AP
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Posts posted by AP
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19 hours ago, emeraldsapphire said:
Yeah, one of my profs at Yale said they've gone from around 30 spots to 18 now. And I know of at least one subfield that didn't get anyone last year and he said probably won't this year either. On the other hand, when I interviewed at Berkeley a few weeks ago, my POI said they had cut admission numbers drastically but are trying to rebuild to about where they were before (which he said was around 30). I do think the general trend is to shrink, not enlarge, though.
Yes, but Berkeley heavily relies on grad students for teaching. Enlarging the cohorts would be, I imagine, more for that purpose.
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A student visa is not an immigrant visa. I suggest you go to the State Department's website and the International Scholars website at the institutions where you are thinking of applying. Unless you get a permanent job after graduation with a work visa, the student visa will not be a path for immigration. Further, some student visas, like the J-1, have other requirements, like waiting a period of time before getting a work visa. And finally, immigration paths are relative to where you are from, hence, look at the State Department's website for information on your particular country.
Whatever information you find here, including this, should be taken with a grain of salt.
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On 1/8/2022 at 5:24 PM, timurdidnothingwrong said:
@Imperator Totius Hispaniaewow that's wild- it seems many programs are taking the covid hit and running with it in terms of reduction in admission-- how unfortunate. i will say my yale POI mentioned admissions as normal this year- but who knows what that means
Actually, it's not only COVID.
Many programs, especially the hundred or so outside the handful usually spoken on this forum, have cut admissions because there are no jobs. While we want to have graduate students (because who wouldn't want to chime in the next generation of researchers?) the truth is that it is irresponsible for programs to keep awarding degrees. Further, this means that students stay longer in programs, which needs funding and means less admissions.
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5 hours ago, Imperator Totius Hispaniae said:
@APthank you so much this is very helpful! My interview is tomorrow so this advice came just in time! What are some questions faculty normally ask in these interviews?
Well, I only vaguely remember the interview of the place I was accepted to, and it was harder than I thought! In general, it was an intellectual conversation, like "You said this, can you expand on how do you see X concept applied here?" I haven't participated in interviews myself, but my colleagues want to make sure you are intellectually mature (for an incoming student) and with potential. Yes, I know this is vague, how do you show you have potential?
A good way, is to show in every answer that you know the program is a good place to develop your questions. For instance, "How do you hope to add to the study of Afro-Latin America?" "Well, by examining free people of color in colonial Peru, bla bla bla. I realize that the program offers courses on Race & Ethnicity in the Non-Western World, and I would participate in the graduate conference you organize every year." (Not very eloquent, but you get my point).
Good luck!
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Re: Questions for interviews
When you ask a questions, faculty are actually looking at another interview response. While they might be able to answer it, your ability to ask a clever question will tell them more about you than you think. For example, some questions can reveal you are petty, or a complex thinker.
Good questions to ask:
- More about the people: Can you tell me more about graduate demographics in the program? What is the top priority of the program at this moment?
- More about the relationship between the program and other parts of campus: Do students typically work in parts of campus? (DH? the museum? etc) In what ways does the school support the program? (make them proud!) How do you see the program in five years? (ie investigate possible changes)
- More about the program and causes important to you: I've noticed the DEI statement in your website. How do faculty and students put this into practice in the graduate program? I've noticed there is a possibility to carry out public history projects. Is this something students have done recently?
- One that I always ask: What comes next?
Good luck!
@BalkanItinerant @Imperator Totius Hispaniae @flowersandcoffee @emeraldsapphire
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18 hours ago, dr. telkanuru said:
Just wait until you go on the job market and are asked to upload your CV, and then the form auto-populates the field data from your CV except it gets it totally wrong and you have to delete every field and re-enter it.
No, I'm not grumpy, why do you ask?
Just wait until you apply for the green card and you have to provide work experience since you were 16, including addresses, names of supervisors, and contact information. ?
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Also, re: word limits in SOPs
While @QWERTYMNB97 and @CoffeeCatsCorgis are probably right in that you will not be denied admission based on 30 words, I second @Sigaba's point.
As a professor, I can assure you we don't count words but we do see when you could have said something in so many less words. Egs I gave my students:
- What is important about all this... means "This crucial to X"
- In his book Bla bleh: the American Dream and the question of whatever comes next can simply be "Jane Smith (2001) explained that..."
