Sigaba

Before you start reading, I recommend that you define concisely the similarities and differences between art history and architectural history. (Maybe in a physical journal.) This exercise will allow you to understand the differences among those two fields and history. Then, I recommend that you go to the website for Cambridge's history department, identify the scholars whose areas and interests overlap with yours. Find syllabi of courses they've offered and reads the works that seem important even if they don't appear relevant to your interests. Find works by those same scholars and read them selectively. If you do this task diligently, you will find the "must read" books and monographs as well as the "state of the art" historiographical essays in journals. You may be tempted to focus on works closely related to your research. I very strongly urge you to resist that urge. Put those works aside for now. Focus instead on works that will allow you to understand the bigger historiographical issues of the past sixty or seventy years.

Honesty is important but so is perspective. A graduate student grading exams for a lower division class a month before her qualifying exams may not have the same take on her experiences that she will a year after she's passed her exams. She may have a different perspective a bit later when she really figures out how much her adviser cared about doing a good job. Age/life experiences can also make a difference. A graduate student from a family of accomplished academics and/or professionals may see things a lot differently than someone who is the first member of her family to go to college, much less graduate school. This is not to say that anyone's assessment should be privileged over anyone else's. This is simply to point out that the contexts of those assessments is worth knowing.

There's something to be said about pragmatism. What do for your dissertation doesn't have to be what you do for ever. And, as @psstein points out, interests change. (The only reason I'm not urging you to go to SMU is because of the heat.)

@MikeTheFronterizo congratulations on your successful application season. I think that you should find different ways to describe established historians than "great" and "decent." I also think that you should rethink how you phrase your relationships to others in your field, or, at the very least, how you phrase those relationships publicly. Confidence is important, communicating that confidence appropriately is more important. IRT your options, understand that "fit" is also about personalities. If Professor Best Thing Since Sliced Bread doesn't like you in particular or graduate students in general or is simply an asshole, it may not matter that you're potentially Professor Better than the Best Thing Since Sliced Bread. Were I in your situation, I would look at each school's library systems, proximity to archival sources you'd want to use for your dissertation, and opportunities to work with scholars in other departments and at other schools. I would look very carefully at the weather in Dallas because it is hot there, very hot, almost all the time.

The above is among the best posts in this thread. You don't have to receive a definitive answer before acting like a historian with confidence. Does @mementomoria 's confidence and sense of purpose come from having earned already a MA and a JD? Maybe, but I don't think so.

An Americanist specializing in colonial British America/the American revolution went out of her way to mock me for studying naval history even though her spouse built boats for the Blue Sword (that is, submarines for the U.S. Navy). She gave me a special "fuck you" by not bringing to my attention a couple of obscure but important essays in the William and Mary Quarterly. I found the essays years later...and it feels better when a professor just forks over the reference. On a much grander scale, I found out the hard way that I had changed programs to work with a specific historian who not only didn't give a hoot about his graduate students, the scholar suggested books for qualifying exams because he was already familiar with them, not because they were of the "one ignores at one's peril" variety. Moreover, this individual is a practitioner of the dynamic of eternal opposition. To paraphrase the department chairman, this person will set up a meeting at a baseball field, show up with a football, and then ask about your putting. All of these traits (and others) were widely known within the department however the ethics of the profession required students to figure it out on their own. More recently, a nurse from Virginia ripped out my living heart, gave me a "watch this" smile as she started eating... No, wait, this thread is about physical scars? Sorry. I have a small scar on my upper lip from playing basketball. I was playing very well (a rarity) so rather than going to student health, I spent the next hour or so swallowing blood. The cut wouldn't stop bleeding so I ended up at a hospital. The doctor asked me to "hop" on the exam table (I am short) and when I did, he said "Atta boy." He looked at me carefully and started to stammer an apology for calling me "boy" (this was in Texas). I laughed, he laughed, then he stitched me up.

