sankd

This is cycle 3 for me, of sorts. The first time was an amateurish wash. The second was for MA programs. It's the real deal this time, though. Michigan Minnesota North Carolina Texas Maryland UCSB UCSD Arkansas Purdue WashU UCLA Field: 20th Century Middle East. I know Arabic, German, and a South Asian language nobody here knows (but there are 46 million of us). I just want to say that it was awfully hard to find schools that even offered Middle East as a field of study, much less a potential advisor that wasn't doing medieval/Iran/Turkey/North Africa. I don't really have a concern with my application. There are just so many factors involved that I'm fine with whatever happens. Texas was a bit of a throwaway because it was the first one and those never go as well as the later applications. PM if you want to know what I'm actually studying or who I want to work with. I'll spare the board all of the details.

I applied. I am not doing European/German history, though.

OP never said what they got on the Writing portion, which is more relevant than the Quant. Hm.

Okay, this is an easy reply. First off, you need to figure out if this is really what you want to do. Second, you start at a bedrock of your undergraduate background. The JD is all extra. Whether it is good or not is subjective and depends on what you want to do, where you apply, and who is reading your application.

Well, Wayne State is ALA-certified, so there you go. And in North Carolina, North Carolina Central is ALA-certified. Wayne has a pretty good reputation. In any case, the guy is an idiot. He's now claiming that this 'degree certificate' from UNC is 15 credits. I almost feel ashamed that he's my friend.

I don't know if this will get answered since this part of the board seems dead, but here goes... I have a friend with a BA and MA in History from a tier 4 state school. I think that it's a good idea for him to get a MSLS, since he has worked for two years in the University Archives (as a student employee). Anyhow, he seems to think that merely getting a certificate in library sciences will be enough in addition to the degrees he already has. I disagree, saying that if someone with a MSLS applies to the same job he does, they'll get the job over him regardless of other factors. I should add that this fellow has, in theory, the opportunity to go to Wayne State University and get a MSLS for free (9/11 GI Bill), but instead is moving to North Carolina and says he will get into UNC's program . For a certificate. And paying out of state tuition for the next two admissions cycles at the very least. Am I wrong?

Went to school A, dismissed. Transferred to school B, dismissed. Went to CC, then transferred to school C, graduated with a 3.7 and am off to graduate school. One of my recs was from a CC professor, admittedly one with a PhD from a top school in the field. Plus, he knew me really well and stumped hard for me.

Having been academically dismissed from two schools, I can say that I've been in worse straits than you. I agree with a lot of the above sentiments, though. It's okay to try and look for your interests, but you need to be a bit more humble about it. Like the others noted, you have to report EVERYTHING if you transfer. Better yet, you say you want to go on to graduate school. Guess what? You have to report everything there too. That's right. When I applied to graduate school, I had to send four transcripts with each application. School #1, School #2, the CC, and then where I finally got my degree. My advice to you is to go to the school you want to go to now rather than transfer later. Apply to both UCSD and UCR (and anywhere else). UCR is not a bad school at all, frankly.

Yeah, I wouldn't worry so much about the Quant. It's by far one of the last things anyone will look at on your application, and even a 'good score' isn't really that great percentage wise. I got a 730, which placed me just outside the top fifth. It still comes after LORs, SOP, transcript, writing sample, GRE Verbal, GRE Writing.

Ali Ansari? Bias taken into account, of course.

I guess you all read it as: I know you said you talked to ad coms or whatever, but there are two things that ad coms aren't going to mention that happen to all applications. Man, I think that was a Michael Jackson baby's worth. A+ on the mad reading comp skillz, yo.

Match comes first, even though you shouldn't take too much of a name-value-prestige hit, otherwise you're shooting yourself in the foot in terms of getting hired. In terms of MA programs, making mistakes with these two factors is more forgiving, but you should still make 'best fit for my research interests' the highest priority.

Yeah, I took an unfunded first year for a MA (27K loan). I wouldn't do it for a PhD, because at least with an MA if there's no funding in year two you're gone anyway. I don't think anyone should enter a PhD commitment without significant funding, even in the best of times.

Yeah, you need to whittle your research interests down. And the GRE is a bitch. Mostly because, in my opinion, the computer format.

Though funding is tough for MA students, it's not unheard of.. plus, if you get an MA, you're boosting your profile, enhancing your CV, and improving your probability of gaining funding. I used to think it was two years wasted. Now I don't. Granted, nothing is a sure thing, but I have to imagine that when the economy is better at least the # of applicants will drop. I think you're on the right track in terms of picking schools. 9 is a good number. I had 11 (4 accepted). I don't know if I can put in a good word personally about Tulane, though. It might be a better fit for you than for me, granted.

That's an easy one for people to admit. It's just admitting the inexorable. It also passes the responsibility off to something else.

One of their advising fellows is an old mentor of mine. They're splashing a lot of cash into that program, making new hires, and trying to build it up to be a big time military history program.

Who said anything about all cases? I just threw in some examples.

I'm not sure if limiting yourself this way is a good idea. I suppose it depends on what you want to do with your degree, but even then... In any case, while I am not a strictly military history guy, I am pretty familiar with the community. Have you looked at North Texas?

Looking at your old list, do you really think you might be falling into the trap of applying to the same schools all over again? I know you said that you talked to ad coms or whatever, but there are a lot of things that ad coms aren't going to mention. For example, if your advisor lost an interdepartmental battle over grad students with a colleague, they're not going to tell you. If your advisor wasn't taking on graduate students for administrative or personal reasons, they're not going to tell you. Politics is a big deal, especially when you are qualified enough and there are 200-250 applicants for less than 20 offers. Applying to the same schools over again is probably a bad thing. If you want to apply to some of them, make sure you know that it is worth it (considering that # of applicants is either goign to be the same or worse, with less funding as usual). I would start looking at other places and more MA programs.

Well, yeah. Like I said, my use of primary sources was token.

Since I rewrote my SOP completely this cycle, I actually tried to write a SOP for each school.. and then found it all redundant. So I still rewrote my SOP, I just stuck with the philosophy of having one meaningful paragraph about the school.

A large increase in applicants, which started last year, made things especially difficult. The irony is that while in some cases they may take more applicants because they need money, it's not really an improvement on their actual acceptance rate.. and less people get funding, which is the real problem. So basically, it is harder to get into graduate school in general, and especially worse to get funding.

Yeah, I had a paragraph on school specifics that changed for each one.

I redid almost all of it. I spoke more about specifics, both in goals and prior experience. I also talked about specific issues in the field and stayed away from sweeping generalizations.