- "I am passionate about history" should never be a part of your SOP
- "The questions I have are: ...? ...? ...?" should be "Research with Professor X has sprung my interests around X, Y, Z, specifically how X and Y intersected in the context of...
- No passive voice or verbs to be/become/appear/seem. Trust me! These verbs say absolutely nothing.
- avoid too many lists, including coordinating conjunctions (and/or). "I am interested in X,Y,Z, in the context of W,V, and U, as it pertained to Black and Brown women and children in urban and suburban settings of the mid-to-late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries." See the mouthful?
So, yeah, you won't be thrown out for 30 words, but you should be able to downsize 30 words.
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On 11/26/2021 at 6:05 AM, Jibrananand said:
Hi all,
Sorry to bother you guys but I had a couple of questions regarding transcripts and education information. I am an international student and I am currently enrolled in an MPhil program in my home country. I have completed my coursework and I am about to finish my thesis but covid has adversely impacted my department and my supervisor told me that the process before I get my official transcript could be a very long time- perhaps even July(since there are two interviews, external grading and a viva).
Where would you suggest I include this degree in my educational qualifications? I have a transcript for my coursework but not for my thesis. If I include it in my main academic qualifications, would departments/ office ask me to submit official transcripts by May in case I get an offer? Or could I withdraw from my current course without it impacting a possible offer?
But if I only include it in the fall semester grades section, that would leave a relatively large gap in my educational history(last two years).
Thanks in advance for all your help.You only need official transcripts for enrolment, not for application. If you are still doing the degree, you say that you are doing it. Worst case scenario, you request a letter from the dean saying that you have earned your degree and transcripts are delayed (I did that before starting my job).
On 11/27/2021 at 2:03 AM, Mert93 said:Hi everybody, I wish you all the success in this application year.
I have a question concerning Northwestern History applications. Besides it, I am to apply some other less prestigious universities' history PhD programs. I got in touch with four of the faculty from Northwestern and got encouraging responses. Actually, one of them told me that my MA thesis shows I am ready for the PhD studies while another one said that my MA managed to build on the argument of a famous scholar in the field. The thing is, although I have 2 publications (1 book + 1 academic article in a domestic prestigious journal) and excellent MA(4,00) and PhD (3,92) (discontinued) GPA, I unfortunately have a very bad undergraduate GPA (3,08 out of 4) My question is that would having such a low undergrad GPA result automatically in elimination during the selection process, or do you think I still have a chance of admission thanks to other positive factors like publications and high MA/PhD GPAs? I would like to hear your opinion because I don't want to waste my money.
Unless you enter you UG GPA in a specific box in the application portal, that wouldn't be grounds for elimination. However, having a high GPA in other degrees will not automatically put you at top of the pile, especially at NW.
WS and SOP are what matter.
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5 hours ago, CoffeeCatsCorgis said:
Hey everyone - I've had mixed feedback on this so I was wondering if I could get your two cents. After I submit applications, is it a good idea to email faculty I've had positive contact/informal meetings with to thank them once again for their time and let them know that I've applied? My contacts were all in the late summer and I'd like to remind people about our discussions, but I do not want to come across as annoying/disrespectful of faculty time.
As long as you are not expecting a reply, it doesn't matter.
Also, a thank you email will never be annoying/disrespectful. But it won't be responded.
- TMP, sonnybunny and wynntir
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I'm having SERIOUS issues with the amount of ads on this page. They are making the loading speed slower and they "cover" the "quote posts" button, making it near impossible to quote folks. Additionally, the @ option seldom works.
So, here are my responses.
Re: translations/original text @Go Weast Young Man: As a rule of thumb, I always include them, until I have to delete them due to word count. The main reason why they don't appear in journal articles/books is because of word count. In your WS you want to show mastery of research skills, including translations. I would welcome the original citation.
Re: How to start a SOP, also @Go Weast Young Man, start strong. A brief (one/two sentence) vignette might work, or simply a statement. Here, I must stress how important it is to pay attention to @TMP and @Sigaba's advice.
- Do not, absolutely not, give grandiose statements such as "throughout history" or, my pet peeve, "historians [do this or haven't done that]..." I can assure you I could find at least three objections by the time I get to the end of that sentence. And that's how we, historians, think; focused on the uniqueness of our case studies. Bring us a generalization and we will find the exception.
