TMP

Where are you exactly in your master's program? Are you planning to graduate this spring? The bar is a a little higher for MA students because they should *know* already what kind of questions they'd like to explore in the PhD program (thanks, coursework and thesis!). So you'll want to be sure that you show your growth in your SOP/writing sample and that the MA wasn't a "waste of time." Those kinds of questions that you have should actually guide you in choosing advisers and their PhD programs.

You're at GWU, a research university with PhD programs in both Political Science and History departments. You would do well to speak with your professors both in those departments. They can best guide you to choose your disciplinary focus. Your GPA is fine. Just apply. But I'd really recommend taking a year off after those 1-year MAs so you can present a finish thesis for a writing sample.

As I tell anyone worrying about their exams before completing their MAs, don't. Focus on the next goal post, which I think, for you is getting the master's degrees. Earning MLIS/PhD is not a sprint; it's a marathon. As a marathon runner myself, I don't think, I've got 20 miles to go when I'm at 6.2 miles (10K). Instead, I tend to think, "Okay, let's hit the 10 mile marker, then the half marathon." Marathon runners sometimes have a 10-10-10 thought process when deciding on their speed (10 miles + 10 miles + 10 km = 26.2 miles). Also, as you move from one stage to another, your current thought process will shift. Right now, it sounds as if you're taking a lot of MLIS coursework, which can get your head in that hole, making engaging with your peers and professors in the History department/history discipline difficult. Once you move squarely into the qualifying exams preparation, your thought process will move away from MLIS materials into whatever it is that your exams are on. Then when you work on your dissertation, your thoughts will then move into the areas that the dissertation deals with. The constant change up in intellectual thinking/reading/writing with both exciting and exhausting.

@TMP Never applied, hence my silence.

You're only in your 3rd year and I assume you have not passed your candidacy exams yet. You will most certainly learn a lot this coming year from your preparations the best ways to articulate and defend your ideas. One of the aims of a doctoral examination is to see if you can articulate your understanding, analyses, and ideas clearly to a range of audiences (particularly well-educated people who are not necessarily in your field or sharing same methodologies). Many doctoral students struggle as you are, which @telkanuru hits it on the head: articulating your thoughts clearly and in an unpretentious way. We always ask, "so what?" Fellowship committees always ask "so what?" when they read proposals. It is your job as a scholar to explain the big picture of why the history of books as part of material culture matters. For example, in your case, I'll say, I appreciate books as tools for disseminating information but I cannot care less about the kind of cover or script a book has (why should I care where the pages are from, animal skin or trees?). Keep working at it; don't brush those comments off. You need to convince those people why your work matters.

Unless you are an Americanist with interest in any sort of exchange with German-speaking countries, you need to be able to research in German (read the newspapers, secondary sources, etc.)

Are you sure you don't need to be in an enrolled PhD program to receive this kind of short-term grant? I was rejected (and that was after printing 30 pages and paying $30 postage to NY!). I found a "sponsor" by writing to him and telling him what I was interested in doing in Germany and if he would write a sponsor letter. German academics do this all the time. It's just a formality. You are not actually expected to participate in the host institution's life or whatever. Finally, it sounds like unless you use a transnational approach to your proposal, you are not within the targeted area of research. While I have not read DAAD's new initiatives, there is a strong push within German studies to explore Germans' and Germany's interactions with Asia, Latin America, and Africa. If you are coming from an Asian country, you could write a topic about interactions between your country and Germany, perhaps during the decolonization period? Or the development of trade partnerships?

it depends on the PhD program you're applying to. I had an interdisciplinary MA. I was accepted to 2 programs. My current program: All of my MA credits transferred so I didn't have to take a MA exam but I still had to do 2 years of coursework like most people, regardless of they came in with BA or MA. My other accepted program: My POI didn't think the credits will transfer because most weren't in history and the program really wanted to form me (as @telkanuru said) but my POI was interested in looking into waiving the MA thesis requirement because my MA thesis was already historically based. It varies from one program to another. Still, no matter what, you'll likely still have to do 2 years of coursework, primarily to prepare for your doctoral exams and teaching and getting to know faculty members who might sit on your committees.

Talk to your history professors. See what they think and follow their advice. They do go through the PhD admissions themselves after all....

For PhD or MA? What is your end goal?

You're obviously not paying close enough of attention to what we are saying. This isn't the right place for you to be asking questions. Go to Art History fora.

@PHD! I think you are using the wrong forum. For history PhD, you'd want to look for programs that are strong in public history or American Studies. Those programs will have professors more sympathetic to your career goals. History PhD programs, even with all the talk about preparing for non-professor positions, still hinges on the tradition.

@urbanhistorynerd Been there done that. If nothing else, you have this professor to keep in touch with after (hopefully) you get into a PhD program elsewhere. That person could potentially write a letter on your behalf or look at fellowship application materials or even serve on your dissertation committee as an external reviewer. Just focus on this as an opportunity to network, not only to get into Harvard.

I agree with @Sigaba Most professors aren't comfortable with reading reviews of their own books unless they're glowing. However, a book review written by a student/prospective applicant who doesn't have a strong grasp of the historiography and history, it's unwelcoming to them and can come across as brown-nose-ing if full of praise. My own adviser was quite reluctant to discuss her book with me until I was actually preparing for my exams when I began writing books that influenced her own work, even though I read the book in my first year (on my own). I had another professor who was nervous about assigning her own book in our seminar because she didn't know what to expect but her book fit so well with the theme. One of my examiners assigned two of her books on my list without question because she was comfortable and aware of her contributions to the field (and that they're likely on plenty of others' reading lists in and out of my program). It's just an ego thing, nothing against you, really. Everyone is different and you don't know who these people are you are applying with, as in human beings. Choose another book that equally excites you.

