Sigaba

Could you define your research interest a bit more precisely and modify significantly how you summarize the state of existing scholarship? A google search for "war on drugs criminal justice united states scholarly article .pdf" yields over 300k hits. A ProQuest dissertation search for "war on drugs criminal justice united states" maxes out the number of hits (40). A jstor search for (((war on drugs ) AND (criminal justice)) AND (united states)) limited to journals in African American Studies, Criminology and Criminal Studies, History, Law, Political Science, Public Health, and Public Policy and Administration yields 307k hits. The Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library has posted on line a 16 page summary of its holdings related to drug abuse policy. IME, this type of summary is a byproduct of public, journalistic, and scholarly interests and FOIA requests. With the number of results that one can find in a few minutes, the assertion that "there isn't a lot of study in this area currently" may raise some eyebrows unless you define that area more specifically.

@gsc comments on reading for argument and enabling one's readings to be in conversation with each other resonate with my experiences and the guidance I received from professors. I am not sure I agree with the tactical guidance that gsc provides. I understand that the intent is to help establish boundaries. But a tactical doctrine (how one does things day to day) should ultimately support the strategic objective (what one is trying to achieve by pursuing a Ph.D. in history--to create new knowledge that advances our understanding of the past). I think what I'm trying to say is that there's a lot to be learned through serendipity--the book a shelf down from the book you want from the library, the article referenced in a footnote that leads you off the beaten path--can put you in a position where you need to make a snap judgement to put aside the egg timer and spend the next few days trying something different. Please do leave yourself open to those opportunities!

I would strongly advise you to go to school. If you look at the org charts of departments in the executive branch, you'll see a lot of unfilled positions along with incumbents who are "acting as." To me, that information, along with published journalistic accounts, suggests that there's a lot of work to be done and not enough people to do it. That's leadership setting people up to fail. You definitely deserve better.

You're welcome. I do ask that you give some thought to pacing yourself between now and the start of your classes. The next several months are going to be challenging. Could you afford to downthrottle a little (or a lot) and enjoy a last week of summer?

I agree with @TakeruK. The information isn't solid ("may not"), the information isn't really yours to share, and you're going to need a much better answer if a POI asks a trap question with a couple of good answers and plenty of bad ones. Changing gears a bit, please give very serious thought on how to great a group in a manner that displays a higher level of situational awareness--not everyone here is a guy. You may be focusing your view of fit too narrowly. A lot can happen between the time you' accept an offer of admission and start putting your committees together. Knowing with whom you'd like to work is not the only factor in determining fit.

Concisely. Think about it this way. A double spaced page of writing has about 250 words and takes about two minutes to read aloud. So think about what you could say in about three minutes, and write that up. By the bye, in two, two and a half years (plus/minus), you'll be summarizing 500+ page books in a sentence or two.

If this job means that you'd be working for the EXE of the GOV with this job, I recommend going to school. I think POTUS is trying to "drain the swamp" through radioactive decay.

Sarah Rosenfield

Will data analyst positions exist five, ten, fifteen years from now? Or will AIs and ASIs do most of the work?

I would recommend that you find an intellectually, psychologically, and economically sustainable balance between your ambition and your understanding of your limitations in the near term. Assume that you're going to produce work that advances your field. Maybe see your master's thesis as a first step on a decades' long journey.

It's more difficult to frame a new scholarly debate than to advance an existing scholarly debate, even for very accomplished academics.

I'm learning the hard way (i.e. personal experience) that the leading edge can be the bleeding edge if one's jumping too afar ahead of existing works done by established scholars. HTH

PM inbound.

There are reputable vendors that I would trust such as Newegg and CDW. The sales taxes could be less and that would add to your savings. I think that would depend upon the brand and the model. Computers built for corporate use are likely to be better built and have more durable (if not more capable) components than similar machines built for everyday consumers and sold at Costco.

