December 1st

[derHistoriker]

Most of us are aware that today, December 1st, is the deadline for many history grad programs. This is my first application season, when should I expect to hear back from schools?

[ThisGreatFolly]

It varies. I think last year I got the acceptance from my first school in January and had my last acceptance in the beginning of March.

[derHistoriker]

I just got my first acceptance today, but that school has rolling admission and wasn't one of my top choices. Is there any difference in rolling admission and pools when it comes to a schools prestige?

[fuzzylogician]

Check the Results portion of the board for when answers came out for your target programs in previous years. It's no guarantee, but it can give you a ballpark of what to expect.

[astroid88]

2 hours ago, SFischer said:

I just got my first acceptance today, but that school has rolling admission and wasn't one of my top choices. Is there any difference in rolling admission and pools when it comes to a schools prestige?

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/history-rankings 

Look for the school. 

[fuzzylogician]

6 minutes ago, astroid88 said:

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/history-rankings 

Look for the school. 

This is Oh So Not the way to decide on where to obtain your graduate education. Talk to your advisors, consider fit, funding, location, placement records of your potential schools, and go from there. Rankings on this piece of paper aren't worth the electronic ink that's spilled on them as far as graduate education is concerned. 

[AP]

In general (but not always), AdComms do not meet until after winter break. Usually interviews are held in January/Early Feb and offers are made throughout February or even March (if you are not waitlisted).

Also, you have this resource:

21 hours ago, fuzzylogician said:

Check the Results portion of the board for when answers came out for your target programs in previous years. It's no guarantee, but it can give you a ballpark of what to expect.

 

I don't know why admission policies and prestige would be connected. Could you explain?

22 hours ago, SFischer said:

I just got my first acceptance today, but that school has rolling admission and wasn't one of my top choices. Is there any difference in rolling admission and pools when it comes to a schools prestige?

 

[dr. t]

On 12/1/2017 at 7:40 PM, SFischer said:

Is there any difference in rolling admission and pools when it comes to a schools prestige?

I can't really think of a reputable program that has rolling admissions, but my knowledge of the subject is not encyclopedic. To @AP's point, it doesn't seem to be a causative relationship, of course.

Edited December 3, 2017 by telkanuru

[khigh]

I got an email earlier this week stating that the program I applied to would be starting the application review process next week.  I don't know if knowing this information was better or worse for my mental health!

[psstein]

I was accepted by Minnesota's HoS in mid-December, so they met very early/don't have a ton of applicants.

Generally speaking, you'll find out Feb./Mar.

[khigh]

40 minutes ago, psstein said:

I was accepted by Minnesota's HoS in mid-December, so they met very early/don't have a ton of applicants.

Generally speaking, you'll find out Feb./Mar.

Looks like last year, they had 100 applicants for the history program and accepted 26. 26% isn’t too bad at all! I would look at other programs, but I want to stay in Minneapolis. I feel pretty confident, but still nervous. My GRE is fairly high (161V/147Q/5.0AW). GPA over 3.5. Double Minored in foreign languages and political science and have various levels of fluency in Dutch (modern and early modern), German, French, Italian, Frisian, and Afrikaans. I can read and listen to all, write and speak the first four. I still haven’t mastered the dialects for Frisian and Afrikaans. 

My advisor for undergrad is a U alumni and one of his committee members is still there and I want to work with her. My SOP is good. My recommendations came from my advisor (who also called), the department chair that I worked closely with, and the University President because I was SGA President and worked with him on about 15 committees over two years. My writing sample included original translation of early modern Dutch and was presented at a conference with great remarks.  I published my junior year, but that was in American history (inclusion of anarchists in the first red summer definition). 3 honors societies- History, political science, and foreign languages. I’ve been to the U a few times for talks and have met most of the profs in the department and a few from the Scandinavian, German, and Dutch department. My undergrad advisor and I did some independent study and directed reading classes. Basically, I’ve been trying to get into the U from day 1 of undergrad.

There is still always that nervousness that comes with waiting for an answer. I don’t want to sell cars forever (gap year). It also doesn’t help that my boyfriend had to get his PhD from Vanderbilt because he didn’t get into the U. 

