seaofghosts

I'm surprised he hasn't been mentioned, but I see Emile Durkheim mentioned quite a bit. Max Weber has been mentioned in several of my classes, and I plan on reading some of his writings before graduating. Awesome thread, by the way, because I've been wondering this myself! Whenever I think about anything academic, my first thought is to compile an Amazon wishlist.

I posted a question once asking if PhD programs expected undergrad theses, and everyone said that's not even typical. So yeah, chill for undergrad, you'll be doing plenty of that stuff in grad school.

I'm a junior also (graduating in three semesters, including this one), and also plan on going into European history. I'll have about three years of German under my belt once I graduate (but not quite a minor), so my game plan at this point is to focus on languages during my MA. You would, theoretically, have a couple of years of coursework before beginning your dissertation in a PhD program, but it depends on the program. So you might have to go a similar route -- start French now if you can, either on your own or at your university, then go full-steam during your MA. There are also immersion courses you can do over the summer, but they're pricey. I couldn't find any that fit my own needs, unfortunately, but maybe you'll be able to find one!

I second the person above that said maybe it's the fault of the Spanish language, not you. I adore learning languages, and have tried learning the basics of a ridiculous number of them, and I've found the Romance languages come much slower than the Germanic ones. I had a small benefit from living in a Spanish-heavy area, so I hear it constantly and did well in classes. But English is Germanic, and luckily a lot of history programs I've looked into allow German. I'm about to go into my third semester of German, and it's wonderful because a lot of the vocabulary is literally English with a German accent. So yeah, try a different language (or several!). Whatever the area of history you're interested in, you'll probably learn that language better just because of your interest level. I do really well with German because I adore speaking it and reading it (I often find myself reading it out loud just because I love hearing it -- that's when I decided I needed to minor in it).

Mine is at achmardi.wordpress.com It's pretty sparse as well, and is pretty informal, but I wanted to have a centralized place for all my stuff and someplace more history oriented.

Thanks everyone! I'll try to do an independent study class so that I can possibly use it as my writing sample.

Hey everyone! I was wondering if there are any benefits/drawbacks to studying history in Europe. I've been looking at schools for an MA in Medieval or Classical Studies and I'm very interested in getting my grad degree(s) in Holland, Germany or possibly Hungary. If I were to come back to the States for a PhD or to teach, how would my degree be received? Thanks in advance!!

The title says it all, really. But some background: I've been in school forever because of work and experimentation. I want to get a PhD in history, and I was intending to do an undergraduate thesis in preparation for grad school. (And because I just wanted to.) But now it looks like I'm not able to do a thesis -- not because of bad grades or anything negative, I just don't have room in my degree for the necessary honors courses without going semesters over. And that costs money, obviously. So how important is an undergrad thesis? I know it definitely depends on the school, but do most students who get into top programs complete one? I'm not aiming for Harvard or anything, but I do want to have choices. I should have solid applications otherwise. I'm probably making a bigger deal of it than I should be, but I just found out today that I can't do a thesis and it kinda disappointed me. Thanks!

German annieca, kotov, Kelkel, Ganymede18, grlu0701, hbeels (veeeeeery rusty), Orient, ticklemepink, viggosloof28, Tiglath-Pileser III, seaofghosts Spanish annieca, crazedandinfused, Ganymede18, grlu0701 (kind of), CageFree, StrangeLight, pudewen (very rusty and basically useless to my work), ticklemepink (reading), fortiesgirl, viggosloof28, Andean Pat, seaofghosts French theregalrenegade, Ganymede18, CageFree (reading, can speak a bit), StrangeLight, Safferz (Franglais), hbeels, sandyvanb, fortiesgirl, Tiglath-Pileser III, Andean Pat Hebrew uhohlemonster, crazedandinfused (ktzat), ticklemepink, Tiglath-Pileser III Italian fortiesgirl (reading, can speak a bit), Andean Pat (I understand it, swering) Latin Kelkel, Ganymede18, husky4ever Greek Ganymede18 (New Testament), , Tiglath-Pileser III Russian ticklemepink (really, really basic), ReallyNiceGuy Polish runaway Romanian kotov Japanese kyjin, pudewen (sort of, it's in process), Tiglath-Pileser III Portuguese CageFree (reading), StrangeLight (reading, swearing), fortiesgirl (reading, some comprehension), Andean Pat (reading) Hungarian StrangeLight (swearing only) Somali Safferz Arabic Safferz (reading), Orient (MSA) Chinese pudewen (modern and classical) Turkish orient (modern an ottoman) Persian Orient (reading) Yiddish ticklemepink Norwegian viggosloof28 (can also read Swedish and Danish) Akkadian Tiglath-Pileser III Egyptian Tiglath-Pileser III I intend to add Norwegian, French, Latin, Ancient Greek and whatever strikes my fancy during the course of my life before I kick the bucket.

I took a class this semester called Great Personalities of WWII, where each student becomes the class expert on a personality. I chose Heinz Guderian, creator of blitzkrieg, and he's become one of my favorites. Patton was quite the character, too. But #1 lately has been Churchill. Everything I've read about him has been brilliant.

I'm trying to focus on late classical/early medieval Europe and Mediterranean. Lately I've been really interested in the intellectual history of early medieval Islam. I plan on getting a PhD somewhere around that field. I'm also really interested in classical history in general, and eventually intend to teach at least one class on the Peloponnesian War. I've been wanting to teach Thucydides since I read it 8+ years ago.

It really depends on the school. Most schools will give you an answer before the end of April. Good luck!

Usually there is a suggested length within the application. For one of my schools, they said no more than three pages -- for the other, they only wanted 300-500 words. It all depends. If you can't find it, contact admissions and make sure, because if you missed the length and are totally off, they might think you can't follow directions. But two pages sounds reasonable overall.

I was going to suggest meetup.com as well. It helps break the ice since you're all there for a specific reason (even if it's just to make new friends). Same with clubs on campus. I've never been very social and don't have any really close friends (my "problem" is that I'm TOO eccentric!), but I've been able to make a lot of cool acquaintances that way.

That's for replying everybody! I think I might go ahead and extend my degree and will start Greek next fall (my schedule for spring is already full).