fortsibut

Ahhhh I missed the fact that he was calling people he knew; for some reason I interpreted your post as saying that he was essentially cold-calling the department which I thought would have been weird. (Apologies if you said that earlier in the thread and I missed it.) If there was an established relationship there that totally makes sense and that works out really well for you!

He called your target school to check on it? That seems really weird to me, but I'm not really an expert on application protocol, so I dunno. Is it common for an adviser to call and do status checks? I feel like there's a chance that might annoy the department.

Messaged you with some questions and info, thanks for volunteering to answer questions!

Oh man, just need to vent a little bit since I just got my application in an hour ago. The way things worked out, I only ended up applying to one school (Cornell) because I didn't have everything together by the time that most of my target schools (Michigan/Michigan State/Northwestern/UW-Madison) had deadlines. Cornell was my top pick anyway of all of them, so I thought "what the hell, might as well just put it all on the line here." Worst case, I'll have everything polished and awesome for the next application cycle, but I'm stressing about this and worried about my odds. But hey, nothing I can do, right? Cornell is a really good fit for me and I should be competitive but of course I'm worried that I messed up a couple footnotes or typoed in my personal statement or somehow inadvertently insulted some of their faculty with a word choice or whatever, so I'ma be neurotic 'til I hear back! That's my "treat this thread as your own personal blog post" moment for the week. =) Good luck to all of you as we await our fates!

Well that's one of the more depressing things I've read in awhile. =(

This may sound like a really basic question and I apologize if it's been answered elsewhere, but what format did you use to submit your writing samples? I don't mean PDF vs. Word or whatever, but what formatting options are "standard?" (The application I'm working on doesn't specify.) I'm using a chunk of my MA thesis that's been edited a bit; I'm assuming that it should have page numbers (not sure about name at the top of the page since it's part of my application materials) and be double-spaced. Any other suggestions? I'm also unsure about footnotes vs. endnotes in the sample, as I can see the benefits of either; endnotes reduces the choppiness of the pages and makes it a bit more consistent for reading purposes, but then again it's probably nice to have the sources right there. (Also, I used footnotes for my thesis so I'd have to go back and switch to endnotes if that's preferable, which is fine but would be a little bit time-consuming.) Thanks in advance for your advice, I really appreciate how helpful everyone is here!

I'm not in your field, but I assume that when they say "anything below x" significantly lowers your chances, that means that x is in the range of acceptable scores to that program. Are you as competitive to the university as someone with a ~165 on that section, all other factors being equal? Of course not, but programs in the humanities/social sciences already have a pretty low threshold for quant scores and it's a pretty good indicator of the relative importance of that factor in their decision-making process. Your scores aren't going to blow them away, but if the rest of your application is solid I think you'll be competitive despite being on the lower end of their accepted quant scores. Just make sure the rest of your application package shines as much as possible!

I took the test on November 8th of this year, and per the ETS site they were sent to my target schools on November 22. So that'd suggest that it takes about 2 weeks, although this is just my anecdotal experience.

Posted a variation of this in another thread, but I'll post here as well. Nov 3: Powerprep 1 - V 156/Q 152 Nov 6: Powerprep 2 - V 164/Q 148 Nov 8: Took the GRE - V 167/Q 150/AW 4.5 I didn't bother with the AW section of those practice tests when I took them (although I did take photos of them to practice at a later point and get used to the process), but really felt that the ETS tests helped prepare me for the format on test day. Outside of the Powerprep software, I used the Magoosh vocab app for the GRE for a couple of months pretty casually, worked some sections out of the Manhattan 5 pound book, and spent some time reviewing math concepts although that clearly didn't help me much given my quant outcome! The only work I did on the AW was writing out answers to the Powerprep questions separately from taking the practice tests, and I'd highly recommend spending more time prepping on that than I did. I probably spent between 40 and 50 hours of hardcore prep time the last 10 days before the exam.

While this is true, the test center where I took the GRE had a small, comfortable space for test-taking and each cubicle had noise-canceling headphones, so there were really no distractions. O.P.: Have you taken the 2 free practice tests that the ETS offers when you sign up for the GRE? If not, I'd highly recommend it; the test is set up the exact same way and familiarizes you with the software and timing of the test. I didn't bother with the AW section of those practice tests when I took them (although I did take photos of them to practice at a later point and get used to the process), but really felt that the ETS tests helped prepare me for the format on test day. I scored V156/Q152 on the first one, V164/Q148 on the second, and V167/Q150 when I actually took the GRE, so I guess the quant test was pretty indicative of how I'd do. I can't comment on Magoosh's GRE practice tests since I haven't taken them.

