Fall 2018 Applicants

[TMP]

5 hours ago, bbbb93 said:

Congrats to all of the early acceptances on here!

I hate to ask this question, but were any of the veterans on this thread that were accepted to only one program during their application cycle?  Did you end up accepting? I've mastered the jstor search, but I can't figure out grad cafe's so I apologize if this is a repetitive question! 

I did in one cycle... unfunded PhD offer.  Obviously, I turned that down and tried again the following year.  I know of people in my program who didn't have any other choice--at least their offer was funded!

Remember the mantra: ALL IT TAKES IS ONE FUNDED ACCEPTANCE.

[ltr317]

Congrats to @TheLearnedPig and @Qtf311 on your acceptances.  Two thumbs up!  

 

 

[cocakolakowski]

@ltr317 have you heard back from UConn yet? I applied two cycles ago to the 2016 cohort for their PhD program and it was quite the runaround. I hope you have better luck than I did! And who are you applying to work under at Stony Brook if I can ask? Thanks!

[ltr317]

1 hour ago, cocakolakowski said:

@ltr317 have you heard back from UConn yet? I applied two cycles ago to the 2016 cohort for their PhD program and it was quite the runaround. I hope you have better luck than I did! And who are you applying to work under at Stony Brook if I can ask? Thanks!

No, but I don't expect a decision for at least a few weeks.  I'm primarily a nineteenth-century Americanist and UConn has a number of scholars who fit my research interests.  I'm interested in working with Masten and Rilling formally and Wilbur informally since he's on phased retirement. 

[canadianrockies]

15 hours ago, tommyrj said:

Hi all, has anyone heard from University of Virginia? I saw two posts on the result page. May I ask what your fields of concentration are?

Hi, I'm one of the UVA admits! I'm focusing on early American/Atlantic World history.

[Ragu]

Hello, longtime lurker here. I very much appreciate the camaraderie and information on this site. The next couple weeks should be exciting

[FrankJEspin]

Hello Everyone! 

New to the site, first-time applicant, and a medievalist here. I’ve heard from UNC and Minnesota so far and have a final interview with Notre Dame next week. I’m still waiting on quite a few programs. 

Best of luck. 

 

Edited January 27, 2018 by FrankJEspin

[VAZ]

By the end of this week, it seems that only five schools have sent out their PhD admission decisions, namely, USC, UNC, UMN, MSU and UVA. So, don't worry! Most ACs are still looking through the applications and trying to figure out which students they want to select. I am expecting to hear from two of the schools I am applying to next week. Good luck, guys! It's getting real!!

Edited January 27, 2018 by VAZ

[TheHessianHistorian]

11 minutes ago, VAZ said:

By the end of this week, it seems that only five schools have sent out their PhD admission decisions, namely, USC, UNC, UMN, MSU and UVA. So, don't worry! Most ACs are still looking through the applications and trying to figure out which students they want to select. I am expecting to hear from two of the schools I am applying to next week. Good luck, guys! It's getting real!!

I'm assuming that means there will be no more UNC acceptances sent out after this point? I haven't gotten a rejection from UNC, but I've been questioning whether that is even a place I would want to go, considering neither my POI nor the graduate department has ever responded to a single question I've emailed them about anything. Strikes me as a rather unsupportive program...

[asmhardin]

Hi @tommyrj and @canadianrockies - another UVA admit here. My focus is 19th/20th century U.S.

Good luck to all!

[psstein]

17 hours ago, Account6567 said:

Yeah I think we're saying the same thing- Maybe your original comment was just a typo? I'm responding to "If you apply to a top program and don't get an interview request, you're probably out of the running for a spot" when I say that I don't think that's the case.

I should've been clearer, my mistake. If you don't get an interview request from a department who interviews, you're out of the running there.

[khigh]

57 minutes ago, VAZ said:

By the end of this week, it seems that only five schools have sent out their PhD admission decisions, namely, USC, UNC, UMN, MSU and UVA. So, don't worry! Most ACs are still looking through the applications and trying to figure out which students they want to select. I am expecting to hear from two of the schools I am applying to next week. Good luck, guys! It's getting real!!

