TMP

@VAZ I would not stretch myself out so far like that. This is where you have to name other professors who you can feasibly work with. For example, the 16/17th century prof working in cross-cultural history will want to know, "which of our gender/women's history scholars would you like to work with?" You might want to identify another Western Europeanist working in 18/19th century to round out your potential committee. For, the Late Medieval/Early Modern intellectual historian, the person will similarly ask, do you have someone on our faculty working on gender whom you would like to work with? I don't do France but I do Britain. I might suggest co-advising with that French historian over there...." Professors also want to know who else you want to work with so that you know you're coming into a program with plenty of support. Another caveat to keep in mind: Exam reading lists. Your adviser will dictate most of the books. All of the books your adviser gives you (as well as other profs on your exam committee) are those they have read and think are important for you to be familiar with. They generally won't assign too many books they haven't read (but you want to read them). One of my colleagues refused to work with one French history professor because she had zero interest in colonialism and went with another who didn't care much for the French empire and she got away without having anything relating to the French empire on her reading list. I had an early modern intellectual historian (and I am a social/political historian) by default and I was stuck reading books he *thought* was important, which I didn't. So it was a real drag to get through those particular books. Looking back 2-3 years on, I would have definitely not bothered with a couple of those books but perhaps keep one or two.

@VAZ Welcome to one of the most challenging aspects of writing the statement of purpose! In fact, your last choice "women of French Revolution" is narrow enough but still broad. Why? Because Within that subject itself, you can still ask multiple questions using a variety of methodologies and theories such as class, religion, race, upbringing, location, statistics, etc. By asking those kind of questions, you are showing yourself that you might be willing to take courses and read books on women's roles in other time periods (WWI) or in another continent (Chinese Revolution of 1927) in addition to learning most of early modern/modern French/European history. You should be able to drop a few historians' names/works who have influenced you to reach this decision. To say you want to do a dissertation specifically on women of La Havre during the French Revolution without reading broad historical questions will raise doubts among professors. They'll ask, "Will this person be willing to do a comparative study with women in Toulouse and Marseilles? Might this person be willing to look at a longer history of women in La Havre and how their lives change from Ancien Regime to the Third Republic? Has this person read Mary Louise Robert's What Soldiers Do and looked at her bibliography for women in La Havre?" Professors are seriously thinking creatures and want to be able to impart their knowledge to open minded graduate students who have a good focus but need support to refine their dissertation topics further.

First, has the person contacted the POI to get a sense of his/her current research projects? If the POI has nothing heading for publications right now, I'd beware. I would give more leniency to Associate Professors as they are doing far more than they did as Assistant Professors. They now are being asked to serve on more committees within the university and the field and sought after for tenure reviews and reviewing articles for journals. Within all that, the professor him/herself has to make choices how s/he wants to build up the portfolio for full promotion. Some want to focus on building outstanding, creative syllabi and teach those courses and gun for awards (unfortunately dependent on students and peers to make the nominations!). Others want to get more of the research for the next project done. It also depends on what is needed for the portfolio for full professorship for that particular department/university. If a Full Professor is doing none the above and sitting pretty, move on. However, if s/he has been supervising graduate students who are producing excellent work and receiving solid dissertation fellowships and getting academic jobs (if going into academia is what you want), then I would not be as concerned. The person has clearly developed a reputation for being a solid dissertation adviser. Part of being a strong dissertation adviser is keeping the exam reading lists up-to-date and that means being forced to read new books in the field (and thus learning new information, theories, and methodologies). If the students' reading lists don't include books from the last 5 years in addition to classics, I'd steer away. Having written all that, your friend should be asking about the POI's on-going research projects and doctoral students. A good POI should be able to brag about his/her doctoral students' accomplishments and research (hopefully breaking some ground...).

Tough one. My dissertation is all of above. When I entered in the PhD program, I definitely intended to be theme-based, followed by events. Things have changed a lot in the last 5 years.

