Sigaba

One could also read the acknowledgements in works by faculty members and its graduates. Are POIs thanked for significant contributions to a work? Are POIs heaping praise upon colleagues and graduate students? Are there signs of life changes that may impact a scholar's life for years to come? How about book reviews? Are POIs appropriately professional or a bit too personal when writing about works they don't like? You could also check CVs. Do POIs serve the profession? Earn teaching awards? Present too much or just enough? Are they in a phase of their careers in which they're really going for it? (And what is the "it"? Popular works that are accessible to broader audiences? Master works of synthesis designed for academic audiences?) IMO, worrying about standardized test scores and GPA is bass ackward thinking. Don't self select yourself out of opportunities to succeed. A year from now, a newly admitted graduate student is going to be saying "I didn't think I had a chance to get into Happyland University! My GPA...my test scores..." Why can't that person be you?

IMO, right now and for the next few years, the most important things to have are health and steady employment in a sector that will weather better than most the ecomomic impacts of COVID-19. Were I in your shoes, I'd defer admission to Yale if possible, accept the promotion, work my backside off to exceed all KPIs, buy company stock if possible, maximize contributions to the 401k, and figure out which work related skills could help down the line in sustainable development and work on improving those skills. $0.02.

Take it from someone who learned the hard way. As a graduate student, you will be much better off if you can tether your research interests to established trajectories of historiography. (The more, the better.) In your case, I recommend that you consider the benefits of building a conceptual matrix centered your primary fields of interest that help you answer the question "How do your research interests help us to understand better X, Y, and Z." In this formulation, X is your interests narrowly defined, Y is early twentieth century America, z is broader still -- the history of sexuality in the modern world. This exercise, or, better yet, the one you devise, will help you to talk about your areas of specialization to a wider range of people -- not the least, academics in a room during a job talk who want to understand what classes you could teach and if you can fit into a collaborative departmental culture.

@DenverSun16 Welcome to the Grad Cafe. I think that you would be well served by figuring out how to talk about yourself as an aspiring academic historian. Can you craft a narrative in which you talk about your areas and fields of interest, how you want to impact trajectories of historiographical debate, and how you will serve the profession? In this narrative, you would selectively deploy elements of your personal and academic experiences for the sole purpose of making the case that you will fit into a department and that you can do the work. Were I in your situation, I would think long and hard before detailing contributions to an encyclopedia of any kind as well as to publications that are not peer reviewed. I would clarify the nature of your work in Germany (specifically, do you speak and read German fluidly?) I would strive for a different balance in talking about the institutions I attended, with whom I worked, and how the work was financed. The point of this retooling is that because your academic pedigree may place you at a competitive disadvantage relative toe applicants who can simply say "I studied with Professor Xavier at Happyland University you probably should spend less space making up the difference. You may be better served by focusing the conversation on what really matters -- how your experiences as a non traditional student will help you move the needle in scholarly discussions of gender and sexuality in twentieth century America. (Here you probably should say more. Which decade? Specifically which aspects of gender and sexuality? In which component of American society?) I would rebuild my discussion of previous activism and how I valued diversity. You have an absolute right to your political beliefs and how you want to express them. And decision makers have the responsibility to ask the question "If we offer DS16 admission and funding, how certain are we that the time and money are going to be spent building an academic historian and not a graduate student who spends precious resources telling truth to power?" This is to say that you want to send a clear and convincing message that you will serve the House of Klio with distinction and honor and that other considerations will not get in the way. (As a doctoral student, you'll learn it's not a question of "history or politics" but of history AND politics. Believe it or not, but if you get admitted to a program and do your best to be the best person and best historian you can be, you will be advancing all of your views even if you hold them very close to your chest.)

