TMP

I learned that my biggest student e-mail pet peeve is "Hello." No name. No nothing. I DO HAVE A NAME! In all seriousness, continue to write as you wish (or hope) for the student to write back. I always sign off my e-mail with my first name (I'm a TA) and students generally follow suit unless they forget several weeks later. It is appalling that students come to college not knowing how to write an e-mail. Have they sent a "thank you" note before?

I agree with the rephrasing above. Yet, some of my own undergrads really do go with the more mature route. The first question is, what is your department culture on grades? If it seems like A- has really wide latitude, then I wouldn't stress as long as you continue to work hard to improve and build yourself up based on your professor's feedback. Second question is, what is your adviser's take on getting grades below A-? My adviser pointed out that a particular fellowship that most people want to get basically require the transcript to be full of As and A-s (and no B+s with the exception of really difficult language courses)) so I had to be conscious of that. Your adviser has more insight on what having a B+ means on your transcript, not just the overall average. These two questions will help you decide if it's worth pushing The Question to the professor of that particular course. Overall, remember, it's only your first semester. You're allowed to make one B+. From next semester onward, keep your transcript pretty with As and A-s.

In short, JUST GO FOR THE CLASS! :)

You'll also be expected to start reading for comprehensive exams in your first and second year summers in addition to whatever your primary task is, may it be language study or research.

You'll need to zero your interests a bit more than what you've described here. Right now I'm finding the piece about Polish artists living in France quite interesting....

This thread is interesting. I'm not in the sciences. I'm glad that you are seeking help to help manage your anxiety and negativity. My therapist has been amazing to help me climb up from the downward spiral that I fell into in my first year. Now I'm in my fourth year and chugging along. It has been a very long and trying road. Until earlier this semester, I never thought of leaving the program... just taking a leave of absence but I never follow thorugh with it. I'm still staying in the program because of what i'm about to say next. The biggest question you might want to ask yourself is, "What kind of stress do I want to deal with?" We all deal with certain kinds of stress better than others. If you are finding yourself simply not in love with your subject of interest enough to want to spend your time studying it and attack the stress that comes with it everyday, then perhaps being part of academia and research is not for you. You also need to consider the value of comparing yourself to others. Try working with your therapist to set limits and realistic goals. Grad school (or life!) is not a race as much as we'd like it to be to help us stay motivated. Taking comparisons to extreme only makes us feel miserable, not good (even if you're doing "better" than others). Just my $0.02.

I'd be really skeptical. Try to trace back to the original place of those documents-- where are they currently held in hard-copy?

The SOP should be a mix of a research proposal and a job latter. Focus on intellectual questions you're interested in answering and a research project you hope to pursue. Nail down why THAT department's strengths (and why not another dept? I.e. Don't say X has a large American history faculty interested in twentieth century when you do have other programs who can fit that description too). Be specific-- look at its graduate program and the department structure. Make the department feel super special. Also look around the university as well--you're expected to be resourceful and able to find classes, programs, professors, etc that will enrich your studies. Prioritize fit over experiences when it's time to cut.

Michigan and Wisconsin comee to my mind as I have a colleague who studied at those places for US religious history.

Make sure you can find out their job placement record-- where did their graduates end up? If the programs aren't willing to give you the data, move on.

For OSU's history, we tend to group periodization into 3-- ancient, early modern and modern. Our medievalists tend to gravitate toward ancient or early modern, depending where their teaching/research interests lie. For you, you'd be doing medieval and early modern. Our faculty for that period is relatively small right now as we had some retirements in the last five years or so. It's unlikely that we'll be able to get another person unless s/he comes to us as a spousal hire or another special route that don't involve a national search. Right now, Alison Beach has been doing most of the advising, which is why I suggested that you talk to her. As for languages, Rising_star is right. It is a tremendous challenge (but not impossible!) to be studying a whole new language while starting a PhD program for the first time. It sounds like a master's might be the best route for you right now-- getting more specific with your questions and picking up Latin. Could you take a year to study in England? One of our early modernists did that and she loved her year studying in London. Honestly, your reasons for not waiting makes the PhD sound like the only option but it's one of many options for you. One would be to pack up and move into a city like New York or Chicago where there is indeed an intellectual environment. Go to a place where there are several universities/colleges that will have events and scholarly presentations that you can attend. Immersing yourself in the local intellectual community is one of the things that academics do when they're doing their fieldwork and writing away from their home campuses. Your job might suck (or great!) but it pays the bills and keep you in a place that's intellectually stimulating and it's... only temporary Been there, done that.

The part were you say that you don't know what to study-- makes me pause and think that you should wait another year. It's really helpful to have a clear sense of what your intellectual/historiographical questions are. You'll want to do some reading in your areas of interest and see what's out there, including what's been done and not. I'm in my fourth year and I've seen my fair share of people. Very few ever come into my program have a vague idea. Most people come in with a focus and a good sense of what kind of questions they're interested in exploring. You'll be asked to write historiographical papers in nearly every class you take at OSU. Yes, some people bounce around but good advisers will buckle them down if they haven't gotten their stuff together by the end of their 2nd or 3rd year. If you are interested in early modern Europe, you'd MOST definitely need languages. Do you at least have Latin? French? German? As for your work experiences, those are nice. You can put those in your CV/resume in your application but they do NOT belong in your SOP. Your SOP is meant to be a research proposal with a bit of "job letter" element to it (that's when you bring in "why" OSU and your fit). I also agree with Eric above. You'll need to contact Professor Alison Beach, who is our primary person for Early Modern Europe to get a sense of whether or not this year is a good year to apply. Hopefully she'll give you necessary insights. I've heard nothing but great things about her.

