WhaleshipEssex

If this is your response to @Sigaba's mild suggestion that you take a step back and reevaluate, then maybe they're not as off base with their comments as you want to think they are.

Those are all good starts.

I think there are more than a few who wish to have that 'problem'.

I'm alternating between The Discovery of Time by Toulmin and Goodfield and Champion's The Fullness of Time: Temporalities of the Fifteenth-Century Low Countries.

History grad programs place far more weight on your writing sample, statement of purpose, and letters of recommendation. That said, your Verbal and Writing scores need work.

I just saw that Tresch left Penn HSS for The Warburg Institute, gutting as he was on my shortlist for people to reach out to in a year when it comes time to think about PhD programs.

I wouldn't minimize that part about personalizing your SOP. If you're working off a base template and then plugging in a paragraph or so about each department, it will show.

Verbal *should* be on the low end of good enough but, as has been repeated ad nauseam in this thread, taken with your SoP and writing sample you'll be fine.

I never said they were the same thing, but to your point I do believe they're linked. Yes, I will grant you that everyone starts somewhere and this forum is a great resource in finding out about programs. However, I'd assume someone interested in a phd would know a bit about the field they're interested in, which is why I questioned if they're ready. It had nothing to do with capability.

I'm sorry if this comes across as harsh, but if you're not familiar with the people and programs at the forefront of your field do you really think you're ready to apply to those top programs?

For whatever it's worth, New Hampshire just hired a recent NYU PhD in Middle Eastern history this past fall. Given the list programs the majority of that department has come out of, it very well may point to that move upwards.

I'm currently working through a second reading of Paola Bertucci's Artisanal Enlightenment that came out last year. The argument is quite interesting and well researched but a bit lacking in terms of scope.

@centinel Let me know if you have any questions about New Hampshire.

If you didn't include a lit review that'd set off some serious alarm bells. With regards to length, you should think less about how long the review is and more on how complete it is. Are you engaging with the big hitters in your field? Have there been important shifts in the last 20-30 years? How does your work fit in with/challenge what has been said?

Have you talked with the professor who will be supervising your thesis about doing something over the summer?