hungrybear

I've noticed that most people take the GRE in August or September, but would the end of October, in your opinion, be too late to take mine? I can see why most people take it in August or September, as a majority are still in undergrad and trying to get it out of the way before their semester gets crazy. However, I'm out of undergrad, I work part-time, and I don't have any other obligations. Outside of work, I basically have unlimited time to prep for my apps. I want to take mine on the 21st or 28th of October. I figured those dates give me enough time to do some prep for the math comfortably, but if I need to retake, I will have time to retake (albeit close to the deadline) and have the scores get to my schools in time. Thanks in advance

Thanks for the response. Should've read more into the context, but I just briefly skimmed the discussion on my break at work. And I'm aware of the funding aspect, which is why I've chosen these three masters program (they offer funding). I chose area studies MAs over history MAs because the former tend to focus more on language training. Edit: grammar >.>

I hadn't thought about this. I'm interested in the M.E.N.A region. I'm applying to 6 history PhD programs and 3 master's programs in Middle East and North African studies (not history). Should I be looking at master's in history departments if I end up going that the MA-->PhD route? I assumed, with my undergraduate degree in history and hypothetical master's in MENA studies, I would look more focused than some who just got a general history master's degree and wrote a master's thesis based in the MENA region.

I wanted to know (and I figured it would be helpful for others): what should be included in the project proposal? How much detail should one go into in the SOP for the project? Some type of general checklist I think would be helpful. I imagine one needs to include the geographic region, the theme, and the time period. Those seem standard. But what about the things that really make it seem like you've really thought the proposal through? Should one talk about secondary sources that have touched on the proposed topic? Does one bring up primary sources? Archives you have in mind? How you plan to fund the research? Is a preliminary hypothesis offered? Thanks.

I was wondering what you all thought of a writing sample that slightly (but respectfully and with evidence) disagrees with part of a POI's work. Basically, the argument is like this: My POI says X happened Y way from the 1830s onward. I say X happened Z way from the late 1840s onward. We both submit to the same idea, but just differ on its time frame. Do you think they would stop reading? Take offense? Have their interested piqued? I imagine they will respectfully disagree with me (and rightfully, they wrote a whole peer-reviewed book on it), but does that adversely affect my chances at admission?

I'm not in an MA program :/. I just have a BA in History and Philosophy, and this is my undergraduate thesis. Well, it was my undergrad thesis. I lived in France for some time after undergrad, and while there I did some archival work to bolster my undergrad thesis. This past summer I started incorporating the archival sources (in addition to other relevant primary and secondary sources I read since graduation). I decided to scrap my original thesis (about 40 pages) and start from scratch (keeping the same argument and framework). This new paper is at about 35 pages now, and I'm half way to finishing. So I'm thinking the end product will be about 70 pages. I'm debating now if I should just aim to fit my whole paper into 30-35 pages, since I'm still in the writing phase.

On a side note, do schools expect a works cited page at the end? Sorry if it's a silly question. They don't really state that on their instructions page. I would imagine footnotes would be sufficient, but I just want to double-check.

I have a 50+ paper I would like to use as a WS for my apps. Should I send the whole pdf and designate pages to read or should I condense it into a cohesive 30-35 page paper? (I use that range since all my apps want somewhere in that range). Pro for the first option: They get to see all my effort. Con for the first option: It's not as cohesive, since they're jumping around. Pro for the second option: It reads as one continuous paper, as there is no need for jumping around. Con: They do not see the larger product. Thanks.

Okay. You should have said that in the first place. It comes off as a bit pompous when you say you can't take me seriously. Maybe you couldn't take the question seriously, but to dismiss the whole person over just a question..

Spanish has so many more verb conjugations than French (I'm looking at you, Spanish subjunctive). French uses the subjunctive once in a while, and it hardly ever employs the past subjunctive. Both are very common in Spanish writing and speech. Also, French has a much larger vocabulary overlap with English than Spanish. Shoot there are so many "high-level" English words that are common words in French. So for an academic, I think French is much more intuitive. But each to his own. I was born in Spanish-speaking household, so maybe that plays a role in my opinion.

From a difficulty stand point, French is definitely easier to read and translate than Spanish. If you were going to have to speak the language, Spanish is easier. French would probably more helpful in British history, anyway.

I looked through the old posts (albeit briefly), but it seemed like most were about people who had already been in contact and not about initiating the contact. I will go back in and check, then. Thanks.

Hi y'all, I was wondering when a good time to contact (by e-mail) each of my POIs? I've already e-mailed some graduate students asking specifics about the program and their opinions on certain areas within the program, but that's about it. It's summer now, so I imagine my POIs are busy/relaxing. Nevertheless, I don't want to wait too long. My next question is: what is a good way to approach the e-mail? I'm a first-generation college student, so this particular step is incredibly vague. I don't want to send an e-mail saying, "Hi, my name is _____ and I admire your work. Don't keep reading this e-mail as this is obviously just a way to suck up to you." Some ideas I have come up with are: Introducing who am I and basically why the particular program interests me. Asking if they are accepting students. ...and that's about it. So how does one navigate this process? Thank you in advance.

I am not extrapolating the likelihood of employment from GRE scores. I will say, however, that certain GRE scores (combined with other factors) lead to acceptances at better schools, which then put you in a better position to employed in academic setting. And it's those schools (the top 50 or so) that I am curious as to how they will perceive a splitter score.

Sorry about that. I will be focusing on North African history. The countries I am looking at are Algeria and Morocco. The time period is the colonial period, specifically the earlier years of colonialism (1830-1870 for Algeria and 1912-1930 for Morocco). The themes are place, identity, and power. The writing sample I will be submitting looks at the urban modification by France in the those respective countries and years. My paper draws of French sources from the period, and even archival sources from Aix-en-Provence. I am fluent in Spanish and proficient in French. I have taken formal Arabic (1 1/2 years). I studied abroad in Morocco and lived in France for some time after undergrad (approximately 8 months). Those are the things directly relevant to my application. I have other awards, like Phi Beta Kappa, departmental awards, etc., that imagine will help. The schools I am looking at are UMich, Minnestoa (Twin-Cities), UT Austin, Georgetown, and Northwestern.The masters programs I am looking at are UT Austin (ME Studies) and Michigan (ME Studies). The GRE scores I've seen for these schools range for Verbal from 157-165, so I am not so worried about that area. The math, however, ranges from 148-155, which is what I am scared of.

So I was curious about the experience of GRE splitters in the admissions process. Did anyone on here have a good Verbal (162-164) l and a low Quant (147-151) and get into decent PhD programs with funding? By decent I mean you have at least a 50% chance of finding a job in academia. I'm trying to allay some of my fears about the quant score.

How bad is terrible, OHSP? I'm about to take the GRE and I'm scoring 162-164 on verbal and 147-151 on Math, so I'm curious.