TMP

Check out the Rate Your Students Blog... they had several people blogging from the MLA convention. F*cking hilarious. Believe me, as *hopeless* the job market and the value of an English PhD degree (other than academia and publishing and journals, etc) seem to be, those people are smart and creative. I just passed a graduate seminar in the English department last semester and I was the only one NOT doing a Literature PhD or MFA. As frustrated I was with the whole methodology of the course, I give these people a lot of credit for being willing to study English for the LOVE of English language, even if they might not have a job at the end. I really do feel sorry for those English professors on the adcoms.

Video-chatting! And I thought it was scary already that my potential advisor suggested that we try Skype when I told him that my cell was being fickle.... needless to say, Skype didn't work out as my microphone wasn't working. BUT GEEZ! That was soooo weird IM-ing him to figure out what was the problem with Skype and moving to cellphones... I can't decide which is scarier. IMing with him or with my not-so-tech-savvy mother.

I think you need to relax

I'm not worried about the waiting all that much. I've got... 6 books waiting to be read (for fun!) on my nightstand... and a crazy landlady to deal with seeing that my place is 60 degrees. BRRRRR.... I'll look forward to those accepted visits (if possible!).

I talked with about 10 professors over the phone/in person in the fall. During our 15-45 minute conversations, they did not ask what my GPA or GRE scores were. They were more interested in my research interests and talking about how I could be a fit in their programs. I've gone crazy at times over the fact that they DID ask about my languages and I don't have German!!! (It's quite...um, relevant to my area of study although it's not Modern Germany).

Oh yes. Still, fun to speculate. My professor declared last year that the history field is *ready* to study thr 1980s. She affirmed her declaration that we need to let 20-30 years to pass before we can evaluate the decade more objectively. If someone were to ask me when we'd be able to study this past decade, I'll probably still be worked up at the thought of W's reign and how much he destroyed America financial-, image-, and military-wise. And Obama's shift of focus on American education towards... *ahem* the hard sciences and math in order to make our next generation (the ones we'll be teaching, unfortunately) less stupid.

People. I have news. It is officially a new decade in history. Who's looking forward to seeing what 2010s will bring? I'm still complementing how would I describe 2000s to my grandkids and students years from now. As usual, full of history-making news. And.... SIX WEEKS TO GO! Until the bulk of admissions results come in, that is!

I agree. The biggie for you is.... do you have reading fluency in Japanese? As in, can you read some Japanese literature, or some scholar articles with the help of a dictionary? If the answer is no, then I would spend the next year or so honing up your Japanese reading skills. Besides with a MA, you're not going to find any job in the community college or as an adjust in an university. The best you'll be able to do is teach HS. If you have a paper that uses a lot of primary sources, that's fine. No thesis required. They just want to see that you are able to use primary sources to draw conclusions and that you can write.

Michigan used to give out about 36 offers for a yield of 18-20 students a year out of nearly 400 applications. Since 2009 admissions and for this coming year, they've changed their policy. Now they plan to make only 20 offers, and just have a larger waitlist so they don't overyield because of funding issues. And still nearly 400 applications.

That's the tricky part about writing the SOP. You don't want to seem broad, nor do you want to come off as narrow. That's why you need to show your SOP to professors for feedback. Two things that one of the professors at a top 10 said to me: 1) A survey showed that 75% of people holding history degrees AND are tenured were from top 10 programs. So you're on the money with that one. Yet, as it's been pointed out, if you've been VERY productive in your top 20-30 PhD program with a go-getter advisor, you'll have a bit of easier time finding a job. 2) Committees are more likely to throw out "narrow" applicants than "broad" applicants because they fear that the "narrow" applicants will fail out of the program just because they won't try out other things. As StrangeLight have said elsewhere, the most thing is to have someone in your topical or geographical field to be excited about your proposed questions and ideas. And nobody knows, not even the faculty members themselves, what will happen in January/February when all applications are read and it's time to narrow down the list. As for being particularly selective, some people can't actually apply to a top 10 program because there's just NOBODY there doing what they want to do. For me, there's only one top 10 school that I can apply to only because I'm there now for the MA program and I'd like to keep working with my advisor if opportunity arises. Otherwise, my other programs are anywhere between top 15 to 30. And they happen to be very good fits for me. So I'm not going to complain or conform my interests just because I won't be able to graduate from a top 10 program.

