urbanhistorynerd

What weight does the WS have in comparison to the SOP?

My verbal is a little higher than yours. Quant I don't even want to talk about (not like it matters anyways). And my analytical really shined through. That being said, my POI at Harvard said GRE matters very, very little. SOP, WS, and letters of recs matter the most.

Good to hear that both of you guys are doing well! I'm currently finishing up my SOP's. I've got the fundamentals of each one done, the gist of my experiences, and now it is a matter of writing, taking a break, and coming back to edit. All three of my advisers agreed they'd write me strong letters of recommendation. I have my writing sample ready but it will need several edits before I submit it. Although - and I may need a little assistance on this - it utilizes a wide variety of primary sources, and I steep my argument in the literature, however, my examination of evidence doesn't exactly lead to an answer. Really, it brings up more questions that it answers. Partially, I didn't have enough time to comb through other primary sources, but also because the connections I'm looking at may require oral interviews to be conducted, and I do not think I'll have enough time to do that. Lastly, I'm taking the GRE on October 5th. I've been stuck at scoring between 160-162 on my verbal. I'm trying to push over that, but if I get a 162, I wouldn't be too upset. Also, for everyone who may think they are eligible, apply to fee waivers! I just applied for a couple.

Thanks everyone for your comments! I'm definitely going into this with a much cautioned optimism. More importantly, I will continue the ardent and tortuous work of writing, revising, and writing my SOP's, editing my writing sample, and continuing GRE studying. Like many of you said, there is no guarantee, so I will be continuing working hard and not expecting anything! And yes, regardless if I am extended an offer into the program, this is still a great connection to have!

Thanks for the response! Haha, yes, it seems like almost every bit of good news in academia is tinted with cautious optimism! Nevertheless, after almost two months of working on SOP's, I feel energized!

Hey everybody, I need a little advice. I am applying to ________, and I recently emailed my main POI there. I asked her the usual; are you taking new advisees? What is your current research on? What is being at Harvard like? Etc. I also described to her my proposed project for graduate school, my honors thesis, and a little bit about me and who I work with at my university. After a week, I received an incredibly friendly and warming email that was much longer than my original. She described my project as "INCREDIBLE," and would "love to work with you!". She also said that she normally doesn't look at prospective students application materials, but she wants to look at my materials mid-fall. After that surprising sentence, she then invited me to grab coffee with her next month when she's in my area. My current adviser is very close friends with her, and I mentioned that he advised my honors thesis, to which she replied that he is one of her favorite people and scholars. At this point, I am pretty sure my current adviser told her about me and possibly even shared some of my work with her. I've read on here that I should sometimes take POI emails with a grain of salt, but this POI would most likely have a large amount of influence on an adcom. Other than being very excited and happy that a scholar that I have looked up to since the beginning of my undergrad is interested in me, is this a significant determinant of getting into a program? More broadly, just how much does one professor have over who gets in? Has anyone had a similar experience? I'm of course not letting my hopes up, but this definitely makes me feel like that despair and impostor syndrome of the last two years is in my head. EDIT: I'd also like to add that I have received cordial responses and even a phone call from other POI's, but none to this extent. EDIT2: Thinking about it, I'm sure @Sigaba will dig up past posts regarding this topic. Always appreciative of that, and I should try to do some searching myself sometimes ?

I agree to the comments on history Ph.Ds in the private market. Getting a Ph.D., in any social science or humanities gives you an incredible array of skills. At my school we have a AHA career diversity grant where we gave out a career diversity fellowship. We're currently organizing current Ph.D. holders from a variety of fields to come talk, resume workshops, interviews, etc. Like I said, a lot of graduates at my school work for presses, NGOs, non-profits, historic preservation, or state, local, and city government.

It really depends on how much time you have to spare, how much money, etc. For my field (American metropolitan history since 1970, urban/suburban history, African American experience in suburbs since 1970 onward), the schools I'm picking have the best of the best in the field. The personalization of each SOP is very important. There is, imo, a skeleton to them all, but every sentence and paragraph should be designed to best appeal to that specific school/department/professor. I'm a rising senior and I have courses, finishing an honors thesis, a part-time job. If I tried to apply to 12 schools, most likely they'll be far less competitive as opposed to 5-6 really good and thorough ones. I'm also in a 4+1 year BA/MA program, so if I do not get accepted into my top schools, I'll pursue a partially funded masters degree and apply afterwards.

