lost-in-academia

Hello everyone! Five months after publishing here for the first time I can now say my interests are much more defined. I'm now writing my MA dissertation and I getting more and more passionate about my field everyday and getting more confident in my skills and my chances of getting into a good program, as an international student. Basically, my dissertation is about european diplomatic agents in the 17th and 18th centuries and how they related with local communities. It's an Atlantic History MA, but I'll also get some perspectives from sociology, political science and law. I would like to continue to a PhD program in this field, in the US. I have a preference for New England (I'm going to Brown next year for two months, for a research trip), since it has a close relationship to the Atlantic and my homeland, but I'm open to other places. Now: what schools would you recommend? I really want to continue with this timeframe (17th and 18th centuries) and topic of work.

Thank you. What would you say are some schools that would match my interests? And how do you approach faculty members? You just e-mail them saying that you have an interest in their field or?

Thanks for all the replies. I was really discouraged when I converted my undergade average into a GPA because I finished as first of my year here. My average was 16 (in a 0-20 scale), and that got me an honours scholarship during undergrad, because they consider any average above 14 to be excellent. So I'm converting to american standards and I'm feeling quite dumb. I expect to get an excellent grade on my thesis. My advisor is considered the best of the country in his field, and everyone that works with him has excellent grades. But I'm starting to doubt myself now. As far as interests go: my masters thesis will be focused on european diplomatic agents (mainly french and british) that came to the Azores islands during the eighteenth century. As far as PhD research goes I would love to continue studying the issues of diplomacy during that century, but I would like to focus on Portuguese diplomats going to those countries, so that will focus on the British Empire, mainly.

I'm so glad to have found this forum! It's so hard to figure out what to do as an international student, because our home systems are so different. I would like to ask you guys for some advice. I'm european, I finished my bachelor's in History (we don't call it that here, but to make equivalent to US degrees) in May of 2012. I've converted my grades into an american GPA and it looks like my undergrad GPA is of 3.16. Right now I'm attending a Masters program in Atlantic History (fifteenth to twentieth centuries), and my first semester GPA is of 3.0. My second semester is going better, so I might get that grade higher. I also hope to get a pretty good grade in my thesis. My main areas of interest are Early Modern European and Atlantic History, mainly focused on colonialism, imperialism and diplomatic issues. After all of this background there are some things I need to know: Do you guys think I would be able to get into a fully funded PhD program with my european Masters program, or should I get into an American program (leaving me with two masters) and then try to get into a PhD program? Considering those grades, what schools would you think are my best shots? I also heard that you need to pay application fees (that's not the case here). Is there a standard fee or does it change from school to school? Thank you all in advance and best of luck to all of you!