History PhD admissions is compelete crapshoot. Take a look at previous year's thread. Let the nervouseness go, and get a Plan B that you can be excited about. It helped me. It also helped me and others just to put together a list of things to do to pass the time (movies and books you've wanted to see/read, etc).

Why did you send them off soooo early??? Even though I was working on my apps in October, I was nowhere near ready! That's why I'm waiting until the last minute to send my apps off- less waiting time!

Let it go. They'll obviously see that law school didn't work out. And there are plenty of people in history in your situation- law school or history graduate program?? I am actually, frankly, shocked that Michigan isn't on your list given your interests. How's Emory's history department?

You do need to figure what's going on in your professor's head. I remember what it was like applying straight out of undergrad. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was just learning about my field when I was writing my senior thesis. So I really had a lot to learn about my field. Unless you're one of those super-invested history majors who reads beyond the required reading for seminars, it's hard to know what's out there without further coursework. My professors thought my SOPs were decent (now I think about it) but didn't feel that I had good grasp of what's up for debate/grabs in my field. So they were cautious about me applying for PhD but very supportive for my MA application. They REALLY wanted me to go to graduate school. One said, "To start a PhD program without MA is like learning to walk before crawling." But they'd prefer that I did some MA coursework to get grounded for PhD. Fast forward two years later and in my third semester of my MA program, I must say... looking back, wow, well, what I knew at the time was what I really knew so I couldn't blame myself for my failures. My SOPs this round are much, much more focused. I've zeroed in specific problems in my field while discussing possible research ideas. One should, for humanities, should always apply to both PhD and MA programs (unless you already have a MA) because the competition's so intense for PhD that they can only take the best prepared students who fit in the department's culture.

I know One professor warned me of this. And I'm like, holy crap, you're telling me to re-write my SOP for the Americanists who are going to decide on my fate? Then I mentioned briefly to my advisor and she said, "hell no, what are you doing? You're fine. Don't change your SOP unless you want to do American history only." I'm getting a third opinion.

I heard that at top schools, about 30-40 applications come in for Latin American history. Usually about 100+ applications are for US history and European history respectively. Which leaves the rest for other geographical fields. Sorry to say, you're going to be competing against others doing European history. You'll be considered as an Europeanist so you'll face stiff competition from others interested in Europe, including Britain, France, and Germany. Honestly, good luck. But your fluency in Russian will definitely increase your chances as the adcoms will throw out anyone who isn't fluent in an European language (or so my advisor says). I am in US history but I have an interest in becoming a transnational historian with US as the focus point and using Europe and/or Latin America for comparison. So, um, I'll be competing against anyone who's doing transnational history.

Why so set on the US? Isn't program fit more important than location of graduate school?

*jealous* I used to be all crazy about Russia and Eastern Europe! Then I switched geographical fields (but not broad topic). What about Zipperstein at Stanford? He could be a good person to consider on the committee. He's still doing 19th century work, I believe. Romania... wow, that's so...exotic. How did you even learn the Romanian language?

Oh sure! Languages are highly individualized in MA programs. The trick is figuring out what courses will give you GRADUATE credit that will actually count for your GPA and tuition money. Undergraduate courses won't count and will just eat up more of your time. I had planned on studying German when I came to my MA program only to find out that my graduate school won't count undergraduate German, not even the special course for reading knowledge. So I had to take Yiddish, which counted. I did a summer course to further my Yiddish studies as well. Summers are up to you although it can be expected that you will take an intensive language course, or spend time in the archives doing research. Most MA students don't really do much because they're not really sure what they want to do with their thesis. In my experience and opinion, it's difficult to learn a new language while doing MA work because both are time consuming. That's why summers are the best- you can totally focus on the language without worrying about sacrificing your coursework. It will make a difference but what will really catch their eye is if you can do some reading at advanced level.

