Fall 2018 Applicants

[ltr317]

6 hours ago, cocakolakowski said:

First response back and it was a rejection from Washington University in St. Louis. I have to admit it stung a little just because it is the first I have heard back from any school, but hey maybe I am getting the rejections out of the way first. An extremely short rejection too, only two sentences.

 

 

Man, that sucks.  You spent all that time and money to apply there and the payback is a two sentence rejection.  They should have at least personalized the rejection.  Bureaucracy sucks big time.  

[TheHessianHistorian]

Just got a generic form rejection email from University of Arizona for their Master's program. Kind of surprised since there were two POIs there that I really jived with (Plummer and Lotz-Heumann). Feels weird to be wait-listed for WUSTL's PhD program but rejected from Arizona's MA program.

Part of me feels like it might have something to do with the fact that one of my recommenders had technical difficulties with submitting his letter, and so he emailed his LOR to the DGS instead of uploading it to the system the normal way. I asked the DGS about this and they said they added it to my file, but the online application never updated to show that my application was complete. I wonder if DGS never followed through on actually adding that last LOR to my file and my application got lost in the pile of "incompletes" that didn't make the first cut?

Edited February 7, 2018 by TheHessianHistorian

[WhaleshipEssex]

I had a similar issue with a recommender missing a deadline by about a week. They explained it to the university on their end and I followed up to make sure it wouldn't affect my application which they assured me it would not. 

[ltr317]

44 minutes ago, TheHessianHistorian said:

Just got a generic form rejection email from University of Arizona for their Master's program. Kind of surprised since there were two POIs there that I really jived with (Plummer and Lotz-Heumann). Feels weird to be wait-listed for WUSTL's PhD program but rejected from Arizona's MA program.

Part of me feels like it might have something to do with the fact that one of my recommenders had technical difficulties with submitting his letter, and so he emailed his LOR to the DGS instead of uploading it to the system the normal way. I asked the DGS about this and they said they added it to my file, but the online application never updated to show that my application was complete. I wonder if DGS never followed through on actually adding that last LOR to my file and my application got lost in the pile of "incompletes" that didn't make the first cut?

That is strange.  The longer I'm in this cycle, the more I see it as one big crap-shoot.  

[psstein]

14 minutes ago, ltr317 said:

That is strange.  The longer I'm in this cycle, the more I see it as one big crap-shoot.  

Bingo. You can be accepted or rejected from a grad program for no good reason whatsoever. It can be as simple as your PoI doesn't feel like taking a grad student, or as complex as questions of program balance/politics/funding.

I was rejected from Hopkins on the ostensible grounds that I wasn't experienced enough in HoS (which is nonsense, the vast majority of undergrads have no HoS exposure). The reality was that they didn't want to have early modernists as 80% of their entering cohort. Also, at the time, I wanted to do something with history of medicine, with whom they don't have a good relationship.

[Tigla]

3 hours ago, ltr317 said:

That is strange.  The longer I'm in this cycle, the more I see it as one big crap-shoot.  

Academia in a nutshell!

[FrankJEspin]

I got a late night acceptance from Santa Barbara last night and it looks like the UC schools sent out a few last night. 

[Johnlegghistory]

On 2/4/2018 at 12:15 AM, asmhardin said:

@Johnlegghistory I just got a master's at Montana State - let me know if you have any questions! 

Thanks for that. The program seems very interesting, and being a photographer, I could not imagine a better place to be to photograph landscapes. I have not heard from the program yet, but I will keep you in mind with any questions I have!

[Johnlegghistory]

On 2/4/2018 at 3:12 AM, KLZ said:

Did you apply for history or public history? I got my MA in history at NC State and cannot say enough good things about the program. Hopefully you are admitted into a PhD program, if that's what you want, but NC State is a great place to spend a couple years. My graduating year we sent 2 people to Yale's PhD program (1 direct from undergrad), and I was waitlisted there myself. What's your focus? PM me if you have any questions. 

I applied for traditional history. I am interested in studying the transformative events of Native Americans during the era of the Civil War and period of Reconstruction, with focus on the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. My topic covers both traditional and public history, as my paper (so far) covers the way that two towns commemorate and remember their Dakota War past. After a long conversation with Craig Friend, I decided that I wanted to do traditional history as I plan to move on to a Ph.D. after the MA.

That's great to hear about your experience there. In Summer 2016, I spent four nights on the NCSU campus for a undergraduate trip, and loved the layout of things.

I will keep you in mind if I have any other questions! Thanks!

[Qtf311]

I’ve heard back from one school and it was an acceptance, so i am happy about that.  My POI worked hard for me.  I would love to check the others off just to move on.  At this point, if I was a top choice I would have heard something so i am not feelng confident.  I don’t take it personal because I can really see how it works s a question of fit and politics.  

[Manuscriptess]

18 minutes ago, Qtf311 said:

I’ve heard back from one school and it was an acceptance, so i am happy about that.  My POI worked hard for me.  I would love to check the others off just to move on.  At this point, if I was a top choice I would have heard something so i am not feelng confident.  I don’t take it personal because I can really see how it works s a question of fit and politics.  

I think that depends where you haven't heard from yet. If you look on the results page, no one has heard anything (either rejection or acceptance) from Harvard, Brown, Stanford, Cornell, and a bunch of other schools. As long as no one else has heard anything either from those schools, you could still get in.

