exitiumax

For my SoP, I jumped right into the content to set up the questions I had. Nothing fancy. My opening line began "In the 1970s, yada yada...."

Absolutely.

I don't think there's a certain answer for this but, anecdotally, I left that section blank on all of my applications and got accepted to the three schools I applied to.

I, too, was considering an Ed. PhD (not an Ed.D because I wanted to do a research-based degree) but ultimately chose to pursue a History PhD because I was interested in the History of Education. That is an angle you can possibly take with your work. If, instead, you're interested in influencing curriculum, you'd probably be better off pursuing a degree in Ed schools centered around Curriculum & Instruction or Educational Policy. Like @dr. telkanuru mentioned, there seems to be an incongruence in your interests and goals and the paths you're considering.

While this doesn't directly answer your question, I just want to let that you know that you are not "a bit late to the game" at this point in the year. For Fall 2021, I didn't even begin researching programs until the school year ended in late June (I'm currently a teacher). I didn't begin writing my SoP until mid-to-late summer and I even wrote an entirely knew, originally researched writing sample which I started in August. In my experience, you're not late to the game by any means.

I'm no expert by any means, but I do have a piece of anecdotal evidence that might encourage you to pursue a masters degree in History first. I was a history undergraduate major. In my first application cycle, one POI was kind enough to let me know where my application was lacking relative to other applicants. One issue was that they were concerned about the "depth and breadth" of my course work. Again, I was a history major... Your current academic track isn't even within the realm of social sciences. You might want to first pursue a masters degree in History to see if you're actually interested in the discipline and as a way to bolster your resume and therefore your chance of acceptance.

@TMP is the champion of writing emails for many scenarios for folks on this forum. Your work does not go unnoticed!

As the Dr. said bluntly:

I'd say my trajectory bears similarly to yours. I didn't do very well in my undergraduate studies (eeked out a 3.23 after a strong performance in my senior year) but I suppose my coursework shows an upward trajectory. I, too, did an MA, and did much better (finished with a 3.98). Then I became a history teacher, which is not particularly relevant to the work of an historian. I did highlight how it helped me interact with different groups of people (students, admin, parents) and prepared me for independence and collaboration. I'd build upon what AfricanusCrowther says here. What did your undergrad professors think of you? I didn't do particularly well, but for some reason, a few professors saw some potential in me and thus they wrote very strong letters that helped me overcome my GPA (and SEVEN W's). I also had multiple MA professors who didn't know me as an undergraduate and could speak directly to my performance in my MA. I focused heavily on writing an originally researched writing sample and revised my SOP religiously. I was accepted to all 4 programs to which I applied. Hope this helps!

My 2 cents is that it matter *less* in education. FWIW, Pitt is a great program and a great city (Go Panthers). If you're offered full funding, I'd absolutely take that offer.

I think they may be claiming that this admissions cycle was kinder to folks focusing on the US as opposed to other fields. Not sure if that's accurate, though I'm also an Americanist and was accepted to my top school.

I am glad you're willing to take the blame for our disappointment if the UW-M decisions don't release this week! Hehe.

...and a wild UC Davis acceptance appears on the results page! I really do question the legitimacy of a lot of these results -- but like @Ryan_The_Grogu_Fansaid, easier said than done to ignore that page and your email!

This is fabulous advice, much of which I've been considering. I have another questions for folks with some experience: How valuable is a fellowship? There are two different programs that I'm considering. One offers 5 years of guaranteed funding with 1 year on fellowship, while the other offers 4 years of guaranteed funding with 2 years on fellowship. Is it a no brainer to take the guaranteed additional year of funding?

This is very standard in higher ed. I applied a few cycles ago and some schools *never* sent a rejection. It's like a job application. You don't always hear back if you weren't chosen.

I didn't apply to NW this cycle but I did a few years ago. I had great correspondence with my POI there so I did reach out to ask where my application faltered. Largely, he chalked it up to my area of interest (modern American - they only admitted two folks that year) and a non-historical writing sample. I'd say you could give it a shot gauging how your earlier correspondence with them went!

I've received excellent feedback in this particular sub-forum because I was open-minded and eager to hear from folks who've experienced the admissions process and are well into or have completed their PhD. Your comments are overly defensive, yet you say here that people should be "free to make their appraisal" of your writing. That's exactly what these people have done -- in an attempt to help you nonetheless!

From my perspective, it seems like secondary education teaching is a great alternative to academia for PhDs. It offers decent pay (particularly if you're willing to move to certain cities and/or towns), unionization, and retirement plans. Not to mention, PhDs are treated exceptionally well in high schools, by faculty, admin, and students. Sure, it's not as glamorous, and it may feel like a bastardization of history, but nonetheless it's consistent -- and (potentially) rewarding. What are others thoughts on this? Perhaps those who considered this alternate path but opted not to? Would love to hear from folks who have completed their doctoral degrees. - A high school teacher hoping to be admitted to a PhD program.