Don't let your GRE to be your ONLY reason for taking the MA route and give up the idea of trying to get in for PhD. You need to have other reasons- languages. If you want to hone up through a MA program, look into getting a MA in Classics like at Penn. Excellent programs like Penn's will focus heavily on preparation for the PhD, especially in languages. It's also a great feeder to top PhD programs. If you're intending to use your MA thesis for writing sample, I have to speak from experiences. You have to be DONE with your research, like, almost everything by beginning of fall term so you have September and October to organize and write the draft. Then November and December for revisions and polishing. I actually got my research done so when I came back, all I had to do was... start writing. I'm working as hard as I can to get a decent sample done by December 1st for Michigan. It definitely looks much better to be able to send in a chapter or two of your MA thesis in time. Which means... you sort of have to figure out your MA thesis topic by the beginning of your second semester, which is early for a lot of MA students.

If you're a runner, definitely run around the campus and into the Arb (behind the hospital). Even if you're a walker, the central campus will take you quite some time to walk around. Zingerman's will give you as many samples as you'd like (I'm borderline abuser of this!). Pastries are hit or miss. Sandwiches are definitely worth it but they are HUGGEEEEEE. So plan to walk a lot afterward. But honestly, there are other good places to grab sandwiches as well like Amer's on State and Church streets. Most graduate students like to hang out along State, E. Liberty, and Main streets. Undergrads tend to cluster around South University area (which is very funky collegetown area). Jump in a few bars. Stop in Espresso Royale coffeeshop. Stop in a few stores...

Let it go. You've taken it three times and that's getting a little obnoxious and they'll see that you're just not a strong test taker when it comes to verbal. You have life, right? The rest of your application is solid. Your language skills will definitely be very important, just as important as your writing sample, LORs, and SOP.

Let me make this clear to you if you haven't still read some of the threads down below on what it takes to get into PhD programs. Programs cannot give you stats. They cannot tell you specifically what they want from their applicants, especially over languages. I talked to THREE professors from one program and their answers for languages were as following: Prof A) "You really should have three languages in order to be highly competitive. Do you have a third besides Yiddish and Hebrew? Spanish? Good. You're okay now. Let's move on..." Prof B ) "Honestly, if you want to do my specialty, I cannot really... I cannot really take students who do not know German. But it's nice that you know Hebrew and Yiddish..." Prof C) "Many of our students come in not knowing Yiddish so they take our summer programs for a summer or two. But we do expect everyone to have some Hebrew. Languages are important but it's not required to have three already." However, they were all in agreement on what they were looking for in a statement of purpose. There you have it. Numbers and experience can only tell so much. Professors in PhD programs want eyewitnesses to your research and writing potential, and that makes your writing sample and LORs. They want to see evidence that you've done some research on your field of specialty, not just take classes in that. Academia is like rushing an exclusive society like Bones and Skull at Yale where presentation and personal recommendations matter.

Actually- good point. I applied with a long paper but not a thesis as my thesis was still a mess. But I thought my long paper was decent. But OH NO, I was told that they didn't find it compelling or well-written and they'd prefer to see HONORS level thesis. Damn. At that time, I was actually polishing up a chapter for my honors thesis so I said, "Fine, switch me for MA application and if you want me to submit a new SOP and perhaps a new writing sample, I'll do it." They said, "Please do." So I did. Got in my MA programs without question despite being extraordinarily late. I'm freaking out over my MA thesis now because A) my advisor wants me to keep writing and Thus, I'm wondering if we're going to have time to polish up a chapter for writing sample in time for the first deadline...

Um, if you're questioning if you should go for a PhD, then why are you even thinking about it? Answer that first. And read "Freaking out, what are my chances?" thread and there's your answer of IF you're in position to apply for PhD and get the best outcomes with the programs you're looking to apply to.