Fall 2018 Applicants

[Neist]

8 minutes ago, psstein said:

Harvard HoS doesn't interview. The programs that do (Hopkins HoS and Penn HSS) are both tiny. Hopkins HoS is a 10 student program. Penn HSS is a bit larger, but I don't know very much about their program.

I'm sure you're already aware, but for the sake of tossing bits of information into the winds for the benefit of future readers of these posts...

Most HoS departments are pretty tiny. Harvard is moderately sized, but they are the exception. My department is only a dozen or so students, ranging from new students to PhD candidates. Last year, we matriculated but one student.

It's sort of a byproduct of the size of the discipline, but generally, if one attends a dedicated history of science program, one will likely have fewer local peers than you'd guess.

[ltr317]

2 hours ago, Neist said:

I'm sure you're already aware, but for the sake of tossing bits of information into the winds for the benefit of future readers of these posts...

Most HoS departments are pretty tiny. Harvard is moderately sized, but they are the exception. My department is only a dozen or so students, ranging from new students to PhD candidates. Last year, we matriculated but one student.

It's sort of a byproduct of the size of the discipline, but generally, if one attends a dedicated history of science program, one will likely have fewer local peers than you'd guess.

Could you tell me the difference in focus and other differences between a student in a HoS department and being a History of Science student in a history department?   Thanks.

Edited January 22, 2018 by ltr317

[Neist]

57 minutes ago, ltr317 said:

Could you tell me the difference in focus and other differences between a student in a HoS department and being a History of Science student in a history department?   Thanks.

I think this question will greatly depend on the department, and while I'd like to avoid blanketing statements, I'd say that it's likely that as a history of science student in a history department you are likely required to take more non history of science courses. Of course, this isn't a bad thing, but it's something to think about. For example, some of my fellow students never read Orientalism, and I'm fairly certain that most regular history graduate students have at least dabbled with it. 

Again, while not always the case, there also might be a greater number of a greater variety of faculty members who may potentially align with your interests (i.e., committee members) within an independent history of science department. 

[psstein]

57 minutes ago, ltr317 said:

Could you tell me the difference in focus and other differences between a student in a HoS department and being a History of Science student in a history department?   Thanks.

Well, it depends by program and the interdepartmental politics. Certain HoS/HPS programs don't get along well with the broader history department, which can prevent students in HoS from taking courses in history and being exposed to different strains of thought. Dedicated HoS programs tend to be a bit more socially isolating than history departments proper. If not for the merger, I'd have been the one man in my cohort.

The benefit of independent HoS departments is that retiring professors will actually be replaced by other HoS specialists. They tend to be smaller and slightly more collegial: everyone knows everyone else, so there's less of a "lost in the mix" feeling. I know everyone in my sub-department, but I don't know the vast majority of history grad students. As @Neist has pointed out, some HoS departments may be more narrowly focused. He'll know better than I do, but Oklahoma's program has historically been well-known for early modern history of science. On the other hand, Penn (to my knowledge) doesn't have anyone who works on early modern science.

[Neist]

Oh, and on top of what @psstein stated, because cohorts in history of science departments can be smaller, classes are smaller. That fact can be good or bad depending on your preferences. Personally, I excel in directed reading sort of situations, so I love it, but I can see how people might equally despise it. I'm in a class right now that only has 2 students enrolled. 

[astroid88]

In at Minn Twin Cities. Just found out!

[Neist]

14 minutes ago, astroid88 said:

In at Minn Twin Cities. Just found out!

Congrats!

Also, I apologize in advance if my responses are a bit... incoherent. I've read over 1000 pages in the last few days. Things are starting to lose clarity.  

[khigh]

19 minutes ago, astroid88 said:

In at Minn Twin Cities. Just found out!

Mine still says awaiting program decision. 

Congrats!

[35mm_]

5 hours ago, TMP said:

The realities of state schools.  I was under some pressure by my two POIs at their respective state universities to test my commitment to their programs. I certainly said that I was very interested but remained non-committal.  The POIs in private schools, in my experience, didn't seem to care.

