Sigaba

Aside from everything Sigaba said, you may also want to check the specific second language requirements of different programs. Some PhD programs, for instance, support (and/or require) their Korean studies folks to have a few years of training in modern Japanese, etc, which you can do after you start the program. This means if you are also applying for MA programs and eventually decide to do an MA first, whether or not that program allows you to get trained in another language (you know, just to save time in the future) might be something to think about. 

The SoP may be more important than your writing sample. Potential readers may decide that reading the former is less labor intensive -- and more revealing.

The SoP may be more important than your writing sample. Potential readers may decide that reading the former is less labor intensive -- and more revealing.

The SoP may be more important than your writing sample. Potential readers may decide that reading the former is less labor intensive -- and more revealing.

IMO, a few more details are needed. How long ago did he retire? Is he still an active participant in the profession? (Will his work advance existing historiographical debates?) What kind of research are you doing? Are you exercising independent judgment or checking boxes on a list? (Have you found something he might have otherwise overlooked?)
How engaged are you? Are you just making a buck or leaning forward and being a thoughtful (junior) partner?
What are your other LoR options? (Are you looking to switch things up drastically because things didn't go as well for you as you'd have liked last season?)

If they use the words "any and all", list all history courses. 

No experience with NYU or Columbia, but will weigh in to support Glasperlenspieler's use of "funded" to mean "no tuition, plus a decent stipend." The type of shifting of goalposts John2 is engaged in seems dangerous, except for someone independently wealthy...

Yah, mine is a historical writing sample.  
 
However, I was wondering... Would you be able to adapt your previous writing sample? And make it more of a history one? I mean, you have the sources, you conduct 20 interviews. What are they about? Is there any historical aspects in it? Maybe intersections?  
I suppose (but then again, just a thought)you could select maybe three interviews that contains topics that dialogue between them, and write a new one. Describe what kind of Oral History methodology you are going to use...maybe you follow more of an Alessandro Portelli (that conducts a more corporal type of analyzes) or maybe a Paul Thompson (a more traditional approach to Oral History).... Maybe establish a dialogue with the field of History of the Present Time, since they are very into Oral History and Trauma.... Define a period that embraces your interviews, what are they talking about, what historical vestiges do they portray in their narratives...
 
I do not know if this is doable on time, but I think it could demonstrate to the committee that even though you are switching fields, you already have a foundation in the historical research....Maybe, again, not start from scratch, but adapt what you already have....

I am not much of an Oral History researcher, but have a lot of friends who are. So, anyhow, if you need some help with it, just send me a message. I will be glad to help you. 

@Grospatapouf
While the Small Wars Council has gone quite, if you register and post an introduction there, you may get some suggestions on ways to match your MIL experiences to your academic aspirations.
As you navigate the path of your educational career, you may come across active duty / former /  retired American SOF types. In my experience some can be very particular in how they interpret statements like "I... served within a special force unit." (A former commanding general of USSOCOM was recently dragged into an exchange on Twitter over who is or isn't a Ranger.)
Please spare yourself an avoidable headache by being very clear about your service when you introduce yourself. If you sense confusion or even skepticism, exercise patience and give details so nothing is lost in translation.

Personally, I'd consider about 7-10 years out to still be relevant. Because of tenure, academic departments are slower to change than many other institutions.
If you're observing that from 2004-2010 graduates were placing into top departments but then - suddenly or gradually - after 2010 the prestige of those placements started to decline...that's data. Something changed.

From what I've heard, it can be useful to frame it in a different way, asking them: "would you be able to write a strong letter of reference with regard to xyz," instead of just asking for a letter of reference. This gives them more space to say no if they think their letter would not be strong.

@carlrogersfan98 the resources below may provide food for thought.
 https://www.kecksci.claremont.edu/prehealth/Grammar.pdf
https://grad.ucla.edu/asis/agep/advsopstem.pdf
 

