nihonshi

Hello! I'm still finishing up an MA and planning to apply to PhD programs next season, so I hope you all don't mind me posting, but I am now really starting to think seriously about the process (though maybe a bit too early!). At the start of my MA my interest was primarily in early modern Japanese social history, but I've found myself increasingly dipping into the late medieval period. I feel this is going to prove to be a bit of a struggle, as I find that most of the early modern academics I'd be interested in working with (that aren't on retirement watch or teaching at strange places) deal with the late Tokugawa to Meiji periods. Right now the two programs that catch my eye the most are Yale and Harvard's programs. How important is it that your adviser lines up perfectly with your time period of interest?

I'm a pre-modern Japanese history person too! I'm planning to apply to PhD programs next year, but good luck to everyone who is applying this year! @kotatsumuri I agree with looking into UPenn and Princeton. Spafford the Medieval historian at Penn is great, and so is Conlan at Princeton. Who are you interested in studying with at UBC?

I got to an ivy league school and I brought that question up to one of my professors and he told me that when he reviews applications he just "glances" at GRE scores. he told me to not worry about the GRE at all (especially the quant score for someone in the humanities), but that they generally look for a writing score above a 4.5/6. I guess it depends on the school/how strict the admissions committee wants to be.

Two of my recommenders asked me to give them my CV in order to help them write my recommendation letters. I've been trying to look online for some examples to help me write one, but most of the examples I've seen seem to be written by PHD or masters students who have a substantial number of published papers and conferences to list. As I have not published at all or presented any papers, I am wondering what kind of information someone would expect an undergraduate to have on their CV? I don't want to seem like I'm padding by including papers or presentations I've written or given in ordinary undergraduate classes, but as it stands my CV will probably look a bit empty if I don't.