Focusing in your intellectual questions here, @Banzailizard, have you considered looking into environmental history programs? It seems to be you're interested in the economics of how humans managed the environment around them (may it be urban or rural). While environmental historians tend to lean towards the sciences, they also engage with social scientific methodologies to make sense of how human beings interact with their surroundings. As for getting some sense of a reading list for Early Modern Europe, you might want to consult this guide from University of Chicago's Constantin Fasol. (now retired) http://home.uchicago.edu/~icon/teach/ She has multiple links to her PDFs. I used her guide to get a basic sense of early modern European history for my own exams (as well as her tips for oral exams!). Very helpful! You'll want to be sure to browse through American Historial Review, Environmental History, and other journals if you can get access to them, to get a sense of what topics people are working on.

There have been posts relating to this question. Look back in Fall 201(X) Applicants threads. You'll find a wealth of information, if not daunting, shared by applicants and old-timers (like myself). This is the kind of question that comes up every year.

From my understanding, @VAZ, it all depends on the POI. Sometimes they talk, sometimes they keep to themselves and hope for the best. Everyone knows that you're going to apply to multiple places. The reason behind "are you SURE you're gonna come?!" anxiety from the professors is the Graduate School. The Graduate School doles out only so many fellowships and it wants to see its money being used every year to its maximum. If the Graduate School notices a significant drop or consistently declining yield rates, it'll rethink its commitment to PhD education. When the Graduate School sees a department losing students to other programs, it's going to say, "You want 18 fellowships next year? I don't think so. Only 10 of the fellowship nominees came to your program. We're going to give you 12 for this year. Show us that you can fill that 12 and we'll reconsider." In any case, the Graduate School has to report to its higher up: the University and its Budget Office who makes the big decisions about where the money is going to go (football program? Counseling center? Undergraduate writing center? Dorms?). University bureaucracy is very nasty that way when it comes to graduate education. How to game this? Be honest but phrase carefully. Demonstrate how the program is very appealing to you in ways you can't imagine being anywhere else. Do whatever you can to avoid naming other programs/professors and generalization (really, what's the difference between Princeton's and UCLA's library holdings?). Remember, when a POI asks you or makes a conversation about "is this your first choice?", it's a signal that there's something much bigger going on than the POI herself/himself, especially if it's a public university. It's not you, it's the university that's looking out for itself during times when state budgets are cutting education. I suspect that my POI initially rejected me because she didn't get the sense that I really wanted to go to OSU (and she picked someone who had roots in the local community who did come). When I finished the cycle with only two waitlists, I contacted her again for help. After more research, I realized that my POI and OSU were absolutely right for me and I told her that. Then I got in the next cycle. Even though I wavered for weeks between OSU and another program, I accepted the offer.

Unfortunately it's not just "some" schools. Many don't bother to update. We've had some fabulous placements (Michigan State, SUNY Binghamton, University of Utah, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, etc. in the last few years). Your best bet, really, is to be in touch with the graduate coordinator or graduate studies chair who will have the most up-to-date information. Also, it doesn't hurt to ask your POI where his/her students have gone after finishing. But bear in mind, not everyone wants to go into academia and you cannot judge the adviser for their choices. I think half the people I've been in graduate school with who have finished whether at OSU or elsewhere (including Michigan, Yale, , NYU, Stanford) were fortunate to land a tenure-track job while others realized that academia wasn't really for them or got too frustrated with the job market and changed careers. Regardless, all found happiness.

Academic placement rate isn't any better than Brown's. Also, consider the fact that Brown has had smaller cohorts than OSU. We have just begun to admit less than 15 students each year. As for teaching load, what's it like at Brown? Also, consider the fact that we are talking about public vs. private universities with different class sizes in lower-level courses.