I started off with applying to 12 programs, and now I've shortened it to 5. 5 really good applications is a lot better than 12 subpar or moderate ones.

I agree, and what I wanted to explain by that example is that there are positions out there, that are not directly related but would still be fitting for a history Ph.D. recipient. An anecdote: A friend of mine is applying to medical schools. Most schools, even lower tier ones, have an acceptance rate of around 5-10% - around the same for history Ph.D. programs. In addition to that depressing statistic, a large percentage of medical students drop out with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Everyone he's talked to encouraged him to applying for the much easier to get into physical assistant program, or become a nurse, or go to pharmacy school. But the issue at hand is that he doesn't want to do those. He wants to be a doctor, one with a medical degree. He wants to endure the difficulties, both finanical and mental, of medical school and the very difficult life afterwards. That experience, the learning, it is all something he wants to do. He is working extremely hard throughout his undergraduate - years and preparation- for the chance to get in, which many not happen. But he is doing it anyway because what else would he do? Work in another field? An option, yes, but he doesn't want that. He wants to be a physician. And similar to me, I want to be a historian. I would consider alternatives - hell, you HAVE to consider alternatives in this depressing state of the profession - but the bottom line is that I want to be a historian. Professorship or not, I want to endure graduate school, stress through comps, struggle to write a dissertation, and exit the program with a degree in hand and a horizon open for me. Whether I'll be a professor or not, the knowledge from 5-7 years of painstaking learning, will have made me into a historian. Going into the field with cynicism and realism is important. I know what I'm getting myself into, and I want to do it. Don't get your hopes up and daydream. Be real about your chances and the unfortunate circumstances we have to deal with. And if it seems worth it after everything, go ahead and do it. A cliche and trite statement, but you only have one life to live.

My 2cents to my friends is: No one going into a history Ph.D. program expects to be wealthy afterwards. Financial stability is defined differently if you have kids, a mortgage, or other obligations. But if you are single or even in relationship without children or outstanding debts (such as student loans, etc), you'll have a better time managing the process, both during and after your Ph.D. program. Like @Sigaba has said before, if you want to be a professor, get a Ph.D., if you want to do anything else, reconsider it. However, this doesn't mean down the road you will be highly overeducated and unemployed. The amount of careers and positions available in higher ed administration, nonprofit, cultural institutions, government, etc, are all fitting and held by history Ph.D. I work in public history, and nearly everyone I've worked with has a MA or PhD in history. And depending on your field (mine is American urban history) you can apply it to different careers. For example, the city I live in was hiring a director of affordable housing and one of the preferred qualifications was an advance degree in urban studies, anthropology, or history. The Reddit post makes it seem like if you pursue a history Ph.D. you will become homeless and destitute. Not the case at all. I doubt too many people (evidenced by employment records) are in paucity because they pursued a history Ph.D. What the post should say is that you will not be guaranteed, and it is unlikely, that you will become a tenured professor (lecturers, instructors, VAPs, etc, are also options). A person with a history Ph.D. is a part of an incredibly educated, skilled, and connected member of the upper strata of American educational attainment ladder, and would be able to work in a multitude of fields, not just teaching.

Just started Jackie Wang's Carceral Capitalism. I'm only a few pages in, but so far this little book of essays about the interconnection between the modern carceral state and capitalism is incredibly interesting and illuminating.

My practice test scores so far: First diagnostic score = 158 verbal After two weeks of studying (mostly vocab, sentence equivalency questions, and text completion) 1st full length practice test score = 162 verbal Currently studying more vocab, doing sets of practice questions, and studying tactics to answer the questions. Lets hope two more weeks of studying = 4 more points higher? It feels a lot like studying for the ACT in high school. But, expanding my vocabulary has helped a lot when it came to reading my more complicated and abstract based reading assignments this summer. Overall it is a tenuous and mundane process. Your thoughts?

I would!

Thank you all for the very considerate, informative, and extremely useful comments! I will definitely be going through periodicals, and that information on how to read as a graduate student is invaluable! Should I just start with the latest issues? Or should I make it a point to go through earlier to later?

