natsteel

It is absolutely possible, though only starting to do that now is not ideal. Are you going into your junior year? If so, then you're in much better shape. If I was you, and needed two more letters, I would take a second class with a professor I've already had. The key is to visit office hours, show interest in the material, etc.... The professor will usually ask what your post-grad plans are. Personally, I don't think you can ever get a truly strong enough LoR from a professor with whom you've only taken one class unless you had significant outside-of-class contact. A letter saying you do great work is fine, but a letter, written by a professor you've taken multiple classes with and spent some hours talking to, is very different. I knew from day one of my freshman year that I wanted to go to grad school and by the end of that year I already knew the three professors I wanted to eventually write me LoRs. (I just happen to have a number of prominent professors in my field at my school). So I took multiple classes with each of them, including independent studies which consisted mostly of long discussions, went to office hours (not TOO much), and, luckily, I hit it off with all three. Each one goes out of their way for me, has invited me out for coffee or to their house, and each has committed themselves to helping me get in the best possible school. Now you may not be so lucky to find 3 professors like that, and I do consider myself very lucky, but you do need to strive to develop relationships beyond the classroom walls. Visiting a professor once or twice a month for office hours for 30 minutes or so and doing stellar work in their class should be sufficient to get a better-than-cookie-cutter LoR. Best of luck!

Being a fellow historian, and Americanist at that, I would suggest you find out about a student discount on EndNote. It is absolutely essential and indispensable. Postbib, I have a MacBook Pro but I beta-tested Office 2010 for Windows and it was fantastic. I only hope that Entourage gets the same kind of social connector features that Outlook 2011 has.

Fair enough. I know Guelzo does alot of work on Lincoln but I didn't realize they didn't have graduate program. I'm in early American history...

What about Allen Guelzo at Gettysburg College? Obviously there's Foner at Columbia for Reconstruction, as well.

Every now and then I sneak a few peeks at Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch."

Just this past semester, I switched over to Mac and so have been using the program, Notebook. I basically take notes on a piece of blank white paper during the class by hand and then afterwards I type the notes into Notebook. This gives me a chance to review the class notes and also have them in a program that is searchable. I put the full bibliographic information of the reading for the class along with the date at the top of the page. For research note-taking, I have switched over to Papers and use OSX's Preview to annotate PDFs. This summer I will spend some time going through my stacks of printed PDFs and copying my handwritten annotations onto the PDFs. It may be a tedious process but it will prove to be a good review and I feel like I have to do it now while I still only have about 400 PDFs. Same goes for making sure my Papers library contains ALL information about the articles and authors. I am obsessive about organization and thoroughness and so most of my author entries actually contain all affiliations, pictures, relevant websites, and email addresses. You just never know when you might need something like that. And to have to go back and do that once your library has grown to 1000+ PDFs would be impossible. I also use Scrivener for individual projects and its index card/corkboard feature. Though I've been toying with the idea of using something like DevonThink (similar to a program mentioned above). Because I will be entering grad school next year, I feel like I need to solidify my digital workflow now.

I tried both Mendeley and Papers and went with Papers in the end. I liked what Mendeley could do but the GUI didn't work for me, for some reason. If Papers would just add annotation functionality, there'd be absolutely no reason to consider another application. And while Papers is geared towards the sciences, I have had no problems making it work and I'm in history. A "Humanities" version of Papers would be nice, though. It's helped me finally organize the 100s of PDFs I've collected in the last couple of years and the search function works well.

I'll only be applying this Fall but I'm already 34 and will be 36 by the start of my first year. I also have two little boys, 4 and 3. Though I'm doing extremely well in my undergrad work, I'd be lying if I didn't have moments of doubt every so often concerning whether or not I can actually continue to pull of this balancing act in a graduate school environment. In this case, my old age maturity is an asset because, at this stage of my life, I know exactly what I want and am very determined to get there. A little determination can go a long way. As for isolation, I'm fairly isolated from my "fellow" undergrads, but that I suspect is normal for someone my age with children who is surrounded by 20 year olds. A heavy courseload and family responsibilities means I'm only on campus for class. I have wondered whether that will change with the move to graduate school. While it might be refreshing to have some interaction with my eventual cohort, I can't say that I would be disappointed otherwise. Also, I can relate to the poster above that said they interacted or were more comfortable with their professors. In my three years of undergraduate study, I've had far more interaction outside of class with my professors, i.e. going to their homes or out for coffee, informal conversations, etc..., than with any of my fellow students.

The fact of the matter is that multitasking efficiency on either Macs or PCs has far more to do with the size of your RAM than the operating system itself. A PC with 4GB of RAM will be more efficient at multitasking than a Mac with 2GB of RAM, especially if it's running Windows 7 and not Vista. I have used PCs for 20 years and I know how to maintain and troubleshoot them. I also recently got a new MacBook Pro. I like OSX alot and find myself using my MBP even when I'm home with my PC desktop with better specs. As far as operating systems go, it seems to just be personal preference. But the multitasking issue has more to do with hardware than software.

