Sigaba

First, congratulations on earning for yourself this wonderful opportunity. Clearly, the hard work you've done is bearing fruit. The answer to your question is "Yes." I was asked to come to a school and to talk to a professor or two. Due to reasons unrelated to my candidacy, I was a bit tone deaf to what I was being told. So I was a bit more anxious than the situation warranted. I recommend that you do what you can to relax. Relax and relax some more. It sounds like you're in the catbird seat. Do what you can to use that vantage point to show your strengths. A part of this process requires you to focus a bit less on your perceived shortcomings. (Bluntly, from where I sit, you're about ten feet tall and you don't realize it.) In terms of preparing for your interview, I suggest that you revisit your research on the POI and other members of the department. Take a third look at information that gives you insight regarding the departmental dynamics. Determine if faculty members a relatively collegial group or if the department show indications of infighting. (A quick way to answer some of these questions is to look closely at the acknowledgements of historians' recent works.) Concurrently, figure out how your proposed areas of specialization fit into the department's vision of the profession. If you're not sure how your sensibilities will fit in, develop a provisional view and discuss it as such. If you put together notes/talking points based upon the information described above--or any other path of preparation--I suggest that you keep things very simple. That is, no more than seven talking points and that the talking points and supporting notes take up less than one page of paper, double spaced. HTH.

G-- IMO, it depends. One factor is the content of the note. For example, in Tay's case, if the note is an extension/continuation of the email correspondence / phone conversation, a few days may be needed to draft the part beyond the 'thank you.' However, if one is just going to say 'thank you,' then one might put the note into the mail box that same day. Whatever the choice, I believe that a thank you note needs to be authentic to who you are, how you communicate, and the dynamic of the relationship.

I recommend that you consider the advantages of a summer internship at a consultancy. Depending upon the specific industry, one can develop expertise that may transfer to the study of history. Also, one can gain a different perspective on how to manage relationships--not a bad skill to have in the Ivory Tower.

ALCON-- Consider the utility of confining one's fantasies, fears, and vents to a password protected file on an encrypted HDD--that is, at least until you get accepted and are attending a doctorl program. Then, you can just melt down during a seminar and/or in a professor's office. . (Or so I heard. )

Tay-- Relax and everything will be okay. (Maybe jot down at the top of your brief outline the professor's name, the school she's working at, and the title of her book on your notes...Ask Rick Perry. )

Tay-- In regards to the second situation, since there is no page limit, I would send the whole document provided that it is your best work. In regards to the first situation, here's a suggestion. Take a work of history that has influenced you and/or that you found especially significant. See how the person who wrote it used the introduction to provide a 'roadmap' of her overall argument. Use that roadmap as a template on how to use two or three pages to summarize the overall argument of your thesis. Then use the balance to develop a specific point that drives your argument. (Pie in the sky, the historian whose work you consult will have also published previously an article or two in academic journals that either offered an overview of the entire work or a part of the greater whole.) HTH.

It is so cool to know that you're willing to reward with continued hard work not only those who gave you the research internship but also the qualified applicants that were turned away so you could do your thing..

ETA: Due to the time-sensitive nature of the request, some of the recommendations that follow are geared specifically towards the OP. Use a land line, not a cell phone, for the conversation. Make a call of nature ten minutes before the call. Have an idea of where you want to draw the line between conversation and chit chat. If that line is crossed, have ready a way to get the conversation back on track. During the call, have handy a glass--not bottle--of water. When necessary, sip the water, but do not drink. Use your existing email correspondence as the basis for your phone conversation. Given the preparation time, your interests may be best served by focusing on ways to convey who you are rather than developing a to do list. Ideally, the way you write is close enough to the way you talk so that there is not any awkwardness. As the correspondence has already covered a number of topics, let the phone conversation be a continuation of the conversation. [*]Even if you're not, convey an air of confidence. [*]By this stage of the process, you've been having these kinds of conversations for years. (And if you haven't, act as if you have.) [*]Avoid the appearance of reading from a script. [*]If you use a script, have no more than five talking points. [*]If the course of the conversation means you don't cover all five, do not stick to the script. [*]Just as she's figuring out how you'd fit in at her department, you're figuring out if you want to go to her school. [*]Remember how to say two important things "I don't know." and "I don't understand." [*]Upon finishing the conversation, sit down and write a "memorandum of conversation," and then draft a thank you note (card, letter, email) that you will send after a suitable interval. [*]Remember to have fun. HTH.

FWIW, I always submitted applications so that they just beat the deadline. The logic was that the last applications to arrive would be on top of the pile and, thus, the first to be read.

It may be the search strings that you're using. <<LINK>> <<LINK2>>

CG-- As a fellow procrastinator, I can tell you that if you keep riding that tiger it is eventually going to turn on a dime and eat you. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, or next year...but eventually. (I'll have more to say about this tomorrow... )

Whoa, whoa, whoa! What is going on at the Grad Cafe today?! I know many of you are under a lot of pressure but let's consider the importance of this day in an international perspective as well as the content of this thread before we start jumping all over each other. In regards to the latter, could it be that what is being perceived as rudeness may actually an international students communicating in a language that is not his or her native tongue?

FWIW, I think you should post more, not less. You consistently offer sound guidance.

