a.n.d

I can, of course, only speak to my own experience, but I do have something to offer here: I come from a fine arts background, with only a minor in history. I only had one history professor I felt comfortable asking a LOR from. The other two were from my adviser, who taught Digital Media, but whom I was extremely close with and could therefore write easily about my passion for history, my German professor, who likewise knew me fairly well, and an English professor who had known me all four years of undergrad, and who also knew me well enough to speak on my writing abilities as well as my interests in history and general disposition. I would go with people who you have a history with who could write you excellent letters about your abilities/disposition/aptitude for graduate study rather than someone in the field who doesn't know you as well.

I came to history through art. My adviser for my undergrad (digital media in the visual arts) was working on an on-going project about LGBT culture during the Weimar period and we would often have long discussions about the progression of art and culture and how it impacted and was impacted in turn, by historical events in and around that period. My primary research interests lay somewhere along the culture of prisoners in concentration camps and how they preserved it as a form of resistance during the Holocaust. I haven't done much research into it yet, so I'm not sure how much there is there to go with, but I suppose I'll see. I do have other interests/questions just in case, but yeah. For me, it all started with art.

I'm starting my phd in the fall in European History, and I'm coming straight from a BA in visual arts! (I did minor in History, and tailored a lot of my coursework the last year towards my research interests, however.) I do know that when I was looking at programs, at least as far as phd goes; admittedly, I didn't look into MA programs because I knew I wanted to go straight for the phd, but a lot of them required previous history coursework, or equivalent hours in a closely-related field.

I second @ThousandsHardships advice here. I'm starting this Fall and I've been working on my German by reading pretty much anything I can get my hands on in German and brushing up on grammar/vocab. I also listen to music and watch random videos in German, and it has definitely helped me up my fluency level. I left undergrad at an intermediate level and my adviser just said to work on it as much as I can, and then take courses if I need to, which I'm going to have to do for my second language, anyway.

I feel you, there. I did TERRIBLE on the math part and was horrified at myself, but. Well, it all worked out in the end.

@Reaglejuice89 Breaking things down like this is a great suggestion! Also, those last three points are where my own research interests lay, so they definitely help me with pinpointing specifics about what I want to focus on. The functionalist vs. intentionalist debate is a fascinating one, particularly after reading the accounts from Eastern Europe and what we know of Poland being the sort of experimentation field when it came to killing. For more book recs for @anxioushistorymajor: The Third Reich in History and Memory by Richard Evans, which I've just acquired and I was recently recommended both Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews 1933- 1949 by David Cesarani and Memorializing the Holocaust: Gender, Genocide and Collective Memory. I haven't read either of those two yet, but they're on the list of books I'm slowly getting.

I definitely second the reading suggestions! I recently took a class on Nazi Germany and another on the Holocaust and our booklist included works by Richard J. Evans, and I rec. any of those. If you're interested in the Eastern front, I'd recommend: War of Annihilation: Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front, 1941 by Geoffrey P. Megargee. If needed, I also have links to a couple primary sources describing events of the Holocaust and the Wansee Conference notes from a seminar paper I wrote. Feel free to PM me!

Ooh, thank you for the rec! I'll definitely add that to my list.

Just finished up Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis, which are pretty good reads. Time travelling, world war ii; a good look at the background and the people that weren't front and center during the war.

My GPA was 3.6 and I got around a 159 on the verbal part of the GRE. I was terrible at the math bit and got a 4 on the writing. I went straight from BA to pHd, and got in with funding to UTK Knoxville. I had strong LORs, SOP and writing sample though. They were more impressed with my application than my GRE and GPA, is the impression I got. But I also did not start out in the history field; my undergrad was in the visual arts. I worked in the university's writing center for three years, and was in Phi Alpha Theta, also.

Thought I'd post an update: I got off the funding wait-list at University of Tennessee, and will be attending this Fall! My thoughts: Relief.

I'm going into History, with a BA in Fine Arts, and I got accepted straight into a PhD program without a Masters. I'm straight out of undergrad, but I started that fairly late after working for about six years post-high school. I think it worked for me though, because I know what I want my research to focus on, and I know what I want to do with my degree; a stand alone Master's just didn't seem necessary after I discussed it with a few of my Professors and felt confident I could handle it.

Congrats! I'm still on the funding wait-list, but am hoping I'll also be headed to UTK in the fall!

Hi there! Because I was in a similar position to you (background in the arts, going into history for grad school) I thought I'd offer some advice. While the GRE is an important step, you'll want to focus most of your attention on your Statement of Purpose and your writing sample. These are the meat of your application, so to speak, and are definitely what gets the most attention! Also, you'll want to consider which of your former professors might be willing/able to write you letters of recommendation! I got professors from varying depts to write mine, rather than just going with the history professors I had worked with. When I was writing my SOP, I focused a lot on the type of research I wanted to do, and what I planned on doing after grad school, as well as which professors I might like to work with. I also got about ten different people to read over it for me. I hope this helps! Feel free to PM me if you'd like.