History Admissions 2008

[pjizz]

hey all...i really wish i had got into this site back in november, but it's still proven uber helpful for finding out when everyone get's notified. based on all the posts and my own experience, i agree that it's been a really competitive year. a couple of my professors were annoyed that i applied to 18 schools (and i can see that not many folks around here were that ambitious/or not ambitious, depending on how you think of it), but after getting in to only two, i think it was a good investment.

as for UNC dragging its feet, i hope i find out soon. notifying people april 1st when they have to make a decision by the 15th just isn't a whole lot of time. UNC was actually one of my top choices but it's slipped to the back of my mind. i'm sure they have good reason - i mean, none of my schools let me know that early...but still, it'd be nice to know. we have to plan (and pay for) visits pretty soon.

what does everyone think about calling or emailing to get your status? do schools get annoyed? i remember a lot of emails saying "your file is complete, please do not contact the dept"...is there a preferred way to do this? i'm really considering it b/c i wanted to visit my top 3 options if i could afford, but since i havent heard back from several i've had to already make plans to visit oregon...but i'm secretly not mad b/c the town, state, school and everything about the idea of living in the area makes me get goosebumps.

last question...i checked out phds.org (another site that would have been really useful back in the fall) and saw that wisconsin pales in comparison to many other schools when it comes to tuition remission. they report 17% median tuition remission at madison, whereas other schools i've applied to are somewhere in the 80's. it also takes longer to finish a degree there and they have a slightly higher percentage of students still seeking employment. what gives? i guess i understand that wisconsin is a tip top school and they don't need to entice students with funding, but still? is it that crazy to ask grad schools to pay humanities students? aren't we the ones foregoing big paying jobs for a higher form of community service?

just some thoughts that i couldn't find appropriate ways to split up. holler!

[abc]

Wisconsin is in the midst of a major funding crisis (as a university) which partially explains why the funding there pales in comparison to many schools. No department in Madison has excellent funding, but the history department is not exactly in the top bin within the school. This stems from the fact that they admit more students than they can fund via TAships in their own department. Faculty there have lamented the problem to me, but it doesn't sound like it's going to change soon. Has anyone heard back about the university fellowships? Professors told me there would be more this year and if you get one of those, you are pretty set, or as set as one can be at Wisconsin.

I spoke with several students there and got mixed reports about how the funding plays out. It sounds like some students have managed to find themselves funding in other departments, while others have struggled. One told me that I should come if I get funding, but don't (or think very seriously about what it will mean) if I don't get funding. The time to degree seems to get extended because of funding issues, but also (according to students there) because of the MA coursework, MA thesis, languages, and doctoral minor requirements (no one stays on schedule, they said).

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about Wisconsin, especially if no funding materializes. I'm very wary of the situation there and the potential for the 8-10 year PhD but if I don't get in anywhere else...my advisor seems great and there are good intellectual resources, but I'm very worried about the funding.

[pjizz]

i agree...the school is obviously top notch, and many significant historians (even if from a while ago) hail from madison. but without a bit of $, it's going to hard to justify. prestige is obv important for an arbitrary field like the humanities, but graduating on time and with little debt is a lot more tangible than ivory towers and ivy (or snow) laden buildings

but it is good to hear that UW has money problems...makes me feel less like a failure

[amanda1655]

A professor at Wisconsin (potential advisor) told me that Wisconsin that they fund their graduate students, on average, for 2.5 years. Because of the desperateness of funding, most graduate students there take far longer than the equivalent at Michigan or Harvard because they find themselves working to pay the bills. Can you believe that?! Most of the graduate students there are forced to work on top of their commitments to the history department?

I am finding the financial aid department (which I think is different than history depart awards but I'm not sure) very frustrating right now. They sent me an e-mail saying they would be able to offer me something and I needed to fill out this paperwork for them to officially give me an award and tell me how much. I filled out the paperwork, it's been a week and half and no response. Aargh!

[abc]

but it is good to hear that UW has money problems...makes me feel less like a failure

You're definitely not a failure!!! From talking to students there, it seems like the decisions about who does get the university fellowships is rather arbitrary and no one in the history department can explain how the grad school selects the recipients. One student told me the best people in his/her cohort did not fellowships though those people have found funding through a different department. It seems crazy that the history department takes so many more students than they can fund. This concerns me a great deal and my potential advisor has yet to say anything that truly allays my fear of getting stuck a) paying tuition, having to work extensively to pay my living expenses, and c) taking forever to finish.

[luvalicious]

Just a heads up for those waiting on notifications from Chicago, I got my formal acceptance/admission materials in the snail mail today. Best of luck to all those waiting on Chicago, et al.

[Pegona]

Luvalicious,

You had previously heard you were accepted via email, I presume?

