AP

For formats, check journals in your field and talk with a reference librarian (because it seems you won't talk about this with your professor). As regards grading, all assessment is subjective. Your question implies that subjective grading is somehow wrong, bad, or inadmissible. It can be that way if it is temperamental or unfounded. But I guess you are asking something different. Maybe you could rephrase the last question?

I've just found the Google Metrics for journals and thought I'd share: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en Might be useful...

May I draw new applicant's attention to this spreadsheet we started a few years back?

I come from a country where this level of political violence (associated with race, class, religion, etc) has been common. I grew up with the us/we divide and I know people who have voted the most demagogic candidate out of fear of the other one. That said, I have my concerns about the future of the US -which I won't expose here- but I think it is of utter importance for us not to reproduce that fear. It is hard, because we live in a time where fear feeds from social media and becomes terror. I attend a school in the south. I am not there right now, but I cannot begin to describe my surprise of the results. Although Clinton won in urban counties, like the one where my school is located, it makes me wonder about other counties with small colleges. Students from around the area where I live come to our campus and use the library (I work there, so I know). Your response made me think about me being in the job market in a year. Will I want to apply to certain areas in the country? Will I stand a chance, being an international applicant? Will I find a place where I can discuss my ideas fairly without fear of harassment or counteraction? I've asked these questions in the past, when I applied for jobs in my home country. I did not apply to several jobs in places where I knew it was going to be rather impossible to work because of my political views or my religion. Let me clarify that because of my background and because of the job market I was in a rare position where I could choose where to apply. This is not the case in the academic job market, and I aware of that. I think the concern you are showing is very valid and I wish it could have an easy solution. It doesn't. What I would suggest is that you assess the reality of the places where you are applying to the best of your knowledge. Do not depend too much on mass media, but diversify your sources of information. Maybe you can contact alumni, folks that live in the area, etc. From where I stand right now (physically, away; professionally, almost there), I will not yield to fear. Fear paralyzes us and drives us to make poor decisions. It blurs our thoughts, it shakes our believes, it whispers impossible scenarios very real to us. I'm not saying you shouldn't be scared, because there are very real threats. We cannot control feeling scared, but we can control what we do with it. Our situations are all very different, and I dare to say that I have it relatively 'easy'. It's up to us to rationally assess what is best for each of us, to act accordingly, and to stand by ourselves and our believes. And I'd suppose we don't by fear. I wish I have more comforting words and I could do more. I feel so powerless right now. I'm sorry.

Oh yeah. Totally worth it. I like the paper books, but when you have a light device like kindle to read on buses, planes, waiting areas, etc. is incredible how much reading you get done. Buy it.

I took the liberty to double check those deadlines. I'm assuming it's all for Master's programs, right? Let me give you the heads up that Columbia is due 4/28, not 4/15 (but please, double check me). I've never heard of this disparaging deadlines. Maybe it's because of PhD application cycles (usually due Dec/Jan, decisions out in Feb/March, decision making by April 15th). Actually, if you check Columbia's GSAS website, MA applications are usually due in April whereas PhDs are earlier. I checked the 15th April resolution. Apparently, this agreement protects you from responding earlier than April 15th to fellowships, assistantships, scholarships, and training. In other words, it's for financial support, not necessarily for admission. Master's programs usually don't have the same financial aid as Doctoral programs, which may explain why the application cycle is different. Hence, it seems likely that you would be able to compare offers, unless Stanford or NYU offered financial support of some kind. I'm sorry I cannot help any more.