Most people will understand basic English. Have your own research information written down in English and the host language and finding aid numbers ready. It'll take a few trial and errors but you'll get the handle of the basics of the procedures. Most archivists are used to researchers like yourself and find a way to make your visit worthwhile. I don't speak French but I managed to survive Archives Nationales in Paris. Also, have a dictionary on hand if needed for the archivist to look up a particular word.

Actually, I am at Ohio State and I should correct some of your information, @telkanuru and give @VAZ an opportunity to consider. Our teaching load is actually lower than most of our peer programs. Teaching one's own course is optional but one gets paid the same as a TA in the same stage of the program. Students who claimed that they "had"/"were required" to teach their own courses are making victims of themselves. They tend to be those who just want to teach after finishing (not go to a research institution but to teach 4 courses/semester). They also prefer not to be working for a professor as a TA (i.e. they don't really want to be told how to teach but just try for themselves). In any event, the department chair recently instituted maximum of 2 semesters of Instructor of Record to help students focus on their dissertations and finish (students can get more if there's a real need for a particular course but that's not even guaranteed). That stipulation has worked to move people along in the past year. It is true that you do not need to teach so much in graduate school. Your job is to prove yourself as a scholar first and that means researching and publishing (and applying for monies). Also, undergrad demand has fallen (due to external economic pressures, it's not news) so a TA can be grading anywhere between 35 and 70 students. So if one gets luck with a small grading load, it's not all that bad. Most of our professors are very reasonable "bosses" and are mindful of students' need to complete coursework and dissertation. Finally, about the placement record. Our program does better with teaching institutions because of our strength in teaching. Also certain fields perform much better than others (European, African American, Asian, and Ottoman do the best) because of variable opportunities existing in those fields (top-notch professors, multiple funding opportunities). It is possible to get a job at a research institution if you can package your PhD program around research like peers at Michigan if you focus on being a TA and applying for tons of research grants/fellowships. Because of the department's longstanding connections to DC, we also place our graduates in the that area with comfortably salaries. Our placement rate is excellent because of the diverse paths that our graduates have taken. For academic jobs, it's honestly no better than most programs (roughly 50% overall). I should also point out that we have very generous summer funding which one applies for each year. Without a car, our living stipend is quite reasonable for Columbus. I'm happy to discuss details via PM.

Apply to MA programs first. No question. You'll have a chance to get your feet wet in history courses and decide if earning a history PhD is for you.

Every professor is different. Some simply can't imagine life without academia while others are ready to hang up their tweed jackets and explore the world. Retirement is a very personal choice. Your best bets are to: A) Make sure they're still active in the field-- are they still publishing? Are they still presenting papers at conferences? Look for recent conference programs (AHA or your field's major learned societies). Are they doing service to your field? (This is different from service to the university, which is mandate of all professors) B ) Ask to e-mail with the current advisees to get a sense of his/her present advising style. Some professors will be more hands on as they get older (they don't have to do so much to "prove" themselves) while others are more hands off. C) Ask if s/he is still taking current students and for suggestions whom else you can work with in the department. In case of departure, you'll want to be able to work with someone whom both of you like. And always, always have at least 2 people in the department besides the POI whom you can envision working with on your dissertation. You need multiple mentors. It takes a village to raise a graduate student.

Just apply to the PhD programs! For one, you will have opportunities to continue Korean at your future university. It's not unusual for our non-American historians to continue taking language courses in addition to their history courses. They also have access to the FLAS (Foreign Language and Area Studies) fellowships, which releases you from teaching to focus on language study (in addition to your history courses). Those are quite nice to have! But make sure your potential universities' East Asian Studies Centers have them (Title VIII) I agree with all above. My colleagues have told me that their intended research language improved dramatically while they were conducting research abroad. I am currently in northern Germany, where English is not very well spoken so I'm able to focus on communicating in German. I still rely on the dictionary but can make sense of my documents but I'm sure my German will improve as I keep working with German-language materials.

