notlightweneedbutfire

Congrats! I'm currently an undergrad in the History department at Berkeley, and despite some of the recent financial issues here, I really can't say enough good things about it. I really hope you enjoy it! Do you know who you will be working with?

Sort of off-topic, but how many languages would be necessary for a mid-19th c. Americanist? I have 4 semesters of German and took French for 4 years in High School, and am fairly proficient with both (near fluent in the former). Is a high school-level language plus German in college acceptable, or...?

Haha, no worries. I just spent a semester at Gettysburg more or less working with Guelzo, so I'm fairly versed in the program!

Gettysburg doesn't have a graduate program. (Although I'm not intending to study Lincoln, so Guelzo wouldn't exactly be a perfect fit in any case...)

I heard word through the grapevine (ie., other applicants in years above me) that he isn't currently taking graduate students, so I wasn't sure I should mention UVa... but I could be entirely wrong about this and will obviously contact the school before applying.

Hey y'all! I'll be applying in Fall 2011 (or... 2012, depending on whether or not I take a year off), and I was wondering if anyone has any input on Civil War-era or Reconstruction programs. Right now, I'm looking at Columbia, Yale (David Blight is there -- I'm focusing on CW in memory, so this would be ideal but obviously verrryyyy much a reach), and Penn State. I was also thinking about University of Alabama, U Mass-Amherst, and Brown. Obviously these schools are not easy to get into by any stretch of the imagination, so... thoughts? I should note that as far as CW history goes, military history in and of itself is not my particular focus. Thanks everyone!

Thanks for the words of advice, I appreciate it! It's good to know the responses you received to your work in historical societies. My focus is memory/how people have and do remember American history, so my work in historical societies has been to, well, delve into that first-hand! Hopefully if I flush this out in my SOP, they'll understand I don't want to work in public history.

Thanks for the tips! I've worked at museum and historical societies, but was doing pretty intensive research there... but more than that, I've had a steady job researching since my sophomore year, which takes up a really good chunk of my time -- and which I've committed a lot of time too because I like doing research! Again, thanks; I have, in some cases, taken fewer classes in order to do more research in others (ie., independent studies and optional research seminars)... and hoped this would show commitment to primary source work rather than make me appear incompetent or unable to handle to coursework of graduate school.

My profs haven't really had much to say about it -- I'm still taking enough to be full-enrollment, so it hasn't come up. (My dept. adviser, in fact, usually advises people to take less in favor of more classes.) Every single one of my ECs (except for the restoration/wildlife stuff I mentioned) and internships have been related to my field.

Hello! I should concede that I am new in posting here, but have been lurking around on GradCafe for some time... anyway, I realize that this forum is currently full of people concerned over Fall 2010, but I wanted to ask I question that you may or may not have experience with: I am applying for Fall 2011 in History, specifically nineteenth century and the Civil War (yes, starting early!) and consider myself a fairly strong applicant with a single exception. I have had to work substantially throughout college and have always placed a great deal of emphasis on outside primary source research, internships, and extra-curriculars. In order to prevent myself from going utterly insane, then, I have typically taken 3 academic classes a semester (the norm at my school is 4), and then taking a 1 - 2 unit Pass/No Pass course (typically on something like gardening, or outdoor restoration, which I consider my non-academic hobbies) or getting Pass/No Pass credit for independent research. (These sorts of things are compulsory Pass/No Pass... would have taken them for a letter if I could.) I have a 3.9/4.0 GPA, really good extra-currics and 20 hours of outside research per week since my sophomore year, 4 unpaid internships I've done during school... in ANY CASE, my question is this: will not taking a necessarily full courseload each semester hurt my grad school application? I've done it in order to balance the rest of my life out participate thoroughly in my community/school. What do you think? Sorry for this incredibly long-winded inquiry, but it's been driving me utterly mad these past few weeks. Thanks a bunch, y'all!