rising_star

You're not going to be able to figure out all of this without taking courses, in all honesty. I would register for everything (so math, a language, history courses, etc.), with an eye toward seeing how things go and using the drop/add period to figure out which classes you truly want to be in. That's what the drop/add period is for so take advantage of it.

Do you have the language training to read primary sources in any of these areas? If not, gaining those skills while still an UG should be your priority. You also definitely want to work on narrowing this down as these are vastly different areas. Is there a topic or theme which connects these different places and times for you? @Sigaba's advice on how to think will hopefully help with this. The black plus sign in the gray box to the left of "Quote | Edit | Options" at the bottom of a post will allow you to multi-quote.

Re: adjuncting: This recent piece in The Guardian is worth a read: https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2018/jun/01/academics-candidates-outstanding-application-recruitment

There's not much difference in a 3.69 and a 3.75 GPA, tbh. I would focus more on whether there are additional courses you could take which would better prepare you for grad school and post-grad life.

1) By reading current research. You don't necessarily want to work with a giant in the field. You want to work with someone who will be invested in you and your research. Start by reading the current scholarship (conference abstracts, articles, recently published books) to get a sense of who is doing what in your specific area of interest. Then, check out where they're working and see if there are other people in the department and at the institution who you could see yourself working with (after all, you need a committee not just an advisor). If the institution has that, at that point you might consider sending an email. Re: emailing: There are lots of posts on here about emailing prospective advisors so use the search function. Also, keep in mind that it's summer and people aren't on contract so they may or may not answer their emails. 3) Lots of posts on here about that too. Again, use the search function. But also, keep in mind that it's a personal relationship and what is really important to one person may not be at all important to you.

That's unfortunate! It's an awesome resource that's been out there for a couple of decades. I find it gives really clear advice about what proposals need to do. Another good resource is the book Proposals that Work which I think is now in its sixth edition.

Honestly, not likely though this does somewhat depend on your specific interests in terms of time period and region. You haven't said anything here about what areas of history you're most interested in, which is a key factor in all of this. As has already been said, you need to focus on the things outside of class. Research experience is great but a thesis where you engage with primary sources is better. To get excellent rec letters, you need to do more than just do well in class. You might also see if you can present at a conference, do an independent study, work as a RA for a professor, etc. Oh, and take a broad range of courses so you can really narrow down your historical interests. Doing so will help you write a strong SOP. This probably varies from one person to the next. Personally, I would never work as an adjunct unless I had a full-time job which was fairly compensating me for my work. The wages are too low to survive and you'll be struggling. Check out Con Job on Facebook if you want some firsthand accounts. As @ExponentialDecay already said, don't choose a field based solely on job prospects. If you don't like it, you will end up miserable even if you're making good money. (And also, money isn't everything!) You may also want to brainstorm ways to combine your interests. For example, would you be interested in doing something like big data work with historical information? If so, consider taking a course or two in computer science and/or programming so you have the skills. Another quantitative areas with overlaps with history is GIS.

The MFA job market might be even worse than the English PhD job market... That said, depending on your interests, you may also want to look into programs in Cultural Studies and/or Anthropology, where you might be able to both study memoir and do some lifewriting yourself.

It sounds like you've already made up your mind so I'm not really sure what you're asking... That said, you should be eligible to defer your federal loans once you're enrolled at the UK university. See here for more on that. Note that the term "deactivation" isn't one used by lenders. Also, not sure what you mean about the household income part. That might affect your repayment and your ability to for forbearance but it doesn't affect your ability to defer if you're enrolled half-time or more in an educational program. Also, in thinking about the loans, I assume you're considering living expenses in addition to tuition since it's unlikely you'll be eligible for employment in the UK. I don't know much about the cost of living in Birmingham but I'd assume you'd need at least USD$15K to live on. Then there's the cost of books, travel to conferences and/or archives, etc. It's definitely a huge risk to take out those loans because it's entirely possible that you won't find any funding in the UK and will then need to decide whether to quit the program or continue taking out loans to fund your PhD.

I've never heard of anyone being able to switch from ETA to a Research grant as there are different numbers of each award available and the application processes are different. Honestly, I wouldn't even ask at this point though I suppose you have little to lose while doing so. If you don't think you'll enjoy the ETA experience, decline it so that someone on the alternate list can go instead.

I would move. A PhD isn't just about the seminars. It's also about the networking, being able to attend events on campus, gaining teaching and research experience, having access to the reference librarians and the stacks, etc. I think it's fine to live at a distance later in the PhD but early on, being close to your colleagues, advisors, and campus resources is often crucial. That said, you're putting the cart before the horse if you haven't even applied yet...

