khigh

I'm just hoping the cold weather scares off a lot of people, haha. Why go to Minnesota with 6 months of winter when you could be studying on the beaches of sunny Southern California?

It was about the use of constitutional documents as pamphlets/political dialogue among the masses instead of viewing them as static pieces of law, or the writing of constitutions as persuasive documents meant for the layperson instead of the framework of a government. I guess it is pretty complicated.

I'm applying for one program for 2018- Minnesota. My department was very big on historiography and we had a few Americanists that focused on the West- one does Texas, one is Military, and one is Women in the West. My mentor was the only Europeanist (other than a one year contract prof). I took over 10 classes with him. My capstone class didn't have any specific books because it was like doing thesis credits. I have an extensive book list for it, but they are all about the history of baseball. My sophomore class was a lot more extensive, with 6 weeks dedicated to how to write historiography and do original research and then 10 weeks of writing and rewriting our papers. Department is small enough that we were able to have weekly one on one meetings with the prof for that class, with each of us focused on our specific topics. Mine was the evolution of language in contractual documents establishing the colony of Rennslaerswijk (Albany).

Our introduction to historical theory was Sleuthing the Alamo, which was great. It was a combination course to teach original research and historiography, so the prof chooses a broad topic that we would choose specific topics in. Our semester was New Netherland, so we read quite a few books in the historiography. It was much better than my capstone class- our topic was American West, though I did fall in love with my topic- how the West shaped baseball rules.

Germany is scary hard to get a job in. I know a German historian with a PhD that’s currently selling trinkets at the Christmas market, teaching English, and selling Christmas trees- all at the same time because none of them pay.

Those were required reading for sophomore seminar. ?

10-20?! That would drive me crazy, but mainly because I don't think I could name 10 programs with my concentration in history.

My undergrad advisor was also a collector of words and I usually "translated" what he said for other undergrad students- so much so that I started to think I should charge for translation services. He hated sentences less than 5 words and abhors getting right to the point, haha. He was trained by the university I applied to, so hopefully they have the same ideas. I'm going to force a non-historian to listen to my WS. My boyfriend has heard it many times, but he has a PhD in history and has the same writing style.

It's not the passive voice- that's almost completely eliminated. Here's the intro, which might make more sense, because I don't think it's difficult to read, but I have a hard time judging my own writing. This was done for an undergrad independent study in Dutch History (politics of the Dutch Republic and historiography of the Dutch Republic). There is a strong historiography and a good selection of primary documents. The first paragraph is the introduction and the second is at the end of the historiography to introduce the research. The actual WS contains the historiography. I have no idea what makes it unreadable. "The definition of words changes over time, evolving a certain connotation and breathing life into actions and documents, which allows one to rearrange and categorize in a way that may not have been possible even a short while ago. Those definitions can alter the way a person views the past through documents and shape the narrative in a way that has not been done before. One does not need to limit the definition or connotation of words. The same can be done with documents. Each document is one snapshot of a larger conversation and can take on a new meaning with each reading inside a larger album of documents. This would include documents originally meant to constitutional or legal in nature. The Union of Utrecht and Pacification of Ghent, two such constitutional documents, can be seen not only as blueprints for a new fledgling state, but also as pieces of dialogue in the larger body of political conversation; additionally and more interestingly, the documents show not only that there is a conversation, but that the political dialogue during the formation of the early modern Dutch Republic was an important political game and identifies the players involved." "This evolution of the rhetoric, constitution as a dialogue, can be used to show a new aspect of the governmental form of communication and persuasion. The fledgling state government, working under the pretenses of an ongoing war and a newly formed political union, could be shown to be persuasive in their use of specific language in the constitutional documents, the Union of Utrecht and the Pacification of Ghent. New research should show that the governing bodies of the forming Dutch Republic used their power of law-making and treaty writing to persuade their audience to come together against a common enemy in the Spanish and form a lasting union to protect their new government. Each of the two constitutional documents is a piece of conversation in itself, with the Union of Utrecht being a political response to the arguments left unresolved by the Pacification of Ghent. Both documents taken together show a conversation between the governing body and the populace."

Okay, I posted something similar elsewhere, but thought my fellow historians would know. It's just a moment of concern for me- I learned about readability levels and ran my WS through it. Well, I ran all of my papers from undergrad, and they all came out with a grade level of 18+ (my WS ended up being 19.4). Is this going to be a concern? It looks like my sentences are long and complex and my words have many syllables. I ended up going with this particular WS because it has my own original translations taken from a document of over 700 pages of early modern Dutch, and which I translated the entire document in a semester as an undergrad. Will this help? I just don't want my papers to be too unreadable and now I'm worried that this will hurt my chances. I do have to say that the only fiction authors I read right now are Thomas Mann and Dostoevsky, so that may have some influence on my writing.

Thanks! That's what I was going for and it doesn't seem like the department is too "trendy" as one would say.