Thank you everyone for tremendous advice - currently working through your suggestions and comments. @Sigaba How should I do this? I tried a similar tactic - to go through the Journal of Urban History issues and skim through the contents, looking over how arguments, methodologies and theories have changed over time. But there are hundreds of articles...how can I best synthesize all the information I need to read? Could you go a little more into how do I start doing this? Should I take notes as I read? Or would little blurbs on the thesis, argument, and evidence work? You're very right that urban history is complex. I'm doing a project right now on historic preservation on my campus (located in the middle of a city). There are nuances of social and political history while also paying attention to political economy, architectural and urban planning history. I address this complexity in other parts of my SOP.

That is also a good option!

You still have time to retake it! Applications aren't due until December. I would study some more and try again. I've been testing 158 V on 2 diagnostic tests, but after a week and half of studying (vocab, vocab, vocab!) I got it up to 161! I plan to take it at the end of August. I'm aiming for 165 V+. Here are some useful practices: http://web.csulb.edu/~acarter3/course-carterlab/1014-practice-questions.pdf

Thanks for the look through. 1 and 2: I need to heavily workshop my sentence structure and word choices for more brevity and conciseness. How would you recommend going over them? 3: If I am, I'm not trying to as much as I am attempting to interpret based on the very little research I've conducted. I'm providing my reasoning with the hope to find evidence to delineate my argument. Do you think mentioning a recent event confuses the statement? Should I substitute it with a broader, non-specific theme or change? 4: The buildup to Ferguson started decades earlier, with more African Americans moving into suburban areas and out of cities. White flight occurred in older suburbs, and industrial restructuring heavily impacted the economy of older industrial based suburbs (such as Ferguson). With wealth and jobs leaving (occurring the 1970s and persisting through the late 20th century) suburbs became centers of poverty but also conduits of racial tensions. Although being a black suburb, Ferguson's city administration, and especially its public safety departments were mostly white. Property, means of productions, storefronts, etc, were largely in the hands of white and Asian owners, who largely lived outside of the suburb. Any black political power was also challenged by a white, conservative dominated state legislature, and divisive metropolitan politics stopped the flowing of crucial resources and capital to the city. As a result, Ferguson became a largely black space policed and administrated by whites. Coupled with declining tax revenue, lack of quality institutions like schools, libraries, colleges, etc, the city came to represent the culmination of decades of social, economic, and political change in American suburbs since 1970. I think what I was trying to do with that case is show how important the historical buildup of all this is - that the polarization of metropolitan areas begun in the 1970s and exacerbated racial tensions in different ways than in the 1950s and 1960s. 5: It follows it by providing an analysis of industrial restructuring in the 1970s as opposed to what Sugrue looked at in the late 1940s and into the 1950s. I'm arguing that American industrial suburbs experienced the shifts that urban centers felt decades after, especially during the recessions and economic transformations of the 1970s. Capital flight and industrial restructuring sent factories to the Sun-Belt, American-Mexican borderland, and suburban areas, but in the 1970s these factories began to shutter, causing widespread economic decline in suburban areas. We see these especially in the Metro Detroit area (where most of my undergraduate research took place), where previously industrialized suburbs such as Roseville, Warren, Oakpark, and River Rouge prospered from capital flight, suffered in the 1970s and 1980s when the economic recessions happened. Large swaths of those suburbs have majority black populations, and most of the people hold lower paying service sector positions. They also under white controlled administrations and police forces. I agree with Sugrue, but what I'm doing is emphasizing another major shift urban/suburban history, one beginning in the 1970s. 6: Can you explain a little more what you mean by this? 7: Always a good question to keep asking myself. Some of the questions I ask: What processes shaped black suburbanization starting in the 1970s, and how did the existing suburban communities respond to black migration from the city to the suburb? How did the rise of mass incarceration and punitive policing shape African American experiences in suburban areas? What forces create racial inequality in American metropolitan areas? What federal, state, and local policies exacerbated race relations in American suburbs? How does neoliberalism benefit from the suburbanization of poverty? What role does racial capitalism play in this? How do corporations and individuals profit from suburban poverty? In what ways were the spatial landscape of suburban spaces change as racial and class demographics shifted since the 1970s?

