fencergirl

Hey DBear, thanks. I did successfully complete the application process luckily haha. I think in the end I edited for length for some schools and went over on length for the schools that were more flexible in their requirements.

I submitted part of my undergrad "thesis." The original was about 50 pages but I had already edited it down to about 30 for an undergrad publication. For those that allowed 25+ pages, I used that version. Technically it went over the page count for a few schools but that was really only for the appendix (images) and bibliography. One school asked for 10 pages so I made a completely different edited version for that. And one school required two 2,000 word excerpts so I used that paper and an excerpt from an earlier paper from my junior year. Neither of the samples I used were written for a history class. My thesis was pretty interdisciplinary but included a historical element and the other paper was for a sociology class but also related back to my interests in history. Neither, unfortunately, used foreign language sources so I was a little nervous about using them, but I had pretty good success (accepted to 6 out of 9 schools). So quality of writing and thinking is definitely important, and I'm sure using foreign language sources would not hurt either. Use the paper that best reflects your abilities to think, research, and write well.

I asked about Chromebooks and got some good reccs starting on page 13 of this thread

Very helpful, thank you! Will keep reading and plugging away. I'm a bit worried about disappointing my advisor if my idea isn't well-received but I'll get over it haha.

Hey Vialy! I'm also a girl (if that wasn't made clear in my username ) I'm looking at places on my own if I can afford one but if that doesn't end up being possible perhaps we can talk some more. I'm also meeting my advisor-to-be soon and am excited but quite nervous! I've been living in Japan the past two years and will be studying Japanese history this fall I'm definitely still polishing my Japanese to be honest though - that's great that you have such an interest!

Not to hijack this thread completely but since it might be helpful to OP anyway, what are your suggestions for developing research ideas? I'm in history, and my advisor has asked me to begin thinking about first year paper/possible thesis topics before I start my Ph.D program this fall. I have several specific interests and have been doing a lot of reading in those areas to see what has been done and what hasn't been done, and have found somewhat of an idea for a paper. But how do I know if my idea is workable or not?

Clark's are my go-tos for shoes like this, but I've also had good luck with Naturalizers and EasySpirit.

Yeah apparently it's because my last name has a space in it. A bit silly - I'm sure I am not the only one!

Anyone been able to make an email address yet? I got the info and link but keep getting an error message ;(

Leggings as pants? Never acceptable in my book! Leggings with a nice skirt or dress, totally fine.

The fact that he is suggesting a meeting makes me think it isn't good news. It's unfortunate that he suggested the meeting for after the drop-date. You probably should have asked to meet earlier. I would drop the course at this point unless I was very confident in my work.

Why would people say gifts are a bad idea? I mean, you want to be careful to get something appropriate of course but I think gifts are fine. Just be careful not to spend too much or give something that looks like it might be worth a lot of money as professors may not be allowed to accept those. (Personally I'd also stay away from food and alcohol unless I really knew their taste). I gave my LORs a card and a small canvas print I made on Snapfish using photos from my time here in Japan. They seemed to really like it and one said it was the best thank you gift ever so it was well worth it for me! (Snapfish often has 50-60% off sales, I'd definitely wait for one of those if you want to go that route).

Hey @scrivere! I'll be in history too! What area are you doing if you don't mind me asking? I'll be doing modern Japan. There are at least a couple other of us history peeps on this board (Buzz and Momo above). You can PM me or Buzz if you wanna be added to the Facebook group It's kind of quiet now but we can probably use it to find roommates and such when more peeps join.

Yeah mine is 15.6 inches which is already on the large side for finding bags to fit it in etc. I carry it to work everyday now (but have a car) and it is manageable but very bulky and I am clumsy so I often accidently hit it against desks/door frames/etc while carrying it which I worry will damage the computer. So I feel like a Chromebook for when I am on campus and the bigger laptop at home might be a good solution! Now just have to figure out which chromebook. I'd like to keep the cost around $200 I think. I don't care too much about the touch screen part but would like a decent keyboard. Thanks for letting me know about your experiences, @rising_star , @A blighted one and @CBclone!

Hi @roshaniitd88. Did you try the search bar? I looked and didn't see anything on this forum which is not surprising since it just one degree with presumably a fairly small cohort and most people are probably not a part of gradcafe. You can always start your own thread though! Otherwise, maybe look for a facebook group?