schatzie

Not to rub it in, but would you mind updating the spreadsheet?

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Avu5CeaRG24EdGFXVzh4aUt2ZTFUbTZPdzZiSGRoWUE&hl=en

Sorry you didn't get the grant. But, good attitude!

Respectfully, I'm not sure if I entirely agree with that, at least inasmuch as my own discipline - History - is concerned. It is certainly true that the volume of information that one can gather during a year's time has increased exponentially thanks to new technology and that, conversely, the amount of time required to gather a specific amount of information (say, the amount necessary in 1959 to produce a dissertation) has decreased.

However, standards within the discipline have not remained static either. Over the last few decades, there has been a clearly demonstrable increase in the "burden of proof" on the historian, in great part caused by recognition on the part of graduate committees, degree-granting institutions, and the field as a whole, that what a scholar can realistically accomplish in the course of researching and writing a dissertation has grown. The rise of Cultural History in the last few decades has only exacerbated this trend, as the enormously important and useful sub-discipline (I myself am a culturalist) nevertheless requires a density of evidence that elite political history and intellectual history have not, as a rule, demanded.

Certainly, the only cases I know of involving individuals not in need of something resembling a year (9 months or so, if not more) to accomplish their research generally involve circumstances not related to technology: they are either Americanists working on subjects local to them, or, as in the case of one acquaintance, their sources are largely published accounts. It is absolutely true that for some folk, digitization can reduce the burden to travel; however, I don't think it the case, at least in History, that this is sufficiently generalizable to merit alteration of the Fulbright grant.

That argument would make sense if the Fulbright were merely a funding source for research. But I don't think that's the main goal of the program. The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 by the U.S. Congress to "enable the government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." A year is barely enough time to do that!

Hmm i wrote a post; then I wanted to delete it b/c I realized I misread something. Is there no way to delete a post?!

One clinic said the physical (poking and prodding) would run me $150; x-rays and blood tests are additional.

Here is some advice I wish I would have received (back at the end of January) regarding the physical: if you are an uninsured student then as soon as you find out you are a finalist call a local clinic and schedule an appointment for a physical. Here are a couple of reasons why:
i) sometimes you can qualify for low-cost or free services, but the processing time for that takes around 5 weeks,
ii) sometimes just getting an appointment for a physical can be daunting (either there are no appointments available within the next few weeks or you start going down the list of local clinics and soon realize most of them can't see you soon enough for various reasons),
iii) if you find out you are not a FB recipient you can always just call and cancel your appointment (seems like there is no cancellation fee if you cancel with a 24 hour notice).

As a full grant recipient for Germany I only have 3 weeks to return my physical. I was not able to find anything within my area soon enough––I now have to travel a couple of hours back to my home town to have the physical done. And the earliest available appointment they had was for two weeks after I received my notification and physical eval forms––two weeks in feels like I'm cutting it close.

Hope this helps future candidates.
Best,
jim the zymurgist

I would highly recommend that you take the GRE. One of the first rules of applying to graduate school is: never, EVER turn down an opportunity to burnish your credentials. You want to distinguish yourself from the competition as much as possible.

If I were you, I'd begin by sitting down and figuring out some places that you might want to go. If you're serious about this process, you can do that much. Do your research and make a list of 5-10 places. Then go to their websites and check out their admissions profiles. You should have a good idea of what a prospective student to each of those schools looks like as far as GPA and GRE go. 3.2 is a respectable GPA (maybe you can play it up a bit with your major GPA?), but I think you will find that many schools tend to see higher GPAs from their average applicant, let alone accepted student. That might freak you out, but it shouldn't. Think about it - for every kid walking in the door with a 4.0 college GPA, taking somebody with a 3.0 GPA still leaves them at a healthy 3.5 average. What this should tell you, though, is that you might need to make up a bit of ground in other ways. A focused statement letter that shows you really want to go to School A and good recommendations go a long way. A good GRE score certainly won't hurt you, and it might help to drive home the point that you really are serious about graduate study. Even if you choose not to take the GRE and apply to a school that doesn't require it, you better believe that a high percentage of other applicants will have taken it. And even an average score shows a greater commitment than no score at all.

As far as applying to places that require the GRE . . .well, you'll see a wide range of scores that programs like to see. You'll find some places that won't require more than 1000, and that's basically just proof that you showed up to take the thing. For the more prestigious programs in our field, you're going to want an above-average score, something around 1250. And last but not least, GREs are a great separator when schools are figuring out who gets the extra financial perks (scholarships and whatnot). I need say no more there.

Start checking out some schools (you'll find advice around here on that if you would like), and go out and buy yourself a good GRE prep book (you'll find plenty of recommendations around these parts). You need to up the commitment level to this process, but I think you'll be okay.