AP

Well, I'm at a big R1 and as graduate instructor students called me professor. The DUS explained to us that yes, since we were instructors, it was appropriate for students to call us professors even we were not "real" professors, as I said before. "Dr" on the other hand is more precise because its bypasses this distinction.

No. Seriously, no. It looks weird. Don't do it unless you've contacted the program and they told it's ok. Otherwise, stick to common formatting (1 inch margins, 12 Times New Roman, Double spaced. I *think* I used 1.5 spaced for mine bc I'm international and back home we use 1.5). No, I don't think these need to be double-spaced. Check your program for instructions. My SOPs were 1.something for some reason. Use Dr. because 'professor' can be for people who are not Drs. (my students call me professor, but I am not a "real" professor). I don't see why you'd waste space with the first name but I also don't see any major difference. I used "Dr. Smith" but again, I'm international so I was not SO aware of rules.

That's impressive, congratulations!

This is great advice: A doctoral degree is not something you embark on lightly. There are a lot of struggles all over the place: academic, personal, financial, political... The requirements are not simple bullet points you cross off a list and doing the research and writing of a dissertation takes time and a lot of work. That said, I know many people who went into policy after their PhD in History because they had acquired the skills to absorb a huge amount of information and process it quickly, to summarize, synthesize, and paraphrase, to produce scholarly and political documents, and to speak to an array of audiences. If you get in, you should think very seriously about why you want a PhD in History. What are the takeaways? How would a specific program help you achieve your career goals? And I'm saying this for the sake of your time.

I'm self-citing here from Sept 4: My response is always the same: as many as you can afford money-wise and application-materials-wise.

Hi @Chemmie I'm really sorry for your loss. I also lost a parent in my first year, so I can relate. I did take some time off (it was between semesters) but I also needed to get back to work. Grief is very personal so my suggestion is that you consult with a professional on how to navigate it the best way for you. I strongly recommend that you make the decision based on your needs as a person, your family's situation, and your own reality. A loss like this doesn't heal, it just leaves a scar that sometimes is easier to bear and sometimes is more difficult. In other words, pain does not simply go away like a break up. Lots of hugs.

I haven't used a camera in years. I use my iPhone and it has worked wonderfully. When I want to make sure to have good quality scans, I use CamScanner because it automatically sharpens the image and freezes any movement of my hand.

Have you contacted an office within your university that deals with this? In mine, there was a Student Life or whatever that helped parents locate babysitters or daycare. I would also think seriously of moving closer to campus if you want to stay in the program. As you think how to organize your life given that whoever was going to help failed you, you might want to consider deferring admission for next Fall. That will give you enough wiggle room to adjust to motherhood, to baby needs, your needs, and anticipate school requirements.

In general (but not always), AdComms do not meet until after winter break. Usually interviews are held in January/Early Feb and offers are made throughout February or even March (if you are not waitlisted). Also, you have this resource: I don't know why admission policies and prestige would be connected. Could you explain?

Yes, but in word your can set it for hyphenating long words so that there isn't too much spacing between words.

I've always used it. I hate left alignment. Justified is neater and more pleasant to the eye.

I think it could be possible in *certain* institutions for adjuncts to be advisors, maybe in small departments where most tenured professors are retiring soon and/or with too many students. That said, I'd err on the no side. This professor can be your advisor later on (committees change a lot once you get in: people get hired, people move, etc). So, if this professor gets hired for a tenure line later on, they can be your advisor even though you did not mention them in your SoP. The SoP sets nothing to stone. I imagine that you have contacted faculty in this university? Have they hinted at something?

I understand your frustration but this is not favoritism (are you getting lower grade/worse feedback because of this?). What I would bear in mind is that maybe you are not clear when you make comments. Interventions in a seminar are hard because as the discussion develops you have your own train of thought and suddenly, you say something. Maybe you could revise how your comments and other people's comments are different so that you can better assess why the professor responds different.