Committee reviews are this week for me. I’ve even got my postal service set up to show me what’s in the mail for the day before I get home. It’s a freak out kind of week!

For my writing sample, what should I be looking for in readability? I am applying to a program for a PhD in European history at a public ivy. I ran both of my papers through the readability index and was surprised to see that the “grade level” for one was 18 and the other was 19 and both had low readability scores (lengthy sentences and a lot of syllables, but very low on passive voice). Is it something I should be worried about? Is it a turn off for committees or good that my writing is at a post-grad level? I do have to say that a lot of it could be the influence of my favorite authors- Thomas Mann and Fyodor Dostoevsky. I can post the intro to both papers if anyone would like.

The event I’m thinking of is not technically an interview and is informal- wine and hear a talk by a researcher at the U. I’ve been to one and dressed in jeans and high heel boots and Button-up shirt (female) and seemed to fit in. There were only 7 people there and only one student, the rest were profs from the department. It’s history, so I’ve seen people dress all different ways. Now the dilemma. It’s cold. Really cold now. I got invited to another consortium meeting on Wednesday and it’s supposed to be snowing and 20 degrees and windy (I’m in Minneapolis, so nothing out of the ordinary). With the snow coming, I would normally bundle up and wear a sweater and snow boots. Should I do this or bring a pair of heels to change into? Ditch the sweater and wear a suit jacket? So, more practical or more professional?

I got an email that my committee starts meeting next week, but I’m in the humanities and no interview.

I’ve been watching Ken Burn’s Baseball, following the trades and winter meeting (starting tomorrow), going to the batting cages, skiing, walking the lakes, ice skating, and getting ready for baseball to start again. Basically, I’ve been obsessing over the only other thing that makes me really nervous- Cubs baseball!

Looks like last year, they had 100 applicants for the history program and accepted 26. 26% isn’t too bad at all! I would look at other programs, but I want to stay in Minneapolis. I feel pretty confident, but still nervous. My GRE is fairly high (161V/147Q/5.0AW). GPA over 3.5. Double Minored in foreign languages and political science and have various levels of fluency in Dutch (modern and early modern), German, French, Italian, Frisian, and Afrikaans. I can read and listen to all, write and speak the first four. I still haven’t mastered the dialects for Frisian and Afrikaans. My advisor for undergrad is a U alumni and one of his committee members is still there and I want to work with her. My SOP is good. My recommendations came from my advisor (who also called), the department chair that I worked closely with, and the University President because I was SGA President and worked with him on about 15 committees over two years. My writing sample included original translation of early modern Dutch and was presented at a conference with great remarks. I published my junior year, but that was in American history (inclusion of anarchists in the first red summer definition). 3 honors societies- History, political science, and foreign languages. I’ve been to the U a few times for talks and have met most of the profs in the department and a few from the Scandinavian, German, and Dutch department. My undergrad advisor and I did some independent study and directed reading classes. Basically, I’ve been trying to get into the U from day 1 of undergrad. There is still always that nervousness that comes with waiting for an answer. I don’t want to sell cars forever (gap year). It also doesn’t help that my boyfriend had to get his PhD from Vanderbilt because he didn’t get into the U. Just realized how long that reply was, but that’s the nervous excitement.

I have mine listed by level of fluency and then in what form and how it was acquired. That's what the application requested. So: Modern Dutch; fluent (reading, writing, speaking, listening, college minor) Early Modern Dutch; fluent (reading, writing, speaking, listening, research language) German; semi-fluent (reading, writing, speaking, listening, college minor) French; conversational (reading, writing, speaking, listening, college minor) Italian; conversational (reading, listening, travel and self study) Frisian; conversational (reading, listening, travel and self study) Afrikaans; conversational (reading, listening, self study)

I love the people I have met there. I live about 3 miles from campus now, so I go to lectures and symposiums on my days off to talk and mingle. I took a gap year to move up here because I knew what program I wanted and they are very focused on what you can do for Minnesota when you graduate. I also love snow, so it's a perfect fit, haha.

I applied for one program- University of Minnesota. Everything crossable is crossed.

I tried to read an article the other day with translations- all endnotes. I haven't finished reading it because I hate having to flip to the back to see what the original work stated. Blegh.

Terrified and eager to hear at the same time. I only applied for one program.

I know he has. That was my advisor's advisor. I've met with Dr. Reyerson to talk about looking at the Dutch role in the Mediterranean and Dr Shank because he has some connections with Utrecht. Tracy would have been amazing, but there are rumors that he is still around Minneapolis, so it's in the process to maybe have coffee with him sometime. His Founding of the Dutch Republic made me obsessed with the Republic.

I got an email earlier this week stating that the program I applied to would be starting the application review process next week. I don't know if knowing this information was better or worse for my mental health!

I use footnotes, but that is because I do my own translating and like to have the original language easily accessible in the footnotes. Endnotes would be a pain for the reader.