Have you read the SSRC's "On the Art of Writing Proposals"? It might help you make some of these distinctions.

I understand perfectly well why those in the community would be asking why Adelaide wants to know. My confusion is around others asking those questions. You're talking about building trust but why does anyone need to build that level of personal trust with a thesis committee member, someone who doesn't identify as a member of the community the OP wants to study. To be clear, the real part I was taking issue with is the idea that someone who is a person of color must only study their community, which is what a committee member said to the OP. As I stated before, no one has ever held white and/or male academics to that standard so it seems ludicrous to me to hold a person of color to it. I have zero issue with Adelaide or anyone else taking the time to build trust with the community they want to work with. Indeed, as a trained social scientist, I believe such trust-building is fundamental to any successful project, particularly one which is community-based or collaborative. But, when you say what you said above, it sounds like you do want Adelaide to engage in some personal disclosure, even though you've previously said that isn't required. So, if you're at a conference and someone tells you they work with rape victims, do you then ask them "were you raped?" There are plenty of reasons why people may study something which hasn't intimately affected their lives. There are also reasons why someone may not want to disclose a personal connection to a topic (if there is one) to a near stranger. I can think of a number of examples based on people I know of both of these. For example, I can think of a Latinx colleague whom everyone assumes (based on physical appearance and/or name) must be the one who teaches Ethnic American Lit but who actually focuses on British literature that's 300+ years old. Should that person change their focus to something to which people might assume they are more connected to? In general, I'd exercise caution in trying to force people to disclose things or (as is the case with the OP) try to force them to only study or focus on communities they are a part of. And I'd also tell everyone that you aren't obligated to fully disclose why you're doing what you're doing to any academic. We all have reasons, many of which we don't talk about in favor of giving a pat or trite response. If someone I don't know asked me "why this topic", they'd never get the full story.

My take on this is that it is largely institution-specific. I would never thrive at a R1 because I hate the publish or perish mentality, the pressure to get multi- million dollar grants (from funding agencies which are receiving more and more requests but have less available money), and the disconnect from working one-on-one with undergraduates. But at a R2 or upper to mid tier SLAC where you get to teach and do research but with less pressure on the research? I am a much, much happier person. The type of institution and how the workload is structured really matters to me (and to a lot of people). Have you thought about whether or how much of your time you'd like to spend on research vs. advising vs. teaching? That might be one way to help think about things. Another is to actually go through the interview process. I didn't realize how much I would dislike being at a R1 until I did a campus interview at one. From what I've seen from my friends, the lifestyle is very different from one department to the next and one university to the next. A bad chair can take a good department and ruin it, making people's working lives hell. A badly managed institution can make everyone miserable by decreasing the benefits, not giving COLA raises, etc. But, both of those are things that can be found in nearly any work environment unfortunately IME. Not sure if any of this is helpful... Good luck deciding!

Is it really impossible for one to do both of these at the same time? That is, couldn't one excel in the MA portion of their program while also preparing themselves to get into a better PhD program in the future? I'm asking because what came to mind as I read this is something which is increasingly common on the academic job market: people already in a TT job publish articles/books and/or seek out top grants so they can be more attractive and move to a different university. Thinking of it that way, it doesn't surprise me at all to see this happening on the graduate level. It sounds like you're going into this with a clear sense of what is important to you and why, which is great to see. I would make sure your advisors remain aware of your overarching goals (in terms of both research and career) so that they'll understand why you're doing what you're doing. Make sure that you're excelling academically throughout your MA, especially in your first year. If you can, make arrangements to see a counselor/therapist about your mental health as early in the semester as possible so that you start off strong. And if it isn't for you, don't be afraid to take a leave of absence from the program or to quit altogether. If it helps at all, I'll note that I did a MA at a school where I easily could've stayed for my PhD (you had to reapply but it was basically guaranteed if you were finishing the MA in good standing). I made it very clear to my MA advisor and committee that I wanted to consider all my options because the best thing for me career-wise would be to work with someone outstanding, get external funding, etc. The three of them wrote me strong recommendation letters and I got into every PhD program I applied to. I ultimately went elsewhere for my PhD and I don't think anyone was surprised. Now your situation is different since you were admitted to a PhD program but I do think clear communication is key regardless.

@nushi, I would talk to current grad students and ask them if they think there will still be good rentals available if you wait until you arrive.

Tough to say then. I would look at post-PhD placement at both institutions as well as your fit with an advisor and/or research group at each place and decide based on those factors.