I only applied to UMN. I'm out this cycle, it seems, since I haven't gotten a response. Now to decide to wait one more year or go to law school.

[TheHessianHistorian]

1 hour ago, khigh said:

I only applied to UMN. I'm out this cycle, it seems, since I haven't gotten a response. Now to decide to wait one more year or go to law school.

Might not be a bad idea to start thinking about alternative options, but I wouldn't totally give up hope. Based on previous years' results, the last of the UMN acceptances trickled in as late as the first week of February.

[khigh]

14 minutes ago, TheHessianHistorian said:

Might not be a bad idea to start thinking about alternative options, but I wouldn't totally give up hope. Based on previous years' results, the last of the UMN acceptances trickled in as late as the first week of February.

I'm going to give it until I get a rejection, but I'm getting on the older side if I want a career, dontcha know? I took the LSATs last year and have a fee waiver for UMN-Law, so I might start working on that application next week. I wouldn't be over-the-moon excited about being a lawyer, but I wouldn't be unhappy working in sports law, either. My extracurriculars/resume/CV lean more towards the law side of things. President of Student Government, Higher Education Advocate at the state legislature, Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature, Model UN (absolutely the best experience of my career so far), 15 or so university wide committees, campaign work from 2004-2016, Ok Policy Institute, women's leadership organizations multiple languages, President of Model UN, Phi Alpha Theta, History Club, etc.

It does make me feel better that the law school actually wants me and is trying to recruit me or I wouldn't even consider it. One of the hardest things for me is how much I want to, NEED to, stay in Minneapolis. It's home. It's where I want to raise children and build a life. It's far enough away that my parents don't just stop in to visit. And, the boyfriend found a very good job for the next academic year.  If I was not geographically bound, I would have applied more places. The only way I would ever want to leave Minneapolis is either for an academic career or to work for the Chicago Cubs front office. 

I did find out today that I am a finalist for a paid internship in the front office for the Minnesota Twins. They LOVED my paper on the influence of the American West on baseball rules that also included a critique of Spaulding. Most of their people are in analytics, but the person that called me said they are looking for diversity in the office (female historian helps that). I'm also addicted to sabermetrics. They asked if I was okay with the requirement to attend ALL home games. I laughed at the recruiter. I spend every day I have off during the season at the ballpark. We just won't mention that I am a Cubs fan first and a Twins fan second. It wouldn't cause conflict unless both were in the World Series because Twins is AL and Cubs is NL. 

I may see how the internship goes if I get it. If I like it and don't get into the U this cycle, I will go to law school. If I don't like it and don't get in, I will wait and reapply next cycle.

[TheLearnedPig]

2 hours ago, FrankJEspin said:

Hello Everyone! 

New to the site, first-time applicant, and a medievalist here. I’ve heard from UNC and Minnesota so far and have a final interview with Notre Dame next week. I’m still waiting on quite a few programs. 

Best of luck. 

 

Hi @FrankJEspin - Also received an interview invite from Notre Dame. Have you received the exact details yet? My email said they would be in touch in the coming days to arrange a time, however I am yet to receive this.

[FrankJEspin]

Hey @TheLearnedPig , 

I got the details yesterday afternoon. Mine is Wednesday morning. They have to coordinate a time that works with the group of profs you'd be working with most closely so I'm sure you'll hear something Monday or Tuesday, if not this weekend. 

[TheLearnedPig]

Thanks @FrankJEspin, that puts my mind at rest. 

Congratulations on the early admits to UNC and Minnesota, and best of luck with Notre Dame as well. It seems like you'll have some tough decisions to make!

[praxis34]

19 hours ago, tommyrj said:

Hi all, has anyone heard from University of Virginia? I saw two posts on the result page. May I ask what your fields of concentration are?

