AP

Those who know me, know I say this a lot and I stand by it: use [what you perceive as] your disadvantages to you advantage. Instead of presenting your story as an array of uncoordinated events, think purposely how each of these jobs helped you be where you are now and move forward. Explicate your skill to adapt, to recalibrate your interests, to learn, and to make decisions.

I have a very long foreign name. Americans think the first word is my first name and the rest are middle names. But it is one big name. I use this one when I sign or when I submit everything. It is my official name. There is a shorter version of that name (one of the "middle" words) that I use for when I introduce myself or for the e-mail recipient line. Both are still formal. This is very common where I come from: the first given name is not the one everybody calls you. I never ever use my nickname. I want people to google me professionally and find my professional profiles, not my Facebook page (this is a stretch, because I have my Facebook blocked). Also, I don't like introducing myself with my nickname, even though English-speakers find it easier to pronounce. It would be the equivalent of someone saying their name was "Billy" instead of "William". So, although I have a pretty unique name, deciding how to use it for academia has been a challenge. Finally, I think that a way to make your name 'catchy' is to use it in whatever combination you want all the time. You'll find that my twitter handle, website, grad student bio, conferences, and the like, I'm always listed the same. And when I introduce myself for the first time to anybody, I give my last name. After all, your publications/classes/conference/etc will be better remembered by your last name.

One of the best options in that case is attending as many mixers and events as you can. I live in a place with several colleges and universities so I cannot completely relate. Yet, I was in my early 30s when I started grad school and I met my bf in a grad school event (he was a postdoc in another department, nothing to do with my discipline so it was the only way our paths could have crossed). Also, getting a campus job that has high interaction with people may also help! Edit: I realized you were not looking for suggestions, but these are the thoughts I've got right now...

My bad!

Well, I understood it otherwise based on the sentence I cited from them. Thanks for the explanation though. In any case, I know Modern Britain is a big field, like Brazilian history or Chinese history. But your PhD is in "Modern European History" or "Latin American History" or "Southeast Asian History" (based on the people that I know, I'm happy to admit exceptions). My whole point was precisely that: to position ourselves within our fields in order to speak to audiences across the disciplinary spectrum. Sometimes this is neglected by some applicants or even present graduate students. I'm guilty of charge and thus I chose to share advice on an issue I am constantly reminded of. Finally, I used minor field in the sense the OP used it, hence my clarification. I didn't call Modern Britain a minor field, I'm sorry you understood that.

Since you are in the application stage, let me give you a piece of (unsolicited) advice. From this sentence in your post, I gather that you kind of hoped that any program would be in your "minor field"*. In the US, you are trained as a historian of {insert field}. For example, I am a historian of Latin America. My focus is blah bleh blih, but my field is Latin American History. There are many reasons for this: When you teach, you'll teach broad-scope courses When you write, you write for a wider audience than your "minor field" (most of the time, at least) When you write, you are using historiography from many "minor fields" besides your own When you collaborate with that other literature, you may position yourself from within a field. For example, I contribute to the history of Latin America (I hope) When you teach and write, you want to be relevant to that wider audience When you apply for grants, the committees are never from your "minor field" When you apply for jobs, you need to be flexible enough to speak to a whole department So, my advice is: When you write your SOPs, position yourself within the field of Modern Europe. Avoid defining yourself as someone who only cares about their "minor field". It will show that you understand how your field works, the major trends, and the way you can contribute to it. * I'm using "" not to criticize your use of minor field, but to use it in the same applicable way you did.

Well, I think it is worth pointing out that those of us who did get into fairly good programs, we didn't have perfect e-mails, SOPs, or WS. We had stuff that worked, and we were lucky. I had more Skype interviews with other POIs and neglected my now advisor (I don't know why). Bottomline, give your best, be professional (that never hurts), and understand you don't control the process.

You are asking very good questions, questions that I didn't ask at the time. I literally checked my inbox to see what I wrote to my present advisor. I started with the "I'm interested in applying to the History program at X. I came across your work in this way. I have a degree in Y from P University. In my thesis, I examined blah blah blah. I would like to expand this into bleh bleh bleh." My advisor and me don't coincide in the geography so I said this to her at the time: Although our geographies do not overlap, you could probably advise me on my application". Yeah, what a silly wording. Two short paragraphs. That's it. Also, I contacted her on June 22. So about this time PS: I checked my response. My only question to her amazingly explanatory response was: How important are GRE scores? I feel so stupid now! DON'T DO THIS!!!! Ask smart questions. Also: I responded with a "Thank you!!!!!" Keep the etiquette: "Dear Dr./Prof.... Thank you for your response... blah blah blah"

Well, I'm one of those who sees grad school as a job so I try not to dress like going to the gym (tank tops and shorts). I've never worn heels and the days I didn't have meetings/classes I would dress more casually. BTW, my dress code is casual but without huge cleavages or mini skirts. Jeans, nice sandals/shoes, shirt/button down, etc. I invested in a good women's backpack with great support. Women backpacks are smaller so I found them more comfortable. I've never carried a lunch bag, always had my lunch packed in some grocery store bag and from there into the office's fridge. Having a study in the library helped me ameliorate the amount of stuff that I carry around. Eg: I leave books there, snacks, and some supplies such as notebooks. I did this only recently, but I would have gotten a whiteboard sooner. Visually having a to-do list everyday staring at me helped me get through different deadlines more effectively.