I'd imagine your target programs have a lot to do with your odds. I honestly don't know how competitive medieval programs are, but you're going to have an easier chance getting into a non-terminal MA program than a terminal MA or PhD program with somewhat lower scores. As asteroid88 pointed out, fit is probably going to be what makes or breaks your application; if the other elements of your app are on point and you can make a great case that you'd be a great fit for the program, your scores alone don't seem (to me) to be low enough to disqualify you. I wouldn't really be qualified to assess your chances even if you have provided more information since you're not in my subfield, but listing a few of your target schools might help others to give you advice. Your numbers would probably seem low to an Ivy or other top 10 program, but might be competitive at other schools that would be good fits for you. My 150Q score would probably make schools like Harvard and Yale pass on me due to the fact that they have a lot of options (just "prestige" examples, they're not good fits for me so that's another story), even though most history programs aren't all that concerned with applicants' quant scores. The best schools just have bigger pools of top-tier candidates. Not sure if you've checked out https://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/ yet, but it can give you some idea of what scores/grades/etc. past candidates have (at least claimed to have) had when they applied to particular programs, and the search function works well. That'd at least give you a baseline.

1. Have you received especial information from professors and graduate students at your current school? Not particularly. I'm doing my MA in a combined degree program where I finished up my BS last spring and the majority of my thesis work this summer, but took an extension on finishing up the thesis because I still had to do a few more interviews and track down some elusive info. This resulted in a situation where I haven't been on campus at all this fall, and contact with my thesis advisers and other profs to whom I'm kind of close has been limited to my thesis project particulars. I definitely plan to ask a couple of them to look over my SOP when I have a polished copy and I'll probably ask if any of them know profs in the programs to which I'm applying. 2. How have your attempts to establish rapport with potential POIs worked and not worked? I haven't made contact yet, although I've identified POIs and downloaded 3-4 articles by each in order to familiarize myself with their work. Planning to do the reading/note taking on all that while visiting family over Thanksgiving (as I'll have a week there with not much else to do when I'm not socializing) and make contact immediately after that trip. Have you been welcomed warmly as a prospective graduate student? N/A Have you been given mixed messages? N/A What is your "to do" list and schedule for the rest of the current term? -Finish and defend my MA thesis -Write SOP, get other documentation together -Get apps in (Michigan State is due December 15th, so that'll be tight, but I have a bit more breathing room for the other three schools [due January]) How are you balancing your current responsibilities with your applications? Not particularly well so far, I'm afraid. I'm finishing up my MA thesis right now, which I'll probably be defending early-mid December. Now that the GRE and the online course I was teaching are over I can focus on this on my application, but I'm pretty stressed about everything. Fortunately my parents invited me to move home for the year rent-free while I get these applications in and do whatever grunt work I need to do between when the apps go in and school starts in the fall, assuming that I'm fortunate enough to get accepted somewhere. I gotta admit, I'm stressing. I did better than I expected on the verbal portion of the GRE, have a great undergrad GPA, second language, have T/A'd as well as designed and taught an upper-division course as a MA student, have a couple of conference presentations (small conferences), and have a few other things going for me, but there's so much left to do and I'm afraid that I won't be able to get everything polished enough before submission. I'm also worried that I'm missing some programs that would be a good match for me. I feel like I vetted programs pretty well, but there's always that fear that I missed something. I was planning to apply to Michigan and Northwestern in addition to the schools I chose (both fit very well with my research interests), but there was just no way to get everything done by their December 1st deadlines. I'll definitely add them in if I have to go through a second application cycle.

Ended up with a 4.5. I'm ok with that, although I was hoping for a 5+. I spent a lot more time working on verbal than I did on the AW, and I guess it showed. I honestly wish that I had spent more time on quant; a 150 isn't terrible for someone going into history, but I would have felt a lot better with 155+.

Thanks for the response! Only four of my five target schools take GRE scores, so I set them up to be sent yesterday at the end of the test. (I'm just hoping my AW score turns out to be higher than it felt like when I wrote the essays.) Now to work on the rest of my application materials and wait for the official scores....