I've seen and received so much wonderful help here over the past few months. Huge shoutout to @pssteinwho offered insight on one particular program, @TMPwho helped me in navigating the application process generally, and @APwho was kind enough to offer me feedback on my SoP. I'm just about done with all of my application materials. I'm making last minute revisions to my SoP (on top of those @APsuggested), particularly the section(s) that deal with my research interests and research questions. The Berkeley example is phenomenal and yet the writer was utilizing her past experience researching the same topic and rolling that into her SoP. My circumstance is not quite the same, so I was wondering if anyone would be willing to offer some additional feedback. In particular, I'm curious whether or not my two paragraphs are redundant or if they're useful in explaining and contextualizing my interest and questions. Getting an Americanists insight on my questions would be incredibly helpful, too. Last piece before submissions! Thanks!

Still looking for a SOP swap or a current student/graduate to review my SOP! I appreciate any help -- grateful for this forum. Please PM me if interested!

Are there any currently enrolled or graduated doctoral students/candidates willing to critique my SOP? I'm worried I'm not being clear enough about my research proposal/interests but I'm also worried about being too specific! It would be greatly appreciated . The topic is 20th century US History if that makes any difference. Thanks in advance!

I just heard directly from a potential advisor that Brown will not be admitting a 2021 cohort.

Hi! These threads are amazing to read and I’ve become increasingly encouraged by them and decided to reach out and ask a few questions. I am currently a high school history teacher (going into my 5th year) applying to History Ph.D. programs next year (or perhaps the year after). I received my BA in History and my MA in Social Studies Education. I’ve begun researching potential departments and faculty that could be a good match. My broad area of interest is in political development, particularly the development of a conservative political identity (i.e. pro-capitalist, anti-welfare state, anti-union, etc.) in the post-war period, but beginning as a business-elite backlash to the broad social and economic policies of the New Deal. Bridging my two fields of study is the fact that I want to explore how business elites and their organizations funded or created programs and curriculum aimed at interesting high school and post-secondary students in capitalism and the corporate structure, generally. (This is much in vein of recent works by Kim Phillips-Fein, Kevin Kruse, and Nancy MacLean.) My undergraduate GPA was 3.25 (a few rough semesters due to family/medical issues but a clear upward trajectory) and my graduate GPA was a 4.0. My undergraduate thesis was about educational law, policy, and their outcomes. I also wrote a decent-length paper about my research interest in the development of a conservative political identity. No publications. I’ve begun doing detailed research on programs and faculty but still have two major questions: How closely do research interests need align? My research interests don’t exactly fall under “History of Education” (an extremely limited field) — rather, education is merely one institution through which some political identity was spread. I'm also unsure if they're too narrow to fit under categories such as "History of Capitalism" or "Economic History". Is one faculty member with related interests enough to warrant applying to a program? Perhaps if I better understood how closely interests need align (generally, I’m looking for people doing either a.) political development/identity research or b.) education-related research (w/ a focus on society rather than policy). Would something like History of Capitalism or Economic History align closely enough? Other specialties? (My interests extend to these areas and the project, I think, could be understood as a history of either of those where I trace the development of these programs as related to particular economic policies, circumstances, and periods.) My current list of potential schools and advisors is as follows: Brown (Steffes) Princeton (Kruse — emailed, interested + encouraging) BU (Schulman) NYU (Fein) JHU (Burgin) Berkeley (Brilliant) UCLA (Aron; Higbie) UC-Davis (Olmsted; Rauchway) UChicago (Levy) Michigan (Brick) Northwestern (Boyle; Gadsden; Mehrotra) I’m still looking for places to apply (would love to cast as wide a net as possible) and faculty that have interests related to mine. Would love some suggestions if anyone happens to know of related research interests! Also always welcoming reading suggestions Sorry for the wall of text!

To address your first point, I think you know it's obviously untrue that socioeconomic background plays no role in attaining prestigious awards. You're making a meritocratic argument, which, of course, implies that academic success happens in a vacuum. The opportunity to even get to the position where you are vying for prestigious awards is often derived from prior socioeconomic circumstances (i.e. where you went to school, how much time and energy you can put toward your education, etc.) Anyway, I qualified for application fee waivers at the universities I applied to. Most asked to see evidence of past and current financial hardship. I had to provide evidence that I received particular types of aid during undergrad and I also had to report my current economic situation. As for what @cyborg213 mentioned about studies that provide data about the implications of class on graduate study, I was looking for such a thing when I was writing my personal statements. I found some good federal data about rates of matriculation and graduation, but nothing granular enough for what I wanted to use the data for (then again, I didn't look particularly hard). This is all to say I'm rooting for everyone here! Hoping to hear something. I'm horrified of being strung along until April and ultimately never getting an acceptance or hard rejection.

My former professor at Boston University, Dr. Travis Bristol, now teaching at UC Berkley, has done extensive work on retaining teachers of color. He focuses primarily on male ToCs. I think his research includes reasons for ToCs leaving the profession as well, but he doesn't attribute it to "burnout" per se, but rather a lack of institutional systems of support. Check his stuff out!