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Paradeplatz

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  1. See it this way: Can you imagine someone on the admissions board going: 'I'd sure as hell like to offer X a spot - he/she'd fit perfect.... but the perfect TOEFL scores are 2 years and 2 months old.
  2. Has anybody heard anything from Chicago? Called them? Received some kind of notification?
  3. Just been admitted to Stanford, History of Science! (So yeah, together with the admit from yesterday, it seems that they started sending out acceptances) Feels ridiculously amazing after 1 actual and 1 potential rejection
  4. Ruining my weekend: That did it...
  5. 1. Really looking forward to that one. After all, especially in intellectual history and history of science, the strict separation of US an European history simply sucks, but I'm still forced to decide for one of the two. 2. Not too sure about that one. The internet will be the source for finding primary and secondary sources, but until primary sources (up to 20th cen.) will be online, a lot of time will pass. Literature management on the computer is already a huge thing. But I'm not sure about the quantitative stuff, because the sociologists are already doing stuff like this, however their findings are for the most part sooo boring, precisely because they insist on being scientifically rigorous. I'm confident that, should "mincemeat pies" become important, some historian would pick up on it without these tools. But of course, with the growing amount of electronic data available, historians of the 20th century will use statistics more often. 3. This will remain in constant debate. But I don't really see hermeneutics becoming big, unless they can draw on a large collection of sources and still, they will always be shaky. 4. Give us a major, continent sized war and we'll be back on it. (Own involvement helps stirring up interest) History of sexuality: Won't that already be through by the time we really get to do research? It's not exactly a new field. (though that may be because I'm European) Queer history: Somewhat small pool of people don't you think? While many women do women's studies, the pool of LGBT doing queer history seems somewhat small. What I think: 1. Input from Anthropology, Sociology, Philosophy and Psychology will grow. The "pure" historian will die out, because its approach is limited. 2. Especially neuroscience will become an influence in conjunction with constructivist psychological/sociological theories, as this allows to account for perspectives, idiosyncrasies and will maybe lead to a new solution in the structure/agency controversy. 3. History of science will transform into history of knowledge (just a personal hope) 4. I'd be interested to see some comparative histories of the US and continental Europe, because having studied at both places: How did these cultural differences emerge? 5. Studies into the present production of the past are and will be fun (medieval markets, reenactments, films, literature) 6. All the topics already en vogue now, will be somewhat old when we get to do research. Searching for the next big thing already might be the best strategy.
  6. 19th and 20th century history of knowledge, focus on Europe History of knowledge as a field pioneered by Michel Foucault in between history of science, intellectual and cultural history
  7. I'll highjack this thread: How do US adcoms react to SOPs written in this European style? Because honestly, the Berkeley sample (http://ls.berkeley.edu/soc/diversity/apply/samplestatement-1.html) is lyrical, not really helpful bullshit and writing an SOP in the style of a morning routine or in the form of conversations with other people (other thread)... really? Can you get kicked out of the competition for valuing substance over form?
  8. I'm pretty sure, no one cares unless: Right is not waived and one or multiple letter writers are subequently replaced.
  9. Don't overrate human readers: - No ETS grader will spend more than two minutes on an essay - No adcom will ever look at an essay written in 30min, even if he/she could
  10. I actually thought that AWA - at least the argument part - was the only part that was somehow related to academic work as it is a reasoning (and not really a writing) test. Furthermore it is a possibility for international students to somewhat redeem our lower verbal score (fuck that pointless part).
  11. Hey guys As an international student that gets to see his own letters of recommendation, I'd like to know what the people mean with often tossed around adjectives. Does anybody have a sample of a stellar recommendation? What precisely does it contain, how much does it rave about a student? Similar questions for strong/very good and good.
  12. Just out of curiosity (as the question kind of bugs me, Foucault and Ginzburg are really bascis).... How large is/was/will be your personal library by the time you graduate?
  13. Once again:Thanks for all the answers! Could somebody provide some examples of LORs? I have one LOR here and would like to compare it to some American LORs. Unfortunately my one year at UGA will be the last one of my undergraduate studies. Therefore I will send my application at the end of the fall semester there. Still that should suffice for at least one LOR. Thanks for the clarification concerning the grades. About the publications: When is a publication a publication (worth mentioning)? For example we don't have undergraduate journals, but we have a magazine published by history students with small 2-4 page articles. No critical apparatus, but some literature at the end. To mention or not to mention? Thanks! I wanted to use the translations also to show, that I am able to transfer nuances of meaning into English. Shouldn't hurt. One very open question which arose from scanning different department websites: Can anybody tell me how progressive methodologically the various departments are/ how large the emphasis on interdisciplinary is? Looking at the websites can be rather tedious and does not help that much. So I'm just looking for general, subjective opinions and recommendations, because one thing I couldn't take would be a conservative, narrow-minded department, however famous. I'm interested in history departments and if existing history of science. The following list is just what I looked at. If you know about other (especially innovative ones) departments, please list them. Chicago, Berkeley, Columbia, Penn, Yale, Princeton, Bonus for Oxbridge. One last thing: Why is studying at multiple colleges mostly seen as a disadvantage on this forum?
