Brisingamen

Heh! Nicely done!

Yes, that's it. And apologies, i should have addressed that post to women in their thirties in gad school who DO want kids, not all women in their thirties in grad school. Trouble is, I want both. And they're both very important. Technically, grad school could wait, but one can't put it off to do something as uncertain as having kids. Do what comes up first, I guess.

Are you an older student too, levoyous? One crappy thing about starting a PhD at almost 33 is the relentless ticking of the biological clock. Women who started PhDs when that age or older, how did you manage a balance? Start trying to conceive after coursework?

Actually, I've just realised the person who posted that might have mistyped the date... If that's so, it makes sense. (It says the applicant heard from POI that admission notices would be sent January 10... but since the post was made January 19, it was a little puzzling. Probably meant some other date...)

Yeah, that UT Austin one was a little strange.

"Funded studentship! York.ac.uk. Applied health research masters -- apply online."

Katiegud, I thought about it a bit more -- and then a friend of mine weighed in. He said he applied to five graduate programs the first time and eight the second time, and the second time round, he threw in a couple that he felt were not great fits. The only acceptance he got -- the school he attends now -- was from one of those 'poor fits'. So you never know what an adcomm I thinking, I guess! I decided to send the app in anyway. Submitting final materials and the fee today.

I pored over faculty lists and picked out names, looked at journals in my field and checked on who was publishing in them, tried to get hold of articles or books faculty had written, to get a feel for their work, contacted them to see if they thought there was a match between their research interests and mine, and asked the only graduate student I know who is in a program I am interested in and works in the area I am interested in (I had already shortlisted departments to apply to and it turned out he'd applied to the same places, more or less). Contact with PoIs was revelatory -- I realized all that work I'd put into the process of figuring out who I was interested in working in had been smart, because with the exception of one person, they were all very enthusiastic as they could see a match. Now, after having sent out all my apps, I do feel there were a couple of people I entirely missed who might have been good fits. But not worrying about that too much now. Disclaimer: I have no formal training in history and no network of seniors to consult, so apart from a couple of the big names, I didn't actually know who was active in my field until I did all of this research. I hadn't read their work as a student or anything. I had to work from the ground up. It took several months but I think it was worth it. One PoI kindly put me in touch with two graduate students in his department, so I asked them a few questions about the PoI and the department culture. I am hoping to do this for any program that makes an offer. They were able to tell me how he relates to his students. beyond this, I don't know what else I could do to find out whether we'd be a good "match." There are lots of intangibles involved. Stuff nobody will put on their website! Hope this helps! It's very daunting when you first get started researching programs, but you'll be fine once you get into the swing of it.

'Minnesota? I hope that's not your first choice. It's like Fargo.' Oh, no. Because I am aiming to join the Department of Balmy Weather for a PhD. *eyeroll*

That makes sense. Missed the second entry, somehow.

Is the result legit? Seems early... Congratulations to the successful applicant, anyway!

That's interesting, doobie. I have no real idea of how an adcomm works -- but oddly enough, what you describe is roughly what I've imagined, just not in such excruciating detail!

Hello, czesc! Thanks for the welcome. I'm looking on this as a first shot at applying and am trying just five schools. Michigan (Ann Arbor), Toronto, Illinois (Urbana Champaign), Minnesota (Twin Cities) and UC Davis. I've stuck with places that are a good fit, where POIs were encouraging and that are open to applicants from disciplines other than history. Should it not work out this time, I'm planning to work on my languages, get more research experience and reapply next year. The application process has been quite a ride so far!

AndeanPat... That's so encouraging! Thank you for sharing! I'm so sorry, I was trying to up vote your post and hit the down vote button by mistake.

No. I do know someone who did a UK PhD without funding -- at least, she paid her way through the first year and then got a job on campus to cover some of it. It worked out for her because she used an inheritance to pay. Can't imagine going into debt for that, however...

Hello! Just found this thread and thought I should say hi. Am applying to History PhD programs for Fall 2014 too. My interest is in South Asia/Indian Ocean/British Empire.

