ziggysunshine

Thank you so much! I'll be sending you a message sometime in the next few hours. Keep an eye out for it!

Thanks for this! Hilariously, my mentor emailed me today and mentioned Rutgers, so I suppose that the powers that be are really encouraging me to take a look. May I ask if you yourself are from Rutgers?

Hi guys! I'm also going to be applying this fall to 4-5 PhD programs. I'm doing 20th century European history with a focus on Belgium, urban planning, and the built environment more generally. I completed my undergrad with a fairly good GPA from a well-known school in California, and am doing my MA in Belgium at the moment. Took the GRE once and got somewhat mediocre scores, but I'm not sure whether or not I'm willing to pay another $200 to take the test again and get a few more points. Schools I currently have on my list are Oxford, NYU, UChicago, Northwestern, and my alma mater. Anyone have any other suggestions for 20th c. Europe? I'm looking to add one or two schools to my list, I think.

*to be clear, I mean this more for your future PhD! I think that specific faculty fit is less urgent for an MA.

May I recommend you take a look at NYU? It's in your ideal location, and they've got a couple of people that you might enjoy working with (Connolly, Needham, Sugrue, and Tchen at least). P. S. I'm glad to see someone else on these boards that's interested in urban history!

Sorry for hijacking this post, but I'm heading to Leuven this fall! Would you mind if I sent you a pm with some questions about housing/living, and about the programme you're doing? Thank you!

Thank you for the input! Having a minor field or some outside emphasis in a traditional history program sounds like the way to go. And I'll definitely look through the Journal of Urban history.

Hey, thanks for the reply! Yeah, I think you're right to emphasize the potential tradeoffs I would have to make if I pursued the HAUD/HCT programs. And yes, I'm going to apply back to my undergrad institution and its rival school across the bay, but I can't bank on sticking around! They're pretty difficult to get accepted to at any degree level. If I were able to return to my undergraduate institution for a history PhD, however, I found out that they do allow one committee member to be from outside the department! This would be super helpful, since I could pull someone in from architecture or urban planning to guide me along. Looking under more traditional departments, I found some people at UCLA and at Yale that seem to line up well with my interests, so maybe I will apply to those programs as well. I'll also look into individual requirements for dissertation committees and apply to programs that allow advisors from outside departments. Thanks again!

Hey everyone, I'm compiling my list of PhD programs to apply to this coming fall, and I've found myself a bit split as to what kind of program to apply to. A little background about my interests: I work in LME, with a particular interest in urban destruction and reconstruction as sociopolitical processes. I completed my thesis last semester on the topic of architectural reconstruction in the Belgian town of Ypres following WWI, which followed much along this vein. The thesis dedicated equal airtime to both examination of structures ( for instance: this building features x style, this street was rebuilt with y additions) and agents (for example: the British hoped to maintain the town as a permanent memorial). As such, I wouldn't say I was clearly more interested in one aspect over the other. I'll be continuing my research on this same topic throughout the master's program that I have secured, in the hope of refining my interests. But in the meanwhile, what do you guys think? Is it better to apply to a traditional history department and work with an emphasis in urban history, or is it alright to apply to a PhD program like Cornell's HAUD (History of Architecture and Urban Development) or MIT'S HCT (History, Theory, and Criticism...of architecture)? Though I've heard great things about the latter two programs, I've also been cautioned by many of my professors against applying to them. This is mostly for fear that they are "too interdisciplinary", rather than the programs not being a good fit for me.

I'm a historian too! I'll be mostly based in Leuven since there's a free master's degree attached to my grant, but my own work focuses on early 20th century urban planning and city reconstruction, especially following WWI. The current body of my thesis revolves around Ypres out in the Westhoek region, so I'll probably be going there frequently as well. I did preliminary research in Belgium too, last year! I came and went a few times (maybe two or three times) but only spent about a week at a time there. As for information, I assume we'll be receiving a letter in the mail soon, as well as other emails. My sister got a Fulbright last year (to Austria) and she just told me that her initial acceptance email was not super informative either! Congratulations to you too!

I just got awarded a Fulbright to Belgium too! I literally made an account on here just to write you! Mine is a study/research grant. Where will you be and what will you be doing?