historygeek
-
Posts
515 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
2
Posts posted by historygeek
-
-
I just wanted to take the time to thank this forum for all the advice, support, and tough love. Today, I submitted my application to get my teaching certification in the state of Pennsylvania through Drexel University. This isn’t the path that I had envisioned initially, but I think that my talents would work beautifully in a classroom setting.
For everyone thinking of applying to a PhD: please take the time to examine why you want to get a PhD. I wanted one because that’s what I thought I was supposed to do, and I really enjoyed teaching and the thought of teaching at the university level. A PhD isn’t for everyone and I don’t think that, at least right now, it’s for me.
-
-
I applied to Loyola last cycle (also to work with Dr. Fraterrigo, actually)! Let me know if you have questions. The NCPH has a list of programs, by the way, so that might be helpful!
-
18 hours ago, ashiepoo72 said:
Hard to say, @historygeek, most programs claim 3.0 GPA is the minimum for acceptance but a 3.33 is rather low for an MA GPA. Will you be able to take enough classes to raise it above a 3.5? A B or B+ isn't a necessarily a death knell (anecdotal, but I received a B early in my MA program and did alright). It's all about how you make up for it, like getting excellent grades from here on out, fantastic original research/writing, shoring up language skills, killing it on the GRE, securing top-notch recommenders, etc
I am taking more classes, and I got feedback that I plan to use to (hopefully) get much better grades this time around. My GRE score isn't great, but the piece I'm probably going to be using as a writing sample is, imo, very good and I've gotten more language skills that I will continue working on. I am considering public history programs, though, so I may use the context statement I'll be writing for my practicum class next semester as a writing sample.
-
-
On 12/30/2019 at 5:00 PM, historyofsloths said:
That's awesome! I'm actually applying to the Public History program at Temple (currently my undergrad institution) so I look forward to hearing how it all works out with the Forum!
I'm applying to the PH program at Temple, as well, next year! Good luck
-
Thanks, everyone! I appreciate all the advice and guidance.
I decided to switch into a Public History Practicum course next semester, which I'm excited about, and may be adding a second concentration in public history. I will also be helping to organize a Public History Community Forum at Temple this coming spring! I've added a couple of programs to my potential list to kind of veer towards other paths (MLIS, namely, but a couple of education as well).
-
Hey, everyone! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and an early, joyous Kwanzaa!
I've just completed my first semester of grad school, and have been taking some time to reflect on what I want and where I want to go after graduation. While I originally thought that I want to be an academic, I'm starting to feel like my career interests are more oriented towards public history or librarianship. I have a job in my school's distinctive collections, which I absolutely love, and am looking to build on my previous museum experience through internships. I also have realized how much I love teaching. While I love historical research, I'm not certain that academia is the path for me right now (not to mention the current state of the job market).
I guess I'm kind of looking for validation, but mostly advice. What should my next steps be? Am I a complete failure for giving up on academia?
-
This happened to me last cycle. I wasn't accepted to the PhD program at NYU, but they offered me a spot in their MA program. I also got rejected from Columbia; they encouraged me to apply to the HiLi Masters program and accepted me a couple of days later with a scholarship. This might not be a common experience, but it does happen.
-
I will be applying to grad schools next year, for Fall 2021 entry. When should I start looking at programs, and when is it appropriate to start reaching out to faculty members?
-
17 hours ago, underthewaves said:
Have you checked with your MA supervisor (or another professor in your department)? I'm currently working on a research proposal for a grant application and my supervisor has been incredibly helpful with reading my drafts and offering advice. We also have one professor who is in charge of grants (kind of like a grant coordinator, I guess) and they have also been so helpful to everyone in terms of general advice and also giving specific advice based on our drafts.
It's also been really helpful talking with other students who have successfully applied for this particular grant -- they've all been very kind and generous with offering their advice as well.
Sorry, just want to clarify that this isn't the kind of grant that you're thinking of!
-
Hello, everyone!
I have decided that I will be applying to a Fulbright during the next cycle, specifically for an award to get a PhD. As such, I will need to apply to the school as well as the general Fulbright. The school to which I am applying requires a research proposal. For my statement of grant purpose, what should I include? How should I structure it?
-
Perhaps check out Paul Steege at Villanova? He's very interested in urban life and the everyday in 20th century Germany, though in the Cold War. I'm taking his 20th Century Berlin course next semester, actually. Villanova does offer funding, typically a full tuition scholarship.
-
Hi everyone! I just have a very positive update that I wanted to share.
We're getting to the point in the semester where we've been submitting abstracts and proposals for final papers. I recently submitted mine for my Medieval Europe class, and realized that I want to expand on the research that I'm doing. The question I've had in the back of my mind is How were the experiences of women in childbirth and infancy informed by their social positions, and how did these experiences inform the ways in which women interacted with the world around them and with each other?
I'll be writing something along these lines for my final paper (which is focusing more on race/ethnicity in the medieval viewpoint), but I'll be doing an independent study this summer that will allow me to really get into this question more. I've done some primary and secondary source reading and have fallen in love; I've been able to call on the visual and material sources that I've been wanting to work with, and I'll be able to explore ritual and popular religion (which I've been obsessed with since readings for my Theory & Methods and since reading Robert Bartlett's Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?). It's definitely something that I think I will want to bring with me through to PhD programs.
-
Not a historian (an English professor, actually), but you may find interest in Anne McClintock's Imperial Leather: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest.