- Do not, absolutely not, say things like "I'm passionate about history." Oh, yeah? We all are, sweetie, that's why we are here. Being passionate about something won't get you into a program. Furthermore, being passionate about history shows the AdComm that you have no idea what you are getting yourself into. Programs are trying to diversify what their PhDs do, so you have to be passionate about something else other than history. Personally, I cringe when someone says they are passionate about something. YMMV.
@Sigaba mentioned the importance of the SOP vs WS. Let me provide some context. We are teaching, advising, writing our books, revising our articles, reviewing other people's articles, sitting in some committee, writing letters for our students, grading... You see why your SOP should make me want to read your WS? If the SOP is not strong, the WS won't tell me anything that it isn't in your other materials.
My $0.02.
- CoffeeCatsCorgis and psstein
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10 hours ago, hydro said:
What is everyone thoughts on "safety schools," where faculty is a good fit and well known, but the school isn't ranked as high?
You mean school rankings that measure UG education? Irrelevant.
Graduate education does not work like undergraduate education. First, the application process is not centralized. You are not admitted to a school, you are admitted to a specific program. Your admission depends on many, many variables aside from your credentials. For instance, it depends on who else is applying. If you are an Americanist and fifty other people are applying to that same spot, your chances are less favorable than the five Latin Americanists (gross oversimplification).
Second, rankings in grad school take into account faculty research productivity, which is a good thing but not entirely relevant to you. You want your specific advisor and the faculty you'll be working with to be active in terms of research, but the whole program ranking averages research in general.
Third, "fit" has become one of those words that we think we know what we mean, but we actually don't. Or at least I don't know how would anyone define it beyond being interested in more or less the same themes, say gender and violence in medieval Europe or East Asian environmental history. I was trained by three scholars who did not specialize in my geography (within the field), but had similar questions as I did.
Finally, as @dr. telkanurumentioned, there is not such thing as a safety school in PhD work.
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On 9/3/2021 at 3:16 PM, AfricanusCrowther said:
I wonder if how much it matters that Kruse works in a huge field at a huge department. In my field, where there are great programs that have only two professors who can train students, reaching out before applying seems more valuable.
I certainly would not advise anyone to try to schedule a Zoom call in their first email.
I think the point he was making was that it might be valuable for an applicant to sense the POI, but probably not for the POI.
At heart, I think this directly points to the fact that admissions vary widely program to program and a good pre-application interview can have an effect on your admission or not.
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Re: Reaching out to faculty.
This week, Kevin Kruse tweeted the following. Responses within our field varied enormously and this tells you that admissions are not the same across the board. Kruse is kind of an exception because he is incredibly famous. However, I wouldn't be surprised if others in other departments feel the same way. Notice how he explains that he is one of many Americanists who make a decision and that decision does not depend on that first email or first zoom meeting.
In other words, reaching out might not do a lot in terms of admissions.
That said, as many pointed out, many times the reaching out is more about you making the decision if you want to invest time, money, and energy to a specific program. For example, I had faculty interested in my work when I reached to them but they kindly discouraged me from applying because funding was not available for international students like myself. I would have never known that.
In any case, I am posting this here because I think it adds a healthy caveat to conversations we have been having.
YMMV
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Yes, grad stipends are pretty low and most people work (unless they have help from parents or other forms of non-work income*).
In addition to stipends, you should look at other items in the package (eg, when I got to my program we "only" had health insurance, but thanks to the union we had vision and dental on my last year). Conversely, check other expenses you have to incur (we had a registration fee of ~$300/semester which crippled our economy in August, January, and May).
Like you, I could barely make ends meet. Meaning, I could live, but I couldn't get any new clothes if mine worn out, or couldn't afford to go out, or anything.
To solve this, there are usually plenty of campus jobs you can apply. In my program (history), people worked mostly at the library in different capacities: the digital scholarship center, the rare books library, the outreach office, the service desk, the writing center, etc. I was international so my visa did not allow me to work more than 10hs/week, which was perfect. It gave me a distraction from work while it helped me build a CV.
* I had a couple of such friends in school and they all ended up working because they realized they could network and build skills. In some cases, they worked with the center where their advisors worked. In other cases, they went out to other parts of campus, mainly the library.
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On 7/14/2021 at 9:47 PM, dr. telkanuru said:
Which would make them not independent scholars
Oh, I misunderstood. I thought you were talking about their having a PhD being the key to publication.
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On 6/30/2021 at 1:41 PM, AfricanusCrowther said:
It's even more challenging to get a book contract with a university press. Book publishers see themselves as investing as much in the scholar as in the book.