Took it today: V 167, Q 150. I was absolutely losing it with joy when I saw the results. Not too worried about the quant section...it's not ideal, but it shouldn't matter too much. EDIT: How long did it take for your official scores to arrive?

Great advice from all of you; I'll get started on the emails! Thanks for your help!

Hello all. I'm applying this cycle for a PhD slot in a number of African history programs. Obviously emailing a POI directly to ask if they're taking advisees is the direct way of checking their availability, but I was hoping there was a simpler way to do so via departmental websites or other means as I finalize my list of schools before contacting professors at the schools I apply to directly. Generally speaking, is it a fairly safe assumption that most faculty linked on the "graduate" history department pages of R1 schools that are associate profs or higher are at least qualified to serve as dissertation advisers (even if they're full on students for the time being)? Some schools that I've looked at have lists of grad students along with their advisers, but I wasn't sure if that meant that anyone who wasn't listed alongside students' names didn't serve in that capacity. Thanks for any advice you can give me!

Yep, I'm applying to history doctoral programs, so I'll have to work on the writing as well; I've been focusing mainly on the verbal so far. I'm not too worried about the quant section as long as I'm at least around a 150. Did you use anything besides the Magoosh apps to prepare for the verbal section? (Princeton books, etc.)

Congrats, you killed it! I'm taking mine November 8th and I'm pretty terrified. =) I've been putting in the time studying for it, but so many other elements of the application process leech time away from preparation, it seems. I'd be happy with anything above a low 160, and thrilled with a 165 or above!

Thanks to all of you for your input! I'd definitely prefer to go somewhere that either a) is the kind of brand (Oxford/Cambridge/etc.) that would get me an interview even without much teaching experience, or b ) a reputable American uni with a good teaching component. I've had the opportunity to work as a TA during my MA year as well as create and teach an online course at a different school, which has been a really good experience and undoubtedly will serve as a selling point (pending my student reviews!). Other than the lack of teaching experience, there isn't a huge reputation gap between non-elite European universities and institutes, then? And anyone else wanna weigh in on any perceived US institution bias against PhDs from non-US schools?

Hello all. I wasn't sure where else to post this, but since I'm a historian and this is the history forum I figured I'd ask here in case any of you had run into this issue. I'm a history MA student (finally) at the point where I'm taking the GRE, defending my MA thesis, and preparing my PhD applications. Although as an Africanist already studying at a US college I have a number of target schools in the US, but I'm also considering applying to a couple of programs in Europe. One is Oxford, and the other that caught my eye is the Graduate Institute Geneva (http://graduateinstitute.ch), but I noticed that they aren't a university, per se (http://graduateinstitute.ch/home/about-us/institute/accreditation-reconnaissance-ran.html), but by their own account they "enjoy(s) a worldwide reputation in international circles." I'm familiar with the prestige element of degree-seeking at the doctoral level (x% of tenure track jobs go to graduates of the top ~30 universities or whatever) and I'm wondering whether getting a degree from an institution that isn't a real university would hurt me pretty badly in the job search down the road. (Or alternately, whether this is just a well-recognized different kind of school whose degrees are still well-respected.) I'd really appreciate any info or advice you have; I'm a bit lost, here. Obviously if I end up getting into Cornell or a similar program I'll go with the known commodity, but this seemed like an interesting potential backup plan in the event that I didn't get any bites elsewhere. (And I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't love to live in Geneva for four years!)

I'm pretty jealous, that's an amazing opportunity! Enjoy your time there!

Ah ok, thanks for the clarification. I'd agree with TMP, if you can go study in this language program for a year with all expenses paid, and have a great experience in the region you're interested in studying in, I'd jump at the opportunity. There's a small chance that you might burn bridges with your target institution, but I personally wouldn't pass up a guaranteed spot for the hope that something might materialize in this other program by July. You could always contact the MA program and politely tell them that you need to make a decision by x date, and if they're unable to give you a response by then than you'll have to withdraw your application, but that you certainly hope to reapply after your year of Chinese.

So if I understand you correctly, the reason that you're considering not accepting the one year offer in China is because you're waiting to hear back from the research-oriented MA program? Is there a reason that you can't just wait for the result of that application before making a decision? (Are you pressed for time to accept the Chinese offer, in other words?)

Thanks, I'll check it out now!