Also, the SoP is the first thing they read. You don't write a good one, you'll probably go to the meh or no piles. In the WS they confirm your potential, but it's the SoP that gets them interested.

In which way? My straightforward answer is no. There is no reason for you to do that, it will look weird. If the AdComm uses your citizenship for admissions, they'll require this information elsewhere.

I came back to grad school when I turned 30. I was working in the 'real work' so trust me, I know what it feels like to be in my mid-30s and still make $20ish/year. I agree with much of what has been said. You need to be realistic and honest with yourself. I'm not saying you are not, I'm saying your priorities do not match the reality of a PhD program in history and you might want to examine a little further before making the decision of going back to school and going to that school. Questions that might help you are: Why do you need a PhD? Why do you want a PhD? It's clear that location and money are important to you. If you had to give up one of them, what would it be? What aspects of your life style can you do away with? What other schools have you considered? (have you?) So that we are clear: A PhD on its own is a full time job. By full time I mean full time. Sure, many students have employment on campus or some tutoring off campus. NO ONE has a 'real job', with benefits, as you want. (This is why we are fighting for unions!). You have a lot of time to do your research and make an informed decision. Inform yourself. Investing 5+ years of your life for a 20k should be an informed decision.

I honestly think it is highly unlikely that any university would give you a stipend if you have a part time job because the requirement is to be a full time student in good standing to get any stipend. A stipend is a compensation (which explains why many of us are fighting for a union). A basic stipend (which wouldn't require TA/RA) would still require you to be full time, unless –of course– you enrolled part time. Now, from their website (History Dept), it seems you need to be a full time student to apply for any TA or RAship. Have you contacted them? Have you read the handbook?

How are our future colleagues doing? How are you dealing with stress? If no one told you this, you are fine. You will be fine. You are smart, and you will go places. Just FYI: Keep in mind that everything that involves the application process is part of graduate school. Looking for fits, writing SoPs, asking for LoRs, writing WS, polishing all of the above, finishing up a thesis while doing applications, having a life, and juggling your own interests. All this will happen later on in your graduate career so OWN IT. YOU'VE GOT THIS.

I use OneNote because I can have a 'Russian History' tab with sub-tabs for each book. Zotero is a little scattered for me still. Also, I also take other notes on OneNote so if I'm looking for a specific author, say 'Smith', I can search them and see if I took notes in class and/or as a book. For each book I write 1. Title and year 2. Summary, main argument, historical context 3. Attach three reviews 4. Contents 5. Main points in intro/concl 6. Historiographical notes

You need to think what is the benefit of giving so much time to internships and not your program. Are you on stipend/do you have a fellowship? If you do, you might want to check the 'employment' conditions, which normally stipulate you have to devote a certain amount of hours to your degree. Even if you are not on stipend, check the graduate handbook. You might also want to balance what you will be doing. One thing is to work in the copy room of the UN and another thing is to be an assistant to a diplomat. Don't weight only the prestige but also the skills that you'll acquire. Your skills is what later will make you an excellent candidate. I understand in the long run how having experience in these two places might be beneficial, especially if you are looking for employment and not an academic career.

I think that the extra space is for submitting documents you were specifically required. For example, as an international student I had to send departments the full curriculum of my degree. There wasn't a special place for me to upload, I had to send it to the department directly.

Ditto. PIs write LORs all the time for people that are not staying with them.

Contact the program coordinator.

Many professors engage in the media and often include these articles as non-academic publications in their CVs because they were not peer-reviewed. You could have a section like this.

It seems the atypicality of your profile is important for your decision of where to go, but you don't provide any information besides the typical profile. What makes you atypical? (It is clearly important to you because you put it in the title and you asked for suggestions based on that. But without further information, you'll receive 'typical' responses). My typical response is: My BF finished his PhD at Emory, where they have a strong department in Quantitative Methods and digital humanities. He didn't have stipend the 12 months, but apparently that changed since he graduated.