I don't know if I qualify as "older" but anyway... 32, married 7 years. I do feel a mite like an old fart when I realize I know people who'd finished their PhD well before I'm going to even get started... Finished my BA 12 years ago, my MA 6 years ago.

Tomoe, yes! I've been married for six years, and we don't plan to do several years of a long-distance relationship, so we'll just have to figure out something for my husband (he could get transferred by work, but it might take more than a year to work that out). But if I were single and thinking of a PhD, there's no way I'd commit to a relationship just before heading off. Here's a cute one, from my 14-year-old cousin, who lives in a city where one of my top choice universities is located: "Come here! K [his 17-year-old sister] will be going to university elsewhere, so you can have her room! It'll be so much FUN!" *falls at my feet and hugs my legs* Me: *choked up* "Ask your parents about this before making these invitations!"

I'm supposedly applying to five. I've sent off four. Now, working on the fifth one, I'm rapidly losing motivation because it is so damn hard preparing this statement! I'm particularly struggling with explaining "fit"... because the fact is, the fit isn't great and this application is geographically motivated (it's within commuting distance of a town my husband could very easily make an international shift to). The other statements all practically wrote themselves, because the fit was so good -- I didn't have to think too hard to explain why I was applying to those places! A bit of me is saying, "If the fit is so poor that you are struggling to be excited while writing this statement, would you actually go there even if it were the only place that offered you admission?" Another bit of me is saying, "The fit at the other places you've applied to is so good, one of them is bound to happen, so why bother with this application to a place you're so uncertain about?" And yet another bit is saying, "But you haven't hit the magic number of five applications! This is a probability game!" I have no idea. Maybe I'll send the app in. Maybe I won't. My mind changes like the weather!

I've submitted my GRE score to one program that said "GRE scores not required if you have submitted TOEFL scores." I'm glad I did, as more than one month after submitting the application, I came across something else on the department website that said, "International students should be advised that GRE scores are required for such and such fellowship, etc. As such, they are strongly urged to do the GRE, etc." So I'm thinking that, one, your GRE scores are good and can offset your GPA, but also that program websites can be a bit misleading when they say something is not "required" but it turns out it can be "helpful." Do you need quant for the degree you are applying to?

"But if they give you money to do research, H [my husband] can also come along with you... he doesn't even need to have a job." Errrr. No. They will not give me THAT much money. And this is very complicated for international students.

I studied over around three months, but studied with concentration for only about half that time (by which I mean, put in one to two hours a day). I spent the vast majority of my time on math, as it has been nearly two decades since I last did math in a classroom, and I'd forgotten all sorts of concepts and was initially very, very slow. I'm happy I spent that time on studying -- managed a 158/170 in the quant section. I did a few practice tests for the verbal section and did two tests from beginning to end (though I got lazy and wrote only one practice essay) to work on speed. Ended up with 170 on the verbal and 6.0 on analytical writing. Caveat: I have previously worked as a copyeditor, so my verbal skills are already excellent. Used Princeton Review, found it very useful for strategies and breaking down what to do to respond to questions. But that was the only book I used, so nothing to compare to!

ereissoup, thanks for the reassurance. I've emailed them and hope they respond soon after they get back from vacation this Monday.

Sweet Baby Moses, is one ever home and dry on sending in application stuff? One of my referees still hasn't got his letter submission request -- because his official email id is not functional, as the servers are down and goodness knows when they'll be back up. Now to hope UToronto makes an exception and sends the request to a personal email address or lets him submit it by post even if it reaches after the deadline. No questions here for anyone, just a public gripe.

Well, I sent the application fee off and now​ the web application says "requests sent" to all of the referees! You were right. Phew. I can still upload documents later... They won't have trouble meeting the deadline now (that is, provided the messages do reach them and don't get blocked by firewalls or suchlike) -- I was only concerned about the letters getting pushed too close to the deadline (which is 15 January). Particularly since one referee will be travelling Monday onwards until 16 January and was concerned about not being able to send the letter this weekend. Thanks, TakeruK and surefire, most helpful! surefire, U of T is my top choice for several reasons. So I'm hoping they stick their necks out and make me an offer. Will PM you with the details, am a little iffy about sharing too much on a public forum.