Important that the letter writers have a PhD in hand and in in history or very related areas. Those people are best suited to evaluate your ability to complete work at the PhD level, including coursework and dissertation as a historian. If your lecturers/instructors have a PhD and are employed full-time, don't sweat too much. If you are deeply concerned, be all means be in touch with a few programs you're interested in for clarification.

Basically same thing! Out of curiosity for all taking historiography, any of you being presented with non-Western historiographical traditions like subaltern studies?

Whatever you're most comfortable with and as long as the professor doesn't mind. While professors do have things to keep them busy during office hours, having students show up for their office hours makes their day as office hours are mandate (and professors would rather be at home working than on campus). Just focus on genuine interactions because you're interested in the subjects being discussed, not to get in the PhD program.

Funny, we weren't assigned those books mentioned in my historiography class.... we just read a lot of different selections for each broad topic...

No worries-- unless it's explicitly stated that the MA is terminal only, it's really just a MA/PhD program. Your acceptance to the PhD is conditional until you receive the MA and the committee deems you qualified for the PhD. Vast majority of students get the recommendation to continue. You just have to fulfill the MA requirements. People who get accepted directly to the PhD don't.

Right to the graduate admissions person in the department and find out if you can re-establish your old application and what you need to do to re-apply. Don't overthink this, especially that they're not even funding you. They'd be happy to take your $$$.

Yes, there is funding here. There's also another major difference- time to degree. Are you willing to spend the first 2 years in coursework, a year preparing for exams, and then the rest of the time (3-4) years working on your dissertation? If not, stick to the UK. Stay focused on your writing sample and statement of purpose. Use these documents to show off your writing skills and understanding of historiography in southern history and suggest a research project you'd like to consider.

While it's understandably that you'd like to stay at Indiana and it does have a nice program, having all three degrees (BA, MA, and PhD) from one institution won't make you a well-rounded scholar. You'll need to consider other programs if you want to be competitive on the academic job market. However, if you aren't interested in becoming a professor, then YMMV. Focus on your writing sample and statement of purpose and keep talking to your professors at IU. Numbers only tell so much about an applicant.

Thanks, fuzzy. Your advice was much, much needed! I took it immediately. Sigh. I've just learned that things have gotten a lot more complicated. The whole process is now out of my hands. Limited availability of 3 committee members.... and the bureaucratic process for accommodations. Perfect. Not how I imagined my candidacy exams. At. All.

I understand where you're coming from. You'd be so surprised by instances of miscommunication, especially among socially-awkward people like graduate students. I used to rub a lot of people in the wrong way without meaning to and had to work on my interpersonal skills. I was also raised in a more traditional fashion, contrary to a lot of my peers. It took a lot of group/individual therapy to realize these things. People form groups organically, through chemistry and shared values. Not everyone is mature enough to look beyond those and work for the sake of learning together. You may not have much of a choice if they're not willing to meet you halfway. A lot of younger people want to be able to make friends and BE friends with each other, not simply treat each other as colleagues the way our parents and older friends can. It's frustrating, I know, because we'd like to be able to make friends at work too, not just in our personal lives. As for the faculty and staff, don't ever misinterpret them. EVER. They're often VERY busy people and don't have time to think much about graduate students, including basic courtesy. I'll bet you that they won't even remember the moment their outward appearance made you feel dismissed! Faculty can be socially awkward as well but not as horrible as graduate students (maturity makes up the difference). Try to keep your head down and participate as needed. Be a good citizen. Be kind to others.

It's reasonable to ask for approximate time frame when you ask to review drafts. My adviser "trained" me to ask her if she would be willing to take a look at something and give her a deadline. The further in advance, the better, particularly for anything that is more than a paragraph/abstract. If she knows well in advance, she is more able to schedule in time to review my materials with a close eye rather than trying to squeeze it whenever she has a free moment. if she can't do it by my deadline, she'll admit it. The key is to establish one deadline for yourself to the adviser and another for the adviser to you. When people ask me to look over their materials, I always ask, "What type of draft is this? And when do you want it by?"

Seriously, stop fretting about the GRE scores. They do not necessarily make or break an application. Drop the study guides and focus on your writing samples and statement of purpose. Professors will be reading for your potential to succeed in the program from those documents. The GRE scores are sometimes used for university-wide fellowship competition but there are waivers. Just relax and focus on other parts of your application.

It could depend what the OP actually wants to do after s/he finishes the PhD and whether or not s/he really need that kind of faculty support for his/her post-PhD career. I do agree though that fostering relationships with advisers and other faculty members can help get through really tough spots during the program.