nhhistorynut

2-3 hours for me. Sometimes less if it's a shorter book (under 250 pages, for example). I'll read the intro/conclusion, the preface if there is one, any sort of epilogue if it exists, and then skim all the other chapters. Yes I always feel like I have enough. As long as I know the argument, why the author thinks its important, and where it fits in the historiography. I also like to pull random tidbits from the text that I found sort of interesting. I've never had anyone say "in the sixth paragraph of chapter 5, the author talked about [insert obscure example here]" and then expect everyone to know exactly what they're talking about with all the details. In my first reading class of my PhD program this semester, the professor actually told us which parts to read lol. "Read the intro, read the conclusion, skim sections 1 and 2, and then choose either section 3 or section 4 to also skim."

@telkanuru thanks for the laugh lol. I love the onion. Definitely feel some imposter syndrome creeping up, but I'll do what I can to keep it at bay!

@cowgirlsdontcry I apologize for not specifying; I am married and my husband works full time and is quite supportive. But I do like your idea of including them in something like making dinner, eating together (which we do anyways), etc. I think that will help a lot. I am still her "primary caregiver" so on days I don't have classes I will be getting her to and from school, which is fine, and on other days she will go to an after school program for an hour or so. Also, I appreciate your comments about the anxiety of "not knowing" and that is definitely where I'm at, I think. I hope, like you, once I do it, I will be far more confident. @gsc and @Sigaba I appreciate your advice. I've gotten quite good in my MA program at getting through books quickly. I can read a book in 2 hours usually (obviously not cover to cover). I think after a few weeks I will have it figured out about what to do when, what to prioritize, etc. It's all a little overwhelming going in; it almost feels like the cold feet some people get before their weddings (I didn't, but I did suddenly feel like I was going to throw up as soon as I got to the front...). I'm grateful now for the department's culture. I met quite a few existing grads yesterday and they were ridiculously friendly. Laid back, happy, lots of questions and advice, jokes about professors, etc. They all offered reading lists and books and so on. Several have kids and it was made explicitly clear by both faculty and other students that kids are more than welcome and if I'm in a bind I can usually drop mine off in the TA room and whoever is hanging out in there will watch her lol. Which is great and put me at ease. I think it's just a bit intimidating viewing a syllabus with SO many books (and these are all books, not journal articles) listed for each week (1 primary, the other supplemental). All of your comments have really helped me feel better about this and realize that I can handle it and will work it out. So thank you.

@SarahBethSortino did the email include all current grad students, or just the new incoming cohort? In my new cohort this year, I am definitely the oldest, the only one with a kid, the only one married, etc. However, when we all went into the TA room to meet the other grad students I was pleasantly surprised to find numerous, maybe almost half, of the other grad students are either close to my age or actually older. 4 are in their 40s or 50s. I think 5 of us have kids/families. You might find something similar once you get in and meet everyone. If not, that's okay, too. Be friendly as best you can, maybe you'll make better friends with an associate/recently graduated professor.

Hi everyone, I've completed my orientation and registered for classes and am starting to feel sort of overwhelmed. I'm worried about managing the readings class (which looks like it might require something like 7 books a week), a research class, and my "how to teach college history" class (which only meets twice a month) while also leading 3 discussion sections of 15 students. Time management is starting to become a concern for me, as well as my ability to maintain a work/life balance, as I do have a family including a school-age child. Does anyone have some sage advice to calm my nerves and help me figure out how to juggle everything?

The school I am going to said the drop between the 2016 and 2017 cycles was almost 50% and the DGS said he wasn't entirely sure why. That said, I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing, because the issue we've seen in the discipline in recent decades is that more PhDs are being awarded than jobs being created for PhDs. So perhaps the lower number of applicants will mean the system is starting to even out? Or maybe I'm just being hopeful lol.

FWIW, my quant score was 145, so...

It's a bit of a difficult balance, I think. You want to let them know that you have an idea of what you want to do, but you also don't want to focus in so narrowly that they think you aren't flexible with it, especially since dissertation projects won't start for 2+ years after starting the program and sometimes ideas/interests change a great deal in that time. For me, I talked about my style of writing and researching and the project I was doing for my MA thesis. I then briefly discussed a very general theme/idea for my PhD program, saying that I want to focus on mid-20th century US race relations, but that I was flexible with the topic beyond that. I think the best thing to do is illustrate your ability as a historian with your WS and your discussion of yourself as a historian in the SOP, rather than focusing in on a narrow topic. Because if you go in and say "I want to study XYZ and have found these sources and these archives" and so on, they might pass you over for someone who is a bit more flexible going forward. This is just my experience, of course, and I'm sure a lot of this depends on the area of specialization and the specific schools to which you're applying.

I can't stop laughing http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/essays/history-past-life-reeked-joy totally worth a look, fellow historians!

The variety is really interesting. I'm curious why some programs (like mine and some others) require such substantial projects/lengths and others don't...

Wow that would have been a lot easier lol that's about how long my MA program expected seminar papers to be (well, 20-30)... That said, I plan to take some of my chapters and rework them a bit and submit for publication, so hopefully I'll get something out of my effort! If nothing else, I figure I'll have experience doing a big project, which will hopefully help me when dissertation time comes.

