Sigaba

Yet another option is to take a thematic approach to one's summer preparatory reading. For example, if you're going to attend a program that a large proportion of social historians, you could read selectively on the social history of a topic of interest (e.g. the social history of the Second World War). Or, you could try to navigate the boundaries between the dominant them of your department (again, using social history as a convenient example) and the type of history you want to do. HTH.

I use a Lenovo ThinkPad R61 with a 14.1 widescreen that I got back in 2008. The feature that has proven more important than the screen size is the keyboard. FWIW, Lenovo has continued IBM's practice of publishing each month a document that lists the full range of available laptops http://www.lenovo.co.../pdf/tabook.pdf .

@ECGscholar-- If you take the attitude in this post with you to graduate school, you are going to get eaten alive. If you're lucky, it will be a fellow graduate student--with our without a tax break--who does the chewing, rather than a professor.

I think readers of this thread need to pay very careful attention to the differing levels of experience in actual graduate programs when assessing the value of the advice offered. Those of you who have not yet gotten your feet wet as graduate students might profit from considering the possibility that the rules of the game are much different than what you''ve experienced so far. One should also consider the possibility that until you've gotten a sense of these rules, the tactics that appear to work for undergraduates will have the opposite impact for graduate students even though the situations appear the same or "that much worse."

It sounds to me like she's holding you to a high standard, offering instantaneous corrections when you make a mistake, and treating you more as an adult than she does your younger classmates. In combination, these behaviors suggest that she respects you and is trying to help you reach your goals. There might be a disconnect with her tone, especially since she talks to other students differently. You might benefit from a brief conversation with her over coffee just to check in and see how you're doing. This conversation might lead to her changing her methods and softening her tone. However, from the information you've provided, I think developing a thicker skin might be the way to go. (Some educators are not into "hand holding" while others will do their level best to make all the adjustments they can to make sure that they're on the same page with their students.) What ever you do decide to do, please do come back to this thread from time to time to let everyone know what choices you've made and how they're working out for you.

amclayton-- Some of the best guidance I have received from a professor is to do one's best to maintain an even keel. What he meant was not to let the lows be too low or the highs be too high. My interpretation of the even keel is a bit different--I'm (not) bitter all the fracking time.

Another issue to consider is your own state of mind when you're standing in front of undergraduates. That is, what may be comfortable while you're in the audience may be unbearably hot and confining when almost everyone is looking at you. Even if you're generally cool in such situations, there can be an "uh oh" moment when you get anxious and start to sweat profusely.. So maybe one could spend some time thinking about undershirts and color combinations that do a better job than others when it comes to such moments. Or one can figure out teaching tactics designed to manage one's own stress. Additionally, do what you can before you stand in front of undergraduates to manage your allergies. Young people these days were some ghastly fragrances (from an allergen point of view).

I'd not worry about this incident too much in regards to contributing to a discussion. You just showed that you belong. However, you might want to keep an eye on the body language of professors (if not also the--ah--snarkier graduate students) when one engages in sidebar conversations. Every seminar is different. In some, adlibs, side bars, and stage whispers will be the name of the game. In others, such distractions may be taken the wrong way.

Oserius-- It will depend upon how deep you want to go into the weeds. For some, it will be an assignment one does just to get done. For me, it was an opportunity to learn more about a fairly prolific historian I wanted to emulate at that time. In my research for what ended up as a biographical/historiographical essay, I collected everything he'd written that I could get my hands on--including his master's thesis and dissertation. I read his major works with a magnifying glass (including a page by page comparison of a work that had two editions). I read reviews of his works, reviews on the works of his reviewers, and reviews he had written. I interviewed a couple of the professors he'd had at graduate school. (I did not, however, interview or correspond with him.) And I had the good fortune of getting to attend a series of lectures he gave at my school and attend a luncheon at which he was the guest of honor. In all honesty, I was on pins and needles for a while from information overload. Fortunately, I took an approach used in the retrospective essays that appear in Reviews in American History. This approached allowed me to focus on the trends and themes of his scholarship rather than a blow-by-blow account of his "brawls" with his peers. (This latter approach would have required a much broader understanding of his field than I had.) If/when you get this type of an assignment, you'll find that there's no single right way to complete it, that there are a lot of gracefully written published pieces that you can use as examples, and, that, if circumstances allow, you can use it to refine how you look at history. (I had the "time" because I wasn't taking any research classes that term.)

How does it do in the rain?

FWIW, by my reading, the quotation marks were implied.

@koolherc Nice post. @child of 2 Another tactic that you might use is to develop ways to "read back" to the professor a concept he just discussed with you. "If I understand you correctly, you're saying A, B, and C." "My understanding of your point is X, Y, and Z." "Just to make sure I'm on the same page as you, you're saying this, that, and the other." You can perform these types of tasks either in person or via written communication. If you use this read back method, it is crucial to make sure you don't simply parrot what you just heard while doing the happy muppet head nod. That is, if you understand what the professor is saying, the read back should have your own personal take on the information under discussion. This personal take doesn't have to be anything path breaking. It could just be a well informed musing or a follow up question that generates additional conversation. Conversely, if you don't know, or you don't understand, then say so. Make it clear (politely) that you need your professor's support to improve your level of knowledge as you make it clear that you're willing to do the hard work of learning. Please keep in mind that two of the most powerful things you can say as a student are both three word sentences: "I don't know" and "I need help." HTH.

