OHSP

I feel the same way and also I start in a week and the house I was meant to move into (today) fell through like literally while I was on my way there with my stuff... I find it helpful to be like, at least the subway didn't derail, crash, and kill me?? I'm thinking it could potentially be a year full of "at least..." statements.

I think it's pretty natural to be nervous about starting. Age is only one thing that sets you apart -- I'm coming in as a married international student who's spent a single semester at a US college and that's definitely a point of difference between me and others, but in any cohort of humans who've also decided to spend five to seven years getting a history phd you can usually find someone to relate to. It might help not to assume that people ten years younger than you are kids--for all you know there's a 26 year old parent in your cohort, or someone who's lived out of home since they were 15, or (as in my case) a 26 year old whose partner is in their late 30s and whose life might look a bit like your own. So far I've found personality and life experience to be more important than age when it comes to making grad school friends.

I know that others have already said this but: Definitely not! This professor has been extremely generous with their time--if I were in your position I'd be writing a "thank you, that's really helpful," etc type response. Also, I'm about to start a program with an advisor who didn't respond to my "I'm interested in coming here" email last year and so far she's been extraordinarily helpful/she's known for being a very supportive supervisor, so I wouldn't rule out schools based solely on the way that people respond/don't respond to your emails.

Hey, my research is partly about LGBT Maori and very much about public history, so I'd be happy to talk - I'd maybe warn against using a "/" between Indigenous and Native American, just because plenty of Indigenous scholars are looking at people outside of North America. When I was looking at schools and thinking about advisors I tended to stick to historians of the 20th C. US--my research is primarily about the US but it's also somewhat true that a lot of Pacific and Indigenous scholars are listed as "US" historians anyway (obviously not true at every school). Theoretically my field is 20th c. US but in reality it's more like 20th and 21st century US and Pacific sexuality/gender and public history/archives. Anyway! Message me if you want to chat.

At least in Australia masters usually takes 2 years and is 100% dissertation-based, but the variation amongst US degrees is super interesting.

40k words but that is the requirement where I'm from and I wrote it as a monograph/with an additional 10k words it's now becoming a monograph--also not unusual at my university.

I can't actually remember the exact number but I know I was in the 49th percentile, so I think it was around 149 or 150 (at the most)--though pre-test I was getting around 158 on magoosh type services. Honestly no one cared about my score at all. I should also mention that I was offered a competitive scholarship at the highly-ranked state school I got into as well, so not all state schools will take it into consideration.

My quantitative scores were terrible, I got into one ivy and four other good schools--at one school visit a younger assistant professor was like "hah your quantitative scores were pretty bad but not as bad as mine", so that's how much they mattered (Telkanuru is right about the funding thing for some state schools though)

I've been TAing for 3 years in Australia, where maybe 1 or 2 students (out of 45) will consistently do the readings. I know this seems like babying, but I would often copy a pertinent paragraph, have some questions relating to the paragraph, and then get them to split into groups to discuss the questions. Then I'd bring it back for a group discussion. I'd go to every group during the group discussion time to talk to them about their thoughts, what they found difficult/interesting about the paragraph etc etc. I really like teaching and I think the secret is to not think of them as "kids" and also to be a little bit understanding about the fact that they have other stuff going on in their lives/your 50 minute class is a tiny part of their week, so it's a matter of how you can make that 50 minutes worthwhile. I also like splitting them up into small groups, making them come up with questions for the rest of the big group, and then getting them to pose those questions to each other i.e. to direct the class. You'll work out your own style though, everyone's different. **Also, what gsc says about the readings is true -- I just taught for a class where one of my tutorial groups (sections) had 6 people and everyone did the readings every week, because I was very much like "with such a small group this is not going to work unless we have something to talk about so we all need to be able to talk about the readings."

NYU uses the same method for everyone, so I'm just long-shot asking if anyone else in my position has received theirs yet, and how long it took from notification to arrival.