Good post. I've learned this when I was already in coursework, but good questions speak about the type of scholar you want to be. So I applaud your initiative to think them through. For @Black5tar, it depends upon your situation and what you are looking for. I didn't attend my recruitment weekend, but I think I would have loved the international community within the department and that would have been a plus. I strongly suggest you skim for the atmosphere. That tells you a lot about how things are. If you directly ask "do you get along?" everybody is going to say yes. But if you notice that grad students barely talk to each other or can't wait to leave after lunch or dinner events, that's a tell on how they get along. You may be ok with it. The questions I asked to grad students over e-mail was if stipend was enough to get by, if there were other sources of funding, and how long it took people to finish. There are some programs in my field known for restraining students as students for 8+ years. I have a friend in one of these schools. To faculty, you may ask them to navigate you through the program. In general, this is online, but if you ask them you'll get a sense of how aware they are of requirements. Also, if they mention what grants you should be applying when, it tells you they are thinking beyond requirements. At each stage I have this conversation with my advisor and it always surprises me his priorities. He is OK with requirements, but he pushes me to go past them and seize other opportunities such as grants within the Graduate School and a specialized certificate. Finally, I would ask about what other departments they collaborate with. Or something along those lines.

I found it odd too. You want to put whatever is related to your MA application towards the top and the less relevant stuff towards the end. Be sure to include awards and that stuff on the first page. I included my looooooong work experience which had NOTHING to do with the PhD I'm doing but showed why it took me so long to graduate. For your online classes, if they are relevant to your application, I would include a line that reads something like "Non-Academic activities" or "Non-Degree education" (I like the latter). For example, scouts courses would also fit there. Hope it helps!

@Staara304, as I said, I agree with you (please, refer to examples I provided of my own experience concurring with the study). But that doesn't make the GRE any less of a requirement. If you consider sitting for the GRE selling your soul, then don't do it. It's quite simple. If you want to get to a school that requires it, then, unfortunately, you have to. I didn't understand the compassion sentence. If you are saying I'm not compassionate, well, I wasn't trying to be. The best advice I got when I was preparing my application was the harsh, blunt advice from a friend who stripped my SOP from all the resentment I had from my daily contention (which was, in my case, a clear example of victimization). Again, I didn't say you were playing the victim card (on the contrary). I'm saying I did in my first drafts and I've seen lots of grad students do it too, undermining their chances of a good LOR or the like. I agree this –the forum– is the place to seek support, and I am sorry it didn't show in my post. My first intention was not stress you out even more (which I think the article does), but to draw your attention to the fact that if you still want to get in, you still have to do stuff like taking the GRE. This is not the only time something like this will happen in your grad school years, so that's why I chose to play the (apparently) uncompassionate, unsupportive card. I'm also not trying to be your friend, I'm trying to be a colleague. I gave unsolicited advice and, as such, you can dismiss it in the same way I gave it. Finally, most importantly, I do hope you excel in the GRE so that the AdComs read your SOP, as you said. All the best.

First, don't mention the degrees here. Mention you are Vietnamese. Second, @Quickmick's suggestions were on point, a pity you dismissed them. Maybe I can rephrase what she hinting at. When we, international students, come to the US, we encounter a new language to talk about ourselves. One of the terms we encounter is diversity. I don't know if I add diversity to my program and from what you posted it seems that you are not sure you will add to yours. But you do. Think about you having the experience of living in a different country than your own, how that shaped your cultural resiliency. You are deciding to go to the US. Why is this? What experience in your life led you to make that decision? (Why aren't you going somewhere else?) (I think @Quickmick suggested you addressing that line). Why can't you do this degree at home? How can your personal story inform your (probably already mentioned in the SOP) academic motivation? Now, turning to the issue of repetition. There is going to be some overlap between SOP and diversity statement. But in the latter you can be a little more emotional. Please, avoid dramatism in your SOP (as you quoted, it need to show your academic preparation and motivation).

