gsc

I sat down this past weekend with my mother and we both checked all my essays together for typos/mistakes -- she had a fresh pair of eyes since she hadn't looked at my essays as much as I have, and sure enough, she found a few typos that I'd missed.

Yeah, I'm not so much worried about the recommendation letters -- I did the exact same thing as you, actually, and my recommenders seemed okay with it! I'm hoping to really hold to November 15th as the day I submit everything (since one professor said she needed two weeks). It's just a pain since the December 1st deadline isn't really a December 1st deadline, then, and since my writing sample is a work in progress, those two weeks would be nice! That's sort of how I feel, though; I'd rather give them a really good 17 page sample then a so-so 30 page sample, if the last 13 pages are 13 pages I threw together in two weeks and didn't polish. What do other people think? Best of luck to you too!

Hey, thanks! Yeah, I'm able to do that on a couple of the applications, but for at least half of the schools I'm applying to, I can't officially submit the recommenders until the entire application is completed.

How short is too short for a writing sample? I'm planning on submitting a portion of my undergrad thesis, but it's not feasible for me to have the entire thesis done and polished and ready to go by November 15 (which is when I'm trying to submit the applications so that my recommenders have enough time to submit their letters electronically). I have the first half finished -- it's a case study that stands up well enough on its own, so I figured I could work to polish that section and just send that in with a little note outlining the rest of the paper. But it's a shorter section than I had anticipated, and it only clocks in at 17 pages (it might be more like 18 or 19 with some more writing and editing). I'm applying to one school that says no more than 20 pages, so I'm okay there; another school wants the entire thesis, but their application isn't due until January, and it'll be ready by then. But what about the ones that say "most applicants submit approx. 20 to 30 pages" or "no more than 25 pages" or "no more than 30 pages" or don't even specify a limit at all? Will 17 pages (and some change) look pithy? I'd really like to stop at the first half; I don't want to send them just part of the second half if I can't send the entire thing, if that makes sense? thanks!

I don't know much about HR as a discipline, but I would think that the graduate student and the professor will be fine academic references. When they say "academic references," they mean people from within academia (professors, grad students, etc) who can speak to your potential as a researcher/student/academic. I wouldn't ask her to focus more on your coursework; the fact that you did research for her after having taken her class says something about how well you did in class, anyways. As you've intuited, your supervisor at the library isn't an academic reference, as she can't speak to your research or class skills, but she is a professional reference, since you know her in a professional/work capacity.

I just walked in on this thread by mistake... and now the hour I was supposed to spend essay writing has been spent fiddling with fonts on my SOP. Oops. (I think I'm going with Baskerville, for what it's worth.)

Right, but when I sent out all the score reports a few weeks ago, I skipped the section for departmental codes, thinking they weren't necessary. And if you don't mind I think I will send you a message! Thanks!

Oh, I didn't see your early reply! My mistake. Another question -- are you expected to send GRE scores to the department as well as the actual university? Is that something I could call and ask about? I thought I had read somewhere that it wasn't necessary (I think at my current institution they forward scores to the department), but then I looked again at Indiana and found this: "For electronic scores, the codes are “1324” for Indiana University and “2799” for the Department of History." Am I going to have to shell out another $27 (times 8 schools) to send the scores to the departments?

I haven't looked into STS, or Cornell for that matter, so thanks for the tip! To be honest, though, I've been trying for more straight-up history departments with medical historians on the faculty (or an associated history of science/medicine department), if only because I'm fairly new to medical history and wanted some more flexibility.

Hey, thanks for the tip! I actually did email the professor and she got back to me the next day (always a good sign!) -- but she said that neither she, nor the DGS, nor the other professor I was interested in working with, would be able to meet me in early August. She said I could try another time of year if I wanted to meet faculty, but I live pretty far away from this school, so I don't think there will be any meetings!

Hey, thanks for the reply! And yes, I've done research on the school and the professor. There are other professors I could see myself working with, but I was interested in meeting this particular professor since 1) her interests are a very close match to mine, and 2) she taught at my current school for over a decade (but left for this school a couple years ago), so there's a bit of a connection there.

So at the end of this month, I'll be visiting my brother, who lives about 45 minutes away from my top choice school. We were planning to head down there and check out the campus, but I was thinking it might be helpful to meet with my potential advisor in person, just to get a sense of the department/etc beyond what's on the website. I was planning to email the professor, ask if she's taking on new students, etc -- but is it too forward to ask if she would be available to meet in person? Or should I just mention that I'm visiting the campus and leave it at that?

I think the trick is to simply accept it; I find that the more I try not to freak out about things, the more freaked out I actually get. I mean, your list is filled with top schools and it's a bit nerve-wracking -- but dwelling on that fact doesn't really help you write your SOP or fill out the applications or anything else. So you can acknowledge that you feel a certain way (intimidated, etc), but you don't have to let that feeling get in your way. You can just kind of let it be in the background, if that makes sense.

I'd guess that they might want that information for the same reasons they ask you to list "other schools you're applying to" on the application forms - to see what their "competition" is.

