JerryLandis

Come on now, we all know that it's because conservatives are too stupid to make it in academia! I'm being sarcastic here but wouldn't be surprised if some study established that it's the truth. That said, it annoys me when professors get really political in their lectures, particularly when the subject they teach has nothing to do with modern politics. Usually I agree with the leftist views they espouse, but I just think it's pretty condescending to assume that students have no idea what is "really" going on in the world and that we need to be educated about it by someone from a supposedly more enlightened generation.

Why are you talking to this person about applications if they don't know anything about you except for GRE scores? I'd suggest speaking to someone who knows you a bit better and who has a better idea where you'd fit in. Generally speaking, when I've spoken to professors I didn't know well, or didn't know at all, about applying to grad school, they have spoken to me like I'm some complete idiot who will never get in anywhere. The only reason I talked to these people was that someone introduced me to them at a department event and mentioned that I was working on applications. I think that professors are just used to talking down to people, and to dealing with students with unrealistic expectations about their academic futures. Whether or not you an I are those kinds of students, professors who don't know us well will naturally assume that we are, and that we need to lower our expectations for our own sakes. I don't know if it's just me, but generally whenever I meet professors they always assume that I'm a complete idiot until I hand in my first piece of work.

I'm finding it likely that I will have to choose between a non-funded masters program at a very prestigious university with well-known faculty (where I'm expecting to be accepted for masters instead of the PhD programs I applied to), or a funded masters program at a local university no one has ever heard of. My grandmother has set some money aside for me to attend graduate school, so either one is an option, but I'm wondering which one would be better if I intend to apply for PhD programs again after the masters. Will receiving a hefty scholarship from the lesser known place make up for my attending a less prestigious university? Just wondering what people may think about this. Hopefully I will be admitted to one of my PhD choices so I won't even have to make the decision.

Pretty much all of my friends studying in the humanities are from comfortable backgrounds, not necessarily rich, but just not struggling. On average, my friends studying sciences come from less privileged backgrounds, and will probably have more money than I will in the future. I guess that (please excuse the blanket statement) people from poorer backgrounds who go to college probably see it more as a career building opportunity, a chance to move up into a higher income bracket. Meanwhile, people whose families have long been part of the middle class and whose parents went to college are more likely to see college as a general learning experience and simply as a requirement for middle class adulthood. I personally come from a pretty comfortable background, with parents who paid my tuition for me and will be okay if I wind up unemployed for a bit after graduating (God forbid). I'm a history major. Frankly, I never really thought about what I wanted to do with my life, what profession I wanted to have, until relatively recently. I majored in what I thought was interesting, assuming that I would wander aimlessly onto some kind of career path once I had gotten into my final years of college. My parents never put much pressure on me to make huge sums of money (just to marry a doctor), and let me do whatever I felt like without ever having to make plans for the future. I'm sure that families with less money would be able to be so lenient and carefree like mine has been, so it would make sense in my mind for people from poorer backgrounds to gravitate towards subjects with more practical applications.

It really is annoying when people expect history students to know everything that ever happened in human history. I do medieval history, a period which falls roughly between the years 500 and 1500, however everyone seems to think, mistakenly, that the medieval period was from around 1300-1700. And then they treat me like an idiot for now knowing some small detail of Napoleon's military career despite that not even being part of medieval history at all. I don't know what they think happened between 500 and 1300, I guess just those ever mysterious and exaggerated Dark Ages, which is actually the period I study. When I say that I do medieval history, specifically within the 600s/700s, people say, 'That's not medieval history.' Apparently all that ever happened in the middle ages was the Renaissance (load of bullshit anyway) and the 100 Years War, neither of which I know much about. But even after I clarify my specific interests, people are keen to make me look like an idiot and show off their History Channel knowledge by giving me a lecture about something to do with Agincourt or Da Vinci. Normally it's fine and I'm not bothered. I know from my own middle and high school experience that people are systematically taught lies about the middle ages in order to instill in young people the illusion that history travels along some progressive and positive path all leading to the awesomeness of the USA being founded. So I don't blame people for believing this. But what does annoy me is when people act all condescendingly about it and try to catch me off guard with some random piece of trivia. I bet those are the same people who blurt out 'Excuse me, YOU'RE WRONG' to teachers and professors in the middle of a lecture. Guess I'll be dealing with these types for the rest of my days! Other than that a lot of people ask me if I drink mead or am into jousting. I do like mead but that's about as far as it goes. And I don't play World of Warcraft.

I think the only problem people might have is being too positive about their prospects, assuming that getting a PhD will ensure a tenure track job. I want to be a professor, but I'm aware that it's not the most easily attained job and that there's every possibility I will not succeed in it. Frankly, I don't need a bunch of people condescendingly telling me not to bother trying, especially when those people are professors themselves. "I like being a professor, but I don't think anyone else should bother doing it because it's too competitive and few people are smart enough to succeed, like I am." That's the way I read these things. Everyone seems to be aware that becoming a professor is not a guaranteed part of finishing a PhD, and if they don't figure that out by the time they are applying for PhD programs or are finishing the PhD, then due to their lack of preparedness they probably don't deserve the job anyway. It's not like there are really even THAT many people shooting for PhDs anyhow. I mean, I know there are more than can be accommodated, but that's the way most job markets are.

