TMP

I second that. I had a professor who recently got his PhD from there and loved his experience. He felt that he got very good support there with a well-known professor (not super famous) who was an excellent teacher/mentor/advisor to him.

I saw your SOP (I think) on LiveJournal and I thought it was outstanding and very clear. I think you can expand your search a little more to Yale (really the tops for US history, fine arts, etc) and some NYC schools. They're within commuting distance if you're constrained to Boston area because of your SO or family obligations.

mj52, I would kill for those numbers. Stop complaining, keep your chin up and believe that you can do it this year! Seriously, a prize for best senior honors thesis is a huge deal, especially from a top history department like Yale. Look at some of the professors' CV and their honors for their undergrad thesis and dissertations got them in top schools and heavy research funding later on.

As a MA student, I actually share classes with PhD students- 1st and 2nd years. Our abilities really depended on our previous knowledge and experience in graduate school. So the workload isn't that much different, I think, and the professors know I want to apply to PhD programs. My professors have been quite accomodating to each student's needs... IAs a MA applicant, you will be looked upon favorably because you have done some grad work and languages. Research grants are always nice and some publications too. As you've seen in previous threads on this discussion board, people were rejected because they didn't have a MA, or it's actualy crapshoot. I would just breathe, focus on the fit of the departments, and just hope (well it worked for Obama...) for the best. Know how competitive Latin American history is- usually only one or two spots per program. So just enter in the admissions process with a very open mind and come up with a back-up plan that you like to do for a year. Good luck!

Your grades are decent as long you submit an excellent writing sample and statement of purpose. Great LORs will speak to your abilities. GPA is important but the profs will be reading those two things first. First impressions count. Most history PhD programs don't like to take students with history MAs if they already have their BAs because they don't want to "retrain" the student to be a scholar. You'll learn one method in one school but a different one at another and you may be inclined to keep the old one. Better solution that works for many people- PhD admissions committee and applicants- is for the applicant to get their MA in a relevant field to their primaryr research interest such as education, Middle Eastern studies (quite a few are funded), American Studies, etc. The purpose of the MA in the eyes of the adcoms is that you demonstrated that you can handle grad level work AND you are on your way to getting your PhD faster by having some languages under your belt (especially for non-US history). Quite a few of us on this board ended up going this route after flunking out of PhD admissions and are pretty happy (and much more looking forawrd to the next round of applications next fall). Try to look for cultural studies programs- they'll be more likely to offer funding than regular history MA programs.

Oh... after a conversation with my advisor on Friday, I am now getting scared!! I'm sure she never meant to scare me with some of her stories (not horror stories mind you) and how grad school will be sooooooo different from my LAC. I'm going to her alma mater so there's that close connection that makes it all even more nerve-racking. Can i potentially find myself being the only one talking with a professor for 3 hours over a book? :shock: Yes, I probably will. She kept reassuring me that I will be fine and I will absolutely love being in grad school in a more intellectual environment. I mean, I seriously lack that at my LAC but am I really ready?? My friend in a MA program at a different university keeps telling me how much she loves her long classes and that I will too.. umm, a litlte more comforting since she isn't a professor yet!