I know that OSU did not have a "waitlist" last  year per se as we wanted to try a year without admitting TAs as we did not have such tremendous need for TAs and wanted to be more competitive overall.  The Director of Grad Admissions worked very, very hard on those fellowship nominations for students who he was convinced would come to OSU in order to continue getting more fellowships from the Graduate School.  Programs in state schools are in competition with other departments for limited number university-wide fellowships. If the Graduate School doesn't see improvement in the yield or consistent decline, it will threat the program to cut the number of fellowships it can apply to.  By consistently showing high yield each year, the program can be assured (at least) that it has plenty of resources to offer attractive funding packages to compete with peer programs.  Ultimately, my program had a quite strong yield of fellowship students, higher than in the past.

Sort of like your parents cutting your allowance if you aren't keeping up with your chores and when you do keep up with your chores, your original allowance comes back and if you take up more chores, then you might get a raise in allowance. 

It is a very tricky situation for applicants but fortunately this history board has funding spreadsheet on hand for applicants to see beforehand what kind of funding they're likely to get. 

Ah. Was either of the schools wildly unhappy when you made your decision? 

And thanks for pointing the funding board, I will have a look

[lordtiandao]

Someone from Los Angeles Googled me and went to my academia.edu profile and looked at everything I uploaded. I wonder if it's a faculty member from UCLA...

[hats]

@35mm_ If you are wondering what it takes to get yourself rejected (more precisely, non-accepted) in an interest-gauging interview like that, I can tell you! I've been there!  

Some context: for my current project, with my background, there was one university in the country, 'Western University,' that could train me. (I am here now.) My project's thematic relevance is broad, but I need specialized training in Skill X right now. If I'd wanted to use/learn Skill Y, however, Other State University (heh heh at the acronym) would have been a better fit. 'OSU' also has a professor (a Y specialist) whose book I want to emulate, so I applied to both Western and OSU. Now, I came into anthropology from studying literature and I was applying without access to a research library (which was awful), so I hadn't read a lot of anthropology. Rather early—before Western responded—OSU asked me for an interview. Whoopie! They asked me some basic questions, like how I could learn Skill X at OSU (it seemed unlikely), and where else I had applied (Western). Then we had this exchange:

OSU anthropology: So, hats, we see you don't have a lot of background in anthropology, but you do have some. To get a sense of your interests, what works of anthropology—beyond the ones named in your research statement—do you like?

hats: Uh—well—the first one that comes to mind is Oh No This Book Was Written By A Scholar at Western University [mental klaxons] [too late to retrieve foot from mouth] and also uh um here are some other names.

Yeah, the first book I named as a 'favorite,' that wasn't going to be relevant for my research, also worked at the place I was clearly going to choose over them for research reasons anyway. OSU just kind of never gave me a decision, until I withdrew from consideration: I don't know whether it was a soft waitlist or a slow rejection or what. It all worked out, but that is the level of thing you need to do to yourself to get yourself taken off of consideration for 'this applicant is definitely going to go somewhere else' reasons. Don't do what I did! It doesn't sound like you did, though; it would be unfair if they asked you to commit-commit, rather than just express serious interest, so far before April 15, so your answer sounds like it was well within the bounds of acceptable.

[fortsibut]

2 hours ago, astroid88 said:

In at Minn Twin Cities. Just found out!

Congrats!  That's awesome!  =)  How did they notify you?  Email, or?

[TMP]

2 hours ago, 35mm_ said:

Ah. Was either of the schools wildly unhappy when you made your decision? 

And thanks for pointing the funding board, I will have a look

When I turned down the other program... let's say I was rather immature My guilt lasted until I saw the POI again 2 months after I turned down his program's offer.  He said he was a bit hurt but understands it's all part of the game and we both need to move on.  Since then, we've exchanged friendly greetings and our project status when we run into each other at conferences.  He knew it was a very, very tough choice, particularly that my current adviser's research interests aligned with mine more more closely than his.

[astroid88]

7 hours ago, fortsibut said:

Congrats!  That's awesome!  =)  How did they notify you?  Email, or?

E-mail. On a weekend night, too. 

[Tigla]

I received an email today which has me a bit confused. I'm applying to a British university and had to submit a piece of research as part of my application. Today, I received an email from the department asking to send a second piece of research in by Feb 19. Of course, I will send them another piece, but it seems a bit odd to me. Has anyone else been asked to send in a second piece of research? 

