Cpt Jo

Yeah but I'm currently banned so I come here.

Continuing the discussion from the other thread, perhaps you two should have applied to EU schools. I have found that US grad schools make their choice on GPA and your college "rank"; therefore it will be more difficult for you to get funding. Moreover, as the US PhD starts with a master, you have less chance to improve your application with preliminary research during a master. In Europe, the emphasis is put on the research proposal, and you can compensate an average BA with a strong Master's dissertation - as I did. I encourage you to look at UK (Russell Group) and Swiss unis (the EPFL and ETHZ give $50K stipends!). In addition, Biology there is not as underfunded as Humanities. It's only if you have original research abilities though.

Ulrich is 76. I don't think it's wise to start a PhD with people that are so old.

tldr I was only good in history at school.

"Unpublished works" in the primary sources section of the bibliography?

I don't have a "favourite" historian, whom I follow the method in my field work, and the authors I like don't work like me anyway. I'm an 'empirical' historian; I work on stats from archives other primary materials (prosopography), then draw the bigger picture. I'm old school.

Good job with Durham. The problem with the US PhD is that they don't recognised EU masters and I didn't want to start a 6-7 years long degree. I have also noticed that domestic ethnic minorities don't really pursue history degrees. In France, I haven't seen one in seven years of study. They tend to go in Law and Business departments.

The research proposal is usually built with the help of a supervisor. In Europe we apply to less schools than in the US, and MA and PhD are much more "separated", so we have to write a customised PhD proposal for each school albeit the outline remains the same. Not sure it works like that in Science though. Try to be more selective in your choice perhaps.

Don't expect to save money in London...

I'm still a student in France. Education is free there and I have benefits from the State; on the other hand it's impossible to find a real job. I won't go to the UK unless I receive funding. Take a look at Oxford funding database and see if there are some funding for you in case you still want to do a postgrad degree. Some bursaries have a small pool of applicants. For instance, this one is reserved to students from Cyprus who can enrol at Brasenose college; if you fit the requirement, it's certainly easier to get that one than a Rhodes scholarship. Check other wealthy unis if you find similar scholarships. Usually they have been created after a gift by an alumni from said country

Ah yes, application fees. We don't have that in the EU. I don't really know about the USA, but in the UK, Oxbridge have several subject/country bursaries for which competition is much less fierce, so it is sometimes easier to get funding from there than from less famous unis. I haven't received funding yet, decisions will be given in April. I'll see if my strategy was the best one. Try again next year perhaps.

Why didn't you apply to private unis then? It's the same in the UK, oversea fees are much higher and therefore difficult to fund. My PhD in History costs £4,600 at KCL for EU students, but £16,600 for internationals... No funding for them obviously... in central London...

Oxbridge have the best funding for Internationals with specific scholarship programs: Cambridge: Gates Oxford: 140 Clarendon, 32 Rhodes, 10 Ertegun and 4 Wolfson (Arts & Humanities only for the latter two), and many subject/college specific bursaries. Funding is scarce for internationals elsewhere. I've found that prestigious unis in the UK such as KCL, UCL, LSE and Durham have pretty rubbish funding for them. Bear in mind that master's funding is close to non-existent for foreigners, unless in a 1+3 scheme(MA+PhD). However some other unis also have university wide scholarships that are open to all students. The most generous ones (generally with more than a hundred scholarships) are found in the red brick unis: Manchester (100 President's Doctoral Scholarships, but only four in the Arts ), Sheffield (a few University Prizes, a few Faculty Studentships, 2 Worthington, 6 Wolfson in the Arts), and Leeds (amazing funding there). Take also a look at SOAS in London. In short: you must apply to Oxford and Cambridge, which have the most funding for internationals, and three or four Russell Group unis, with good departmental/faculty funding. I'm afraid it's too late, deadlines have passed...

It's strange they aren't more concerned by internationals. That's not the feeling I have in the UK, where they boast their 'international outlook'. Funding them is a different matter.

Mmmh, funding is only announced in April - I think.

Some sciences applicants hear about funding in January, whilst in the Arts we have to wait until April. So unfair.

Yes, but the Department of War Studies is KCL "flagship" and more famous than its counterpart at UCL. I would choose KCL.

History will give the results from middle to late March for PhDs and early March onwards for Masters. So it should start next week.