Hi guys,
I could not get feedback the first time so I am resubmitting now with some more info. 
I'm a former high school dropout and I worked as an electrician from age 15. Later, I served in the French military within a special force unit. I resumed my studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands after leaving the military. I am now 27 years old and I would like to take advantage of this time spent serving my country to apply directly for terminal degrees in public management. 
Schools Applying To: Harvard MPP, SciencesPo-SIPA (MPA), SAIS (MAIR) 
Undergraduate institution: Leiden University (1st school of International Relations in the NL, 22nd in QS subject ranking) 
Undergraduate GPA: 8.5/10 Dutch Scale, Cum Laude  US equivalent -> GPA 4.0
Undergraduate Major: Political Science: International Relations and Organizations
Extracurricular and Electives:  
Honors Track: Science & Society Philosophic Considerations: Human Nature and Moral Progress ; Data Science (Python) ; Introduction to Secret Affairs ; Social Science Lab ; Extended Thesis  Overseas experience (work, study and teaching):  Korea (2021) Korea University Winter School: Principles of Finance (A), Strategic Management (A+) Ewha's Women University (Korea) - Korean Language A2  Exchange at Yonsei University (Korea) Spain and Colombia: Learning Spanish  GRE: 327 - 164V and 163Q + AW: 5
Languages: French, English (C2), Spanish (B2), Korean (A2)  
Quantitative requirements: 
Intermediate Macroeconomics, Intermediate Microeconomics, Mathematics for Economists, Money and Banking, International Trade, Statistic I,  Statistic II (SPSS and Python), Game Theory, Principle of Economics, International Political Economy, Principles of Finance 
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 0
Years of Work Experience: 6
Describe Relevant Work Experience: I was trained in Mountain Infantry and I later specialized in Human Intelligence and Special Action after passing Special Forces selection tests. I was deployed twice on combat operations in Africa (Sahel region) in a HUMINT and OMLT detachment where we worked on the arrestation of high-value targets, collected and reported intelligence in our area of responsibility, and mentored African troops on shared missions in the 'three-border' region. I also had the opportunity to train a platoon of young recruits for 6 months by the end of my career. 
Strength of SOP:  Moderate, I can tie my previous military experience facing international development and leadership failures in Africa to what I desire to accomplish with a degree in International Policy. However, I am not exactly your typical single-minded guy with a clear thread guiding him since high school, or maybe it is just that I haven't worked that part of my SOP enough yet. 
Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): 
1. My Int' Law professor has already accepted to write my letters. I'm pretty close to him from participating in office hours and I obtained outstanding grades in his exams, I do think he will write strongly in my favor.
2. My former commander who supervised our team in Mali. He knows me very well and appreciated my work. He already pulled efforts in that way by getting me a military award for my actions in Africa.
That's about it! Thanks in advance! 

The following passages are what I found especially controversial. 
IMO, when you attempt to take away a person's opportunity to fail, you also take away an opportunity to succeed. Also, the way I was trained as an educator, you do not mess around with or question others' motivation unless they specifically ask for guidance. Had @NoirFemme written that those who dream of being a history professor may find the path exceptionally challenging, or suggested that such individuals consider the benefits of broadening their constellation of motivational factors, I would have nodded in silent agreement.
But that's not what she wrote. Instead, she editorialized ("the height of conceit").
But also.. 
^The position that one's background alone bequeaths an understanding of how doctoral programs are designed, is debatable, especially given the absence of qualifiers. IME, it is the kind of generalization that historians are trained not to make -- autobiography is not history. One's background and experiences may provide additional insight, but do not, in and of themselves provide expertise.

Had @NoirFemme summarized her experiences as being consistent with what is being reported in this and other threads--with or without the disclosure of race, gender identity, and socio economic class, I would find her comments more memorable and less controversial.
You continue to conflate your individual experience as a graduate student in one history program as a global view of all doctoral programs as well as of thousands of higher education institutions. The latter is especially interesting as individual institutions are themselves trying to figure out if COVID-19 is the cause of their financial misfortunes or, as many administrators and consultancies are arguing, an accelerant. "Being honest" about one's experiences is crucial,  and, IMO, a conversation among historians is not well served by over generalizing and over simplifying cause effect relationships.

Positioning oneself in a role is not the same as fulfilling that role. You sought to establish an order by which people should consider applying to history graduate programs. For whose benefit did you offer the opinion? Certainly not for the benefit of "true believers" who might be able to submit application materials that resonate with like-minded professors who go on to do what history professors are known to do -- lean in and support graduate students who remind them of themselves. 

search.... function?

I recommend that you pursue option number three while concurrently seeing
if your department will allow you to take a class or two at nearby schools; if you can do your outside field in a department/school that will bridge some of the gaps between your department and your primary interests (as in your institution's law school); and if you can have a committee member from a neighboring schools. IRT your parents' health issues, please do what you can to find a sustainable balance among your personal preferences, your personal professional development, and their needs. Do all you can to understand that the balance may shift substantially over time.  If you have siblings, please do what you can to harmonize your preferences with theirs, with the understanding that feelings can shift over time.  If you have friends/relatives/colleagues who have faced similar challenges, try to hear them out even though some of their guidance may be counterintuitive, unsettling, or even painful. 