I remember when I got my first acceptance letter from Michigan, I was SOOOOO estatic because I had to push to move my application from the PhD program (where I was rejected) over to a MA program as I found out that I really need a MA in my field before the PhD and I really, really wanted to work with this Awesome Professor. I was so elated the whole week (thank goodness it was spring break otherwise I wouldn't have gotten much done)... I screamed in the phone and e-mailed family and friends. I told my professors with a big grin on my face and felt the excitement from my advisor who got her PhD from there. Then she told me that she had just gotten a recommendation form from another MA program... oh oops. Being polite, I just went through with it. I was still determined to go to Michigan. Anyhow, the excitement did wear off and I knew I'd get in the other MA program. Once I actually got the letter, the dread began... making choices. Oh jeez. I just wanted to evaluate everything to make sure that Michigan would be the ultimate choice. It took me a bit to accept their offer... once I clicked on Yes, I felt really relieved. Now I'm in process of TRYING to finish up my thesis. My professors are still very happy but somehow they're not quite letting my thesis go now that I'm going to graduate school and eventually get my PhD and should get this as close to being perfect as possible for possible publication. (As opposed to any other senior just looking to graduate and get a job, period, no more school) Okay, that's not exciting when you can't seem to hand in your senior thesis just yet because these professors start talking about graduate school and what kind of research I could do there (one of them seems to want to turn it into a dissertation...) and how this Awesome Professor told this professor how excited she is to work with me when they met at a conference. :oops: My advisor was telling me just yesterday of some of her grad school experience at Michigan and how amazing/scary it was for her to be studying so intensively in her field, even taking a class by herself with only two professors for 3 hours a week... :? But yeah, I think when people start raining on your parade even though they don't mind it, it can kind of makes you question. As another prof said, it'll take some time for it all to sink in and she promises that I will soon relish on this once the time gets closer. In the meantime, I'm just trying to go with the flow... even it if means putting up with my professors and the thesis.

I can speak from experience as a transfer student in UG. When I was a senior in HS, I only really had two/three choices. One was a very good school but all-women's . One was so-so but very strong in one of my majors that I thought I'd like to do, and one was... safety so that was pretty much an automatic rejection as I had no intention of going there. When I visited both places, I could most definitely seem myself leaving the so-so school after a year or two because it just didn't feel right. So I went to the good school. I tried to go in with an open mind even though I wish I had gotten in better schools. My year (though very, very fulfilling experience) was generally miserable. I wasn't impressed with the academics in general or anything... So I transferred and now am much, much happier. Sometimes I reflect on how this first year was a "waste" because I "shoudl've" gotten in this dream school of mine in the first place. Moral of the story: Do NOT go anywhere that you're NOT excited about. Not only you're wasting the professors' time but also yours in terms of energy and money. I had two MA programs to choose from- one in a top 10 with a program that's really good but another in the 30s but better program. I visited the other and met the professor that I'd work with. I never visited the top 10. Guess which one I picked? The top 10 because when I visited the 30s school, I found myself feeling the same way when I did my campus visits when I was a senior in HS. If I didn't have my top 10, I would go to the 30s and definitely switch out after the MA since it's only for 2 years. But with the top 10, I know i can stay around for my PhD if it all goes well as I know people who went there and have been in contact with the faculty (and met one at a lecture two years ago). Your own happiness is much more important than anything else. Professors know this really well because they know from their own experience that academia can be very hard and people will ultimately flunk out if they're not happy or excited about being part of it. MIserable students = miserable work/grades = jump ship. I hope this helps!

Wow nice. Especially the link to the SOP part... oh I wish I had that when I was applying back in the fall... my new MA SOP seemed to have met all the suggestions but still... Bookmarking it for my next round of apps! Too bad you can't really play programs against each other when it comes to MA, I think...

The beauty of academia- swallowing pride all the time! :shock: By the way, my Donald Trump said "Best of luck!!!" Looks like I'm chill and I would approach him at conferences anyway because his work is really engaging for me.

Ahem. Exactly the situation I am in. And you know what? The close friend of the "dean in of the subfield" professor that I'm going to turn down wrote back after I told her my final decision. She said, "It's alright, I don't expect everyone to follow my advice; it can only go so far! I mean I raised 6 children... taught over 25 years... Only you'll know if Michigan's right for you once you get there." Now off to write that e-mail... with carefully chosen words. He strikes me as a Donald Trump type so...

Hard to slack off on a thesis when your advisors keep telling you how great it's turning out to me and you just don't want to blow off the entire thing... YIKES! But it's all written now and needs at least 2-3 drafts before I can finally turn it in. But yes, I've fallen way behind in my readings for my other history class.... fortunately I'm doing a lot of travel (riding wise) this weekend so 16 hours should be plenty of time. I've also been so tempted to skip class just to work on my thesis so I can get it done sooner too... But just not good to jump ship when your advisors are all over you over finishing your thesis and saying positive things about it.