Hi, NYU's told me that my DS-2019 for my J1 (and my partner's J2) will soon be shipped. I know that other universities warn that it can take 8 weeks to arrive by post, so advise students to organise express shipping--I've emailed NYU but does anyone have actual experience with how long it takes to receive these documents from NYU? I'm in Australia. Thanks!

As a 26 year old married to a 37 year old, I'd probably say you could be a bit more open-minded. Not all 20 somethings are straight out of college. You might find it difficult to connect to someone whose life thus far has included going to high school and then straight into the US college system (which, to an Australian who spent a semester at a US college in 2010, seems very much like a continuation of high school). But that's not going to be every single person in your cohort. I guess these are the types of things you can't really know until you're there.

What about public history MA programs? A lot of them, including NYU's, are really open to educators and they're also much better in terms of setting you up to make public history connections etc--i.e. they're better at opening up pathways to jobs. There is a great program at American University and like a full list of programs over here: http://ncph.org/program-guide/

A) I'm super glad that you've come out of this with a place, and are able to ask these questions, B) I am spending way too much time wondering if I made the right decisions, C) I only just finished my MA thesis and sometime soon I'm sure I'll chill out but for now I am using the weird energy to create long, unrealistic fantasy reading lists. I love a good annotated bibliography

I took it right down to the final day with NYU and UPenn, but I'm going to NYU.

Ugh. I mean, they are actually somewhat correct to the extent that you will encounter people who think gender and sexuality has no place in "real" historical studies, but basically that's just something to get used to (and to get used to arguing against). Job market-wise it can help to have a foot outside of traditional history, just because it means that you might be able to apply for jobs in WGSS departments etc etc.

If you can afford to do an MA (NYU's is unfunded), then I'd recommend it, and if you're certain that you're interested in gender and LGBT history then the women and gender history MA at NYU is likely to set you up really well (Linda Gordon's still around, Michele Mitchell is there, and the faculty is full of amazing women and feminists). But you don't need a specifically gender-focused MA to set yourself up for LGBT and gender history PhDs. I'm not entirely sure why you think women's history and gender/sexuality studies would be perceived as "area studies"... ? Women and LGBT people are historical actors; it's not beyond the realm of historical studies to focus on LGBT experiences...

I finally, finally, finally accepted NYU and declined UPenn. Declining what I thought was my dream school = the worst part of this entire process. But I'm happy to be going to the school that, as it (shockingly) turns out, is probably the best fit.

Congrats! I'm so happy for you! #dreamsdocometrue

I've officially declined Wisconsin Madison and Duke - hope that frees up room for others. UW was particularly difficult to turn down.

Sounds like Cornell

Whereabouts is this second school? I'm about to turn down a few offers (after struggling to make a decision) and I'm sure there are other people in the same boat.

This is so relatable. Good luck deciding!

I got into NYU (didn't apply to Columbia) with a MA from a no name international school. Everyone's been much more focused on my writing sample/SOP/publications than on where I went to school, and I'm an Americanist (so it's not like being overseas has given me some kind of "lived experience" of being in the region--quite the opposite). I applied to 8 top 20 schools and got into 6 so while I'm sure that going to a big name school helps, it's not essential. I chose my MA program on the basis of my advisor, who was amazing and a leader in my field, but I was in a different situation because in Australia most humanities grad programs are fully-funded. I guess the question is who would you hope to work with at NYU and Columbia, and which MA programs are best-placed to set you up for the type of research that you might want to do in a PhD. Also I totally messed up the maths part of the GRE (but did very well in the verbal, like most people I met on visits)--I'm not sure how much weight I'd give the GRE in terms of where to place your focus. The more important things are going to be your writing sample and SOP.

In terms of deciding what you're interested in, a really great way to get insight into this is to write a senior thesis - not because that thesis will reflect the exact type of work that you'll do later on, but because you'll learn about the process of working on a sustained question, and you'll find yourself drawn to certain texts, questions, debates etc -- writing that thesis made all the difference, for me. As a sophomore, you might just want to start thinking about what excites you, and what you'd be willing to spend a year or a semester (depending on your school) thinking/reading/writing about.