Fall 2018 Applicants

[TMP]

2 hours ago, Pacifist101 said:

How much does it matter who your advisor is for your future? It obviously matters in terms of what they can give you as a mentor during your education, but I'm curious about the name of your advisor itself. So let's say there's Professor L who is known to have had a few successful students and now he has another student about to graduate. Will the student benefit from simply being "Professor L's student"? Conversely, what if there is Professor N, who's a young faculty member and has not yet established a substantial record of placement. Will it harm his student that he's "Professor N's (=no name) student"?

How "young" are we talking about?  How active is this professor in research?  If s/he is about to get tenure and the book project looks simply excellent and there is another well-known professor (or two!) who can write letters for you, you may be okay to feel free to choose between the two. If this young professor isn't close to tenure, I'd take L.

[Pacifist101]

11 minutes ago, TMP said:

How "young" are we talking about?  How active is this professor in research?  If s/he is about to get tenure and the book project looks simply excellent and there is another well-known professor (or two!) who can write letters for you, you may be okay to feel free to choose between the two. If this young professor isn't close to tenure, I'd take L.

This was just a hypothetical question, but that's a good point that another well-known professor being there could help your case.

[ashiepoo72]

5 minutes ago, TMP said:

How "young" are we talking about?  How active is this professor in research?  If s/he is about to get tenure and the book project looks simply excellent and there is another well-known professor (or two!) who can write letters for you, you may be okay to feel free to choose between the two. If this young professor isn't close to tenure, I'd take L.

I'm glad you brought this up. I've cautioned more than one grad student against having a committee made up entirely of assistant profs. Not because they're not great and you shouldn't have any as mentors or committee members, but because full profs have had more time to establish themselves. Personally, I really appreciate my assistant prof mentors because they're closer to the PhD process and job market, on top of being very active in their fields. The whole structuring a committee is quite strategic though.

[OHSP]

56 minutes ago, TMP said:

How "young" are we talking about?  How active is this professor in research?  If s/he is about to get tenure and the book project looks simply excellent and there is another well-known professor (or two!) who can write letters for you, you may be okay to feel free to choose between the two. If this young professor isn't close to tenure, I'd take L.

I second this advice. My primary advisor is "young" but also close to tenure with a book project that is great and likely to get a lot of attention. Beyond name recognition, their junior status in the department/the fact that they're in the early stages of a TT career means they're super busy, which is kind of fine because it's meant that I've developed close relationships with well-known faculty who are also happy to read my work, write letters for me etc etc. Your primary advisor could change after a year (or a semester) anyway, so it's important to have at least a handful of people you could imagine working with. 

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

8 hours ago, CBC said:

When is Chicago releasing its PhD decisions? It's been over 2.5 months now.

Hi there! I received the informal admission and an invitation to the History Day on Jan 31 from the department, then got the official notification on Feb 23 (with funding details). Hope this helps and best of luck!

[CBC]

2 minutes ago, AnUglyBoringNerd said:

Hi there! I received the informal admission and an invitation to the History Day on Jan 31 from the department, then got the official notification on Feb 23 (with funding details). Hope this helps and best of luck!

Thank you. Yes, I reckoned an acceptance wouldn't come in. I just wanted to know they were going to inform me.

[TheHessianHistorian]

Does anyone have any specific knowledge about the dates when the bulk of decisions will be released from Brandeis University and University of Oregon? I know that their websites state that their decisions will come out "6-8 weeks after the January 15th application deadline" and "mid-March," respectively, but previous years' results indicate that Brandeis and Oregon's acceptances often roll out earlier than that. Just curious if perhaps anybody has insider info they're able to share. The wait is interminable!

[cocakolakowski]

Hello All! It may just be my impatient side, but beyond the results page if anyone has received an update on an application they submitted to the following programs, I would really appreciate any information you could provide. It seems as if this early-to-mid March date may be the next period of bulk decisions. Thank you!

Programs:

Boston College

Northeastern

University of Iowa

University of Utah

Syracuse University 

[MastigosAtLarge]

My advisor had an admitted incoming Ph.D. student visit a few weeks ago, Boston College has released at least some acceptances.

[HistoricScout]

I heard back from admissions at IU. The second round of decisions will go out in early to mid March. I was told to contact them if I have not heard anything by the end of March. 

 

[PlusAustin]

I know that there are a few people waiting to hear back from SMU. I'm currently waiting to see if I'm admitted as well and boy this wait sucks, hahah.