Archive proximity and living comfortably... I would pick school #2. YMMV.

Level: Undergrad writing honors thesis OS: Mac OSX Snow Leopard (new Mac user) Software: Microsoft Office - I was just too comfortable with Word and actually like the Mac version better than Windows, though I wish the Mac version had the ribbon instead of the Toolbox. Also Entourage's Project feature has been fantastic in keeping all my thesis work organized as it gathers all your tasks, calendar events, email messages, and notes all in one place. Scrivener - This program has helped my research immensely. The interface and ideas behind it are exactly what you don't see on PCs. Notebook - It's exactly what it says it is. Lets you set tabs/sections and add new pages. I date each page for each class. I still take notes by hand but then type them in later both for organizational and review purposes. EndNote - I still use EndNote because I've been using it for a few years now, however I am slowly but surely making the switch to... Sente - This program may not be perfect yet, but it has potential that EndNote can't even sniff at. For organizing PDFs, it's fantastic. My workflow since switching to the Mac from PC has increased significantly and that was exactly what I hoped the switch would achieve.

Deceiver

Replace the kitten with my 2 boys and you have my FB page.

I wouldn't even mention it in a SOP if you do well in your MA program. And if you do, I certainly wouldn't write something along the lines of "having problems with your advisor." That could be a red flag. I've never been forced to withdraw from a course but I know many people are. If you wanted to explain your change of major, you could just mention the withdraw without stating the reasons, say, "an untimely withdraw" or something like that. I just don't think a PhD adcomm will care that much especially if you are applying with an MA. Besides, I see on my department's websites statements like "We encourage prospective students who did not major in history as an undergraduate." Of course, this is all considering that you received a full withdrawal that didn't affect your GPA. But, even then, most adcomms will almost certainly be far more concerned with your MA record than your undergraduate record.

I agree with Sparky and modernity. If I get in next year, I would have no problem posting something like "natsteel was accepted to xxxxx." Then again, I likely won't be FB friends with anyone else applying and I have fought back from some dire circumstances a few years ago, so it would be a fairly triumphant moment for both me and my family.

Relax, guys. From everything I have read, most history programs do not consider quantitative scores, unless you are applying to a field which requires statistical work and the like.

I didn't mean to imply that at all. I should have clarified that it was not a general statement but has more to do with my own personal quirks. In everyday life, I call all strangers sir or ma'am (even young girls)... don't ask me why, but I do. There was nothing in it beyond that.

If I was doing civil war/reconstruction-era American history, I'd love to work with Gallagher. Best of luck with that.

It most certainly does come down to your own field. Though looking at the USNWR rankings may give you a general idea. They do have some subfield rankings, for example, colonial history, which is even more helpful. But, as a poster above said, keep in mind the methodology. The rankings are based on the opinions given by administrators at other programs. So it is based almost completely on outside perception. How much weight you want to give to the opinions of people outside the actual program they are "ranking" is up to you.

I would think that they are not automatically considering quant scores for history applicants. Though I imagine they might weigh it a bit for an applicant whose subfield involves qunatitative/statistical-type work.

My area of concentration is 18th-century American history. I don't have any great story about why I'm drawn to it, but I am the kind of person that reads journal articles on my own time outside of classwork. So there must be some connection. It seems to me a strange period in which modern America is recognizable but so much of 18th-century society and politics is very different. Right now, my honors thesis focuses on events in NYC leading up to independence and the colony's changing political dynamic.

I taught myself to play six instruments (guitar, bass, keyboards, harmonica, mandolin, and lap steel) and sing. I am also a songwriter and taught myself audio engineering and production and recorded two indie records on which I played every instrument. I write a blog that follows the English football club, Arsenal. Hence, my avatar.

chaos, definitely seek out the counseling office on your campus. They usually have people equipped to deal with this kind of thing. I also had certain m.h. issues which I took care of just before beginning my undergraduate work. You should definitely see a professional that can determine whether or not therapy, medication, or both can help you. There is nothing to be ashamed about. Just do it.

I will be 35 when I go through the application process this coming Fall.

I'm 34 and will be applying this coming year, by which time I will be 35. However, I am only completing my undergraduate degree now. Like many other "older" posters, I know that I'm in a far better position, personally and academically/intellectually, to go to graduate school now than I would have been ten years ago. At this late stage, I know exactly what I want to do and my "maturity" has paid off big time in my undergrad work as well. All of my advisors/mentors assure me that early-mid 30s is not too late to go to graduate school and pursue an academic career. I have found that my UG professors appreciate having older students that are focused and determined and I would imagine it would be a similar situation in graduate programs, especially considering the higher level of maturity needed to be successful there in relation to undergraduate programs. I get the sense that achievement trumps pretty much everything else. If you come out of graduate school in your late-30s or, even, early-40s, your chances of getting a tenure track job will still be tied to your publication record. Unlike a previous poster, I do have a family-two young boys, 3 and 2, so it will be more of a challenge for me than for a 25-year old with no familial responsibility, but I imagine that, in the end, it will come down to who wants it the most and is willing to do whatever is necessary to make it happen.