dolmance

Hi everyone. I want to share some thoughts. I discovered this site roughly a week ago and then received an (incredibly generous) offer from UBC's MA program 2 days ago. Yes, it was on a Saturday, oddly enough. The days in between my discovery of this site and my offer were really stressful, to be honest. I seriously started to question whether what I'd done with my BA - which I finished just now in February at the national university of a small European country which barely makes any "Top 300" list - could ever compare to what these kids already in nice North American schools had been doing for the past four years. Gradcafe's option to look back years and see all those rejections freaked me the fuck out. I convinced myself that I'd be stuck at home for my MA - and would have to put my dream of studying in North America on hold. Unlike virtually everyone here, I applied to only one school, UBC. With my BA from a random school, I knew (without having to read this forum) that I wasn't ready for PhD work at the top American schools - and I thought I couldn't afford the masters programs offered there, or at U of Toronto and McGill for that matter. This made me wonder why other people here don't seem to be applying to UBC's history program. I find this strange because UBC seems to have the whole package. Vancouver looks beautiful (can't wait to see it!) and the department appears to be solid as well. And tuition is really low - and that's coming from me, who hasn't had to pay anything for school, ever. I hope my success makes people who don't come from a school that is considered prestigious slightly more hopeful. My advice for everyone: when you apply, be yourself, not who you think the school is looking for. This served me well and I think UBC saw that my historical work and interests were coming from a genuine place, even though I had factors that clearly did not work in my favor.