This might also be the case because universities are increasingly providing funding for publication costs towards copyrights payments, indexation, and/or digital books. It's more or less a given these days. While I know people that have published as independent scholars, I *think* the difficulty in landing a book contract with an university press might be that they don't have that funding presses count on.
On 6/30/2021 at 12:48 PM, dr. telkanuru said:Sure, if you have a PhD.
I have friends who got published at top-tier journals as graduate students (ABDs). I think the institutional affiliation might be what got them in.
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You can email them now but don't take it personally if they don't respond. Follow up in two-three weeks.
When I was applying, I sent out emails over the summer and received responses across the board.
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On 7/1/2021 at 12:07 PM, TagRendar said:
I'm glad that I'm not the only one a) back again and b) looking at revamping the list of schools I'll be applying to come fall. I'm still in the exploratory phase of my planning for my second season, though I do have two writing samples (one on ethnic immigrant neighborhoods in late 19th and early to mid 20th century Grand Rapids and the other on the history of mostly passenger rail service in Michigan) that are in various stages of revision to use and much more time on my hands to write much better SOPs for my upcoming applications, since I'm in an unintentional gap year.
I'm curious if anyone has any experience with interdisciplinary clusters at Northwestern or with U Nebraska-Lincoln's certificates. Is it unusual for someone to potentially pick up two certificates rather than just one? Is it possible? I only ask because I'm interested in both the digital humanities cert and the human rights and humanitarian affairs cert at Nebraska. In digging through Northwestern's information on their interdisciplinary clusters, I can't quite parse if they're open to all PhD programs or just specific ones, but that could be something that I'm either missing or is just unclear on their website. For background, I have undergraduate degrees in history and anthropology (my first undergrad degree) and in political science (my second undergrad degree) as well as a masters in history (specialization in medieval and early modern Europe - which is a specialization that I'm moving away from in my PhD programs).
As a side note, @sonnybunny I'm so sorry to hear that you didn't get off the waitlist, but from what you've been indicating here, maybe it'll end up working out better for you in the longer term.
I teach in a certificate.
Late to this but: bear in mind that certificates have their own course requirements. While it might be technically possible to do both, you'll probably won't have enough credits to fulfill their requirements plus the courses that actually will be useful to you.
Also, imagine certificates not as certifications of expertise but as opportunities to network, explore methods, get campus experience in area that is of interest to you, etc. In other words, it's more of an opportunity to build your CV than an attestation of anything. For example, in DH, certificates usually include a capstone project. If you are interested in that certificate, your SOP could lay out in one or two sentences how you are thinking to incorporate DH into your research (rather than saying "I'm interested").
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On 5/19/2021 at 10:35 AM, dr. telkanuru said:
Data point: I have a BA/MA from Harvard, and a PhD from Brown. I also have a prestigious 2y fellowship from my sub-discipline's national association and four journal articles either published or forthcoming, many conference presentations, a papal license in a Hilfswissenschaft, and have been in charge of one of the larger DH projects in my field.
I have applied to 30 positions this fall, from TT jobs to post docs to CC jobs, DH jobs, NTT teaching positions, and library positions. I have made it to one shortlist (still interviewing) for a postdoc which pays less than I make now as a grad student. As far as I know, my recommenders were never even contacted for any of the others.
I would bring you to my institution in a heartbeat!
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On 5/16/2021 at 2:22 PM, LeSamourai said:
Hi all, curious if people on this forum have any thoughts on a question I've been kicking around.
By way of background, I applied to five programs last cycle (2020-21), got waitlisted at one and rejected at the others. My field, broadly, is 20th C. US History, with a focus on race, urban political economy, and institutions beyond the public sector (philanthropic foundations, community groups, businesses) as vectors for politics/policy.
As I think about re-applying this year, with (potentially) more programs admitting new students at all and (potentially) cohort sizes closer to "normal," I've encountered two "types" of programs in my research. Really, these are more like stereotypes / ideal-typical examples and most programs probably have characteristics of both. The first type would be programs (often at very highly ranked institutions) that admit big cohorts (even 20+) of people in every specialty under the sun. The other would be programs that very clearly signal they admit a smaller (often < 10) cohort in a limited number of areas of excellence they are committed to graduate education in (Penn State and Vanderbilt strike me as examples closer to this model). Curious if there are other variables people think are as important in sorting programs as cohort size.