Yes, the program has accepted you BUT you need the official letter of admission from the school. Until then, you are not officially accepted. It is VERY rare for schools not to admit someone programs recommend for admission, so congrats!

Just to clarify something here: graduate school is work. Please, check with your school the amount of time besides school that you can work (that is, the official amount of hours per week the school considers as work). In my case, I could only work 10pw.

Hello, Are you asking what you should apply for based on your stats? Because it has to do more with your professional goals.

Hello @TVZ I'm really sorry you are going through this. It seems people have given you great advice and I'm glad to know that everything is getting sorted out. I echo the end-of-year review observation. Those documents are meant to register how your semester has been in case a new DGS or new faculty comes along later on. In one of my reviews they included my performance as a student worker in the library apparently to show that I could do both things at the same time. This is only to better register your improvement next year (I'd expect). You can also talk about this with your advisors, if you feel the review was unfair. Only recently my avisor told me how it goes about at my department and he hinted that it can vary from faculty to faculty.

I echo much of what has been said. You seem to be wanting to do a PhD because you can't find a job. And viceversa. It is unclear –in your post– what your expectations and and professional aims are, and that may bleed into your interviews/PhD applications. Let me give an example: you started your post excusing yourself for not applying to a PhD right after college because of personal circumstances. As-is this would harm any job/program application. I think you are right, you have good credentials and you should get into programs. Yet, you may want to revise the way you market your work. What are you saying in your applications that is not compelling enough?

I started with two GRE books, the official one and another one. That helped a lot. When you manage the content, practice the timing.

Contact the International Student Office at your school. They should help you with this. It is a legal question and you want the most accurate response possible from the people that are sponsoring your visa.

Welcome 2018 applicants! I wish you the best! I'm a 5th year but this forum was very important for me when I applied. I'm here for you!

I think that somewhere in the ProQuest or electronic submission platforms there is a item that says that you can't (or shouldn't) publish more than x% of your dissertation before the book (I'm a book field) so that presses want to publish it.

I was so nervous!!! I thought I was going to be friends with the other international student because, in my stupid head, being both of us new to the country would push us together. As a historian, I should have known not to generalize. I became with the youngest person in the program. My cohort was varied in age too, I think only one person came straight from UG, two from MA, and three others like me had been working before grad school. Age was never a problem for me. In my program (and this is for @kaufdichglücklich) it was a coincidence that the people most obsessed with age were the 25-. And not even all of them, of course, just two or three (I think that when they turn 30 they'll still be obsessed with age hahaha). Anyway, @NoirFemme I don't doubt you are going to be awesome. Actually, you need to be professional. If you are building professional networks, I agree with @nevermind that this happens if you approach grad school as a job. From where I see it, you can have a job and then have a life and be successful. Actually, I find it quite comforting to have a handful of friends outside grad school with whom I go out, watch games, rant about whatever, and relax. Now, @rising_star if you were referring that there are other things you can do as a professional to be successful in academia, I agree. I don't think @nevermind was suggesting that, but based on your post, it seems it was ambiguous. By "taking grad school as a job" I mean do everything you need to be doing to learn, do research, write your dissertation, and become a scholar. Becoming a scholar involves service, mentoring, listening, negotiating, being a colleague, etc. So, yes, there are many other things besides coursework: workshops, panels, mixers, and –recently– unions.

Aggh... My GPA was 3.8 I think. I took GRE twice, both times I did better in Q than V (I'm better at maths). I remember my writing was 4.5 the first time and I wanted to bury my head in embarrassment. The second time was better. I got into a program like the ones you are aiming at. I second @nhhistorynut: focus on your SOP and writing sample, they are *crucial* for your admission package.

There are a bunch of us the cycle to school so we had this issue of good backpack that looked professional and didn't kill our backs. I use a Northface bag that looks sober. A friend uses commuting waterproof bags and keeps a more serious bag in his office at school.

OP asked what are your responsibilities. So I answered what are my responsibilities. I think their question was either to gather information on what to expect or to know because they were just curious. I'm not saying every field was the same (or even that every department is), nor I don't think the OP was aiming for that answer either.

Attend lectures, take notes because student can ask me questions, have office hours, grade, and teach a couple of times a semester.

Yeah, we already asked about this here. There was no definite answer, but I'm assuming what you did. Now, @NicSpain16 you own your time. You can do whatever you want. In the post linked above we suggested you got all the information in writing. Do you have an offer of admission to the PhD program? If you do, you should be able to defer entry under certain circumstances. Those circumstances usually are commitments that you took/appeared before the offer (a boy in my program was offered a Fulbright before he got the offer so he deferred) or events that you couldn't have anticipated like your parent's serious illness. If you have a "plan of going to Spain", I would talk about it ASAP with my advisor so that he can back you up in deferring. Remember what we said earlier: you should have everything in writing!

Mine was funded by a NGO from my country (which doesn't exist anymore).