  14. First of all thank you all for your answers! Much appreciated! Thanks! That's nice to know. At the moment I'm more interested in a specific approach to history than in a specific topic: I like theory-heavy interdisciplinary reasearch. My current heroes are Foucault (discourse analysis, power, genealogy) and Luhmann (evolutionary view, code driven communication, functional differentiation of society, reality as a system-immanent construction based on own observation, roundup of many theories; is he known at all in the US?) but also semiotics (Saussurian twofold sign, applied to cultural codes), cognitive science (subject as a problem, functioning of humans), anthropology (possibilites of humans), distinction in a Bourdieuan sense, constructivism (operational and radical), narratives (eg. White).... next goal: psychoanalysis (Freud, Lacan, Zizek). Basically I like to write on writing. For example I wrote a paper utilizing discourse analysis to find out what Nazi historians wrote on the Carthagians and their conflict with Rome, how they made sense of the conflict, what internal and external requirements for their writings were, what the archive for that time was and which kinds of narratives they employed. History of early modern science is something I have been interested in for quite a while but I very much dislike most of the stuff I find because manly Nat-Sci-people write these books and their training as historians is rudementary at best. Still there are some good books on cultural history of science or knowledge and its distribution and that would be my path. My main interest here is astronomy/astrology. But as I have this focus, most history of science programs do not really fit me. At the moment I feel, I would best fit in at the University of Chicago as they focus on interdisciplinary research and have some great theoreticans. (Ok, that was a bit long) Both things good to know! Thanks! Thanks! Great tips on publication and grading. I anyway have to translate one or two of my papers so I can also do that right away (though translating Nazi-terminology or describing the meaning is a real pain in the ass). One more question. In Switzerland, I have to get 90 credit points in history, 60 in sociology, 30 in medieval archaeology. For grading, a mark is calculated for each subject and the final mark is the average with history counting 3 times and sociology 2 times. Is this the same with the GPA or all marks thrown in the same pot? I'm asking because only 27 of my history points are graded, but 18 of my medieval archaeology are -> medieval archaeology gets much more important in my GPA than it is in my curriculum.
  15. Hi everybody I'm planning to apply next year to some history PhD programs in the US and I have quite a few questions because I am from Switzerland with a very different system and therefore don't really know what to make of some requirements. As the post is very long, I tried to structure it: Introduction/Swiss university systemMarksGRELanguagesResearchLOR My goal are the top 10-20 universities, choosing the programmes that appeal to me (otherwise I could stay in Switzerland. Zurich has a strong history department). Now my problem is: I don't know how US requirements translate into what a Swiss student can offer. 1. Currently, I study history and sociology at the universities of Zurich and Lucerne. First remark here: In Switzerland, there is no hierarchy between the universities. Most people just study at the university next to them, though Zurich is the largest and has the largest history department. (Exception is the well reputed ETH, but you can only study sciences there.) Second: There are no awards or honors handed out – people just study and receive marks, but that's about it – a disadvantage? Next year, I will study at the University of Georgia as an exchange student, which should give me some insight into the American university system, but I want to start working on my application before, because when I'm in the US, there will be a lot of work to do. -> Does it hurt to come from a country where universities aren't ranked at all and don't hand out any awards? Bonus question: How many student are there usually from continental Europe? 2. Marks: In the Swiss system, marks are awarded on a scale from 1 (worst) to 6 (best) with 4 being pass. In my subjects, just the papers (3 for history) are graded – and I'm really good at writing well rounded papers with both primary and secondary sources, utilizing many theories from the general field of cultural studies – I don't know that many facts, but I know how to reflect on the making of facts. At the moment I'm standing at a 6 in history, and 5,75 in the rest, which translates to an A (according to wes.org), but: -> What would my GPA be? 3. GRE: I would have to take it. I don't fear the quantitative section, but I don't yet see myself getting through the verbal section. My English is ok (very good according to TOEFL) but the GRE-Words are a bit much, seeing that my mother tongue is German. Is this being considered when looking at GRE-Scores or are people from countries with other main languages just expected to be as good as Americans? -> Are lower verbal GRE scores accepted from people whose first language isn't English? 4. On the other hand, my German is obviously perfect, my French is good and my Latin suffices to read the Bible and deal with most texts I come across. I hope this helps as my main field of interest is (early) modern history of science and knowledge in a broader sense. -> Are languages proficiencies looked at on the application? 5. Research: This is the section, where I really don't understand the US system. Research is always mentioned in the Graduate forum, though mainly in science-related threads. In Switzerland, all papers should use primary sources and I a) always use many and have a background in methods an theory to use them appropriately. Would this count as research? And should I mention, that I have been working as a tutor for one of my professors? 6. LOR: The professor and assistant professor who rated my papers will both write an LOR for me and they will turn out very well. Both focus on aspects of my papers and therefore the way I research. This should help with grad-application, right? But as they are publishing their texts and books in German, they will most likely not be known in the US. How big a disadvantage is this? And should I try to get one LOR during my stay at the University of Georgia? Also: I heard, US LORs should be really over the top with praising the student. Is this true? Swiss letters tend do me a bit more modest -> Could I lose here some points? -> Are LORs from people unknown to US professors are problem? SOP: I know what I want, where I stand and where I can stand out -> No questions here (yet). Help on any of these questions is very appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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