[Assotto]

5 hours ago, Manuscriptess said:

I think that depends where you haven't heard from yet. If you look on the results page, no one has heard anything (either rejection or acceptance) from Harvard, Brown, Stanford, Cornell, and a bunch of other schools. As long as no one else has heard anything either from those schools, you could still get in.

Cornell decisions should be made by early March.

[historypotato]

Just got an early offer from the University of Toronto with a five year funding package! Sitting already on a four year offer from York University, which was good, but U of T certainly sweetened the pot. I'm a Canadianist. Couldn't be more thrilled!

Edited February 7, 2018 by historypotato

[grubyczarnykot]

Congrats to the Yale admits. I am bursting with anxiety about Princeton HoS, it’s my top choice/best fit ?. Does anyone know if the Chicago Committee for Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science does admits in relation to the History dept, or is it completely separate?

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

Also got an offer from U of Toronto with the five-year funding package, and I am an international applicant.

I thought I couldn't make it bc they seem to only admit very few non-Canadian applicants and my POI even suggested that I apply to more programs just in case.

Also, in case anyone on this forum is interested, if you applied to Columbia's History-East Asia PhD program via EALAC instead of via the History department, the results/(more results?) may come out in a few days. (My POI sent a short email yesterday just to calm me down, it's like somehow he knows about this forum and me being on it, checking the result page in a totally not calm manner...)

cheers~

[Account6567]

5 minutes ago, AnUglyBoringNerd said:

Also got an offer from U of Toronto with the five-year funding package, and I am an international applicant.

I thought I couldn't make it bc they seem to only admit very few non-Canadian applicants and my POI even suggested that I apply to more programs just in case.

Also, in case anyone on this forum is interested, if you applied to Columbia's History-East Asia PhD program via EALAC instead of via the History department, the results/(more results?) may come out in a few days. (My POI sent a short email yesterday just to calm me down, it's like somehow he knows about this forum and me being on it, checking the result page in a totally not calm manner...)

cheers~

Safe to assume that for regular history applicants, not hearing back at this point means a rejection?

[khigh]

Just an FYI if any of y’all are thinking about Law School as a backup, I turned in my application on Friday and got a response today. They don’t mess around!

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

10 minutes ago, Account6567 said:

Safe to assume that for regular history applicants, not hearing back at this point means a rejection?

I am not sure about that, sorry.  but I heard that U of Toronto only admits one or two non-Canadian applicants, so hypothetically speaking, if those one or two couldn't attend....

[Account6567]

4 minutes ago, AnUglyBoringNerd said:

I am not sure about that, sorry.  but I heard that U of Toronto only admits one or two non-Canadian applicants, so hypothetically speaking, if those one or two couldn't attend....

Oops sorry, I meant for Columbia- Did the professor say anything implying all the history notices were sent out? I'm assuming so from the sheer number of people who've reported acceptance in the past few days, but always nice to have confirmation 

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

6 minutes ago, Account6567 said:

Oops sorry, I meant for Columbia- Did the professor say anything implying all the history notices were sent out? I'm assuming so from the sheer number of people who've reported acceptance in the past few days, but always nice to have confirmation 

Ah, my bad. My POI didn't say anything about that, sorry I couldn't bring you more information... >_< but I agree, the number of notifications on the result page seems to be very indicative and significant... :/ 

[Account6567]

21 minutes ago, AnUglyBoringNerd said:

Ah, my bad. My POI didn't say anything about that, sorry I couldn't bring you more information... >_< but I agree, the number of notifications on the result page seems to be very indicative and significant... :/ 

That's okay, thanks anyway and congrats on UofT! I'm familiar with it so feel free to PM if you have any questions about the school/city

[psstein]

2 hours ago, grubyczarnykot said:

Congrats to the Yale admits. I am bursting with anxiety about Princeton HoS, it’s my top choice/best fit ?. Does anyone know if the Chicago Committee for Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science does admits in relation to the History dept, or is it completely separate?

Chicago's program admits with the history department. They're not separate entities.

What are your research interests?

Princeton HoS will probably tell you in the next 2 weeks or so. I remember getting my decision in mid-February.

[Guest1101]

On 2018/2/1 at 1:36 AM, clarchibald said:

Hi, I'm a current NU student and I'm pretty sure the faculty discussed admissions by field yesterday (Tuesday) so they're already meeting, decisions next week sounds entirely possible. Interviews are not the norm. 

Also, do with this what you will but the current 1st year cohort is a little Americanist heavy (6 American, 3 Africa, 2 Europe, 2 medieval, 1 middle east) so interviewing may have to do with balancing things out for next year. (I've been told they aim for a third, third, third split between America, Africa, and "everywhere else") But also, who knows?   

Thank you very much for your information.

I just heard form DGS that they only made one offer in African history this year. It seems my POI was right saying that they want to shrink down the number of Africanists because of the "large" number in the past few years. There are three Africanists on the waitlist, tbh, the chance of getting an admission from the list is very slim.   

I hope this will help other applicants.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Guest1101

[grubyczarnykot]

36 minutes ago, psstein said:

Chicago's program admits with the history department. They're not separate entities.

What are your research interests?

Princeton HoS will probably tell you in the next 2 weeks or so. I remember getting my decision in mid-February.

Damn. Probably a rejection then. I do history of psychiatry + psychoanalysis, intersecting with labor and industrial history, late 19th-20thc. Which is why Princeton is my #1 ?

[narple]

Congrats Stanford admit!! ?? If you don’t mind me asking what’s your specialization/who is your POI? Feel free to DM!