In your brief reply, I recommend that you indicate briefly that you are taking any guidance or feedback or encouragement offered to heart. ("Thank you for your email...I especially appreciate your ...") Down the line, when the guidance/encouragement yields improved performance (and in most cases, it will), you can send another short email of thanks.

What argument are you trying to make? What are you trying to achieve with these numerous posts? Is it your argument that you're under more stress than "typical" applicants? If one were to agree (for argument's sake) then the next questions might be how well are you handling that stress publicly? What does your public handling of your stress indicate about your ability to handle the additional stress of a doctoral program? Are you making the case that you could handle that additional stress independently, gracefully, and,ultimately, professionally? As for the "tiny bits of information," I think that you're trying to have it both ways. You make more of your private life public (and this tactic is a mistake) but when you don't get the response you want, you attempt to pull rank (as a single parent, as a potential homeowner, as a person with a graduate degree, as a person who has had health issues, as a person who has lost a beloved family member) and then you say that people don't have enough information. If you received the affirmation you clearly want, would you dismiss it by saying that it is based on "tiny bits of information"? Here's the deal. When graduate students are going through their qualifying exams (arguably a stressful experience), professors respond to explicit and implicit prompts for empathy with mockery and a cold grin. "Why so glum? When I took my quals, I had to walk to the department up hill ten miles both ways on a frozen road under a 110 degree sun after growing the trees and milling the paper on which I wrote my answers, in Old East Slavic, using my blood as ink and a gnawed fingernail as a quill." Or words to that effect. Regardless of what is said, the message is "Deal with it." (Well, in some cases, it's actually "Fuck you, deal with it.") "Deal with it" will be the same message professors send when you get bounced off the walls in seminar, when due dates fall in the same week, when a professor stands on your head in office hours for screwing up an essay, and when your schedule and your teaching responsibilities collide. What is your plan for when you're told to deal with it? Will it be similar to the one you're executing now? If so, please understand that professors will be watching and judging and, generally, doing so with a profound disinterest in the circumstances of your everyday life. (The disinterest will be especially ironic when when it comes from a social historian.) You, and at least one other person reading this--trainwreck of a sidebar--are misunderstanding the guidance being offered. You're not being told that you can't make it, or that you can't do it, or that you're not resilient, or that you're not worth it. You're being told by people further along the road that you're walking that the path gets harder and less certain. You're being told that NOW is the time to start steeling yourself for the tough sledding ahead. You're being told that airing your personal grief/anxiety/angst in a semi public place using your actual name is an exceptionally bad idea because you're seeking entry into programs run by some of the most imaginative and skilled researchers on the planet. You are being told that many of those academics view themselves as guardians of a profession under siege. You are being asked: are you sending a message that your up for this fight or are you sending another message?

MOO, given the current administration's hostility towards education and the educated as well as the POTUS's admiration for decisive executive action, I'd go with the standard deduction unless my education expenses were yuge. And then I'd hire an accountant. If you do decide to itemize your deduction, make sure that you know the statute of limitations in relation to when you plan to take your qualifying exams.

I don't think it's a question of TGC's usefulness but rather how members are using it. In previous seasons, members posted more about their academic interests, passed along tips, and, in the history forum, "talked shop." When books were discussed, the works were more often relevant to a domain of knowledge than works being read for pleasure. This practice has shifted. If anything, the BB was less anonymous in previous years. The search function was friendlier (but not necessarily used more frequently). Profiles revealed a member's previous user names. IMO, part of what is happening is sensibilities towards privacy and social media are changing. Now, members are frequently using their actual names as user names or the user names for profiles on other social media. If there's a decline in privacy, it is due to individual choices, not a flaw of this BB. In regards to the expressions of sadness in the history forum and elsewhere, I think the replies are being misread in two ways. First, there's often an if...then quality to most of the replies. The message isn't "you're not cut out for grad school," the message is "getting into graduate school is hard, and what follows is ever harder--to make it, you have to really reach down inside and find a way to do it." Second, there's often a BTDT component that is being overlooked. Members including @TMP and @telkanuru have moved mountains to get where they are now. They are sharing knowledge learned the hard way -- through first hand experiences. Getting upset at what they, and many other experienced graduate students, have to say is like turning down a Gore Tex jacket in a driving rain because it doesn't have a two way zipper. (Also, in previous seasons, someone would start a separate thread on decisions and disappointed applicants were generally left to commiserate in peace.) To get back on topic, my vent of the day centers around the dynamic pricing at Amazon, especially IRT kindle books. Why the first and third volumes should cost less than the second, is simply annoying.