I was looking around on here and couldn't find a thread on this. I'm curious just because my program says "between 100-200 pages" but other people have told me theirs was only something like 80 pages. I'm in crunch time now because I want to finish all the writing before my PhD program starts at the end of August (I will technically be dual enrolled this fall because I plan to defend in October and confer in December) and I still have 2 chapters to write (albeit the easiest; one is based on a paper I already wrote so I can borrow a lot from that, and the other is just the conclusion). Anyways, I just wrapped up chapter 3 today and the document put together right now is 90 pages. I'm thinking it'll be around 140-150 when it's done. So, how long was yours? Just curious

@VAZ I'd venture to guess that it's likely the other way around; how medieval history and theories apply to post-colonial and race theories. It's pretty interesting, actually, when you think about it, because many race-based laws and institutions were founded on (and defended by) the interpretation of religious texts.

I'm a themes and theories person. I had a hard time picking just one lol. I specialize in race relations, so theme-based and theory-based research/scholarship are equally relevant and useful. I'd add, too, that I avoid "great man" histories because they don't really interest me very much.

good advice above. I'd also add that you can look to (semi-recent) books that you've read and enjoyed. Then, google the authors to find out where they teach, research the institutions a bit, and then reach out to them from there.

If I was to use it professional, I'd probably just use it on it's own without the quotation marks.

I like to use my middle initial. Both my first and last names are 2 syllables and are pretty generic (although my last name is also a common first name for men). However, there was really no rhyme or reasons when I started using it. It just kind of happened. For some reason in my BA, they had me registered with the middle initial, which was printed on my diploma. Then when I did my MA program it was the same. And finally, with my PhD program starting, they have me recorded that way, too, and all official correspondences and references to me include my middle initial. Somewhere along the way I started using it on papers I write, too. I have no idea why lol I just do. And it's different for me because I actually have a nickname, Lottie, that everyone has called me since the day I was born. Literally no one calls me by my real name unless they dont know me. All my professors call me Lottie at my MA school, and I imagine I will go by that at my PhD university, as well. But when handing in assignments, submitting publications, etc., I always sign with my real first name and my middle initial. I've thought about using my nickname more often professionally, though, because it is a unique name and people tend to remember it.

I guess I sort of fell into this as my specialization. It started when I had to write a seminar paper on something/anything related to WWII for a methods class and I wanted to do something different. I have been going to Jamaica for 26 years, and began looking into their involvement in the war. After discovering Jamaica's refugee and internment camps, I started digging in deeper and my focus began shifting towards the issues of race inequality and the role the white refugees played in worsening those issues. My MA thesis is on Jamaica's history of race relations and the island's independence movement. It looks specifically at how, when, and why Afro-Jamaicans were able to tackle and overcome their racial inferiority complex and demand self-government and independence. Through my research on this, I have developed a passion for US race relations in the mid-20th century. I had originally wanted to specialize in German military history (pre-1900), but this topic just completely took over. So there you have it. I managed to get into a school with the POI I wanted (I love his books and may have fan-girled a bit after he called me to chat last winter), and will get to focus on race relations and racism in 20th century New England.

I just want to point out that people who are annoyed or bothered by questions they think have been answered elsewhere or questions they consider "stupid" are under no obligation to answer. It's easy enough to just do that than throw time and energy into some passive aggressive (or aggressive aggressive) paragraphs attacking someone for asking a question just because they didn't see it anywhere at first or didn't want to spend and hour sifting through old threads. I agree that thick skin is necessary and there will always be those who will talk down to you or act pompous, but there's really no need to spread that around and just consider such behaviors "par for the course" in academia. I personally know multiple PhDs, other academics, and historians who are plenty down to earth and humble, and I hope to emulate them as I maneuver my way through my PhD and beyond. Well anyways, my point here is just that if you don't like the question, don't respond to it. Simple as that. Because now this straightforward thread for someone nervous and excited about the application process has been hijacked by people debating the value of the question and fighting over the nature of academia.

@AP you're cracking me up!

so, after rereading this, I just want to add that you should always proofread your emails, which I clearly did not do above there's nothing worse than clicking send and then noticing a glaring typo!

True! Thick skin is a must an academia.

Just fair warning, and I learned this the hard way this past year, but you should probably get used to that on here. Just my experience, FWIW. Don't take it personally. It will probably get much, much worse in the 2018 thread as time passes lol.

With British history, out of those two, I'd probably just choose French. But that's just my 2 cents. You might also consider German.

It can be really hard to sort through those posts because there are SO many responses in a thread. I think it's nice to have a thread about this all together for future applicants. Anyways, when I reached out to POIs, I erred on the side of professionalism. That means says "dear" at the start, as awkward as that feels. Here's a sort of template to go by: "Dear So and So, I am a (enter here: graduate of, undergrad/graduate student at, etc.) studying (enter major/specialization) and I am considering applying to doctoral programs this fall. My interest(s) is(are) XYZ, and after much research, I am interested in working with you if you are able to accept new graduate students in the fall of 2018. My research... (talk about your research interests, past research, research style, etc.) I have read (enter name of book/article/publication by POI) and it sparked my interest in blah blah blah. I found your argument about X especially intriguing. I am interested in a similar topic, and believe my research could benefit from your guidance. *enter anything else you want to say or any questions you have. it is good to ask at least one question, like 'how many graduate students do you usually advise at time?' or 'how many dissertations have you overseen?' or anything specific about his or her advising style* Thank you for for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely yours (or all the best, or something similar), (your full name)" Hope that helps! I wrote like that to all POIs and got a response from every single one, from state schools to Harvard.