If you plan to buy a refurbished computer, I recommend that you research owners' reviews of the make/model you want and also research the components inside the computer. A refurbished computer may have addressed issue A, but issue B (a defective chip or substandard adhesives or bad soldiering) can be a ticking bomb. I also recommend that you pay attention to the GB requirements for machines running Windows 10 if you plan to upgrade a refurbished machine from an older version of Windows. Windows 10 automatic updates are turning my refurbished Thinkpad T450s into an also ran because of its too small SSD. I kind of disagree with @Eigen on the issue of processing power. If you want to pay some extra coin to go up a notch, I recommend doing so. My thought is that watching Elementary on Hulu and Penny Dreadful on Netflix doing multi tabbed research while downloading PDFs should be a smooth, worry free experience. YMMV.

Please keep in mind that Arizona heat is different than Carolina heat because of the humidity. If you don't give yourself enough prep and travel time, you could end up arriving as wet as you were when you get out the shower. (This happened to me a couple of times in Texas.) Moisture wicking undies (I like Ex officio these days), performance jeans with moister wicking threads. and a synthetic top over a synthetic under shirt can help mitigate the effects of the heat and the humidity. Keep your cool as you adjust to the culture. You may meet people whose views align with yours on issues A through X but collide on Y and Z. If Y or Z = 2A issues, the armed services, or race relations do what you can to roll with it. If Y or Z is some thing about the Duke Blue Devils playing better basketball than the Tar Heels, put down your drink, take off your watch, roll up your sleeves, break a beer bottle, brandish it like a dirk, and say "Excuse me?"

I don't agree that attributing abhorrent views to a psychological disorder is the way to go. We will pay a very high price if fields of psychology are reduced to battering rams against those who hold different views, no matter how repulsive we may find those views to be.

