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  1. I’m in a little bit of a dilemma. I have received two offers from history PhD programs and have thoroughly enjoyed both of my visits. What should then be the number one thing on my criteria when making my final decision?Having had an advisor from hell experience at a decently ranked history MA program, I am weighing mostly quality of facility/available support. I feel like I have received 2 quality offers in terms of advisor but... According to US News and World Report School A’s history grad dept ranks somewhere in the 30s and School B ranks in the 70s. The advisor at school A is an established legend & the president of major conferences in my field, while school B has a rising star who in a little over a decade has already published numerous books, which have been praised by the legends of the field. People at the top tier programs in my field, in fact, all recommended that I apply to be his student. He also runs a lot of academic institutes and is well respected. One student at school A told me while my prospective advisor is great she can be “a little head in the clouds” and thus a dual advising situation would work better. Plus her bread and butter is a different century than mine but she has nonetheless backed my project. Advisor B not only does my century but I’ve read his book numerous times even before grad school, it was really an inspiration. So his subject matter is more in my wheelhouse. And the students didn’t really have anything negative to say about him, plus there are numerous other people who could serve on my committee at school B. In full disclosure I do the history of race in modern Europe. Loved my visit to school A but school B’s visit blew me away: I was mainly impressed in the tight knit support and the financial package is better (tho it is much more expensive to live in the area school B) & the grad student culture. For whatever it’s worth B is on the beach and A is in the snow. I am leaning toward school B to be honest, but would the low ranking screw my career prospects? I should note that School B, despite its low ranking seems to have had a recent placement record (mostly in a regional field outside of mine in history) and School A seems to be more unclear. I really liked both but I feel like School B is beginning to really separate itself from the pack. Am I neglecting the rankings too much? Or focusing on them too much? Advisor/support or rankings? What have you guys weighed the most?
  2. Hi all. This is a long post, my apologies! I would appreciate some advice! I am currently in the middle of going through the application process for history PhD programs and I'm in a bit of a pickle. So I originally went into my MA program in thinking I'd be working with more Europeanists, however the major person in my field went to take an administrative job and was more distant from the History Dept. I did get to do a directed reading with him and he was on my thesis committee. But, long story short, he essentially just signed off on the paperwork when it was time to file and hardly ever read it. Needless to say he's a nice guy but a bit "flaky." However I met with him a couple of times after and he did read my thesis and he said he liked it? But, sometimes he remembers me sometimes he doesn't? Since I did not have any Europeanists in my field I kept my focus on Europe and ended up writing a transatlantic- UK-US relations thesis, however it was chaired and advised by 2 Americanists. Now it's time for me to gather Letters of Rec for my application for European history PhD programs, and so far I've only asked Americanists. Would that hurt my application if I don't have a letter from lets say at least one Europeanist? I don't think it will based on the fact that I want to look at Europe through a transatlantic lens--but should I diversify my letters or should I kept it at all Americanists? In all honesty, I fear that he won't write such a good letter, because of his "flaky" nature and his lapses in memory sometimes. Should I really keep my letters to people who I think will do a good job regardless of their field of history?
  3. My apologies if this has already been discussed or if this is the wrong section of forum to hold this discussion. Since obtaining my MA degree I have been preparing for PhD applications. There is a school on my list, that isn't ranked too high in my field (history). In fact for whatever this is worth, its probably not even a top 50 school in history grad program rankings. However, one of the books that inspired my MA thesis, was written by a professor in that dept. The legends in my field have highly praised his work, which makes him seem like a "rising star" type in the field. Plus I had a conference call with him and I am really impressed by his advisement approach. THE REAL QUESTION IS, if I want to become a professor someday, am I, for lack of a better term, "shooting" my academic career in the foot by obtaining a PhD from a school that does not have a great job placement record? I get that even Harvard PhDs are having a hard time in the academia job market, but how much does school brand matter for your PhD versus the pull of your adviser?
