aka4567

Hi everyone! It's great to join this thread as I will be applying next year as a MA applicant. I just took the GRE and I got a 313 (V 155 M 158). I plan to apply to several schools in the top 10 and mostly schools in top 30 (except for William and Mary which is currently ranked 36 based on the US News ranking). I have been really troubled by this score because I originally aimed to score higher. I know that GRE is not everything in the application, but do you guys think I should retake the test with this score? or should I just let it go and work on perfecting other parts of my application? Many thanks!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I do think that sitting down and be straightforward with my adviser will always be the best way to go about doing this.

Thank you for the reply! So assuming then I will be applying as a MA student, my question is that should I not talk about the fact I was actually in a PhD-track program (not addressing it in my statement of purpose, sort of) or should I be upfront about it and just apply as other MA applicants? I do understand that departmental politics can really impact the later stages of my experiences in the program, so I'm trying to be as tactful and subtle about this as possible. However, I still need to sit down and have some serious transfer-out conversations with my advisers because they will be writing my letters. My only hope is that they will understand because if this trasferring works out, it will be extremely crucial to my historical training in the long run.

Hi everyone! I am a late comer to this forum. I have been having this question in mind and a friend of mine suggested that I should post the question here to receive helpful feedback. I'm a PhD student in an R1 state school with intended focus on modern South Asian History. After my first year of study, I have completely changed the direction of my proposed research when I first applied to schools, from gender history to religious history. The problem I'm having is that my main adviser is the only person in my field at this school and we have a relatively sparse religious history faculty. Those who do focus on this subfield research nothing about my regional focus. During my first major research paper, I am basically on my own both in terms of sources and historiography (inquiring for information and advices from faculty in other places). I did receive constructive advices from my adviser and some others in the department, but most of them were very generic comments on my work. As soon as the semester ends, I'm more familiar with the historiography of this new realm of inquiry as I educate myself pretty much during the process, but I begin to worry a lot about the shape of my future dissertation. I realize that I do want to be in good hands and work with faculty that now matches my new interests. Transferring seems to me the most practical thing I can do right now and I did find faculty from other schools that I envision to work with. I have made up my mind about the decision to transfer and planned to meet with my main adviser soon to discuss this. My biggest concern, however, is the application process. Will it be any different from when I first applied? Do I have to address my transferring issue in the statement of purpose? or I will be applying as a brand-new applicant? When I contact professors from the other schools, should I be upfront about the fact that I'm now in a PhD program and wish to transfer to a new program? or should I just apply as an MA student going for a new PhD program (I'm now in a BA-PhD track with an MA in between that I expected to obtain by the end of next year). I have been thinking about these questions and I wonder if any gradcafe members have gone through a similar process. Any of your inputs are much appreciated!