American History R_Escobar (20th century, American Indian), crazedandinfused (antebellum, intellectual), hopin'-n-prayin' (southern, religious), stevemcn (transnational), Simple Twist of Fate (early American), zb642 (20th century, labor/working-class culture), BCEmory08 (19th-20th century Catholicism, labor), irvinchiva10 (20th century, immigration/immigration reform) natsteel (early American political culture and intellectual history) unforth (19th century US political and military history, US Civil War) hbeels (colonial, early national, 19th century, transappalachain west, historical memory of these eras/areas) thedig13 (20th century U.S.; built environment, modern consumer culture, race, and immigration) Weepsie (North American Mapping, Exploration and Trade, Anti-Communism/Socialism in Interwar period, bit of a mixed bag) lafayette (19th c. [with a dash of 20th], urban, intellectual) vtstevie (Revolutionary/Early Republic New England, infrastructure/economic) macmc (Feminist, gender, and LGBT history) HistThrift (early America, indigenous history) junotwest (19/20th century African-American, Cultural/Intellectual, Gender & Sexuality) calhoun&caffeine (19th cen. Southern [political]) tampopo ramen (19th-20th century capitalism/business) BookishVixen (late 18th-early 20th ce maritime communities, cultural, gender & sexuality) hardtack&coffee (19th Century American Social & Military History, American Civil War) spellbanisher (economic and cultural history of the gilded age, progressive era, and the 1920s) ThisGreatFolly (intellectual, religious, political violence, rhetoric) lily9 (Indigenous history, social history, public history) European History Kelkel (Modern Germany, political), goldielocks (Britain), SapperDaddy (Eastern and Central Europe), kotov (Modern Romania, Holocaust, labor), RevolutionBlues (Modern Western Europe/France labor and leftist politics), theregalrenegade (18th/19th cent British Empire/environment), jrah822 (19th century Britain; emphasis on colonial relationship to India), grlu0701 (Intellectual & cultural history,fin de siecle Germany and Italy), naturalog (modern European [mostly German] intellectual and cultural/sexuality and gender/political radicalism), runaway (Eastern/Central, memorialization & visual culture), Sequi001 (Modern France, gender and sexuality, colonialism/imperialism) Abetheh (19th/early 20th century Germany and France, religious politics vs secularization) NeutralKate (Modern Russia, modern European economic history) Crackerjacktiming (Modern Germany, gender and sexuality) GloFish (USSR, Stalinism, Soviet-American Relations) jamc8383 (19th/20th century France, interwar culture, relationship between body, mind & place) Heimat Historian (19th/20th century Germany, migration, settler colonialism) AshleyJuneBug (Early Modern France and Britain, gender and sexuality) maelia8 (19th/early 20th century Germany, imperialism and colonialism, travel, exploration) BookishVixen (Victorian and Edwardian English imperialism/gender & sexiality) episkey (19th/20th century France, gender and sexuality, Holocaust) AngesRadieux (18th/early 19th century France, cultural history, music) ManifestMidwest (modern France, colonialism & imperialism, Pacific worlds) DGrayson (early modern Western Europe [focusing mostly on England right now], economic and religious history) Ziggysunshine (19th/20th century Belgium, architecture and urban planning, intellectual history) African History Oseirus (precolonial/early colonial West Africa), Singwaya18 (20th century East Africa), Safferz (20th century Horn/Northeast Africa), The People's Scholar (Spanish colonialim in Africa- i.e. middle/West Africa) Jogatoronto (Psychiatry in early colonial West Africa) ronwill06 (Social and political radical movements) Heimat Historian (German settlements in Southern Africa) thekatieladybird (Post-independence conflict and social histories in Central Africa) Latin American History CageFree RIP (20th century, Southern Cone) BH-history, The People's Scholar (18th-19th century Colombia) StrangeLight (20th century Central America) Heimat Historian (German settlements in Southern cone and Mexico) Mujereslibres (German informal colonization of Peru, Brazil, and Chile) AP East Asian History alleykat (Modern China) getitlow (Modern China: Republican, Women, Gender and Sexuality) kyjin (Pre-Modern Japan) aec09g (Modern Japan) pudewen (Late Imperial China) kdavid (Modern China; focus on the Republican period) Minion.banana (late imperial China, Islam, intellectual networks) qkhitai (Medieval China and Central Asia, literature and ethnicity) lordtiandao (Imperial China: political and fiscal) Near/Middle Eastern History uhohlemonster, (modern Israel, Iran, Palestine) oswic (modern Egypt, gender) Conmel (modern pan-Islamic thought/networks) Baloch (Oman) Atlantic World sandyvanb crazedandinfused Global/World History cooperstreet (Cold War) melissarose8585 Heimat Historian (German settlements throughout world) Jewish History uhohlemonster, (modern Israel) hopin'-n-'prayin, kotov (Holocaust), naturalog (sometimes modern European/Holocaust), runaway (memorialization & visual culture), ticklemepink (20th c. Germany/U.S) awells27 (Late Antiquity: Roman Empire/Palestine/Byzantine) Science/Technology/Environment shaxmaty1848 (Cold War) StrangeLight (environmental history, ecological distribution conflicts) sukipower (20th c. forensic science & anthropology, 19th c. science and medicine) Neist (19th/20th c. biological sciences) seh0517 (scientific illustration, ancient egyptian science & medicine, astronomy, mortuary science) lily9 (Indigenous science and how it fit into architecture and urban planning (especially astronomy) Social annieca (Cold War and Post-Cold War East and Central Europe) BookishVixen (Spheres of influence, Progressive Era reforms affecting immigration) Classical and Medieval Hogs of War (Monastic Studies and Conflicts in Authority) telkanuru (high Medieval intellectual and social history, Cistercian studies) AbbeyRoad (Monastic History, Gender, Cistercians) Kirialax ("Dark Age" Byzantium; the Komnenoi) Cultural StrangeLight (gender, race, ethnicity, and religion) hbeels (race/ethnicity, religious, masculinity/feminimity, print/literature) crazedandinfused (race, nationalism, performance, rhetoric) alleykat (religion, race/ethnicity, cultural relativism) Heimat Historian (German culture in transnational context) nhhistorynut (20th century US, African American, race/racism, Black nationalism) Canadian History truthfinder (New France, religious) lily9 (Indigenous history) South Asia pakhistorian (Pakistan/Bangladesh,cultural, social, political, women, public history, digital history) Southeast Asia kxlx (early modern, colonialism, port cities, Islam)

I was unaware of her passing. This is horrible news.