IME, mentoring requires a certain level of rapport that is built over time. It may well be that you and the undergraduates not on the same page. (You might be not living up to their expectations while they're not living up to yours.) The disconnect is intensified by the "do your own thing" sensibility. My recommendation is that you consider contacting them individually and having a conversation about getting the project back on track and make task completion the focus of your efforts. If opportunities arise to provide additional support, I suggest that you be very selective until that time the rapport is stronger.

@wasabigirl Welcome to the Gradcafe There's a lot of moving pieces to your situation. A first glance, it seems like the professor did not make a best effort to put everyone in a position to succeed. Did anyone sit the undergraduates down and explain objectives, roles, responsibilities, and expectations or were people put in a position to figure things out? Are you the students' mentor or are you their supervisor? Do they have the same understanding of the relationship as you?

If you can get an internship this summer and if you can write a thesis that will be close enough to completion next fall to use as a writing sample and you can develop relationships that may lead to more favorable LoRs and the experience is going to improve the quality of your SoP and the classes you take next year will help you develop the skills you'll need in graduate school, and you have enough chances to take classes P/F or P/NP it sounds like a good plan. If the cost of the additional year is going to break your back or if you will be required to disclose that you applied this admission cycle, then you might want to think twice. The extra year is unlikely to help your GPA substantially because it is hard to move that needle and you only one term of your additional year will show up on your transcripts (if that many), (FWIW. I went to Cal on the five year plan but I selected that path early on. Overall, the plan helped . I had extra time to develop my writing skills, to manage my GPA while also working, and provided an opportunity to take more history classes with instructors more invested in teaching. I did not make the best use of the additional year IRT developing relationships with graduate students and faculty members, and I goofed around way too much.)

My proposed method allows one to compete for those fewer spots more intelligently. If School A is a perfect fit but will have a shaky financial position, one could decide to focus on program that is not as ideal as one's top choice but has a better balance sheet. I am beginning to wonder if you're seeking to tussle as a means of working off some nervous energy.

I respectfully disagree with this statement. Aspiring graduate students can expand the range of their research from "In which departments/programs might I fit in" to include questions about the financial health of a university/university system. MOO, one's analysis may work better if one steps away from linear assumptions that are centered around disciplines and fields in favor of an approach that looks at revenue streams and expenses, that looks at the relationships between university leadership and academic departments. . In regards to the unknown economic impacts of COVID-19, one can find a comfortable balance between what economists are predicting with how institutions of higher education are preparing to respond to those impacts. Who is making an informed decision to run while others are asking "Do you think those bonds are going to hold that giant gorilla?" IRT information sources, I would consult broadsheets sparingly. I would instead look for resources and platforms that are either directly connected to decision makers and consultants or sources that provide raw data.

Hi, everybody. I'm sitting in on a conference call hosted by a consultancy. The topic is "Preparing Your Budget With Coronavirus in Mind." A key take away is that the belief that COVID-19 is going to impose a new sensibility on budgeting that is generally alien to academic institutions. The new budgeting discipline will focus on return of investment (ROI), common in the private sector, is going to push for strategic decision making at the expense of quality of programs and services. The level of analysis required will be very granular. It will focus on what can be quantified via key performance indicators (KPI). The "untangling" is going to take a significant amount of effort that has already started. The takeaway is that I would be very careful about taking at face value comments about the continuity of funding packages and access to resources because institutions are going to be playing "catch up". The silver lining is that the new approach will allow institutions to talk about ways to improve the services offered through better processes. ETA. I recommend that when you're developing a list of schools, look for institutions that are focused on strategic goals. They will be further along the process of understanding their revenue streams, their expenses, and the tough choices they want to make.

I recommend that such questions be asked tactfully. While one has a right to get the information one needs to make informed decisions, the tone and timing of a question can send the wrong message. Questions like: Generally, what is the pacing for a first and second year student like? Or What kinds of classes are offered during the summer? can serve as a prompt to get others talking about the timing and duration of students' breaks.

I typically, but not always, do background reading before I respond to a member's posts. The time/date stamps on your posts suggest the pattern I mentioned.

