graduates. Hence, another reason why my friend got rejected- her potential advisor already had 5 graduate students. While it's terrific to see a professor with several grad students in tow, he just won't stand much of a chance as someone who's down to one second year and is about to graduate his seventh year in getting somebody new.

In terms of what order they'll read your application, each professor has his own preference. Usually they will look at your SOP first, then the LORs or writing sample, and then everything else. This is another thing you can gain from conversations with professors- if they seem to emphasize SOP or languages when you guys talk about applications, you better meet the standards. I talked with one professor who seemed unhappy that I hadn't taken German yet so I had to mention to my advisor and in my SOP that I would be taking intensive German this semester. If he's going to take my application for what it is, then I can assume it's part of the reason why I would be rejected.

There's no way to "game" PhD admissions because of the subjectivity on the executive committee's part. The least anybody can do to help your application is to give you specific instructions on how to write your SOP, get your languages in order, and choose an interesting, well-written writing sample. If you follow the professor's application instructions, you're only helping him or her give reasons why you should be accepted. Everybody wins some and everybody loses some each year.

And also, remember that this "jobless recovery" is sending the number of applications up because people can't find a job... in which this "influx" will be mostly poorly written ones by people who haven't quite thought much about their interests.

thank you for the thorough and slightly terrifying information. i don't have a second language (the only language taught at my high school was japanese and it just didn't stick) and i didn't mention anything in my SOP about picking up a language, even though i absolutely intend to pick up Spanish. is this a massive mistake on my part?

[RaymondDale]

Re: stanford, are they emailing people with information or just putting it up on the apply-yourself website?

That I don't know. The prof I was in contact with said the Americanist committee met a couple of weeks ago, and admitted 3 out of the hundred applicants in the US field. The prof said also that it seemed to be a stronger field than usual, "perhaps because of the economy."