Hey! I am also one of the UVA admits. It is my second application cycle. Last year I've been interviewed by three schools but wasn't that lucky. My concentration -in broadest terms- is the 19th century global history with an emphasis on the political-economic questions in the history of capitalism. I am not an Americanist, but my research has a potential to explore some historical connections among the North America, Britain, and the Middle East. 

[cocakolakowski]

5 hours ago, ltr317 said:

No, but I don't expect a decision for at least a few weeks.  I'm primarily a nineteenth-century Americanist and UConn has a number of scholars who fit my research interests.  I'm interested in working with Masten and Rilling formally and Wilbur informally since he's on phased retirement. 

Ah, birds of a feather, I am a 19th century Americanist as well but I work mostly on borderlands, women's history,  and Mormonism, hence working with Farmer and Flores would be a wonderful fit. If you do get into UCONN and want a student perspective on the PhD program I have a couple friends who go and would be more than happy to pass along contact information. 

[cocakolakowski]

@TheHessianHistorian my apologies if you have already discussed your research interests, but who at Washington University in St. Louis are you looking are working with? I have also applied and it looks like a wonderful program. Thanks!

[khigh]

If any of the UMN admits end up coming to the Cities, let me know, and I can give you some pointers about the city. First thing, give up Starbucks. Sure, we have them up here, but it's all about Caribou and Tim Hortons. Oh, and we may have all of the professional sports (including women's tackle football), but high school hockey is king. Learn to like at least one sport because that is what people will talk about and learn to love talking about the weather- it's how we end conversations.

[TheHessianHistorian]

3 hours ago, cocakolakowski said:

@TheHessianHistorian my apologies if you have already discussed your research interests, but who at Washington University in St. Louis are you looking are working with? I have also applied and it looks like a wonderful program. Thanks!

Christine Johnson, who specializes in Renaissance Germany--power, identity, discovery, politics, authority, religion. Her research interests really mesh with mine. I did my BA thesis on illegitimacy (fatherless children and unwed mothers) in the rural villages of Hessen-Kassel, the roles that religion and guild economics played in this, and the socioeconomic inequalities that illegitimacy helped create that fed into the civil disorder of the 19th century.

Edited January 28, 2018 by TheHessianHistorian

[ltr317]

5 hours ago, cocakolakowski said:

Ah, birds of a feather, I am a 19th century Americanist as well but I work mostly on borderlands, women's history,  and Mormonism, hence working with Farmer and Flores would be a wonderful fit. If you do get into UCONN and want a student perspective on the PhD program I have a couple friends who go and would be more than happy to pass along contact information. 

Thanks, that will be great.  Etoile, who posts on this forum, is also a doctoral student at UConn. 

[rex-sidereus]

Hi all,

I just woke up to an email from a POI (I'm interested in Late Antique/Byzantine urbanism - so it's one Art History program in my pile) commenting on how "well liked" my statement of purpose and research interests were by all of the department faculty, and asking me if I have any questions at this time.

And I'm not exactly of where this puts me?? And, most importantly how do I word my response communicating how immensely happy I would be to attend, without making any assumptions? 

[TheLearnedPig]

26 minutes ago, rex-sidereus said:

Hi all,

I just woke up to an email from a POI (I'm interested in Late Antique/Byzantine urbanism - so it's one Art History program in my pile) commenting on how "well liked" my statement of purpose and research interests were by all of the department faculty, and asking me if I have any questions at this time.

And I'm not exactly of where this puts me?? And, most importantly how do I word my response communicating how immensely happy I would be to attend, without making any assumptions? 

Hi @rex-sidereus. I received a similar message, and replied with an email basically saying: 'thank you for your kind words and consideration...etc...please let me know if you have any questions regarding my application or its supporting materials'. You could potentially add that you believe it would be a good institution for your interests, and would be eager to attend if given the opportunity.

But it all depends on how your correspondence with the POI has been thus far. Mine had been quite formal so I kept it that way. The message you have received sounds keen, so I wouldn't worry about expressing your interest in the program, without being too hyperbolic.