I would be prepared to discuss my favorite works in terms of areas and fields academic interest, and/or the writers who helped me develop my understanding of vital concepts and/or improve as a writer.
I would also be prepared to discuss provisionally which books are on the short list of "best/must reads" at the introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels.
Finally, I would be ready for some parry and thrust. "You say Book A, but what did you think of Book Z?"
Do academics take a break from "heavy intellectual lifting"? Maybe. I would recommend to aspiring graduate students, regardless of discipline, that one be very careful on how one phrases such breaks.

Some academics consider getting one's undergraduate degree and subsequent graduate degrees at the same institution as "incestuous." (A professor said this to me when I entertained the idea of going to my UGI for graduate school. At the time, I was eager to go somewhere else. Put me in a time machine, I may make a different decision and take my chances.)
Wait. Where was I? Sorry. Right.

One could ask professors directly, as @serpentstone suggests, or phrase the question much more subtly, or one could look at the CVs of people who have the kinds of positions you eventually want to earn. Do you see any patterns?

(My recommendation is that you do your background research, figure out if you really want to get your Ph.D. from the same school, and then have conversations with professors that might be on your committees. IMO, these conversations should reflect a fair amount of preliminary research and reading and thought on your part. You could just see how they respond to your expression of interest.)

I think that if you were to spend time getting to know the culture of this BB a bit more you'd understand that these kinds of comments are not appropriate here.

FWIW, I satisfied my second language with statistics. Would you be interested in developing a stat-related skill set so you could crunch some data and make tables/charts/graphs for your research papers and (perhaps) your dissertation?
Developing fluency in Spanish to the point where you could use it for both field and archival research is potentially ambitious, if not also perilous. If your primary area of specialization is going to be reproductive health, you could use a narrower approach as a graduate student then widen your reach (to include Spanish) down the line.

@lelick1234,
FWIW, ICYM here.
AHA Letters of Introduction/Courtesy Requests It is sometimes difficult to gain access to institutions while doing research. This is why the American Historical Association provides Letters of Introduction to assist researchers in gaining access to foreign research facilities, special collections, and government archives.

Courtesy Requests for independent historians (scholars without formal affiliation with academic institutions) seeking access to archives, colleges, or university libraries in the United States or abroad, for research purposes, are also available upon request.

The only requirement for obtaining either of these letters is that one must be an AHA member. If interested, please complete the following Google Form.

Please be as brief as possible.

Hi, @foxfire123 ! Here's a link to UCLA's Transportation organization. Here's a link to the system map for the Los Angeles metro system. The routes in red are Metro Rapid lines that run more frequently during peak times and have fewer stops. If you were to identify areas of overlap of those lines and routes in orange first and then start looking at neighborhoods served by multiple lines.
Please understand that COVID-19 has turned public transportation a bit sideways. It remains unknown how things will look when L.A. reopens and things get "back to normal."
Please understand that some bus and train lines are less conducive to studying than others given the stretch of road, the day of the week, and the time of day.
If you are very disciplined, a viable alternative would be using the L.A. DOT Commuter Express lines that go west in the morning and east in the evening. 
Insofar as getting a car, unless you're going to have reserved off street parking or you're going to live in a residential parking permit district in which most residents park off street, you will likely experience intensifying competition for on street parking spaces.
Were I in your situation, I'd look to live in areas served by the 780, the 704, and the 720. I would try to avoid living somewhere that would take more than one transfer to get to UCLA. I would program my transportation budget for TNCs (Lyft/Uber) with the assumption that rates are going to skyrocket sooner rather than later.
As far as housing goes, you can use craigslist and apartments dot com and zillow to start seeing what $1.3k will get you.  You will get significantly more bang for your buck if you find a shared living situation. I would urge you to consider the benefits of having your own room, your own bathroom, and a washer/dryer in your unit, to say nothing of gated parking. 