The profession has been shaped by a generation of scholars who made significant personal sacrifices and took incredible risks to get where they are. Now, we take certain approaches to the past as best practices, but that's only because we're walking on a path blazed by those who went before us. It is said that academic historians seek to replicate themselves in their graduate students. It may well be that even if you don't talk about the twists and turns in your life that "kept" you out of school, BTDTs are going to wonder about your commitment relative to theirs. (To paraphrase Darrell Waltrip, when you sit down for a breakfast of eggs and ham, the chicken is dedicated but the pig is committed.) When you do the forensics on why you did not receive an offer of admissions from a particular department, was it because you weren't a good fit, or was it because you're a non-traditional student, or was it because of "arbitrary" circumstances "totally out of [your] control"? Or did the professors making the decisions see in you a plate of eggs but no ham? This is a tough question to ask one's self; it can lead down a path of self destructive introversion rather than probing introspection. Yet, if you are disappointed by this application season, you may profit from asking it.

If you got into the University of Happyland or the College of the Golden Ticket, would you be saying that the process is arbitrary or centered around socioeconomic factors beyond your control? Yes, you are competing against others who have advantages that you don't. Some of those advantages were earned, some were inherited, and some were obtained at others expense--maybe even yours. Some of these students took up spaces as "legacies" while more worthy individuals were told "sorry, we're full." At the same time, you are competing against others over whom you have advantages. And some of these students got offers that you didn't. All of these factors, for the time being at least, are completely beyond your control. What is in your control is how well you maximize your potential as an aspiring professional academic historian. How does questioning the efficacy of the process and the integrity of the people making decisions help you get to where you want to go?

@angesradieux, is it time to start thinking about moving away from the disruptive forces in your personal life sooner (as in ASAP) rather than later?

MOO, you should have that conversation. You should give yourself the opportunity to learn all you can so you can make the most informed decision. (As a for instance, the school that wants to talk may have made a strategic hire or have in the works an interdisciplinary program that includes nearby schools.) My $0.02.

You are not wrong. There is less and less sharing of information with each application season. This season's thread in the history forum only took off after offers of admission started going out to applicants. Also, there's ever less "paying it forward" by graduate students used the grad cafe as a resource during recent application seasons. For those who say that no one here owes anyone anything, if you end up in a position that you need support, will you feel the same way?

A reminder, especially for those who have not heard back from all the schools/programs to which they've applied. It is never too late to take steps to minimize your digital footprint. You have all worked so very hard to put your best foot forward in your application materials. Why offer anyone the opportunity to alter the narrative by following the trail from your profile on this BB to your social media accounts? Highlight your screen name ---> right click ---> select option to search google for -- > look at the results from the perspective of people looking for ways to differentiate among qualified applicants who may or may not fit into a program. Do your FB posts give them a reason (if not an excuse) to put your file in the wrong stack? Too this, too that, too something else. Not enough this, not enough that, not enough something else. vs Page Not Found #HTH

I recommend that you wait and see/wait it out. By indicating your preference, you may talk yourself out of contention for a fellowship. Moreover, the first year might end up being difficult transition that requires your full attention. In this case, your previous experience as a t.a. may not be as big of an advantage during your first year of graduate school as it may be your second and third years. Finally, your commitment to teaching may be contrary to the sensibilities of the Powers That Be in your program.(Such is often the case in the humanities.)

Although my sensibilities regarding professionalism differ from yours and I disagree with some of your positions on key issues, I have always respected you for your intellectual and moral consistency, as well as your willingness to put yourself "out there."