Consider the utility of extending your undergraduate career so that you can participate in your department's honors program (that is, if you've not already done so) or, if possible, fulfill the requirements for a double major. The extra year will give you time to do more research on graduate programs, to prepare your applications, and to request LoRs. Another option is finding schools that have application deadlines in early 2012 rather than later this year. HTH. ETA: MOO, one should not assume bad faith on maximumride's part merely because he/she is not as far along in the application process as one would like.

L-- With respect, you are confusing your inference for the implication of my question. Metaphorically, the point I was attempting to make is that there's a difference between getting driving tips from people learning how to drive and those who have a driver's license and teach driver's ed. for a living.

ktel-- Where were you when I could have made the most use out of this guidance!? (But I'm not bitter.)

Aaron-- Bluntly, you've gotten a lot of implicit and explicit feedback on this BB regarding the dilemma you describe above. It remains up to you to figure out how to interpret that feedback, to develop a plan of action, and to follow that plan to improve your rapport with your classmates.

U-- I had one professor who had his students take final exams that were set up in the traditional format (short I.Ds, short essay, long essay). My qualifying exams were all longish essays. (Also, as I am an Americanist, the process of satisfying the foreign language requirements was different--read: easier--than what you will probably face. Your POIs may administer additional written and oral exams to make sure you're up to speed with your Hebrew, Arabic, and French.) To tease out the thought...another advantage to finding a way to work on timed exam skills is that you'll be able to empathize better with undergraduates if/when you work as a teaching assistant. As an example, while working as a T.A., I had a boss who gave absolutely brutal exams and insisted that we adhere to equally brutal grading criteria. (As a team, we t.a.'s would wonder how we'd do on his midterms.) Consequently, while I did not cut anyone slack in my evaluation of blue books, I put in a fair amount of additional effort getting students prepared to take those exams. HTH.

What ever course of action you take to get close to a professor, please consider the value of subtlety--if not also authenticity. That is, assume that a POI will quickly figure out if you're genuinely interested in an intellectual sense in his/her work or if you're just blowing sunshine to get what you want.

A lesson that I learned the hard way (through personal experience and an abysmal lack of situational awareness) and for which I pay every day. There is a huge difference between an advisor and a mentor. I strongly recommend to all that you know what those differences are, that you know your tolerance levels when your PoI is disinterested in performing the functions of either, and that you have a plan B if things start to get especially...funky.

U-- In retrospect, I'd like to amend my two cents worth of guidance regarding the GRE. While I stand firm in my belief that you should not take it again, I also think that, because you've not done much (if any) test taking as a collegian, that you find a way to develop your skills at taking time based exams. In graduate school, it is likely that you will be required to take at least one series of time-based exams (i.e., your quals). This recommendation is based upon my own experiences. As an undergraduate, I took very few courses that had timed exams. (IIRC, I had a grand total of twelve midterms and finals in about 135 units of classwork.) As a graduate student, I felt that the relative lack of experience taking timed exams added significantly to my stress level when I was required to take exams during a semester and, later, when I sat down to write my quals. Again, this is two cents' worth of advice for you to take and to leave as you see fit.

U-- Thanks for the clarification! I understand your point. Something to consider--many historians develop an ability to separate the "ooh" factor that comes from name recognition from the specific content of a LoR. That is, your interests may be better served if you balance your LoRs in favor of those written who know you and your work best regardless of their current stature in your field of specialization.

Were I in your situation, I would apply to the local program and then evaluate my options if I were admitted. (For example, if you get in, are offered funding, and the economy still looks bad, hunkering down in a research library for a year or two might not be a bad way to go.) Meanwhile, consider the value of doing some background research on what preparatory steps to take for joining the foreign service. For example, are you ready for the background check for a security clearance? (What level of PERSEC have you and your wife demonstrated on the internet? How is your credit? Do you have unpaid parking tickets or any other minor unresolved legal issues that are going to raise flags? Is there anything funky about your travel patterns? Do you have any unsettled rivalries with "freinemies" who could sandbag you when they get a phone call? Have you articulated any "out there" political views--IMO, this could be key if the GOP retakes the White House in 2012?) You might also consider the value of finding ways to assess your competition. OIF and OEF are winding down and Defense is dropping the hammer in a very big way on its manpower costs. So you may have a lot of competition for spots in State from men and women who already have spent time oversees, have the language skills, have the security clearances, and have some of the training to do the job you want. HTH.

U-- Were I in your position, I'd not worry about my GRE scores a bit. A quick question. The following comment in your OP struck me as a bit odd: "Excellent letters of rec from professors who know my work very well, and two are famous in the field of Jewish history (unfortunately, that matters)[.]" Should it not matter that established scholars in your field of specialization think highly of your work as an undergraduate?

For some, this training begins before college -- at prep school. There, some may ask college freshman who come back for a weekend visit. "Is [insert elite school name here] hard?" Unless the freshman is an engineering student and/or attending MIT, the answer is often an astonished "No." This dynamic works in another way. If you attend a top tier school as an undergraduate, you are competing with/against some exceptionally bright people. If you do well in these encounters (how ever one might define 'doing well'), your skills improve as does your confidence. This sense of confidence can still a lot of doubts when applying to graduate school. Or so I've heard.