I recommend applying to your top two schools no matter what. For the others on your list, I recommend developing some sort of a scoring matrix that allows you to rank features and benefits for each school. The features could fall into broader categories that could have scores themselves. Once you've complex you could apply to the three or four highest scoring schools. As an alternative, you could also have a sub matrix in which you rank admissions requirements and how well you think you meet those requirements. The scores from this matrix could be subtracted to the features and benefits scores. This approach would allow you to cross off schools that, as much as you'd like to attend, you understand that the odds are stacked against you. A challenge of using scoring matrices is when you don't get the results that you really want. If that happens, you can start tweaking scores and calculations, sending out cocaine fueled rants on Twitter while sitting on the can, and blaming the MSM for providing fake news. (Because that's who we are now.) What ever you do, I repeat that you absolutely should apply to your top two schools no matter what. They're going to offer admissions to applicants for Fall 2018--why not you?

Talk to your committee members some more as well as others who have BTDT IRT getting a TT job.

@KittyCat_PhD, going forward, you will benefit from establishing boundaries early on. You will need to develop tactics that allow you to walk the delicate balance between what you're being asked to do and what you think is the right thing to do. IRT your current situation, I recommend that you ask yourself "what's at stake?" On the one hand, your advisor wants you to do something that saves (someone) money and (maybe) advances his personal agenda of tweaking his nose at authority from time to time. On the other hand, you are concerned about managing your risk--what happens if you get found out. Potential diagnostic questions include, how would you feel about his request if there were no risk of the ruse being discovered? (Do you not want to do it because you might get caught, or do you not want to do it because it's wrong or do you not want to do it because there's an expanding pattern of rule bending and you want to get off that train?) Depending on how you answer the question you could put a dollar amount on the price of compromising. "Nothing to worry about." You're being too uptight. To me, those are warning flags that this guy doesn't really give a fuck about you. At all. YMMV.

Incredibly good guidance @TakeruK . @GlobalInformatician a tactic that may help you to establish and to preserve boundaries on your time if you go the "lifeline" path is to keep students apprised of your shifting schedule. "If you want to visit during my office hours on the 15th, you need to schedule an appointment by the Xth." Or "If you want feedback on your project, I need it by the Zth." My belated discovery of this tactic helped me to ratchet down my tendency to offer on demand 24/7 support. You could also be straight forward about your focus as a parent. You could offer a caveat that you'll do your best to support your students and (not but) your child comes first.

Hi, @infovore. I think you might benefit from developing two answers to the question "What is history?" One answer can center around how professional academic historians answer the question and how you presently answer the question. From there, perhaps spend time developing a provisional understanding of how you want your scholarship to close the gap as well as the resistance you may face: no matter how much professional historians celebrate interdisciplinary approaches, there's a point where they're going to say "No, that's not history--that's something else." Some of this resistance will be self-interested parochialism--academic historians often think the world would be a better place if people were more like them. (Only diplomatic, military, and naval historians are correct in this view) But most of it will come from professionals doing what professionals do: define and defend the borders of their domain of knowledge. I also recommend that you sketch out what you'd want to do with a doctorate in history. What kind of job would you want? What kinds of professional activities and accomplishments would qualify as moving the needle? Do you see yourself having an interest in matters of public policy? Do you want to be grey or a leading light/rock start? Do you want to expand slightly the boundaries of academic history or do you want to blaze new trails? IRT the part of your comment that I highlighted in bold type, I strongly encourage you to develop a different approach to describing your work. Yes, archival research is the coin of the realm in the House of Klio. Yes, you want to develop your skills and gain experience IRT archival research. At the same time, you don't want to phrase your work so that it has a built-in reason for people to dismiss it. Leave the dismissiveness to cranks who should have retired years ago--and first year graduate students. Try this approach instead. Your undergraduate thesis explored a question. To answer it, you used primary source materials that fell into categories a, b, c, ... z. From your research, you drew a conclusion and that conclusion advances the historiographical debate and historical understanding of your topic. Full stop. Now, outline the agenda for additional inquiry on that same topic--what kinds of questions should be asked and what kinds of additional sources might be used to answer those questions.

One could always collect and read one's POI's published and unpublished works.