TsarandProphet

I agree! I began as a late-antiquity-early-Islam major, moved to Early Modern Europe, and settled on Russia and the history of knowledge in Russia following a deeper study of my own family history.

Welcome to the archives! I organize them in folders (Fond XXX, Opis XXX, Folder XXX) and each picture is only the number of the photo within the folder. I use an excel file to keep track of descriptions.

I'd also be happy to swap. Mine is ready.

James Jaccard and Jacob Jacoby, Theory Construction and Model-Building Skills: A Practical Guide for Social Scientists and Diana Mishkova and Balázs Trencsényi (editors), European Regions and Boundaries: A Conceptual History .

Hi guys! I am applying to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Stanford to study Russian and East European History! I am mainly interested in modernity, intellectual history, and the history of the social sciences.

I am also starting my preparations - I am applying to joint programs in History and Sociology!

Dear friends, I am curious about your choice of a writing sample. What were your criteria? How did you fit it to the varying page length requirements? What was it about? I am going to send a writing sample written in an MA seminar (while I am currently an undergraduate student) that uses foreign-language primary and secondary sources and I think it is well written, but the topic is not particularly exciting and it is about my minor field within history (Balkans) and not major (Transnational East European History).

Dear colleagues (and especially those working on Russian and Ottoman sources), How did you master the art of reading difficult handwriting? By experience only? Using any special books?

Dear colleagues, I know it is much more "expected" in the "hard sciences" to come with existing publications to grad school, and I was wondering if any of you had anything published before attending grad school. If so, where? I have a paper in a German journal and two book chapters.

That's great! I am working exactly in the same fields as you are!

Dear colleagues, I am looking for graduate programs that allow specialisation in the sociology of knowledge and expertise, preferably along with historical and comparative sociology. I know it's rare, but I'm sure they exist!

Hi guys, I am planning to apply to Ivy-League programs in history, and my V and Q scores are 161, which I guess is quite low for the Ivies, but my writing score is 6. I wonder if my writing score will make up for the kind of low verbal score or not. Does anyone have any insight on this?

I am working on my SOP for PhD programs in History and would be happy to receive some feedback on it. Would be happy to critique in return.

Hi there, I am a history student from Israel. I have developed a reasonable expertise in the Balkans and the Post-Soviet space (esp. Azerbaijan). I'd be applying mostly to history programs, but since some of my research questions are contemporary and utilise qualitative methodology drawn from Political Science, I thought to pursue this direction as well given that some potential advisers teach Political Science and not History. Majors: History at Tel Aviv University Minor: Self-designed, mostly Eastern European Studies Cumulative GPA: 92 out of 100 GRE: 161 Verb, 161 Quant, 6 Writing Research Experience: 2 chapters in books (1 peer-reviewed), 1 peer-reviewed paper in journal, working on another paper for a journal. All in Russian history. Research Interests: Communism, religion, and state in Soviet and Post-Soviet Azerbaijan and Socialist and Post-Socialist Yugoslavia; "Third-World consciousness" and relations between these regions and the Middle East. LoRs: I've marked 4 potential writers: 1 who knows me well for 2 years, and I'll be taking her seminar this year. 1 professor who taught me in an intro class and will teach me in 2 seminars these year; 2 whom I know shallowly but will teach me two seminars, of which one is a graduate seminar, this year Other: I speak and ready fluently in Hebrew, English, Arabic, Russian (up until now certified by ACTFL scores), I speak and read well in Azeri, Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian, Greek (will test my level before I apply). I'd be happy to hear your thoughts and perhaps suggestions for programs if you know anything that might help. Thanks,

Dear all, My field of interest is Russian history. I am following a reading list, and have read over 60 books on medieval to late imperial Russian history. I feel, however, that my knowledge is 'scattered' all over my brain and isn't systematised. How did you integrate all you know into a cohesive body of knowledge? In short, how do I connect the dots into a larger picture?

Thank you, both! I think I'll redirect my efforts to complete the paper I am writing for a conference and honing my statement instead of studying for another GRE date. @TMP - enjoy your time here! Business or pleasure?

Dear all, I am a sophomore student at an Israeli university. My mother tongue is Hebrew. I am interested in attending a top-15 program in Russian History, and I have delimited my range of potential advisors, which resulted in a list of about 10 institutions. My GPA is 90.02 currently, but I have studied the second semester while being under conscription which has hurt my grades. I believe I will graduate with a GPA of 92 (out of 100), since rarely do we get grades above 95 here. I have published one paper in a German journal, one more is under peer-review, two chapters in books (one is peer-edited), and 14 book reviews in scholarly journals. Moreover, I speak all the relevant languages for my field of study (Russia and the Balkans): Russian in a (tested) Advanced High level, Serbian, and Modern Greek. Today I took my GRE. Don't know about writing yet, but my verbal and quantitative scores were both 161. As far as LORs are concerned, I count on 3 professors: two know me for all years of study and I'll take a seminar with them (which will result in a paper of 35 pages each) and one professor I'll only meet this year and I'll take a seminar with her two. Two questions: Would you retake the GRE? Should I go for an MA in Israel and then apply, or may I apply in September of my third (and final) year? Thanks!