I have lived in L.A. for quite a while. I work in a department at a consultancy that pays excruciatingly close attention to very specific aspects of vehicular ownership and usage. I don't agree that owning a car is necessary if you're willing to trade money (the cost of operating a vehicle) for time (waiting on public transportation) and then to divert some of the saved money to rent cars or use a ride sharing service from time to time. Some of the time you get back. One can read while drivers grind it out. While they look for parking, one's stop is a short walk to one's destination. FWIW, in 2015, AAA projected the average cost of vehicle ownership at about $8.7k--that figure doesn't include the cost to store (park) a vehicle. That same year, my transportation costs were about $1.2k in pre tax dollars for metro passes plus about $450 for car rentals--which included looking for a place to move and the move itself. Add the cost of Amazon Prime membership, I had a fair amount of money to spend on other things than a car. My $0.02.

From a personal professional POV, there may be no cons to having a visible online presence that includes one's cv. However... Some of the people googling your name are going to have hostile intent. They're going to use the information you provide to complicate your life by twisting what you've done and/or to treat inconsistencies as examples of deliberate fraud. When they get going, news stories get retracted, people lose their jobs, and businesses lose customers. When I say "they," I mean a certain contingent of the American political right that has never stopped fighting the "culture wars." Their anti-intellectual burn before reading approach was embarrassing, outrageous, and infuriating during "Kenyan Muslim Communist's" administration (I kid you not, extraordinarily intelligent people hold this view of Obama). And that same approach has netted the American presidency. They're showing no signs of slowing down. I think a Third Red Scare is just over the horizon. Yes, the American political left has its own contingent of scoundrels. Yet I think the moral hypocrisy of many conservative crusaders, and their desire for a civil war, makes them more dangerous to American political and intellectual life. Ah, the people you get to communicate with when you're a member of the Grand Old Party. But I am not bitter. Another choice is to minimize one's digital footprint by emphasizing PERSEC. If not physical mail and fax machines, then maybe, at least initially, discrete uses of file sharing services with limited download windows, and software that allows for certain levels of security. Simultaneously, set up social media accounts that separate completely the personal from the personal professional.

His committee didn't think that he was spending enough time on it, thinking things through. By that time, he was off the rails more often than he was on track. He would often say that he'd learned "nothing" from works that were considered must-reads as well as from cutting edge monographs. Things got to the point where his dissertation committee chair was tuning him out.

@RevTheory1126 FWIW, I think that you're handling your situation very well because your manager knows that you may be leaving and has had time to think about finding a new chaplain and you plan on giving two months' notice. (Have you considered the value of preparing a "how to do this job" document for your successor? He/she may never look at it, and it may still be very helpful to you.) IRT your anticipating that they'll be confused, maybe you can practice ways to explain your transition to political science. The explanation will come in handy when you get to graduate school.

I was in error. He did it in three years. He was not stable. He'd had a very hard life up to that point and he had a nuclear temper. One tactic he used that I used in modified form was to take qualifying exams in as short a time frame as possible. IIRC, he did his on consecutive days. I did mine in roughly consecutive weeks. For me, the advantage was that there was less freakoutohmygodohmygodohmygod time between exams.

What coursework can you do during the summers? How do the Powers That Be in your program feel about your intention to finish early? (Their saying "Yes" may not be the same thing as "We think that this is a good idea.") FWIW, I had a class mate who set his mind on finishing his doctorate in two years. His committee strongly recommended that he take more time. He held his ground aggressively. By the time the dust settled, he got what he wanted but at the price of being PNG-ed. If you're given the choice between doing it your way and burning bridges or doing it their way, which path would you pick?

MOO, a demonstration of diligence would include an incoming graduate students plan of action and a reading list organized around areas of interest with a request for feedback. "To hit the ground running towards my goal of X,, I plan to do A, B, and C. Here's a list of works that I intend to read. If you're so inclined, please let me know what you think." vs "What should I do to get ready for my first year?"