Just realized how long that reply was, but that’s the nervous excitement. 

[AP]

3 hours ago, psstein said:

I was accepted by Minnesota's HoS in mid-December, so they met very early/don't have a ton of applicants.

Generally speaking, you'll find out Feb./Mar.

That's impressive, congratulations!

[psstein]

On 12/10/2017 at 11:48 PM, AP said:

That's impressive, congratulations!

Thank you, but I meant last year. Their HoS is in a different department, which led to some issues causing me to reject their offer.

[psstein]

On 12/10/2017 at 8:58 PM, khigh said:

Looks like last year, they had 100 applicants for the history program and accepted 26. 26% isn’t too bad at all! I would look at other programs, but I want to stay in Minneapolis. I feel pretty confident, but still nervous. My GRE is fairly high (161V/147Q/5.0AW). GPA over 3.5. Double Minored in foreign languages and political science and have various levels of fluency in Dutch (modern and early modern), German, French, Italian, Frisian, and Afrikaans. I can read and listen to all, write and speak the first four. I still haven’t mastered the dialects for Frisian and Afrikaans. 

My advisor for undergrad is a U alumni and one of his committee members is still there and I want to work with her. My SOP is good. My recommendations came from my advisor (who also called), the department chair that I worked closely with, and the University President because I was SGA President and worked with him on about 15 committees over two years. My writing sample included original translation of early modern Dutch and was presented at a conference with great remarks.  I published my junior year, but that was in American history (inclusion of anarchists in the first red summer definition). 3 honors societies- History, political science, and foreign languages. I’ve been to the U a few times for talks and have met most of the profs in the department and a few from the Scandinavian, German, and Dutch department. My undergrad advisor and I did some independent study and directed reading classes. Basically, I’ve been trying to get into the U from day 1 of undergrad.

There is still always that nervousness that comes with waiting for an answer. I don’t want to sell cars forever (gap year). It also doesn’t help that my boyfriend had to get his PhD from Vanderbilt because he didn’t get into the U. 

Just realized how long that reply was, but that’s the nervous excitement. 

I would say that my experience was likely atypical. Minnesota's HoS (as you well know, I'm sure) is a separate, small department that's more attached to the science side of things than the humanities one. This was also last year, for the record, which was a strange year for them (so I"m told).

Edited December 13, 2017 by psstein

[khigh]

34 minutes ago, psstein said:

I would say that my experience was likely atypical. Minnesota's HoS (as you well know, I'm sure) is a separate, small department that's more attached to the science side of things than the humanities one. This was also last year, for the record, which was a strange year for them (so I"m told).

I'm just hoping the cold weather scares off a lot of people, haha. Why go to Minnesota with 6 months of winter when you could be studying on the beaches of sunny Southern California? 

[lordtiandao]

1 hour ago, khigh said:

I'm just hoping the cold weather scares off a lot of people, haha. Why go to Minnesota with 6 months of winter when you could be studying on the beaches of sunny Southern California? 

Because wildfires?

[khigh]

1 hour ago, lordtiandao said:

Because wildfires?

I guess that was a little insensitive.  I haven't been keeping up with the news on the wildfires.  I'm trying to distract myself waiting for my application to process by translating Het Leven en Bedryf van Admiraal de Ruiter and that sucks up all of my time and brain cells. 600 pages of early modern Dutch, but gap year means keep studying.

[psstein]

15 hours ago, khigh said:

I'm just hoping the cold weather scares off a lot of people, haha. Why go to Minnesota with 6 months of winter when you could be studying on the beaches of sunny Southern California? 

I chose a program that was about as awful during the winter, so the cold weather doesn't scare too many people. I have people in my cohort from Louisiana and California, so it's not too much of a stretch.

[khigh]

2 minutes ago, psstein said:

I chose a program that was about as awful during the winter, so the cold weather doesn't scare too many people. I have people in my cohort from Louisiana and California, so it's not too much of a stretch.