Wow! Thanks guys for this conversation! I got another offer with a prof who met with me and was willing to take a very late application (b/c I was sooo afraid I wasn't going to get in anywhere else!). The thing is he's close to one of my professors and I was just ....ahhhhh!!! how do I tell them that I'm not going to go with them but instead go elsewhere?! I do know that they only want the best for me. I agree that something must be said about the timing of things.. need to get over and realize that it's going to be the end of the world, blah, blah. It's just a matter of not being able to freak out anymore and only freakout about going to grad school, period. Also I notice that many of us here are women... and we do have emotional issues

Unfortunately I'm in a MA situation so I'm trying to make sure that my letters imply along the lines of "Hey, thanks for accepting me this year but i've decided that I'm going to go with School X for the time being." Like... let me re-apply to your PhD program without remembering why i even rejected you... But as a prof said, declining an offer shouldn't be like telling a prom date that you can't pick him/her! Schools understand that their program might not fit your needs at the moment.

Original plan as of Jaunary 2008: Travel to Russia for 5 weeks via Moscow and St Petersburg, then take the Siberian Railway all the way to Beijing, China. No JOKE. As of all the PhD rejections and acceptance to my MA program without grants/fellowships/funding, scratch that. Time to apply for jobs to pay for my living expenses! WON-DER-FUL. Anything for my dream career in the academia. :roll: But I'm still taking a vacation to Israel to brush up my oral Hebrew skills in prep for literature level classes in the fall and being a beach bum! Nothing besides those Israeli beaches. So I'm looking forward to that! Once I come back, it's time to move to grad school! WOOT! Hahaha, my advisor did ask me earlier this week what my summer plans would be. Him: So what are you doing this summer? Me: Um, I guess try to find a job to start paying off those loans... *grumbles* Him: What about Hebrew? What about you going to do about it? Me: Right, that's my next sentence. I'm going to Israel for the rest of the summer! I need a break!!! Him: Great idea! You're going to have fun!

I agree with a lot of points here about the need to have SOMEBODY like you in the department to tell you consistently that you can make it in the academia. I went to all-women's school. The female students really looked up to their female professors because they want to be strong and confident in the dirty world of men where women are underrepresented. I had a female major advisor and a male minor advisor. I didn't really think too much of it at that time partly because I would be transferring out. I also had just finished my senior year where my male teachers kicked my ass only because they really knew I could do better, not because i'm a woman. So I appreciated my male teachers' forthcoming actions to psuh me to do my best. I did not appreciate my female AP English teacher's sensitivity. But my year at that all women's school taught me how important it is to have a female role model. So when I transferred, I was placed with my (current) major advisor who happens to be a woman. I had considered switching advisors for declaring my major but I stuck with her just because she's the chair. I figured that with her, I could get away with all kinds of crap. Yet, as I came to decide that I want to go into the academia and realizing that I would be dealing with a lot of men, I had better stay with her and change my perspective. She's the boss of male-dominated department with only 2-3 women, including herself. I watch her how she deals with her male colleagues and students to get a sense of how to deal with men in the field. They all pretty much respect her authority. I also realize that part of the reason why I got along with men is that I'm blunt and very independent in my opinions so I need someone who's not afraid to stand up to me so therefore, either the person better be male or a like-minded female. Fortunately, my major advisor is just that- brilliant, independent, and assured of her position as a full professor and chair of the department. My minor advisor is male. I picked him just because we had similar interests and he was fun, cool guy that I could talk to about anything. So he and my major advisor really balance each other out as if they were my academic parents. I have a tough, overprotective, maternal mom (major advisor) and a cool, fun dad (minor advisor). So from my experiences, I know what I want to look for in advisors when it comes down to the final decision- at least two professors each sex who can balance each other out. Therefore, call me stupid for turning down a slightly more prestigious program where my advisors for my masters' thesis would be all men! The other program that I'm going to has better gender balance in the department.