I have to PM you. I'm a sixth year in my PhD program (ABD already). FWIW, I specialize in the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. But for public info, just read, read. Since you are looking at an enormous field. You need to decide which lens you'd like to explore: the perpetrators? The victims? (I don't quite believe in "bystanders" because to them, if they remain silent, they're implicit collaborators, which fall into perpetrators category). And within the two categories, you have many, many different actors. You might want to begin by browsing through Holocaust and Genocide Studies journal. Truly, what are the questions you want to explore that drew you into the field in the first place? You might also want to strong consider joining a graduate student group in the counseling center. They will absolutely share your academic and personal anxieties and understand depression. There might be a group running through the summer so check it out.

Agreed on the last point. I've encouraged graduate students again and again the importance of talking not only across the department but also engage with peopel in other disciplines. My MA was interdisciplinary and I learned a lot from my friends/colleague in Literature programs (English,Comp, etc) while trying to become a historian. I also participated in a Social Sciences Research Council workshop where I had to ask the anthropologists and sociologists in my group to "speak English" when they fell into the disciplinary jargon. Watching them inspired me to do even more to make my work accessible. More recently I interviewed for a fellowship that aimed to bring together different disciplines on a specific area of inquiry. I wound up with a historian for one interview, which was easy-peezy and a Literature person who (from my view) gave me a rough time with her methodological and theoretical views on my work. Quickly after the interview, I went back to the Lit person and brought up an important philosopher who I knew would connect us and the person was quit delighted to engage on the merits of this philosopher's work in connection to my research. At the end I got the fellowship. At the end, it is about striking a balance between staying focus on getting your work done while being involved with what's going on around you, intellectual conversations or plans of revolts against a change or an idea brought up by the (more often than not incompetent) higher ups (it'll happen, trust me) or whatever. You'll learn along the way how to pick and choose your battles. What may seem like a huge, huge deal to you as a first year may wind up being fairly insignificant after encountering bigger battles later on. Graduate school is a wonderful time to experiment with social norms and workplace interactions. As one of my professor joked, we should get 2 PhDs. One for our discipline and one in Abnormal Psychology.

This supports my above point: http://www.chronicle.com/article/DrinkingConferencing/240258?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=63f1361465e84f599cdce90368b60e45&elq=0314091411194fe7baa9097f84c30834&elqaid=14184&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5951

Congrats to all of you and I wish you all the best in your journeys going forward! Please don't forget to come back in the fall to pass along your knowledge. It's the best way to thank other posters who have given you wisdom and guidance and a good practice for your academic career. To thank a mentor/professor/etc, you simply pay forward.

One thing to keep in mind, don't forget languages. With Spanish, you can certainly jump into the Spanish-speaking world from Spain to the Americas and explore Spanish-speaking diaspora in non-Spanish speaking world. There's a fair amount of interest in transnational history, whether through migration, diasporas, cultural exchanges or international politics so there's an avenue for your Spanish language skills. Yet, if you're interested areas of history that don't involve Spanish, you may want to consider studying a new language (although you can use Spanish to fulfill the "European language" requirement of most geographical fields) It does take a lot of self-motivation to do this. It is true that our discipline tend to draw introverts but there are plenty of extroverts. They find ways to make their experiences work for them, even when spending long days alone in the archives outside of their home university towns. They find social activities including local meet-ups to keep their sanity when not in the archives. Sometimes you can get into daily conversations with the staff if it's a small archive. I found that it was during the PhD candidacy exams to be the most loneliest (so far) because it's just you and the books and many exam book lists are tailored to the student's interests and particular make-up of the committee. This will happen in the 3rd year of the PhD program, before dissertation.