Hi guys! I'm finishing up my undergrad in history and anthropology right now, hoping to apply to PhD programs this next cycle! I'm interested in women's history as well as medical history, mostly in Britain, but I'm interested in the US too. So far I'm thinking Rutgers, Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Washington, OSU, Wisconsin, and possibly Yale (but probably not) -- do you guys know of any other programs I might've overlooked?

Congratulations! My family is from Kentucky (Louisville), it's a great state! (Also, basketball!)

I'm not quite sure that was the implication, nor the point. I think she's cautioning you to remember that although the DGS might come in on a Saturday to get her own work done, anything administrative or office related is getting done Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm. It's not a matter of someone working harder than someone else; academic schedules are more flexible.

Cambuses are free for students! But the Iowa City/Coralville buses are not - you can get a student bus pass, though, for a discount! When you get your HawkID (or if you have it already), you can purchase it through ISIS ("My UIowa" and then "My Parking") and charge it to your U-Bill. (Since you asked, I'm not from Iowa City, I'm from another town in Iowa a couple hours away. But I do go to Iowa, I love it here!)

Luckily, Iowa City has lots of restaurants and grocery stores! A lot of it depends on where you go restaurant-wise, but I have a hard time thinking of a casual restaurant that would cost you more than $10 dollars (the fancy steakhouse is obviously an exception!) Some restaurants here can get pricey, but they can also be very affordable if you know what to order. As for grocery stores, there are various ones you can try depending on your price point. Aldi and Wal-Mart are the cheapest, Hy-Vee somewhere in the middle, and the co-op and the Bread Garden are the most expensive. Usually I shop at Wal-Mart for pretty much everything: food for the week and then stuff like paper towels or laundry detergent or school supplies on top of that. The only things I don't get at Wal-Mart are meat and produce, I go to Hy-Vee for those since their selection is nicer. Between shopping at the two stores, I usually end up spending about $30 to $40 on groceries a week? Usually about $25 to $30 at Wal-Mart and then sometimes another $10 to $15 depending on what I get at Hy-Vee. I probably spend more on groceries than other people, though; depending on what brands and things you buy, I bet you could bring that number down some.

An MA program in history is usually a common option for people switching into history from other fields. I think telkanuru was suggesting it in particular because your experience in history was a while back. If you do the MA first, or at least apply to a few MA programs and your PhD apps wash out, you can use the time in an MA program to shore up your ~stats: write a history thesis, get some recommenders who are historians, familiarize yourself with the discipline, etc. I didn't see your edit until I posted this, so I'm not sure how having an MA in IR will change your application, but applying to a few can't hurt!

As a history student at Iowa, I hear awesome things about H. Glenn Penny. The DGS is also a Germanist, too - she just published a really interesting book on postwar Germany. If you have questions about Iowa, professors at Iowa, Iowa City, etc, feel free to PM me!

Thank you so much everyone! I'm going to keep everyone's advice in mind and that example is definitely helpful - although 1300 words for an SOP is kind of, well, really long.

Oh, no, I completely agree! I don't mean I was looking for a template where I could, like, take out a few things and fill in the blanks; I totally planned on writing from scratch. I was just looking for a possible way to structure it - just to see one possible example of how it could come together, and then I could start on my own from there. I realize now it was a bit silly for me to ask; of course it's different for everyone, and you really just have to write it first. I'm so sorry for the trouble!

I've been pondering grad school applications (not applying this year, though), and I was wondering if anyone had a sample/template SOP that they might be able to share? I've read enough on here to know what to do in theory, but I'm sort of at a loss as to how to pull it all together--just having an example to look at would really help! I've seen the sample template from this website (https://sites.google.com/site/gradappadvice/home) and found it useful, but I'm wondering if there's ever a more specific one for history? Especially since that one was for psychology--or is that pretty close to what a history SOP should look like anyways? thanks guys!

Yep, and Iowa City is pretty similar. I don't think it's difficult to find housing; most Iowa students move out of the dorms really early on, so there's always apartments and stuff for sale. If you were looking for a one bedroom I'd think anywhere between ~500 to 700 would be the norm, ~800 to 950 if you were looking for a two bedroom. There's lots of housing near campus (around Gilbert and Burlington) streets, but it's pretty jam-packed with undergrads and it gets expensive by Iowa City standards (~1500 a month for a three bedroom, I think). I'd recommend living farther out and taking the bus, since the Iowa City buses are nice and they do run on time - the Oakcrest and Westwinds routes both run super frequently and go straight to campus/downtown. On the west side near University Heights, there's some large apartment complexes that aren't too outrageous and are near bus lines; Seville and Carriage Hill are both on Benton Street and Carriage Hill is ~570 for a one bedroom, and there's nearly always vacancies. The rest of University Heights can get pricey if you wait too long (my landlord keeps hiking up the rates) and stuff will go quick, so I'd try to get an apartment locked down by the end of spring term. And it's cheap to live out in Coralville, but personally, I'd avoid it. The Coralville buses aren't as reliable as the Iowa City buses (so you'll need a reliable car) and Coralville is kind of soulless. As for the east side, I hear anywhere east of North Dodge is supposed to be nice, but I've no experience with it.