Masters or PhD? Post-degree plans?

Have you talked to assistant professors who aren't at R1 institutions? Because I think that might give you another perspective. I have plenty of friends who have considered or did leave academia due to ambivalence. I also know others who are currently on the tenure-track but thinking of leaving for higher ed admin, nonprofit work, government jobs, or the corporate sector. TBH, I think those who are TT but thinking of leaving don't often talk about it because it's viewed negatively by so many ("OMG! How could you leave a TT job? That's the Holy Grail!" kind of mentality) that they keep their ambivalence to themselves. There's definitely some posts on VersatilePhD and the Chronicle fora about people who are TT and thinking of leaving their jobs for any number of reasons (geography, not loving the work, feeling called to do something else, two-body problem, etc.). Maybe you can browse those and read the posts of those folks? The other thing I would say is really discipline-specific but... In some fields, there's a value to having experience in the workforce and that can be an asset if/when you decide you want an academic job. Some fields have a robust need for those actually working in the field to teach courses and bring that firsthand knowledge into the classroom (e.g., by adjuncting in addition to having a full-time job). But, in other fields (aka, much of the humanities and social sciences), being out of academia is almost like the kiss of death and you'll never be taken seriously for an academic job again. If your field is like that, then you may want to try academia first, rather than second, if you're given the option. Hope this helps!

Agreed with @ExponentialDecay. You don't mention anything about how your fluency in German will contribute to your research interests in your original post. To me, that suggests that you still need to work on refining your research interests. The best way to do this is to read, read, read. If you can do it for credit (by doing an independent study or research project), all the better. But you need to be reading the literary scholarship so you can see what piques your interest so you can delve into that more. If your PhD SOP is scattered, you're killing your chances of getting in. Re: languages: You need to focus on the languages which are necessary for the research you want to do. If German isn't one of those, stop studying it. If French isn't one of those, don't keep studying it. Sure it's cool to say you can converse in five languages but, if that doesn't actually connect to your research interests, you aren't really doing yourself any favors when it comes to grad admissions. If you really want to do a PhD dissertation on classical Chinese Literature, then I'd recommend taking a year or two off to live in China (teach English to pay the bills, take language classes all the time) so that you can improve your knowledge of the language and gain some exposure to classical Chinese. An East Asian Studies MA won't give you the kind of intense language training in Mandarin that it sounds like you'd need for such a dissertation. Take a look at the coursework for an EAS program to see what I mean. (Consider also the funding or lack thereof for such MA degrees.) Good luck!

Reframing your question might help. For example, imagine I said my interests were in 19th century Irish literature. Would you (or anyone else) say that I should only apply to schools Ireland? Geographically limiting your applications is a sure way to make the grad admissions (or academic job market) application cycle much more difficult. If you can avoid geographic limitations, then you should. Your advisors, your peers and colleagues, and all the helpful people on this forum.

To answer briefly, NO. Do not go to School A and take out loans if you aren't actually interested in attending that school. Stay at your job and apply again.

Agreed about asking and clarifying the tasks. Also, I'd focus more on learning stats than on learning SPSS. Once you know what tests to run, you can literally google the language needed to perform said test in SPSS (or STATA or R for that matter). It's good to know how the software works but having the statistical knowledge to understand why you're doing what you're doing is more important.

Honestly, I would focus on kicking butt in the coursework you do as you finish your BA and doing a thesis if at all possible. Doing those two things will show that the admissions committee doesn't need to worry about the fact that you took time off and will let you show that an upward trend in your GPA at the end. It should also help you get strong recommendation letters, which are a key part of your application. If necessary, drop the editorial internship or the book project in order to do an undergraduate thesis. The latter is the kind of research experience PhD programs are looking for, much more so than a non-peer-reviewed book. If there are any notable Afro-Caribbean lit scholars in the DC area (at GWU, GMU, UMCP, UMBC, American, Georgetown, or another school besides Howard), see if you can reach out to them and visit to discuss your interests during office hours. See if you can take a class with them at their institution or do an independent study through Howard with them. Again, it'll help you with your interests, with networking in the field, and potentially with a rec letter. (Do the same at Howard obviously but I wanted to add this since you're in an area with a lot of institutions.) Don't waste time/space apologizing for your GPA or time off. If anything, get your letter writers to address this. You want to focus on your strengths and why you'll excel in this particular program.

If you can't provide rec letters, you won't be admitted. I would contact those with jobs in different states and ask them if they're willing to write. Academics change jobs and everyone knows that you'll be writing letters for t hose from your last school while at your new one.