nescafe

I know less about FLAS (my school didn't have it), but I can strongly suggest that you ask your adviser for a letter anyway. If you submit an application without a letter from your thesis adviser, the search committee is going to wonder why. It's the norm for fellowships across the board in the Humanities and Social Sciences. And your adviser likely knows more about your work than you know. They do, after all, read the application materials for incoming students, and very often give the approval for the admit. I bet your grad profs have also told your adviser about you as well. The point is, your adviser can attest to your level of competence whether you've been in their classroom or not. If you're truly concerned about the lack of relationship there... this is a great opportunity to address that! I would avoid asking someone from your undergraduate institution to write for you. Unless there truly is no one else.

This topic is highly relevant for me right now... year two on the job market with no offers. I figure I'll give the TT market one more year after this but I'm not planning on spending longer than that seeking professorial work. I'm looking at work in NGOs, international philanthropy, etc. My humanities field is language-intensive so I'm going to rely on that and publications to get my foot in the door somewhere. We'll see.

HI Vosprosi, I think if you can get yourself into a good program in International-Transnational History, that's a better option. You will still likely specialize in a geographic area (or two), but the departmental connections will be more present, as will institutional support (a HUGE deal... funding is one of the most significant measures of who finishes a PhD and who doesn't). I did a dissertation on transnational history in a department that is more "vanilla" in its interests, and it took a lot of work to build a network and a committee... things that a more well-placed student might not have had to spend as much time on. Regardless of your field, you ought to start making contacts with potential advisers as soon as possible, via email, through your current profs, etc. Your relationship with your adviser will be a huge part of the process... and you want to be certain that 1) this prof wants to work with you, and 2) she/he is tolerable and has a good track record with grad students. Now, as far as field-specifics: I will tell you that for the average Atlantic History job call, there are well over 250-300 applications. I have a friend on that market right now, and it's brutal. If you have other interests (or related interests) you might be better served honing them... Along with European Studies, Atlantic History is easily the most over supplied sub-discipline in History. My friend ended up repackaging himself as an American historian and has done better this year on the market (although still no offers... it's still brutal out there and especially right now). Anyway, hope some of that helps. The only other bit of advice I can offer you is to never lose touch with skills that translate well outside of academe. The overwhelming majority of PhDs in History do not go on to tenure track positions (I read something like 80% or some-such). If you can also develop skills in relevant languages, GIS, or Public History, that would be to the good.

This would be absolutely not okay in my field (Humanities). That said, regardless of field I think it's inappropriate for a prof to assume his/her student will foot the bill. Don't pay until you hear back from the professor... chances are, they just haven't gotten around to figuring the money-situation out yet. If after a week you don't hear back, send a reminder email.

I know a fair amount about one of these Programs. Feel free to PM me if you are still considering either of them.

I know... i thought that was strange (the no feedback part). Last year I got full reviewer comments... but I had also advanced farther last year, too.

also, to add: letter says over 1,100 applications this year. No reviewer comments enclosed.

Rejection letter received via post today.

Also applied to this one.

That's interesting. I'd been under the impression that all transcript requests went out at once (and not on a rolling basis).... I didn't get one this year (I did last year) and had heaved a sigh of disappointment last week. Perhaps this thing ain't quite over yet. I will go back to waiting by my mailbox for that regrets letter now. Congrats to all that made the next round!

Transcript requests went out via email on January 25 last year... I'm guessing this Friday.

I hate that Congress has made such sweeping cuts to Education, and particularly Graduate education and research (see: Fulbright Hays DDRA, Title VI, and now subsidies for Graduate Education Loans). But I am wondering how Graduate Institutions will handle these changes? There was a day when graduate and professional students completed their degrees without having to take out loans, and frankly, it wasn't that long ago. The biggest reason for this was that Graduate Schools paid their TAs and Instructors a higher (albeit still quite modest) wage. I used to wait tables for a living, where I made 2.30 an hour. At one point back in history, servers and waitstaff were entitled to minimum wage (at least 5.15 at the time) paid by their employers. Once tipping became a common and almost lucrative practice, however, the employment laws were rewritten allowing employers to pay their waitstaff 2.30 an hour, the assumption being that tips would make up the difference. Essentially, lawmakers shifted the burden of the servers' wages, placing them directly upon the consumer, rather than upon the employer. Long story short, I wonder (and a lot of this is speculation) whether American universities have done the same thing. With costs of living increasing and greater and greater numbers of grad students coming in each year, stipends for TAs and Student Instructors have stagnated and stalled. In my dept (a large Research-Intensive Private School in New England), graduate student instructors are even replacing professors in some depts. The stipends are too small to offset cost of living, and our stipended Grad Students actually have to sign a document saying they will not pursue work outside of the university. In the end, these grad students must take out loans to make ends meet. Like the restaurant I worked in several years ago, these Universities seem to have shifted the burden of their payroll. That is, they've shifted it onto the students. Now, I don't think and end to subsidized loans for these students is the way to reverse this problem. And I am similarly skeptical about whether this move by Congress will actually inspire Universities to reverse these externalization-of-costs measures. I am actually quite concerned that this legislation will accelerate the mentality that I've seen among some faculty--- the one which views Graduate Students as sources of cheap labor only and disregards the "education" aspect of the advanced degree. (Indeed, one of the ugliest things I've seen since beginning grad school some four years ago was a student who taught several very popular courses in my dept. This student was encouraged to keep teaching, even at the expense of his research, until his Financial Aid ran out and he'd maxed out his Loans. He was then dismissed with little discussion.) But I wonder--- what is a grad student to do? Is there a way to hand back to the university, responsibility for its Graduate Student community? Just thinking out loud here...

Cool. Maybe I should send an email with the new address... is T Granza the person to talk to?

oooooh, any indication whether these will go to the schools of home addresses? I've moved since the application went in. (I figure that since you're in the know, maybe you also have this bit). Good luck to all!

I actually had to locate and resend my DDRA Application (the PDF version) to my FPA to be passed along again. To my knowledge, I am the only one who has had to do this though.