Zyzz-- There was no attempt on my part at "psychoanalysis." I did not ask any questions about your personal life, your interpersonal matrix, your relationships with your parents, your gender, your socio-economic class, or any other diagnostic question unrelated to the information you provided. (The point here is that before using a term, maybe you should know what that term entails. Or, at least, use the search button to get a better sense of those with whom you're communicating.) On the contrary, in my reading of your OP I did you the courtesy of assuming that you are articulate enough to say what you mean. If you're going to get snide because you don't like it when people pick up what you put down, then maybe you shouldn't come to an internet BB and expect people to agree with you because you are neither wise nor introspective enough to figure out ways to solve your issue.

To piggy back onto NEN's suggestion, one might also consider getting a head start on reading up on either a very significant historiographical debate in one of your areas of emphasis or [iI] do biographical/bibliographic research on a very influential and/or accomplished scholar or [iII] a combination of the two. An example of is "America's decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan." An example of [iI] is the life and scholarship of Wilson Miscamble. An example of [iII] is the impact of Eugene Genovese on the historiography of the antebellum south. In my experience, graduate students are required to write a longer essay on items or [iI], and if one likes a challenge, can split the difference and go for item [iII]. This option will allow you to get a good overview of a few historiographical debates as well as a sense of how intense professional rivalries can be. If one pursues any of these three options, I recommend confining one's summer reading to studying journal articles/reviews and leaving more complex (read: longer) works until you get the specific assignment. This way, if you change your topic, you've not invested your time too heavily.

IMO, Eigen, as usual, offers wise guidance. Just because Jane / John Doe says he/she 'leveraged' an offer from SuperDuper State to get a better offer from Happyland University doesn't mean that the same tactic will work for you. Also, a tactical victory does not automatically translate into strategic success. Bluntly, in this economy, the last risk I'd want to take entering a graduate program is one that might earn me a reputation for being greedy, especially at a public university. (Of course, administrative staff and faculty members don't compare notes about such things--just as professors in the same field don't talk shop with their counterparts at other schools.) In my experience, while one's peers might guess, that kind of information is not disclosed. YMMV.

Why are you waiting until now to write a "much more articulate and detailed" document "not unlike" a statement of purpose? The time to prepare and to submit this document was before the application due date, not after. Also, the fact that you have doubts about the propriety of not "trying to guilt trip them" pretty much answers your question--if not also other questions you might not want the Powers That Be at Duke to ask. Be patient and let the process run its course.

In my experience, everything one submits for a graded assignment is subject to evaluation. Also, is the objective to win or is it to learn?

For Berkeley itself, my favorite places are Moe's Books and Top Dog. If you go nutso crazy at Moe's, you might be able to make arrangements for them to ship you your purchases. But however you spend the weekend, check the weather forecast, and bring enough layers as the low will colder than advertised and the high will be warmer than you expect. Have a great time!

What ever method you use, please consider the utility of backing up/copying your notes from time to time.

Please be very careful when it comes to encouraging proof reading by third parties. By some academic standards, this activity can lead to unintentional acts of plagiarism. It is one thing to offer a general comment about word choices or verb tenses ("You might want to double check your verb tenses...") while a specific recommendation ("Change 'she thinks' to 'she thought'.") might be crossing the line.

@oswic Another option is for you to grab up a couple of text books in your fields and to study them. A frame of mind in which you stop and place an event or an unfolding dynamic within a chronological framework might serve you very well in the years to come. Some of the monographs you're going to read may rest on the assumption that readers already know the five w's backwards and forwards. Moreover, some professors have raised the point that while certain fields invite skepticism of narratives, narrative history does have a place--especially when teaching undergraduates.

Maybe it would help if you were to make a features and benefits matrix for your two choices in which you assigned point values to those elements that you consider the most desirable in a graduate program. Then rate each program's ability to meet those preferences. Then, multiply the point values by each school's ratings, add up the numbers, and see what you get. I would be curious to know the following. Would program 2 allow you to have one or two professors from program 1 sit on any of your committees? What is the basis of your confidence that you'll receive "stellar training" at program 1?

I'd like to throw in another two cents in support of the comment in post #4 regarding a pair of black or brown shoes. Please do remember to get also socks and a belt to match your shoes.

The expected level of proficiency may also depend upon a professor's whims/quirks/expectations. If she did archival research for her dissertation while living in France, she may think that it is perfectly reasonable for her students to demonstrate the same level of expertise regardless of their individual needs. MOO, the key point here is that each student needs to consult with those professors who have the ability to say "go/no go" when it comes to benchmark tasks such as foreign language exams. These consultations should take place early (if not also often) to make sure you're on the same page. Please note that these consultations might be cryptic so you want to go into them with a calm mind--if not also a clear head. Another resource for informal discussions may be a professor's graduate students who are ABD. Do keep in mind that once a graduate student gets passed the language and qualifying exams, the everyday terror of the dissertation soon comes to overshadow memories the terrors of being pre-quals. This change of perspective as well as individual differences can lead to a different understanding of terms like "It was no big deal, I wouldn't worry about it."

In reply to post #4526 TMP-- What factors kept you from being honest with your interests and plans during the previous two cycles?