Thanks for the response, Dirt, but unfortunately I have a tendency to make horrible first impressions. I will either be very shy or very sarcastic when I first meet someone, neither of which is a good thing. I also tend to accidentally phrase things so it sounds like I'm making a really mean comment when that is not my actual intention. I don't want to do that around people who will be deciding on admissions! Anyways, I have such a slim chance of getting into 1 PhD program let alone enough to create the need to choose between places, that for me getting to know my potential advisors won't make much of a difference - I will take what I can get, because beggars can't be choosers! I mostly just want to visit places so I can get a rough idea of what they are like, so that if I do end up attending one of them, I have a general idea what to look forward to. They're close enough so it's not like I'm spending a lot of money on the journey.

It is pretty funny. I myself always thought that the Lord of the Rings was an allegory for the Crusades. There's a particular account of one of the Crusades that reads suspiciously like an abridged account of the Lord of the Rings, and since Tolkien was a professor of medieval history I'm sure he would have read it. Obviously it's taken the story to much more dramatic and imaginative heights, but uses very similar themes. And maps! In any case, as soon as the Crusades legends started getting too politically incorrect for children's ears, suddenly this whole Lord of the Rings film franchise burst onto the scene to fill the void (whereas previously it had just been that weird series of books read by nerdy people). I don't think it's a coincidence!

I don't think 680 English applicants is all that surprising. Looking at some of these grad application websites, it seems everyone is applying for English PhD's, I'm assuming because they don't want to give up the subject and settle for a boring job. I am very thankful that I did not decide to major in English! I get the impression that a whole lot of people, more than in other years, are going to have to reconsider their futures when decisions go out this spring. Here's hoping I'm not one of them!

That's funny, I would be terrified! I also imagine I'd have to go over to someone else's house to do it, because my apartment is so shabby that I wouldn't want any of it to be seen in the background. I haven't stayed in contact with any of my potential supervisors. My emails were all pretty much based on asking whether or not they would be taking on new grad students next year, so I didn't have much else to discuss with them after they replied.

I'm planning on visiting places this month, but I don't think I'll actually speak to the faculty. I'm afraid I'd say something idiotic and ruin my chances, so I'd rather they just see me on paper and not in person. In any case though, I will be visiting so that I can get an idea of where I could be spending the next several years, if lucky.

Are they calling the 2000s "the noughties" in America now, or is that just a British term?

I often assume expectations to be higher than they actually are. Whenever I submit coursework that I think could be a lot better, it usually turns out to be a surprisingly high grade. I guess these days the things I naturally would expect the average person to be able to do - waking up before noon (admittedly something I struggle with), showing up to class on time, submitting papers on time, knowing the key names and dates for a history course (e.g. knowing who Charlemagne was if you're taking medieval history), writing emails to tutors in English instead of internet/text language, etc. - no longer seem to be requirements for getting a degree or being considered a competent person. So I guess because of my comparatively high expectations, I think I've been lulled into a false sense of security in recent years, in that I expect to be continually surprised by my success in behaving with what I consider to be basic decency. Essentially, I have no idea how I compare to other applicants in my field. Not sure if I would like to know that information though - until February and March roll around I will have yet to be rejected!

I wish I had applied to at least one more program, which I overlooked. Other than that, I don't think there was too much more I could have done aside from finishing my thesis weeks in advance to use as a writing sample for my earlier deadlines, instead of submitting a crappier sample. In any case, although I'll be very upset if I don't get into any PhD programs, when I do reapply at least I will have basic materials ready to go, instead of starting from scratch again like I did this time.

I'm a history major (medieval). If I were choosing my parallel universe area of study, I would probably want to be a Language student, learning loads of cool languages. Granted, I will probably have to do that anyway as a history student, but it would be nice to learn languages with a more comprehensive approach than just translating specific old texts. Specifically, two areas have always interested me, and when I was younger I thought I would end up studying at least one of them closely. One is folk music - I'd love to learn more about late medieval folk music, and also popular American music of the 19th and early 20th centuries, but it just isn't relevant to the history I do so it must remain an armchair interest. Also, I'm very interested in the history of natural hallucinogens and their traditional uses and folkloric significance. Haven't really pursued that interest so much because I'm afraid people will just think I'm trying to find out about legal highs or whatever. I like to tell myself that one day, when I've written thousands of wonderful books and am praised as a gloriously eminent professor, tenure and all that, I can devote myself to these more frivolous topics.

I know most of you all completed your semesters a couple weeks ago and may even know your grades already. Anyone out there have post-Christmas exams or have work due in January? I'm working on my undergrad thesis which is due in under 2 weeks, and feel like I'm straggling behind everyone else who has finished everything! On a related note, can I expect to have carefree winter breaks in graduate school? I must admit that I really have no idea what I'm signing myself up for!

I'm sure that the office secretaries will know what to do with a large envelope containing transcript, personal statement, writing sample, etc., as I'm sure they receive hundreds of them at this time every year. When mailing something to the address of the "Office of Graduate Admissions" in a specific department, I think it's safe to assume those on the receiving end will be able to spot an application when they receive one! I think the more important thing would be to put your name and applicant number on all of the materials you send.

I also submitted 20 pages of text with two pages of bibliography, and don't think the bibliography counts. Some places specifically say they want a maximum of X pages of text, and a bibliography is not necessary. So clearly in that case the bibliography is NOT considered to be part of the page count. When I write essays for my classes, I never include the bibliography in my word count (my university uses word count instead of page count.. but it's essentially the same thing), so I would imagine the same thing goes for application. As the above person said, no one is likely to read your bibliography - it's just there for reference. They just don't want to receive a giant pile of text to sit through and absorb.

I think that my application also said something like that because I had not mailed my transcripts in, even though they say in angry capital letters not to mail in official transcripts. I just checked my application again, after submitting it on the 15th, and it says it is complete now. Anyways, according to the results page, Yale sends out history decisions pretty early, as in 9 February for last year I think. Pretty crazy! Here's hoping I don't get rejected on my birthday.

I loved Woolf's Orlando. I think the key to enjoying books like that is to ignore whatever enlightening/political significance they may have and just take in the story without worrying about what it means. This, of course, is why I stopped taking English in college! Since then the only fiction book I ever read is A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, which should be required reading for all medievalists. Thought about discussing it in my SOP but then thought it would be too distasteful or they wouldn't get the reference. As for reading books for pleasure that are related to one's chosen subject, I can't say I do it very often. There have been a couple books that, when scouring the index for brief items of interest for essays, have appealed to me enough for me to read them in their entirety. However when I say "a couple," I mean that quite literally. I know a lot of medievalists read a lot of Tolkien or historical fiction, but I never got into that stuff. I enjoyed Baudolino by Umberto Eco but only read it because everyone kept telling me I had to. I like to tell myself that not reading historical fiction (except for Eco's work, which is very well-done it seems) will make me a better historian because I won't fall for all the fables and fanciful concoctions in primary narratives that some people seem to accept blindly. We'll see how that goes. I do find it quite ironic that all my friends who opted out of further education to work in food service are much more well-read than I am in terms of literary classics. I always feel so uncultured whenever I go home and hear about all the great novels they have been reading!

I'm not checking anything just now as I don't think anyone took my file home to read over Christmas. When does it become reasonable to check email for application news, provided that you have submitted humanities applications no earlier than December? I keep telling people I will hear back anywhere between late January and April, but I'm not sure when the frenzy will hit me.

Who doesn't wear sweaters in the winter?

I've stayed the same weight because I have been overeating, but also working out a lot. I have always been a waif, could never do a single push-up, skipped PE classes, basically just HATED working out, until this year. I have discovered the mindless magic of exercise. Every day this semester when I woke up, dreading the prospect of the stressful day to come, I would delay my work by working out. I finally discovered why people must like it - it allows you to feel productive without having to think at all - and you can even listen to music! Amazing. I wonder though if my new habit will dwindle away now that applications are almost finished. Another obsessive habit has been trimming my split ends. I can spend a full hour a day searching them out to trim them off. Again, I never used to do this before.

I think the GRE becomes a lot easier when you have time to prepare. I took it right after finishing a very labor-intensive summer internship, and right before the start of the new semester (actually, I missed my first week of classes in order to fly down to the test center). I was only able to focus on my preparation for about a week, and I'm distinctively average at taking standardized tests, and I wound up getting a 1210. Not great, not terrible. I think that if I had given myself more time to memorize silly vocabulary and all the little formula's I'd forgotten, and to do more practice tests, my confidence going into the test would have been much higher and my performance would have been much improved. So I imagine that if you put the kind of dedication into preparing for the GRE that most people seem to put into preparing for the LSAT, you'll wind up with a high score. Take it relatively early though, so you have time to re-take it if you do horribly!

I am only taking two classes, which constitutes a full workload where I am because they're both worth many many credits. One of these is a year-long class I have already started, which means that I know what we'll be doing next semester for the most part and, most importantly, I already have access to the essay questions. This gives me the opportunity to get ahead on my work during the break and write one of the essays, which should make next semester MUCH easier for me since I usually put 2 solid weeks of work into each essay. I'm hoping that this coming semester will be a more enjoyable one for me, since I may never come back to this place and would like to actually ENJOY myself here for once instead of just being mega-stressed all the time and never being able to go to any parties or events because of my work. I have also decided with one of my friends to have "free days" on set days of the week when I'm not allowed to do any work - kind of like a Sabbath I guess - so that I have certain days I can make plans for instead of finding myself alone and bored when out of the blue I suddenly find myself with a pocket of free time. I thought about applying for an internship next semester, and maybe taking extra evening language classes, but then I told myself to cool off and not make my last semester here a living hell.