  4. Hey Sandmaster I appreciate you sharing your experience and advice. Yeah, I figure I'll try to retake it, I've already signed up for a Sept test. I'm cracking the books hard and am having someone help me with math. 150 is the dream, but 142-145 is the goal ha. I'm aiming for the 160s for verbal. While yes it does suck having to go through this again, that's life. Thank you again!
  5. I recently bought the Barron's Essential Words for the GRE 4th edition book and I have been creating flashcards for the words I don't know from a can of paint, which happens to be a hell of a lot of them. I write down the definition and write down a sample sentence as well. I know that this is a lot of work but is this even worth doing to improve my score? I figure that actively writing down the word and associating it with a simple sentence will help me memorize the words. Would my time be better spent looking at a Quizlet GRE hit parade or buying one of those flashcard sets?
  6. Hi everyone, just my second post in about 3 years, but I am faced with a dilemma. I recently earned my MA in history. For whatever its worth this particular college, per US World and News Report, is ranked #35 in history graduate programs (I know I know for PhDs). My final GPA= 3.85, and while I did not get straight As, professors (from my MA college and outside) told me I had written a "unique" thesis. Since filing my thesis, I've done some part time tutoring and most importantly, a respected professor hired me as a research assistant for his book. One benefit to this is that this professor has served on numerous admissions committees/has been the chair of the dept, so he has looked over numerous drafts of my personal statement/statement of purpose. HERE'S THE POINT: My GRE scores were mediocre. 154 v/139q/4.5 writing. Considering all that information I provided above, how much will this hurt my chances for history PhD programs? I've plunged hundreds of dollars into tutoring (yeah I know...but I want this) and prep material and while I'm only a couple weeks into it, I seem to be doing worst in the verbal section. I know this is an age old excuse but standardized tests just bring out the worst in me. Should I chance it with these scores? I signed up for a Sept. test.. IMPORTANT INFO: i'm not looking to apply to Harvard or anything. But I'm looking at some decent to ok- ranked history programs such as: North Carolina, University of Washington, University of California Santa Cruz, UT Austin, NYU, University of Illinois... I've been freaking out about this all summer. Please someone bring some perspective to this....
  7. Long time reader of this site, but first time post so please forgive me if this is a question asked over and over again. Per the title of my thread just how much does the GRE matter for admissions to a masters program? I know that sometimes (and correct me if I am wrong) it is used to determine funding sources for PhD students but how much does it matter for prospective MA students in the realm of admission to the program? My current situation: I am not happy with my scores at all: 154V, 139Q, 4.5AW, just abysmal percentile scores. I only took it once, if someone is interested I can layout the reason why but I don't think it's relevant for the purposes of my question. Even though I am not exactly applying to the "creme de la creme" of history graduate school programs this has me a little worried. My aim is to apply to the University of California at Irvine's (UCI) History MA program & according to their website it says their top candidates usually score in the 75th percentile and judging by my scores/how I usually do on standardized tests I couldn't hit that even if I had all the answers to the test. I'm going to call UCI's admissions office and ask them. I've already asked a former professor of mine at my undergrad alma mater the University of Southern California (USC) who deals with all the admissions stuff in the history dept. and he said I shouldn't have to retake it judging by the 75th percentile average on their website. Nonetheless what do you guys think? UCI seems to employ a more holistic process in that in addition to the writing sample, statement of purpose, and CV you have to attach a personal history background paper. I got into a humanities based non GRE required program at Columbia & thus have the supplementary writings. They've been vetted and checked by great professors. Plus I had an in person meeting with 1 professor at UCI and a phone conference call with another and they both expressed great interest in my project idea. Here are my other accomplishments: 3.57-Cum Laude-BA History University of Southern California -Worked in two archives- provided content for one and organized an important collection for the other. -Research assistant for a professor: did research for a book & editorial work on another. -Co-Creator of two history web based projects All in all what do you guys think of my chances to get into the history MA program at UCI? I still plan to retake the GRE sometime down the road to keep myself in play for top tier PhD programs. I scheduled a retake that is coming up in a week or so, but my deadline is Dec 1 and I don't think I will do any better. Depending on advice from professors and admissions, I might cancel. Thanks!
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