I'm going!!! It's for Judaic Studies... and hopefully History two years down the road... but we'll see how much the faculty and I like each other Ew, thanks guys for looking at the photos already. I definitely want a clean apartment with a kitchen and utlities included (especially water). I'm already freaking out a bit about housing! The weather doesn't bother me a bit as I go to school in Central New York and I've lived under the snow all this winter and all of my life. The only thing that's really scaring me is the SIZE of the university and the campus. :shock:

"I don't think you're prepared for my PhD program. I mean my students have lot going for them. But I'd put you right through my MA program if you apply to my PhD program." Then I e-mailed him 3 months later asking him to consider me for his MA program at least. Said he'd take my app. Let's see how he reacts to my writing sample challenging his perspective. If I don't get in, then he lied. And has proven his weakness as an insecure person. Yay for academic freedom.

Did you contact your potential advisor or the DGS? I want to compose one for myself next week in case that letter still hasn't come in...

Oh yeah? What about NOT hearing from your top choice school yet, have a MA offer to another great program, but still want to go to that top choice?! I wish I could send an e-mail now and beg them to let me in- MA or PhD, whatever they want as long I can be part of the program?? At least if the top choice could just say no already, I can just accept that MA offer without making them wait! I'm afraid that I might have given myself a kiss of death when I e-mailed one of the profs with a research question idea two weeks ago... Oops.

Ha. I agree. I was just happy to break 1000 on the GRE, have a 3.0 GPA, and get an acceptance into a top 10! Like seriously.... pipe down. Or at least PM to other people who have similar dilemma as you and can sympathetize, not the rest of us who got unlucky this year.

I'm used to all the cold, grey skies, and snow. If anything, my stay in Israel gave me a GREATER appreciation for our snow! So I've been taking almost all of my runs outside this winter thus far instead of wimping out on the treadmill So for grad schools, cold weather, please. Now I am wondering, should my decisions on MA programs be any similar to if I was going for PhD? I don't know what kind of questions to ask for MA programs as I'm used to looking at the ones for PhDs... any suggestions for factors to look at for MA programs? :?

Cornell07- you can do it!!!! Take all of your lesosns that you've learned from this process and apply them to your SOP and new app for LSE/Columbia MA. It works.... because... I GOT IN MICHGAN!!!! It's for my MA in Judaic Studies. I am totally beaming and bouncing over this! I did have to revise my SOP and send in a new writing sample at an indirect request of the professor that I want to work with who's the head of the adcom for MA. Oh my god, I am going to GRADUATE SKOOL in the fall! (And my brother's thrilled only because he's going to Miami U and we're in the same hockey conference haha and he does know that Michigan is a great place) I still have to hear from NYU and Brandeis... the horrible letter from NYU should come this week...ugh, hopefully. I know that the reality and fear will sink in once I sign off the loans... eek. :shock:

Anyone have experience of bringing a dog with you to grad school? I have an older golden retriever who is absolutely loyal to me. Let me put it this way- I don't believe a damn thing that my parents say about her- not walking well on the leash, occasional mess in the house, being whiny/needy, etc, etc. Whenever I'm home, she's a perfect angel and sits quietly under my feet. Weird, I know. But she's a rescue dog and I basically trained her and took care of her through middle school and high school. So I've had enough with my parents' complaints (though Mom does enjoy having my dog around) and I know that my dog would much rather be with me. I'd like to take her with me to grad school. Yes, she might have to live in a smaller place without a yard for a change but she loves her walks (because she's with somebody!) and much less active than she was two years ago. How has it been for other people, especially when changing the dog's environment? My parents already leave her alone all day (from 8 to 5:30) so she doesn't mind much (though she'd kinda like someone to be home every now and then). So that's not much of an issue as it woudl be for a new puppy. Also I already plan on getting a puppy while in grad school but judging from the posts, it would definitely make better sense for me to wait until after my first year. But now I have a well-trained and behaved dog... how is that different? Thanks!

Oh my goodness, are we high school seniors again? :mrgreen: It's pretty funny considering that my brother's a high school senior and now my parents are trying to figure out how to juggle their kids who might need to visit schools before making decisions ANDDDDD the housing options...