[JaneZ1118]

Hi, guys I have not heard back from Johns Hopkins, UCSD, and Columbia. I guess at this point it might mean a bad result and the rej letters are waiting for me... and do you guys think I should apply for another year? I do not have publications, but two conference paper. I was originally planned to do women history, but it seems like a dead end. How do you guys think I can improve for next year. I will be done with my master in a history department in this May as an international student. I was very disappointed with myself since I did undergrad in a history department also...

Edited February 27, 2018 by JaneZ1118

[Account6567]

Has anyone heard anything from UT Austin this cycle?

[OHSP]

29 minutes ago, JaneZ1118 said:

Hi, guys I have not heard back from Johns Hopkins, UCSD, and Columbia. I guess at this point it might mean a bad result and the rej letters are waiting for me... and do you guys think I should apply for another year? I do not have publications, but two conference paper. I was originally planned to do women history, but it seems like a dead end. How do you guys think I can improve for next year. I will be done with my master in a history department in this May as an international student. I was very disappointed with myself since I did undergrad in a history department also...

Hey @JaneZ1118, sorry you haven't had the best luck this round--if you haven't heard either way, you can't rule out the possibility that you're on an internal waitlisting so there's still hope. I think your post raises a few other questions though--do you mean to say that women's history is a dead end...? It might be worth thinking about whether your interests fit into the broader category of gender and sexuality. And what rough fields/regions/time periods are you interested in? I think it's often the case that people have trouble articulating their interests with the necessary degree of specificity, especially the first time they apply, so (not knowing your application materials) it might help to work on articulating the research questions etc that are behind your impulse to apply to PhD programs.

[TMP]

38 minutes ago, JaneZ1118 said:

Hi, guys I have not heard back from Johns Hopkins, UCSD, and Columbia. I guess at this point it might mean a bad result and the rej letters are waiting for me... and do you guys think I should apply for another year? I do not have publications, but two conference paper. I was originally planned to do women history, but it seems like a dead end. How do you guys think I can improve for next year. I will be done with my master in a history department in this May as an international student. I was very disappointed with myself since I did undergrad in a history department also...

Without knowing your background (PM me if you want), it's hard to say.  Absolutely, if you wish to apply ot JHU again, go ahead.  Also, don't be afraid to write to your POIs for suggestions to improve your materials for the next cycle. 

[Y2K666]

x

Edited February 28, 2018 by Y2K666

[Tigla]

I received an email from my POI at Oxford. She told me that the graduate school will be sending decisions in about a week or two (she said a couple days but this is academia after all) for the "first round." Also, she wanted to informally extend my offer of admission! 

Edited February 28, 2018 by Tigla

[TheHessianHistorian]

Just got a rejection from University of Oregon. Email said I had an "excellent application" but that my POI (David Luebke) was going on leave next year. Darn! Still happy with any of the other 4 Master's programs who have offered acceptance this cycle. Now I just need to wait on Brandeis's decision and funding offerings.

[WhaleshipEssex]

2 hours ago, TheHessianHistorian said:

Now I just need to wait on Brandeis's decision

You and me both!

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

Just officially declined my UChicago and UCSB offer, and will complete the declining process for my UToronto offer by the end of this week.

I hope that UChicago does have a waiting list. And best of luck to all those who are on all kinds of formal/informal waiting lists! 

[cleantangerine]

@cocakolakowski, I was accepted to the University of Utah for the MA program on Tuesday with full funding. The results page is also showing a PhD rejection. I hope your results come soon!

[mei-meimeltdown]

Hey guys! I was wondering if anyone applied to the PhD program at University of Hawaii at Manoa? If so, has anyone heard ANYTHING at all? I know the whole application process was a pain because it had to be sent in as hard copies via regular mail (smh), so I am wondering if the will send out acceptances/rejections slowly too? They don't have a website to check on application status either.

 

Help.

[MastigosAtLarge]

8 hours ago, mei-meimeltdown said:

Hey guys! I was wondering if anyone applied to the PhD program at University of Hawaii at Manoa? If so, has anyone heard ANYTHING at all? I know the whole application process was a pain because it had to be sent in as hard copies via regular mail (smh), so I am wondering if the will send out acceptances/rejections slowly too? They don't have a website to check on application status either.

 

Help.

I'm not much help, I'm sorry, but could you call or email the department?

[mei-meimeltdown]

3 hours ago, MastigosAtLarge said:

I'm not much help, I'm sorry, but could you call or email the department?

I was thinking about doing that, but I don't want to seem too needy. Is it normal for schools to take this long?

[Histo]

I got waitlisted by UNC-CH this afternoon. Does anyone on the forum have any insight as to the likelihood of admitance? My gut feeling is that few people are likely to reject UNC making chances of spots freeing up slim. If any of the admits have decided against attending then please let them know!