Hey guys! Can you tell me what you think about my research statement? This is an excerpt from my Statement of Purpose. In this I am trying to explain my research project: In my doctoral work I want to examine class inequality and the political economy of urban and suburban spaces on a metropolitan scale since the 1970s. Suburbia rapidly underwent social, economic, political, and spatial changes in the period between 1970 and 2000s. They became much more socially, racially, ethnically diverse, incubated conservative, centrist, and leftist political and social movements, and massive real-estate investment and development dwarfed the Levittown’s of the postwar period, creating sprawling metropolitan areas that are now the juggernaut of the American economy. My project seeks to examine suburban poverty and metropolitan inequality, focusing on black suburbanization and poor Americans shifting identities and interactions with government in metropolitan areas. The rise of the carceral state and mass incarceration coupled with African Americans increasingly living in suburbs is best observed in what happened in Ferguson, MO, in 2014, where after police killed an 18-year-old black man, two weeks of unrest ensued. Examined in a historical perspective, the situation in Ferguson had roots decades earlier during what the Los Angeles Times calls the “suburbanization of poverty.” I contend that the shift in suburban places since the 1970s have largely shaped race relations in America. By examining the history of these places since 1970s using city and county archives and records, local histories, and the National Archives, my work hopes to delineate suburban poverty and metropolitan inequality, while also analyzing gender, ethnicity, and transnational capitalism. I situate my work in the burgeoning new literature amongst scholars such as Jackie Wang, Lily Geismer, and Emily Straus, while also following earlier urban historians such as Thomas Sugrue and Kevin Kruse. My work seeks to answer fundamental questions about how American metropolitan areas have developed since the 1970s.

I'm currently still drafting mine, but I'd love to read yours. It'll give me a good sense of what it should look like. Also, here is a very useful sample of the SOP http://ls.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/statement_of_purpose.pdf

Currently reading: Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America by Elizabeth Hinton And making my way through the Foucault Reader.

Hello everyone! I'm a rising senior at a state school in Michigan. I focus on mid-late 20th century American urban history, my honors thesis focuses on the intersection between urban renewal and the carceral state. I've been researching how the rise of mass incarceration, the transformation of policing, and neoliberalism has influenced late 20th century urban renewal, specifically in cities such as Chicago, Washington D.C., Newark - but most of my research has been done on Detroit. I'm a scholar of the built environment and the carceral state, and I'm interested to understand how the rise of the carceral state has influenced the built environment. I'm applying to: University of Michigan (Matthew Lassiter, Heather Ann Thompson, Matthew Countryman) University of Chicago (Destin Jenkins, Kathleen Belew) Northwestern University (Kevin Boyle) University of Maryland (David Freund, Chantel Rodriguez) Harvard University (Elizabeth Hinton) New York University (Andrew Needham) This summer I am polishing my writing sample and SOP, doing two funded research projects, and working as research associate at a historic home on my campus (I'm also interested in historic preservation!).

Top three important factors in application: Writing sample displays your ability to thinking historically, establish a framework for a research project, analytically examine primary documents, synthesize secondary sources into your argument, and most importantly, show that you are capable of being a historian. Take your best paper, have you and your adviser go over it, and polish it multiple times. Rewrite and get everything that is "sketchy" fixed. It won't be perfect, but it is a representation of the culmination of your research and writing abilities. To me, it is the most important part of the application. Statement of purpose is essentially the introduction to who you are, what you are interested in, who you want to work with, and why you are picking that school. I really have to stress the importance of the SOP because for grad students, it is essentially your cover letter to a job. You want to put a lot of work into it, and get multiple people's advice; ideally your adviser, a current phd student at your university (or on here!), and someone that you think is a very proficient writer (a friend or another professor). Don't create the problem of too many chefs in the kitchen, i.e. too many people looking at your SOP and you going crazy. Think deeply about this, organize it very well, edit like crazy, and be genuine. Your passion, commitment, and ability will shine through if you write a good one. Letters of recommendation aren't as important as the latter two, but they go a long way in arguing for you. The entire process is essentially a big argument as to why you should be accepted, and hopefully funded, into a program. You are an investment that the university is giving into. The poorly paid positions, stress, and bad treatment may not sound like it, but a stipend and tuition remission for 5-7 year degree is truly the best benefit of doing a PhD. The department wants people who will live up to the amount of time and money invested in them, and your letters of recommendation show the personal nature of your application. It will describe how well a professor enjoyed working with you, how your research has developed, what you are like in courses, etc. Needless to say, talk to the people that know you the best, ideally a main adviser who knows your work, and two others who are familiar with you. This doesn't have to be people you've known for a long time- even just for a semester- it is all about the relationship you have with the person, and someone you admire. There is a lot more that go into it, but these three are things that should be nearly perfected. Also, I am in the process f applying this year, so if you wanna chat about anything, let me know!

Oh no, I'm still in undergrad. I'm applying next year.