I came up from Oklahoma.  I actually moved to Minnesota for my gap year because I love winter and snow and because I wanted to show a commitment to the state of Minnesota, which seems to be a big deal in the U now.  They want people to stay here after graduate school and during one of my meetings with my potential advisor, she asked if that was my plan, even if it meant moving to some place like International Falls or Bemidji.  Of course that's my plan.  

[derHistoriker]

On 12/9/2017 at 10:16 AM, khigh said:

I got an email earlier this week stating that the program I applied to would be starting the application review process next week.  I don't know if knowing this information was better or worse for my mental health!

Was this the University of Minnesota's History PhD program? I am applying there as well and it is my top choice!

[derHistoriker]

On 12/2/2017 at 4:45 PM, AP said:

In general (but not always), AdComms do not meet until after winter break. Usually interviews are held in January/Early Feb and offers are made throughout February or even March (if you are not waitlisted).

Also, you have this resource:

 

I don't know why admission policies and prestige would be connected. Could you explain?

 

The only reason I ask is because I heard back from them so early and I've been told that smaller state schools like the one I was accepted to that use rolling admission are not as reputable.

[khigh]

27 minutes ago, SFischer said:

Was this the University of Minnesota's History PhD program? I am applying there as well and it is my top choice!

It was. It's the only program I've applied for. Who did you put for your advisor choice/choices?

[derHistoriker]

2 hours ago, khigh said:

It was. It's the only program I've applied for. Who did you put for your advisor choice/choices?

My interests are within women's history and medical history in the medieval period so I chose Dr. Kathryn Reyerson and I've spoken with her via phone and email. I also chose Dr. Anna Clark. For my secondary general area of study I chose Dr. Howard Louthan and Dr. JB Shank. I was very disappointed that Dr. Ruth Mazo Karras left the U of M this year as my interests fit her field of expertise perfectly. What about you?

[khigh]

7 minutes ago, SFischer said:

My interests are within women's history and medical history in the medieval period so I chose Dr. Kathryn Reyerson and I've spoken with her via phone and email. I also chose Dr. Anna Clark. For my secondary general area of study I chose Dr. Howard Louthan and Dr. JB Shank. I was very disappointed that Dr. Ruth Mazo Karras left the U of M this year as my interests fit her field of expertise perfectly. What about you?

My interests lie in the role of the Dutch in the Mediterranean.  I specifically want to look at Dutch-Papal State relationships during the Anglo-Dutch Wars. I've also talked to Dr. Reyerson. She's a very nice person and I've been able to sit in some consortium talks with her.  I chose Dr. Reyerson and Dr. Shank. Neither are specifically in my research area, but both have said that they would be interested in the topic and Shank has some connections in Utrecht that would be helpful. I've talked to Dr. Louthan a few times, but our areas don't overlap as much.  The person that got me interested in my field and excited about grad school retired- Dr. Tracy. 

I moved to Minneapolis a few months ago and live about 3 miles from campus, so I have been lucky enough to go to campus a few times.

Edited December 14, 2017 by khigh

[derHistoriker]

1 minute ago, khigh said:

My interests lie in the role of the Dutch in the Mediterranean.  I specifically want to look at Dutch-Papal State relationships during the Anglo-Dutch Wars. I've also talked to Dr. Reyerson. She's a very nice person and I've been able to sit in some consortium talks with her.  I chose Dr. Reyerson and Dr. Shank. Neither are specifically in my research area, but both have said that they would be interested in the topic and Shank has some connections in Utrecht that would be helpful. I've talked to Dr. Louthan a few times, but our areas don't overlap as much.  The person that got me interested in my field and excited about grad school retired- Dr. Tracy. 

My specific interests are English midwives and their role in medical practice in the medieval period and none of the professors are specifically in my research area either. Dr. Reyerson told me that they don't have an English historian, but that I could still make it work. The U of M has a historical library that is focused towards medical documents (The Wangensteen Library), I was there this week and that's what is also drawing me there. I suppose its not the best fit for me interest wise, but location and prestige it is. Technically my top choice is Notre Dame's Medieval Studies program but I know it is out of my reach, even though I applied.