Wow. 1) You do belong. I study belonging and the construction of inclusion and exclusion. You applied there, you got in. Make it home. If you feel you don't belong because of your background, then communicate your background to peers so that they know. If you feel you don't belong because you still struggle economically, well, I think you represent most grad students PM if you want to talk further. 2) I think you should talk. If you don't feel comfortable talking to your advisor, talk to the old one or the DGS. The DGS is here for this type of things. He/She should meet with you and talk to the professor safeguarding your privacy. Maybe they drop the subject in a meeting. But it is clear that professors in your department should be more sensitive, especially since clearly they are open to "traditionally underrepresented students" since they admitted you. You displayed a calm attitude and you differentiate the different sides of this story ("she was not in the admission process" etc). So I think you could have a professional conversation about this. 3) Look for a mentor. Clearly, this advisor will not work as your mentor because you need someone who understands your background and helps you build from it, not in spite of it. All the best!

I have met people from Emory who worked a several journals around campus. The history people worked in Southern Spaces at the digital center in the library.

I agree there is a problem with the whole sit-for-this-exam-or-I-won't-admit-you business. It's not only the exam, but the preparation and the books, and everything. It's a whole damn business, like a hazing stage. And it's even more expensive when the first tutor you hired has no idea of how to 'train' you and you have to pay for the same course twice. And if you are from a country where the dollar is expensive and books are rarely imported from abroad, oh boy! Is that hard! Yeah, it's a bloodsucking system for 'us'. Yet, I don't think that kind of attitude will get anyone anywhere. It costs to get into grad school, it costs to stay there, and it costs to leave (have you seen the gown prices?). And it is our choice to face those costs, to actually go to grad school. We all have 'stories', some are more dramatic than others, granted, but everyone comes with something to tell. I know single mums, families, forty-somethings, first-generations, and other "underprivileged" people in my school. I think I could count as underprivileged because of my ethnicity and my gender. And I also know the just-got-out-of-college kids. Yeah, friends of mine got it "easier" because parents pay for stuff such as rent and taxes (not minor). Some of these kids told me that they want to get past the 'kids' stage. Their advisors see them as students all time because of their age and supportive family. I never thought of that, my advisor treats me as a colleague because, yeah, I'm older. I'm not saying I'm better and they are worse, or that you don't the right vent because GRE are a business. For now, I'm saying that victimization is not circumscribed to one group. We can discuss who has more 'right' to protest about GREs, and I would probably agree with both of you, @DogsArePeopleToo and @Staara304. Yet, whether you like it or not, the GRE is part of the admission process. Can we change it? I don't know. But right here right now, if you want to get into the schools that you want to get, you need it. It sucks. I took it twice, and each time represented 10% of my salary to do it. I HATED it. Let me give you a piece of unsolicited advice: victimization will not get you anywhere. Not in your SOPs, not in your papers, not in your grant applications, not in your job applications. It simply will not. Think about it: if people want to find something to be victims of, they will. I know this white, blonde, gorgeous girl who complained about her whiteness and blondeness because it stereotyped here work in the horn of Africa. Who forced her to go there? Nobody. Yeah, probably her looks informed the way people talk to her but instead of using that as a cue in her work, she used it as a victim-card. I trust your stories make you stronger, more apt, better prepared. Show that. Both of you are right, and we could read thousands of other stories. But stories don't make us special in grad school, our work does. Use your stories to your favor, turn them over. Do vent in the appropriate spaces with family and friends and sure, here too, but please don't let this sink your chances to get in grad school. You are not applying for complaining about the world (oh, did I have complains in my first drafts of SOPs!!!). You want to get in to change that world. So yeah, vent, but don't drop the ball. Go and get into grad school!

Latin American

I took the compulsory Colonial and Modern exams of my field, and then I put together a Spatial History field.