[Louiselab]

I don't know if anyone would know the answer to this but i'm curious... Is there anything like the LSAC for history? For those of you unfamiliar, LSAC does the law school applications online and you can mail them a copy of your transcript and all the letters of of recommendation. They keep them in a file/database, and then you just request for them to be sent with your LSAT scores to law schools as you apply so you don't have to remind profs to send more copies/hunt them down to ask them to send more copies and three items get sent out together. they keep them for five years, but if you pay to renew the account they'll keep them longer.

Someone told me it's possible to have your undergrad school put them in a file for you so you don't have to track down the prof a year from now to get them to send it in the event that they're on sabbatical or left or something else that professors are likely to do... i go to nyu, and so finding out this information would take months and my profs are just completely clueless about such issues. or what day of the week it is. or my name.

[bleistift]

[quote name="Louiselab

[browneyedgirl]

[quote name="Louiselab

[Louiselab]

NYU doesn't. I wish they had. Wasserman hasn't done that in a number of years (since before it was Wasserman):

http://www.nyu.edu/careerdevelopment/st ... ntials.php

it might be worthwhile to pay for it, however?

Whatever they are calling that place today, their response was "uuuuuh, what? you can do that, really? 'cause that would be totally awesome if you could." aah how i'll miss it... but if i call enough different people, maybe i'll get forwarded to someone who actually knows...?

merci beaucoup!

[historygirl]

Interfolio does this (http://www.interfolio.com/). A lot of people use it for the academic job hunt. However, you still need GRE scores sent from ETS, and letters that are older than a year will be mostly ignored from a grad admissions committee. You could use Interfolio for grad application LORs, but most programs want an institution-specific cover letter as well, so I'm not certain that it would be worth it.

[pjizz]

today's letters added Cornell to the rejection list and Tennessee (my safety...and not even a word of funding) to the admit list...not so thrilling

one thought, two of the schools i've been accepted to, Oregon and Tennessee, explicitly state that I have been admitted to the MA in History, though I applied for PhD at both. i know that Oregon's dept. website stated you would be automatically considered for admission to the MA program if not accepted into the PhD program, so i'm assuming Tennessee played the same game. my question is, have other people experienced this? are there many schools that do NOT practice this...i.e. could my applying to PhD programs have contributed to my lackluster results?

all thoughts appreciated.

[fizz]

today's letters added Cornell to the rejection list and Tennessee (my safety...and not even a word of funding) to the admit list...not so thrilling

one thought, two of the schools i've been accepted to, Oregon and Tennessee, explicitly state that I have been admitted to the MA in History, though I applied for PhD at both. i know that Oregon's dept. website stated you would be automatically considered for admission to the MA program if not accepted into the PhD program, so i'm assuming Tennessee played the same game. my question is, have other people experienced this? are there many schools that do NOT practice this...i.e. could my applying to PhD programs have contributed to my lackluster results?

all thoughts appreciated.

I know at BC I had to check a box specifically stating I wanted my application to be considered for MA if I weren't accepted for PhD. I think UIUC had it the same way. The other two didn't mention anything one way or another so I wouldn't be surprised I suppose if some schools didn't roll them over.

[bleistift]

Interfolio does this (http://www.interfolio.com/). A lot of people use it for the academic job hunt. However, you still need GRE scores sent from ETS, and letters that are older than a year will be mostly ignored from a grad admissions committee. You could use Interfolio for grad application LORs, but most programs want an institution-specific cover letter as well, so I'm not certain that it would be worth it.

Most of the institutions I applied for allowed a generic cover letter and recommendation letter. I emailed the departments at all the schools I applied for, and only two schools asked me to use their specific cover letter (UCLA and Harvard). The other 6 said letter services were common and I don't need to worry about it.

[bleistift]

today's letters added Cornell to the rejection list and Tennessee (my safety...and not even a word of funding) to the admit list...not so thrilling

one thought, two of the schools i've been accepted to, Oregon and Tennessee, explicitly state that I have been admitted to the MA in History, though I applied for PhD at both. i know that Oregon's dept. website stated you would be automatically considered for admission to the MA program if not accepted into the PhD program, so i'm assuming Tennessee played the same game. my question is, have other people experienced this? are there many schools that do NOT practice this...i.e. could my applying to PhD programs have contributed to my lackluster results?

all thoughts appreciated.

I think many schools don't offer terminal MA programs, so either you're accepted for a Ph.D. or you're denied if that's the case. However, some phrase Ph.D. candidacy as conditional upon completion of a non-terminal MA (i.e. completing 2 years without failing out). Usually it's clear from the department website whether they offer a terminal MA or a non-terminal MA or no MA at all.

[luvalicious]

Luvalicious,

You had previously heard you were accepted via email, I presume?

I did.

I'm also using Interfolio, but I've asked my recommenders if they wouldn't mind updating/tweaking it accordingly, if necessary.

[pjizz]

I think many schools don't offer terminal MA programs, so either you're accepted for a Ph.D. or you're denied if that's the case. However, some phrase Ph.D. candidacy as conditional upon completion of a non-terminal MA (i.e. completing 2 years without failing out). Usually it's clear from the department website whether they offer a terminal MA or a non-terminal MA or no MA at all.

duh...i didn't even thank of that. now of course i remember several of the schools i applied for not offering terminal MA. ugh, oh well...anyone else out there frustrated that, in order to have a good approach to applying, you have to know a lot a lot a lot, and in order to know a lot a lot a lot, you typically have to have gone through it once? i swear, if i could have this round count as a "learning experience" and could do it all over again, i be set!

[TMP]

duh...i didn't even thank of that. now of course i remember several of the schools i applied for not offering terminal MA. ugh, oh well...anyone else out there frustrated that, in order to have a good approach to applying, you have to know a lot a lot a lot, and in order to know a lot a lot a lot, you typically have to have gone through it once? i swear, if i could have this round count as a "learning experience" and could do it all over again, i be set!

Yep. Not only that I go to a small school where they don't send off too many students in my department straight to grad school... my profs are also learning quite a bit too! *shrugs* At least I'll be applying for another round for PhD in two years or so...so I have this experience to learn from. I was talking to a prof yesterday about the admissions numbers and she was just shocked! Like how the freakin' are you supposed to get in those places?

[confused]

I posted a while back about my dilemma with admissions (namely having been admitted to NYU PhD and waitlisted at Mich - what to do?) and people gave me some great advice. Which was essentially that it would be great if Mich comes through but if its not looking like it, not to hold my breath - and accept NYU.

Now its got trickier again - I've heard from Mich profs that my chances for getting in just got a whole lot better for various reasons and they are really keen to get me to commit to come there, promising that I just say the word and they'll do everything to get me an official offer within a week.

So assuming the lovely Mich people come through I have a new problem. They offer considerably less money than NYU, have less money to give me grants, are isolated in Michigan and I can't do classes at Columbia and Princeton if I go there (as I can at NYU). But they are meant to have a great intellectual environment, are very prestigious and higher ranked. BUT NYU has people in my field, its in New York (an obvious plus, for personal and research reasons) more money (by at least $5000). I know its more expensive to live in NY but they offer more money for summer research, language programs etc too - if I'm in Europe doing my research I'd rather the bigger grant from NYU I guess.

My problem is the perennial one - a higher ranked and more prestigious program (UMich) vs a lower ranked less prestigious one with more money (NYU). What I guess I would really like to know if people's opinions on a PhD from NYU - is it going to help me out in the long run? Or should I look to career and think, even if I have to borrow money at Mich to keep my head above water I'll actually get a job at the end of it? Any advice would be great!

[skeeterjo]

This wonderful site might help you compare the living stipend. The rest of the decision is up to you! Best of luck!

http://www.bestplaces.net/col/default.aspx

[Pegona]

Confused, you might have already said this, but what's your subfield?

[rising_star]

So assuming the lovely Mich people come through I have a new problem. They offer considerably less money than NYU, have less money to give me grants, are isolated in Michigan and I can't do classes at Columbia and Princeton if I go there (as I can at NYU). But they are meant to have a great intellectual environment, are very prestigious and higher ranked. BUT NYU has people in my field, its in New York (an obvious plus, for personal and research reasons) more money (by at least $5000). I know its more expensive to live in NY but they offer more money for summer research, language programs etc too - if I'm in Europe doing my research I'd rather the bigger grant from NYU I guess.

My problem is the perennial one - a higher ranked and more prestigious program (UMich) vs a lower ranked less prestigious one with more money (NYU). What I guess I would really like to know if people's opinions on a PhD from NYU - is it going to help me out in the long run? Or should I look to career and think, even if I have to borrow money at Mich to keep my head above water I'll actually get a job at the end of it? Any advice would be great!

I think even with $5K more offered by NYU, you'll find Michigan to be more affordable. What are the graduate students like at each place? What kind of office space would you get? These are intangibles that I definitely am considering when I look at programs. See if you can get specifics on publications and placements of the students of your potential advisors at each place and maybe let those guide you a bit.

[pjizz]

UVA is now on the long list....oh well, wasn't really expecting much at this point. honestly, i don't expect favorable results from anywhere i've got left, so i'm not really disappointed anymore. i do think it was crazy competitive, even more so than i imagined it would be. i applied to schools ranked 4 through 89, but my average ranking for schools applied was about 27....looking back, this number could have been lower. i applied to way too many upper 20 and not enough sub-50. oh well, some advice for next year's crop.

[bleistift]

Wow, 2 weeks after I'd given up all hope and moved on to preparing for next year, I receive a (big) package in the mail from University of Chicago offering admission into their MA program for International Relations. No funding, but I'm wondering if it's worth it to bite the bullet and take loans for a year? Would attending an MA program significantly increase my chances of getting into a top 10 PhD program?