I would recommend that instead of writing out what you would have changed, you make a list of five to nine bullet points. I would tilt the balance towards what you would add rather than what you would change. During the exam itself, I would focus on the former and leave the latter category in reserve in case your examiners take the conversation in that direction.
Also, I would go into the exam with printed out copies of your written replies. I suggest that if you mark up one copy, you either have a second set of copies that are clean or that you write your comments on the back of the previous page. (The purpose of having clean text is in case an examiner wants to talk about a specific page -- it will be easier to find that page if it has no marking on it.)
I recommend that, if possible, you focus on developing a back up plan for your technology (if the oral exam is to be conducted remotely). I also suggest that you figure out how your body will respond as the exam progresses. Do you want to run the AC before the exam so you can stay cool during the discussion? Do you want to wear layered clothing that you can shed if you start to get nervous? Do you want to adjust your eating and sleep schedule so that you don't have that "I shouldn't have had that third espresso moment?"
Please keep in mind that in the moment, comprehensive exams are extraordinarily stressful. As I've said a few times, for me, quals were more stressful than having a loaded hand gun pointed at my face. But if one stops and thinks about it, the exams are not life threatening. No one is going to shoot you in the face. Just focus on doing the best you can so that you can pass.

(A tip. If you find that, during the course of the exam, the discussion becomes increasingly intense, it may be a sign that you're actually doing well and the members of the committee want to see how high you can jump intellectually.)

Yes, with a touch of self-destructiveness (hint: never name names in an open forum) and a generous dose of defensiveness.
Your admission that you're still seeking "a job that doesn't drive [you] crazy and gives [you] the comfort to pay my mortgage, go on vacation (...eventually), and pursue [your] hobbies and interests" suggests that you're no nearer to knowing the answer to the question "What am I going to do with my life?" than when you were in graduate school.
The statement also suggests that you may not be as familiar with the demands of working in the private sector as you would have readers believe. ("Managing a team of technical writers at a Fortune 100 company" is an ambiguous job description.)
Even the most satisfying and lucrative jobs are bedeviling. Home ownership is much more than paying a mortgage -- it is also utilities, insurance, taxes, dealing with neighbors, project management, maintenance, and deferred maintenance. Vacations are more and more deferred and increasingly disrupted by work. Hobbies and interests are hard to maintain as workdays lengthen and workweeks expand. 401k's alone may not earn enough money for one's retirement. And, if you haven't discovered already, a cult of personality in corporate America can be at least as corrosively soul crushing as one in the Ivory Tower--especially if that cult has set up shop in HR. IMO, your overall argument would have been stronger had you bumped that infamous thread with a post in which you outlined the steps you took to remedy what you found wrong in your department during your time at Ohio State.
What committees did you join? How did you seek to remedy bad relationships with professors? Were your experiences actually as commonplace as you allege? What kind of training did you get for going on the job market? Were you a competitive job applicant with knowledge of in-demand fields or did you have the misfortune of specializing in the wrong fields at the wrong time? Do you bear any responsibility for your sour relationships with the professors you named? I also think your comments would be less controversial if you had offered guidance on how to manage expectations and be prepared to pivot.
 

Three very slight wrinkles to this outstanding post.
First, if you seek work experience before going to graduate school, find a job that will teach you skills that will be relevant five or ten years from now. AI and ASI are raising the bar on technical jobs while simultaneously pushing many roles towards obsolescence. As an example, during and after the Great Recession, there was demand for "medical coding." Now, it seems that insurance company platforms have it all figured out.  Knowing how to do more with ever less, how to manage projects and budgets and risk, how to get along swimmingly with everyone from the C-Suite to the mail room, how to solve ambiguous problems under pressure, and how to do a job with minimal training are have been consistently sought on job listings since the Great Recession.
Second, at least in history, the internal outsourcing of academic jobs started started in the early 1990s. My two cents are the outsourcing is the byproduct of the end of the Cold War, the unending "culture wars," America's unceasing anti-intellectualism, and, to be fair, ongoing mistakes made within the Ivory Tower. The pendulum may swing back eventually but will it in the lifetime of anyone on this BB is anyone's guess.
Third, the pandemic exposed the impoverished status of financial and strategic planning in the Ivory Tower and has accelerated the impact of lessons unlearned from the Great Recession. Some institutions have thrived and will recover while others may end up failing utterly. The point here is that if you're a current or aspiring graduate student trying to figure out how "marketable" your expertise may be by the time you graduate, there is so much going on in the background that even if you're a rockstar who is going to put asses in seats, publish game changing works, and appear on nightly news shows, you still may not find a job because the bean counters are measuring completely different key performance indicators. And down the line, the job market @Bumblebea forecasts may include newly minted holders of Ph.Ds competing against displaced professors with proven track records of publishing, committee work, and teaching.