I'm familiar with the Argentine system. Look for a good converter site and stick to it. Your 8.7 is fairly high so don't shy away from the 3.9 @Warelin mentioned. Anyway, in your application package you will include an unofficial transcript. By 'unofficial' I mean a copy of it. But it should be as legit as possible and with translation. Translators usually include somewhere that the grading system is over ten. Anyway, in your CV you can write next to your degree: 3.9 GPA (8.7/10). Admission committees are not stupid. I don't think the official statement from your college is necessary. I know MANY international people from around the world and NONE of them submitted anything of the sort. If you don't get in, trust me, it won't be because the admission committee couldn't figure out what 8.7/10 meant. I mean, seriously. As a side note, what you should highlight in your package is that the Argentine degree is nothing like the American one. You bring substantially more preparation than the average American recent graduate so you should display that in your SOP. 5+ years of college education and probably a job should be omnipresent in all your paperwork. Be aggressive. And all the best! PM me if you have any questions!

This is not a minor issue, and I'm glad we are talking about it. True. Very true. Yet, there is also more creativity for AmHist such as Library Studies, Archives, Public History, etc. An AmHist recent graduate told me that it's also a matter of theme/approaches. Tell me if I'm wrong but African American Studies, Latino/a Studies, and the sort have been on the rise and there is more room for adjusting a history PhD to such positions. Meh. In the past four years I have seen previous cohorts in my field (not AmHist) elbow they way about jobs. In general, yes, they all start with Post-Docs, but there are a few exceptions. I can think of three out of eight who landed TT jobs. One of them not in history but in XX Studies. Overall, I think it's good that we talk about the market and how to make ourselves more marketable. But we also need to acknowledge that a plain PhD in History drives no one anywhere today. We need to intersect disciplines, converse with other methodologies, use different types of sources, whatever. I have friends who are getting a certificate in Gender Studies, and another friend who decided to make a big deal about language and spent one year before and one year in the middle of the program in Taiwan. I don't know, we also try our best. Incoming cohorts should be aware that landing a job may take three years, or more, or that 'the' job may not be academia but alt-ac or admin. When I get my job, I'll you about it. Oh yes, I'm getting one of those.

I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you asking if this is safe? Well, if it's done through the appropriate channels, yes, it's safe. Are you asking if this is normal? Well, you word it as if the professor will pay for your ticket out-of-pocket. This is possible one of two things: a campus visit or, effectively, a professor paying from her research funds to pay for your expenses. I am skeptical about the second option, but I am not in your field so consult with a colleague. A campus visit with expenses covered is very common in the US. There are several types of visits but we can boil them down to three: some are for getting to know you (you've applied but you don't have an offer yet), interviews (similar to the previous one, only that official admission interviews are held), and recruitment (you have the offer and now they want you to say yes). Are you asking if the professor is making an exception because you are international? Doesn't seem like it. Because you have "good records"? Nope, no one pays anybody a plane ticket just because. Sorry. Are you asking what to do? There's nothing to do. You haven't even applied yet! I think I covered all the possibilities. If I haven't, please elaborate so we can help you better.

OK, let's cut this into chunks, shall we? First of all, my response is based on your explanation. You have serious spelling mistakes -maybe the rush of writing?- so I may be misunderstanding something. The way you posed it is that they are offering you to go into the PhD fully funded (see highlighted text). A fifth or sixth year is a normal time to stop teaching and just write your dissertation. It sounds like they are offering you to graduate from the MA and continue the following semester into the PhD. Some departments employ their recent PhDs as visiting professors or post-docs when they finish so your DGS may also be referring to this. Whether this is a special case or not is not the point. The question is if this is legit. For you to know that, you need to see this in writing. A written document will ensure you have that money when the time comes and it will clarify precisely when is that time. Finally, if you are confused, I suggest you ask them instead of us because all we are doing here is guessing. And, if this is a legit offer, congratulations! It sounds exciting.