-
I wrote it out this way, too!
My research interests lie in the intersections of gender, belief, and science in Europe during the Early to High Middle Ages. I have a particular interest in how the body functioned within these discourses in a broader geographical context. This is grounded in my more overarching interest in how cultural and scientific ideas migrated from place to place. Following along a similar methodological framework as Bartlett, I will use the cult of saints as a lens through which to view social and cultural history. At the same time, I will also following along avenues of scholarship of Katharine Park, approaching the body from a scientific perspective. In drawing from multi-disciplinary sources, including miracle accounts, literature, and art, I aim to marry science, religion, and culture in the context of the body. In exploring these themes through a transnational lens, I will exhibit the globality and multicultural nature of medieval Europe.
-
1 hour ago, TMP said:
This is quite easy. You're interested in the question of the body and how it functioned in the discourses of gender, beliefs, and public health in different geographical contexts. This is grounded in your interest in how cultural and scientific ideas of the body migrated from one place to another. Physicians, magicians, and related people did travel, after all.
I feel a little silly now- this is such a great description and I'm not sure how I didn't get their on my own. Thanks!
-
Thanks for the help, everyone! I decided to write down my research interests and ask my advisor to help me narrow/consolidate. I know that there's a common thread, but I can't quite put my finger on it right now. Here's the list, if anyone could impart some wisdom:
Geographic: Italy, England, Iceland, Central Europe (esp. Bohemia)
Temporal: Early Middle Ages to the Black Plague
Methodological: Cultural, anthropological, social; use of material/visual culture
Topics:
-
Lay women and religion
- What role did religion have in the lives of women?
- How did religion inform the ways in which women navigated their world?
-
Intersections between power, gender, and religion
- Queenship and princesses
- History of magic and the supernatural
-
History of death and dead bodies
- The cultural practices and ideas surrounding death
- Rituals
-
The cult of saints
-
Using the cult of saints as a lens through which to view the social and cultural history of medieval Europe
- Building off work started by Robert Bartlett
-
How did the cult of saints help shape cultural identities in Bohemia and encourage independence?
- Were cultural identities related to saints different based on gender?
-
Using the cult of saints as a lens through which to view the social and cultural history of medieval Europe
-
Intersection of medicine, society, and culture
- How did society and culture inform ideas and practices of medicine? How did ideas and practices of medicine inform society and culture?
-
Social and cultural construction of the body
- Female bodies
- Ideas of power and ethnicity being represented by the body
- Visual representations of the body as shaping gender ideas
-
How did global exchange through pilgrimage shape cultures, societies, and art?
- Using Canterbury, Rome, and Prague(?) as settings?
-
History of the book and literary culture
- Troubadours and courtly love vs. “popular” forms of literature as they relate to women and as cultural forms
- Comparative look at Jewish and Christian cultural forms and daily life
-
Lay women and religion
-
2 hours ago, underthewaves said:
Have you chatted with your advisor about their thoughts, keeping in mind what you would like to do in the future? Do many of the people in Villanova's MA program typically go on to pursue a PhD? What would a teaching internship give you that will strengthen your PhD applications (assuming that's still your goal)?
I haven't talked with her about this quite yet! It seems like a few go on to do their PhDs (my first contact was a PhD student at my undergrad who got her MA at Nova), but it doesn't seem to be a general rule. The teaching internship is something that I'm interested in for practical purposes- although my focus is primarily on research, a teaching internship will give me experience in teaching undergrads.
-
5 minutes ago, latecalifornia said:
I recommend not writing a thesis, especially if it means completing your MA sooner. Seems like a waste of time.
Edit to say I have two MAs. I wrote a 120 page thesis for one and did not do a thesis for the other.
It will not mean completing my MA sooner.
-
17 minutes ago, telkanuru said:
What do you mean, a dead end? Terminal in the program? That's fine. It would be very strange if a thesis was not seen as a stepping stone to a PhD. Do you want to do a PhD?
I do want to do a PhD.
Sorry, I should have clarified: "dead" at my program means that not many people (if anyone at all) in the program write theses in the program.
-
Hello everyone!
For my Theory & Methods course this semester, we have to compose a "plan of study," essentially outlining our intended field, classes we want to take, etc., and how the Masters degree will help us in our future endeavors. In thinking about this, two of my school's options came immediately to mind: the teaching internship and the thesis. I love the research process and genuinely enjoyed writing a thesis as an undergraduate. Unfortunately, the Masters thesis is considered dead in my program. By dead, I mean that very few (if any) students write a thesis.
Should I still write a thesis, despite it being "dead"?
-
4 hours ago, AfricanusCrowther said:
My suggestions are to 1. Keep a journal of every historical question you find really interesting so you have back-ups in case a project isn’t working 2. let the availability of sources guide you to a feasible topic 3. Make time for reading primary sources unfiltered through secondary literature, so that you have the chance to find something really surprising and overlooked (although this last suggestion might not work for medieval/ancient European history).
This is great advice, thank you!
-
1 hour ago, OHSP said:
Give it time! It's very natural for interests to expand like this before they narrow. My advice is to be patient with your brain. As you do more research your interests will refine. If you're not applying to PhD programs this round then just try to put them aside for a moment and don't worry too much about closing doors on potential interests etc.
This is great advice! I'm too much of a forward thinker, but being patient with my brain is going to be so helpful to keep me sane.
Having trouble narrowing down time period and region
in History
Posted
Could you do like transnational history? That might be an option?