@OHSP I agree with your take and would say the same for other "big city" schools, particularly that one can receive research/summer funds to conduct research later on. It's quite challenging to conduct archival research during a very busy semester of coursework (and TAing if applicable). When I applied to NYU, the only thing that did not excited me about the school was having to live in/near NYC! (At the time, I wasn't fond of NYC but now I'm more warm to it after several months of living there for research.)

I've done that for NYU, Stanford and University of Maryland and still got rejected Perhaps I should have devoted more space to my questions and ideas and the specifics of the school/department offerings... ?

Yes, but not everyone wants to abandon doing historical work for non-history positions.... One has to be willing to leave their history career behind to be willing to go into kinds of jobs (unless they're willing to continue research/writing outside of their regular work hours).

Always depends where you are living in NYC and how many roommates you've got...

The answer never changes If you cannot absolutely see yourself doing anything else, then you can try the PhD route. If you can see yourself doing other things, which you obviously can, then no. If you don't try other things first, you will likely spend time in a PhD program wondering "what if i done this? Or that?" It is a consuming process that affects your entire life and many of the relationships you have at the moment. Do you want to spend a year away working in Italian archives, which I've heard aren't exactly the best organized? Are you willing to keep up with your readings during the holiday "breaks" that you're supposed to have to spend time with your family, only instead to be reading to stay on top of coursework and studying for the exams? Are you willing to bite your tongue when you receive feedback from professors (and reviewers) that make you feel defeated (although generally not the intention) or that you just don't like? Do you have the patience to explain 1000x to your (non-academic) family and friends exactly what is it that you're doing and how you're actually being paid (and justify why) to study what you love? Are you willing to endure 2-3 days of conferences with 4-6 sessions a day while schmoozing in between? Are you willing to be told by a superstar you admire in your field that your project isn't good enough? There are really a lot of questions out there that I can keep asking that relate to the reality of being a PhD student and academia. The process itself will continue to challenge your desire to finish. There is no "I defeated that obstacle, now there won't be any more..." There will always be something that will make you doubt (and that actually extends into academic careers as well). I've been challenged "bigly" after not getting in after 2 cycles of PhD admissions and after failing my first PhD exams but my support network (academics AND non-academics) told me to give it all another shot. I did. And I'm glad that I did. Also consider the reality that the PhD is really, really tough on those who do not have enough financial resources beyond their stipend (i.e. savings, Bank of the Family). There are so many hidden fees/costs that pop up over the course of the PhD.

Developing work ethic, stamina and tolerance for tedious tasks is the key to getting through your doctoral exams. After 75 books, things do become a bit.... dare I say it? Mundane.

What is your goal of obtaining a PhD?

Choose your dissertation topic very wisely. Make sure it's not you who will love it to death (you will) but it also excites other people especially tenured professors who review fellowship applications (especially at national level like ACLS, Fulbright, SSRC, etc.). If you dissertation grabs money from external readers, that shows you have real potential to be a serious scholar. It's nice to have a full fellowship package (especially from NYU and Princeton) but you can certainly overcome "the lack of placement" with external funding and publications. Applying for external grants is a skill itself-- another one to put on your CV.

Your package is quite standard for a decent, well-funded program. You're going to a program where you think you can get a lot of intellectual support for your research interests. Talk to the current graduate students about finding extra money for summers and external fellowships. They've been there! They will absolutely share their experiences, applications, etc. with you if you just ask! In fact, that is an EXCELLENT question for a first year to ask to start building collegial relationships. Also, I beg you, please don't think of your stipend spread over 9 months. Spread it over 12 months and stick with it. If you need to live with a roommate instead of your own place to make it work, so be it. You will thank yourself later that you have money to live on for the summer instead of scrambling to find a part-time job to pay the rent. Too many graduate students make this financial mistake.

Agreed with all the above. However, I've found ScannerPro's OCR not too great for my typer-written and cable notes from mid-20th century. So I do end up having to read and highlight when I upload the documents to Dropbox and read off Acrobat. One thing I do want to tell my younger self: "Don't write "summary of X"... read the damn document and make more detailed notes so that I know why I'm going back to the archives 3 years later when that archive never bothered to make a copy for me." (Said "summary" actually turned out to be quite useful so I'm glad I went back and typed it all out.) I generally stick to finding aid's classification system for labeling PDF files and creating sub-folders. I have Excel split up into the following columns, with each tab for each collection: Status [Scanned? Partial scan? Uploaded? Useless?] -- Digital ID (if applicable) -- Box Number -- Folder Number -- Folder Name -- Date --- Notes (usually I put in a few words of what's in there, interesting documents)

@JDtoPhDmaybe, Newsflash: You will be teaching first-year law courses or survey history classes for a while when you become a professor. As a TA in a PhD program, you're likely to teach survey courses. The only times you will get to be in your specialized areas are your upper-level undergraduate and graduate seminars, your candidacy exam readings, and your research. Also, be sure to research the job market to obtain a realistic sense of your chances.