Do you mean that you struggle with the writing? Or the finding of them? If it's the second, my first advice is to go to your reference librarian. If it's the first, I don't think you should worry much as there are many ways to do these. Go to your librarian to find good examples. A good way to think about an annotated bibliography is to imagine that all the authors of your books are having coffee and talking. Imagine their books in dialogue with each other, not isolated (this is not a list of mini-reviews). How would the conversation go? Imagine you are a silent observer taking notes. Weigh in, as with any paper, what's the purpose of your essay in the form of a question. This may change, but it works to have some sort of aim at the beginning. For example: How do different disciplines intersect migration and gender? What I do first is trying to write about the umbrella topic. Say you are writing about migration and gender. Then just start writing about this huge umbrella topic and begin to read your books and "annotate" what they say. The best annotated bibliographies are those who tackle topics rather than authors. Think in clusters, as conversations often go. Three authors may talk about transnational gender issues, do they tangentially tackle migration? How so? Oh, this ONE has a great approach to the topic from a power structure perspective. What does this mean for the umbrella topic you are writing about? And soon you'll be threading authors together into topics/approaches/etc. Other authors may explain gendered migration from rural to urban areas. Be prepared to talk about authors' contributions, like in a book review, but remember that those contributions may not be necessarily THE foremost contribution they argued they make. For example, you may be using a lot of anthropologists for the gender and migration topic. Maybe you include a historian whose whole purpose is to demonstrate constructions of femininity in Central America through Chinese migrants beauty contests. His/Her methods may be innovative and that's probably the greater contribution of the monograph to her field (history), but not in terms of your essay. If you have few authors the conversation may be over too soon. In those cases, where I had three or four, I stressed the "schools" they came from and wrote more about the theoretical framework informing their research than the book themselves. Disclaimer: I am not a gender/migration scholar so those of you who are, I am sorry if my vocabulary is basic.

This seems odd but I think we can help you if you provide more details. 1) Who is offering you this? What are they offering exactly? You say "Once I accepted my initial offer with them they then came back with a postdoctoral offer". Who is "them"? Your current program? They came "back"? Where? 2) You say you are a Master's student but indicated wanted to do a PhD. Who did you tell this? To your program? Is the fellowship within your program? 3) Do you have to teach right now that you want to be relieved from teaching responsibilities? What type of research exactly are you talking about? 4) If you think this is a personal situation, then be VERY cautious. This sounds iffy. If someone comes and offers to give you money after a program you haven't even started but you can't tell anyone, run away. Fellowships come in the form of letters, like admission acceptances because that's what makes them official and -somehow- real. Why would you think this is a personal situation? I know you want it to be real, but so far, as you describe it, it sounds just the opposite.

I e-mailed all five schools I applied for and had pre-application phone/skype interviews which went very well. I didn't get into any of these two programs, although I was shortlisted for one of them. I think these encounters help you and them a lot. It helps you to get to know the person you are going to work with and take this into account when you have to make a decision. It also helps them to put a face to an application. Although this earlier information cannot be taken into account in your application, it does pulls your file to the "yes" pile. I also think it is very important to talk to graduate students. It helped me more than I initially thought. It was a graduate student who insisted on my applying for the grad school I am currently attend (and where I am very happy!).

If you are in Dubai, you might want to check some US university branches in the Gulf. I have been to Education City in Doha and saw branches of universities from the US and the UK there. I don't know if there is anything like this in Dubai or even Abu Dhabi. What is not clear to me is why would you need to pursue a graduate degree if you already have a good job? It seems, from how you framed your concern, that you prioritize your career over further education (which is fine, of course) so I wonder why would you want to study anything in the first place. Does it make sense? If it is a reason not compelling enough for you to quit what you are doing right now, it is worth wait a little bit, right?

Actually, I don't see them entirely disconnected. Asian migrants have been ubiquitous in Central America so I could see a connection between your geographical interests. There has been numerous studies of Asian culture in Central America, although you didn't say you want to do this. And I think here lies @rising_star's key advice: what do you want to do? You may have very good credentials but it is unclear what you want to do. Just credentials won't get you in in any of the programs that you mentioned. Could you expand a little more on your professional goals?

Check with TOEFL. I think it says somewhere in their websites. My understanding is that it's pretty quick. I sat for it in early December, I think, and deadlines were around the 15th.