@kaufdichglücklich Not everyone wants to talk at a bar, even twenty-somethings Some people aren't comfortable sharing/venting when alcohol is involved until they feel that a real trust is established. Others simply don't drink and choose not to go to bars, thereby missing out the conversations. If such people do some to the bar, often, they will listen, sip their drinks and say little. If there aren't other activities which these "grad bar night shy" people can get involved, then there's something amiss about the department grad culture. Nothing is more off-putting and frustrating than to deal with a huge clique who meet only in bars who can potentially support those students in their progress towards the PhD. Another thing to keep in mind, if getting together winds up being venting sessions, someone will walk away to avoid misery. I know of quite a few people who have done so and are happier. The best that any student can really do is, just try it out and see. If it doesn't work, then try again next year with the new cohort/returning dissertators. Cohorts change all the time, slowly changing the internal dynamics of the department graduate student body. Another good thing to do is get together with "grad bar shy" students for coffee or a meal, just to keep in loop. Make a little effort to invite them, it'll make them feel more welcomed and supported. I worry a little about students who choose not be active becauseicaretoomuch but I can only hope that they've found their niches elsewhere and have inner peace with the present department grad student culture.

My MA program was like this! It was a lonely when I moved into my PhD program where for my own field/interests there weren't going on on a weekly basis (more like semester basis). I struggled a lot to stay motivated with my studying etc. Depending on your relationships with your professors and other students, you can set up some kind of "accountability" schedule with one or two people. With my exam studying, I insisted that my adviser met with me at least monthly rather than 6-8 weeks she originally wanted. E-mailing with her regularly has kept me motivated. Sometimes I'll drop an e-mail to someone who might be able to answer a question I've been thinking about and at least some kind of conversation starts. Does your department graduate students have a private Facebook page? If not, you could start one up to keep everyone connected. You'll meet people in the archives (especially smaller ones) along the way who will want to learn about your work and you'll have plenty of chances to talk about your findings. You'll want to keep writing down your thoughts as you go along so you remember what you've found. But yeah, the time difference between the US and Germany will be... a bit rough. Your mornings will be unbelievably quiet but that's the best time to be totally focused in the archives before your friends start pinging you I'm most nervous about being in Australia for 4 months. While I'll have few colleagues there to talk with, the overall communication won't be the same. @kotov, precisely. i was working in governmental institutions and Institut für Zeitgeschichte München. However, I've just learned that Staatsarchiv Bremen is relatively lax with photography. w00t!

Eh, run with the chemistry. If you don't like the culture, distance yourself and focus on your own work. If you like it, great, and go with it! I had hoped to make friends in the program but multiple factors kept me from being able to form tight friendships/relationships with people in my program. As a result, I've been selective and have several really solid people who I can turn to in crisis and for tips on various things associated with the program. Also, I recall your previous posts. I'm going to be blunt, hanging out with 20-somethings as a 30-something its.... not easy. They don't have the same level of maturity or life experiences that you have. You'll definitel share the same emotions of adjusting to the PhD program and the university but beyond that? Don't expect much outside of seminars.

Funding, funding, funding. Don't get into debt for a master's level, especially if your end salary won't be high. If you're willing to do a MA program that offers funding (like Miami University's), you'll be able to continue some teaching (this is where your educational degree/experience will come in handy). If content matters to you more than understanding the historiographical/scholarly questions, you may be best off reading more books and searching for graduate syllabus and read on your own. You'll want to attend a stand alone MA program if possible; you do not want to be in competition with PhD students. You won't get the same quality of attention from professors towards your work and career interests.

Well, perhaps the first tiny completely break you will get is when you pass your candidacy exams (although if you are still TA-ing, keep working as needed). My peers and I took several weeks of completely break after we passed-- no books, no writing, no research, etc. because we were so exhausted. We binged on Netflix because it was the only thing we could stand. After a month, we got back to work full time. Truth to be told, this is your last summer where you will be completely free to do whatever you want. Once you start, you will desperately need summers to get a LOT of work done (because TA-ing, taking classes and participating in department's culture do eat up the time you need to research and read for exams). It will take at least two summers before your family *understand* that you do not have "a long summer vacation." The *real* vacation time you will get in grad school is during Christmas.

....and if somehow you can get into Iran for research, carpe diem!