I think that you should find a way to pull back from the habit of burst communications. Before sending several messages/emails , take the time to figure out how to send one. This skill takes effort to develop. (At my job, we often pass around drafts to make sure we're getting one sentence right so as not to bother clients unduly.) Another potential resource for you might be a journal (physical and digital) specifically for jotting down thoughts/feelings that might be categorized as "nervous energy." Insofar as right sizing disclosures about one's state of mind/mental health, it is going to be trial and error.

I am straying from my lane long enough to point out that faculty members, especially those sitting on committees, may have expectations on where a graduate student spends his/her time during the summer and that these expectations may be communicated in the subtlest of ways. The nuance can be as ephemeral as a glimmer of a smile in the eyes as a professor says "Enjoy your vacation..." So while going way off campus may be appropriate (per policy) needed (to clear one's head) and necessary , I recommend that one have a clear understanding of what is allowed and what is expected. The same professor who is impossible to reach when on campus and is frequently away from campus can look at you if you under perform on a significant task and salt the wound by saying something "Well, I was here all summer...if only you had been here to set up appointments to meet..."

My recommendation is that you continue with your self care plan and that you consider the benefits of "right sizing" what you share with your professors. Generally, a professor is not going to provide clear guidance on expectations how graduate students should behave. IME, erring on the side of caution almost always works better than being too transparent with one's private life.

You're saying what I'm trying to nudge you to think about.

Based upon your previous posts, my guess is that you're having a hard time communicating with members of your department generally and your advisor is seeking to avoid any misunderstanding. I would double check your school's policy and the state's laws on single party consent for recording conversations. If the recordings are above board, I would think about how to phrase your questions and concerns about being recorded. I would also consider taking very good notes or recording the conversations as well.

When you're ready to get back at it, I think you may find a lot of useful information in this forum and others for the new season.

That you replied at all suggests otherwise.

^ This last part could have been phrased a bit more tactfully, IMO.

It is exceptionally easy to second guess one's decision making process after one makes a decision and then has second thoughts. I recommend that you work on accepting the decision you've made -- to accept a generous offer from a high ranking department with a track record for placing graduates quickly. For your second thoughts, I recommend that you do what you can to hit the ground running in the fall, to do excellent work, and to position yourself so that if you still have misgivings a year or two from now, you can through your hat back in the ring and "transfer" to a different school. A year or so from now when you return to the assessment of speed of placement, I recommend that you add a wrinkle. Speed of placement to TT jobs and career progression.

I recommend that aspiring graduate students develop plans and contingency plans based upon scenarios with different sets of assumptions. A shared assumption for each scenario is that someone out there is going to figure out a plan that is going to get her admitted and funded at the top programs. I think that successful plans will include research projects that can be done using primary source materials that are available digitally and/or locally.

Easier said than done, I recommend that you focus a bit less on how you'll market yourself (a concept of which I'm not particularly fond) and more on how you define yourself as a professional academic historian and on identifying trajectories of historiographical debate to which you can contribute.

@NoirFemme good to see you.

@bibliophile0521, I am getting a mixed message from you. You're asking for support and your reception of the support you've received so far strikes me as dismissive. It's highly unlikely that a single undergraduate course at a school that doesn't prioritize research would see a student being "quite familiar with historiography." Given the long slow decline of the Spanish empire in the nineteenth century and the intricacies of imperial competition among European states, it may be a bit early to conclude that the ability to read Spanish is not relevant. Looking at America during the Depression through Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath and other works of literature sounds like a momentous undertaking. ICYMI. https://csub-dspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.3/48171/thegrapesofwrath.pdf?sequence=1 MOO, there are nuclei for several interesting projects (if not an entire career) in @Tigla's post.that combine both of your initially stated interests--if one is willing to look at Anglo German rivalry as it played out in the Western Hemisphere and willing to expand the time frame to the twentieth century.