Edited January 22, 2018 by Tigla

[ltr317]

@Neist and @psstein thanks.  It seems from your general answers that pursuing one approach or the other could either help or hurt your chances when applying for a faculty position. 

[ltr317]

Congrats @astroid88.  Thumbs up!

[khigh]

Called my PoI and they are still reviewing applications other than the ones that were told to apply for or were nominated for university wide scholarships. I will hopefully know this week.

[Account6567]

8 minutes ago, khigh said:

Called my PoI and they are still reviewing applications other than the ones that were told to apply for or were nominated for university wide scholarships. I will hopefully know this week.

Not judging you at all if you have a personal relationship with him/her, but more generally, should we be emailing POIs about decision timing? I've thought about doing it out of a combination of curiosity and displaying further interest in working together, but I feel like with someone I've only emailed briefly once it's more so just annoying/pushy to them.

[khigh]

6 minutes ago, Account6567 said:

Not judging you at all if you have a personal relationship with him/her, but more generally, should we be emailing POIs about decision timing? I've thought about doing it out of a combination of curiosity and displaying further interest in working together, but I feel like with someone I've only emailed briefly once it's more so just annoying/pushy to them.

I have had coffee with her a few times, been to consortium meetings with her, and she was my undergrad advisor's advisor. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't talk with her quite a bit these past few months.

[TheHessianHistorian]

@khigh and other applicants: Just remember to put on your "everything's going to be okay" face.

[khigh]

3 minutes ago, TheHessianHistorian said:

@khigh and other applicants: Just remember to put on your "everything's going to be okay" face.

The Vikings lost last night, there's a literal blizzard going on right now and I'm stuck at work, and my boyfriend found out he won't make it home from Germany for at least another month. It's just one of those days that makes you think that everything is going to crash this week. Everything will be okay, though. I'm still alive and that's always something to be thankful for.

[Manuscriptess]

30 minutes ago, Account6567 said:

Not judging you at all if you have a personal relationship with him/her, but more generally, should we be emailing POIs about decision timing? I've thought about doing it out of a combination of curiosity and displaying further interest in working together, but I feel like with someone I've only emailed briefly once it's more so just annoying/pushy to them.

You can definitely call the graduate administrator and just ask them what the time frame is. They're not making admissions decisions but are kept abreast of the timing. You don't even have to give your name-- just say "Hi, I applied to the PhD program, do you know when decisions are supposed to come out?" and they usually tell you which week you'll hear back. They're also an administrator, so you're A. not really annoying them and B. have no influence on your decision. The worst thing they can tell you is that they don't know, or that they can't say.

I called Penn's earlier and she told me that the committee just started meeting today and that no formal interviews have been sent out, so no one is going to hear until the end of Feb. 

[gnossienne n.3]

4 hours ago, Tigla said:

I received an email today which has me a bit confused. I'm applying to a British university and had to submit a piece of research as part of my application. Today, I received an email from the department asking to send a second piece of research in by Feb 19. Of course, I will send them another piece, but it seems a bit odd to me. Has anyone else been asked to send in a second piece of research? 

It depends on the program! Some British institutions will let you substitute one longer work for two shorter writing samples, and some just really want more than one writing sample. I've found that the writing sample requirements aren't always clear, for instance the requirements listed on the course webpage differ from those in the actual application.

[psstein]

3 hours ago, ltr317 said:

@Neist and @psstein thanks.  It seems from your general answers that pursuing one approach or the other could either help or hurt your chances when applying for a faculty position. 

Realistically speaking, most HoS grads aren't hired to teach HoS alone.

On the other hand, there aren't all that many independent HoS departments left. Most of the top ones are within larger history departments (Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, Wisconsin, Columbia, and so on). Even Hopkins HoS, which has been fiercely independent, has a pretty close relationship with the larger history department.

If you're accepted to independent HoS departments, it's not a bad idea to ask about their relationship with the history department.

All of that being said, you'd stand a better chance of being hired with a HoS PhD from Harvard than you would with a history PhD from Univ. of Florida.

Edited January 22, 2018 by psstein