(1) How many history PhD programs at "top" (I know this is a problematic label for graduate studies, but I think a relevant one since we'd probably all agree the job market is bad for graduates of ALL programs, but that in an environment of scarcity, pedigree/network/signaling, not to mention funding and access to other resources, stratifying programs is important) programs actually resemble the latter model? Are there other examples people would call out?
(2) Are there any historical reasons these programs operate this way - e.g. readjusting for the post-2008 job market, or more idiosyncratic factors that vary by department?
(3) Any thoughts on whether these programs tend to actually foster better professional development opportunities and career outcomes? If so, what is the best evidence for it, given that career outcomes can potentially be a 5-7 year lagging indicator (maybe longer if you're talking post-postdoc placement) of how a department is approaching first-year admissions?
I know these are somewhat broad topics (and it's definitely on my to-do list to try and get student and faculty input directly) but since there are many knowledgeable people on this board who I'm betting have opinions on this, wanted to pose these questions to the forum. Thanks!
I'm very late in the game (grading) but after the worst year on the TT, I can go back to this anonymous forum.
This conversation has been very fruitful.
I'll add some thoughts, but I agree with much of what has been say.
First, yes, as @pssteinthe job market is really abysmal that top program graduates find themselves in positions that might have looked unthinkable twenty years ago. An alum from my program working at a small branch of a regional university once told us that his department avoided hiring people from top programs because those are the ones that don't want to teach 4/4 and usually end up leaving. By this I mean, top programs might have the pedigree, the extra funded time, more dedicated faculty, but at the end of the day, the struggles are very similar.
Larger programs, usually in public universities, depend heavily on graduate student labor so it's not just COVID affecting admission but department needs. And, as someone else mentioned, funding from higher ups. In short, there is no formula, which brings me to my next point.
As you think of where to apply, think not on the statistical probability of getting in but on building a profile and rapport that it makes sense for the program to admit you and train you. When potential grad students contact me, I see potential when they tell me right there in one well-packaged sentence why my program is a good fit for them. People that say "I like your article on..." means nothing to me. But people saying "I have questions about X Y and Z" usually spark an "ohhh!" on my part.
I notice there are no programs in the south (Vanderbilt?) or the west, and I wonder why. I am not an Americanist, but I have colleagues in California, Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Florida whose programs might be up your alley.
Finally, no one can predict the job market. We are scientists and we work with evidence and the evidence suggests this is not going to get better soon. However, we cannot predict much. So, when researching programs, you can certainly ask DGS/grad students if/how the program changed in the last ten years (red flag if they haven't revised it!), what opportunities for professionalization exist outside the classroom, how do programs see themselves in five years, etc.
Good luck
Edit: Just a quick thing, remember that no matter when you start a PhD program, it's more often than not a transformative experience. You are not the same person when you start than when you leave because you learn a lot about yourself. Friends of mine realized that they didn't want to be college professors, others realized they actually don't like academia and are passionate about other things, someone in my program decided they wanted to work in activist organizations when they graduated. All this is to say that yes, there is a pressure from the academic job market but, as you journey on, you will (hopefully) have a say in what you want to do with your degree. While the market might push us in one direction, we also have agency on that. (I hope this makes sense, I'm foggy from second vaccine shot, so there).
- TMP, Sigaba and time_consume_me
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On 5/1/2021 at 2:47 PM, Manana said:
So, I seem to be going into my third round of applications. Yeesh. While I have gotten into programs I am very interested in both in my first and second rounds (Oxford, UCL, European University Institute), I have not received funding so far and at this point it's probably not happening. I think next year I will try US programs as well, if admissions will open.
When I was applying, my first intention was to go to the UK. A friend suggested the US because there is more funding available.
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On 4/24/2021 at 9:20 PM, hydro said:
Facts. I'm waiting to hear back from a couple of fellowships and scholarships before I decide how many applications to submit.
Anyone have experience with fee waivers? Does it vary by school and department how waivers are distributed?
I applied to a school that had waivers but I did not use it because you had to apply two months earlier and I had no materials ready. The only waivers I've seen are school-wide, Departments don't have power over that (and hence they don't get that money).
2022 Application Thread
in History
Posted
This. is. crucial.
Not only for the job market, but for everything grad school related. It is those coping mechanisms that you develop since this moment during admissions that will help you down the road. Needless to say, we are all running on fumes of coping with the pandemic and all...
PS @dr. telkanuru I read your article!