TMP

No offense but I find this to be kind of hilarious because I haven't encountered a broad overview type of book for any of my history classes since my freshman year or my AP history classes in high school. So yeah I had a blank look on my face when I read the original post. That's scary how far we've come along! But to be honest, if you want a light-read broad overview, then look at "What You Don't Know About History" (I think it's mostly US). It's sort of like mini-encyclopedia for US history so you'll find all the major topics in there including the Erie Canal! I think from there, you can go ahead and look at more specific books since it's really hard to find a good overview book. I mean... 100 years isn't long but a lot happened in that critical century of development as a nation compared to the 20th century which is a bit more international, political, and social/cultural. Also like others said, look at the faculty's works that you're going to be working with because they're going to be training you with their approaches anyway.

Yeah I'm curious too... I wish i was you in a way- i can't even get admitted for PhD in my field until I've read all the major works! That's what the MA is for

In that case- why didn't you apply to NYU? There are quite few professors in there who are interested in international/transnational history.

I agree with the above two suggestions. I have a friend who is currently a senior at Princeton. He was accepted to Harvard and Princeton for freshman admissions (he's freaking brilliant). He ultimately chose P-ton because it's very strong focus on undergrad compared to Harvard which is all about grad students. So that is definitely a factor- the level of "isolation" and how much attention his advisor can give him. Same thing with Stanford if he gets in- Stanford is also all about undergrad from what I've heard. Good luck with him!

[quote name="Louiselab

Yup, they generally due from what I've heard.... if they say full-funding then it does include health insurance as it's already part of the comprehensive tutition/board/room fees (Remember when you had to tell the Fin-Aid office to opt you out of the school's health insurance if you could still stay on your parents'?) Since I won't get kicked off the health insurance until I'm 26- not getting into PhD programs right now is a good thing.... then when I reapply when I'm 24.. I'll be covered for another 3 years by the school after I'm up with my parents' insurance! I agree about the commute- it'll be a consideration if I get in NYU as i have grandparents on Long Island that'll give me my own room. The only trick is remembering to wake up at my stop on the way back from the city! I really did get a lot of my summer reading done when I commuted to work in DC for a couple summers. 40 minutes can make a difference!

[quote name="Louiselab

Just wanted to be the 500th

Ah- same here. 3 programs... but my advisor's another story- she's opposite of yours. Loads of confidence and I'm about to shatter it on Wednesday when I meet with her for my thesis... with one rejection. Oh boy. I"m tempted to wait until I get definite answers but I think I'd lke to see her squirm a little :wink: For me, I didn't call out of courtesy and I know that they know that I'm alive- at least for Mich and Penn when I contacted them in late January about new materials for my application. NYU, on the other hand, has silent ever since. But, I'm definitely the kind of person who would call up people to get answers. You haven't lived in Israel- unless you can be direct and upfront there, you don't get anything in your way! So I actually called up Michigan today... I said that I already heard that I didn't make it in but I would really like to be considered for a MA program in Jewish Studies, so would they mind moving the application over? I'd really like to strengthen my application for the next round of PhD applications. The director of grad admissions was SO nice- she thought it would be a wonderful idea and said she would get in touch with the department and see what she could work out. I said, wow, thank you sooo much, I still would really like to go! Then she said, Great, I have your contact info right here and I'll get back to you when I find out. Holy cow, she didn't even ask me to repeat my name (or spell it!). I think all those e-mails back in the fall paid off haha. So there is a silver lining in the clouds and I'm not going to lose my faith in this! 400 applications...and she remembers me. Not to rub it in your faces but it's certainly comforting when you've been rejected with 92% of other applicants and just NOT a piece of paper! (Unlike Penn...) Congrats to the NW people- one of the students is there for Polish history from my school that my advisor's been telling me stories about. Apparently, the student's loving the program!

Actually my history professors told me NOT to apply to any history MA programs. They thought it'd be a waste of time since I'd pick up the MA on the way to the PhD and i wouldn't get funding (I don't have perfect GRE scores or a GPA of 3.7+). And what I've seen on LJ Community for applyingtograd, top history programs don't really want anyone with MA in history unless you didn't do history in undergrad because of different "training" approaches- they'd essentially have to train you all over again. Whatever. But I'm looking at MA programs for Jewish Studies which should make me even more attractive candidate two years from now... only two with late deadlines and the rest, well I'm going have to grovel.

Haha congrats to all! I'm not holding out any hopes. Let them surprise me.

You know, even I found their system to be iffy. Sending transcripts to one place and the writing sample to another??? I trusted that somehow my stuff got through in the midst of holiday season... Boy, I'm an idiot. I'm sending an e-mail to the professor I was interested in working with to see if she says anything!!! Like seriously, perhaps some of us should do a sit-down strike in front of the History department for a second look at our *completed* applications 15-20 people (# of rejects on gradcafe) won't look too good for them, I think?

That's exactly my plan once I definitely hear from Michigan and NYU since those are the places that I'd really like to get my MA in Jewish Studies. The Jewish Studies department secretary at Michigan doesn't seem to think it's possible to move the application through the grad school but didn't say no! C'mon official rejections, I'm waiting for you!!! :wink: Thank god these programs offer zero funding otherwise i'd be in dilemma on whether to suck it up and find money or wait until next year. I'm actually in the same situation as your husband- I may be a History major but I don't have a major in Jewish Studies (as a professor at Brandeis was *so* nice to point out my major weakness) so I will definitely need this. I'm glad to hear that it all worked out for him- I feel better!

CSO No way do I feel sorry for myself (except maybe I'm sorry that I don't have a 3.5+ GPA but damned that grade deflation at my school). Rather, this all was a huge learning process! I'm already working a bit franatically to find MA programs with late deadlines and figuring out if that doesn't work... then what to do... And of course, not giving up on my thesis! Honestly, if you didn't get in anywhere and this whole process makes you feel terrible for yourself that you're not sure why you're bothering with all of this, then you need to leave the academia for a bit. I'm not letting the academia kill my dreams. Good luck with law school and Goldman Sachs, you'll be earning lots of moolah.

canadiana and cornell07- i'm de-lurking here only to say that i absolutely agree with you guys! I did aim high (UMich, Penn, and NYU) but i felt that i was worthy of being fully funded so i didn't apply anywhere were funding was iffy and i wouldn't stand a chance. I haven't heard yet from UMIch and NYU but judging from UMIch, I must be in the reject pile! NYU's being very quiet... i wouldn't have been invited to their weekend anyway since i'm doing a joint-program with Judaic Studies. Also my major advisor gets some of the blame in this game- she definitely encouraged me along the way and helped whenever she could... just one of those "overconfident" professors who's pushing me at the moment with my thesis like as if I'm going to graduate school in the fall! also just like two people here, my subfield is extremely small (American Jewish history), narrowing my list down to 3-4 schools with established professors and they were all in top programs. So I definitely needed those professors' support to get in. UGH! We know it's great to meet them beforehand but still being in undergrad where we have full schedule just makes it impossible to visit them! Now let's see if I can scramble a little and apply to this great MA program in Judaic Studies that has a very late deadline... first, gotta find some money from somewhere cuz my savings isn't enough to cover two years! Otherwise, it's off to finding some sucky jobs and planning my overseas trip to really pick up Hebrew! :roll: