bewilderedherd15

Hi everyone! This is my first post here (though I have done some lurking--lots of great info on this forum!), but hopefully it won't bug people too much if I just immediately ask for advice. I'm freaking out about putting together a decent application in time; I still haven't even finished up researching programs. I'm an undergrad in my third year right now. I'm interested in Latin American history and particularly the relations between the US and Latin America in transnational perspective. Most of the research work I've done as an undergrad has centered around American non-state actors in Latin America, but mainly because my Spanish isn't good for much other than newspaper articles yet. I'm also interested in relations between Latin American states and in borderlands and Latino history in the US, but I've had less experience with these topics, beyond a few lower-div Latina/o Studies classes and what makes it into Latin American history survey classes. Anyway, I've been trying get my list of 8-10 universities to apply to together, but am coming up short. Any advice? So far I'm definitely applying to these universities, unless POI's (whom I still haven't contacted at all) tell me otherwise: NYU, UT Austin, SUNY Stony Brook, UC Davis, UC San Diego, UCLA, U-MASS Amherst Also, how familiar with a professor's work should you be before you contact them? I don't want to come off as ignorant so I want to have read at least an article or book chapter before I start emailing, but am also worried about waiting too late to get a hold of people.