historygeek

Thanks for the suggestion— my faculty mentor has suggested looking into different UCs; it’s good to know Davis might be of interest! Yeah, a lot of possible mentors are in my specific field (the closest is Dr. Diner at NYU, who does Jewish immigration history), but I’ve tried my best to find people who are in similar fields, so far with a decent amount of success.

Thank you so much for this comment— it was really insightful and helpful to me. In my statements of purpose, I plan to be much more specific in my interests. I do plan to connect my honors thesis to my research interests by discussing how heavily I relied on Italian sources to draw parallels between life for Italian-Americans in Saint Louis and their countrymen abroad. While doing my research, I became primarily fascinated with women, especially beauty, fashion, sex (et al), just because I’ve always had an interest in what my life as a woman would have been like in different historical settings, and I want to explore how female recreation and agency existed within the context of patriarchal societal and ethnic constraints. I definitely will take into consideration how to rephrase these interests and my ultimate career interests; this isn’t something that I hadn’t really considered, so I appreciate the fact that you brought it up! As for your last point, I’ve planned to only apply to programs that have multiple faculty members that I could work with. I plan on applying to about 10-12 programs.

I want to be an academic because I want to complicate the popular narratives of what it means to be an Italian woman and to highlight (and attempt to explain) how Italian and Italian-American culture became so fundamentally different. Of course, I do want to be a professor and help aspiring history students, but for me, it's primarily the research aspect that I find the most attractive. In my internships, the curatorial and more archivist duties were never something I loved as much as the research and higher education related aspects. ETA: I would also really prefer to go straight into grad school if possible for the fact that I feel like I'll be a lot more "in the swing" of history, more so than I would if I took a year off. My faculty mentor also recommended that I not take a year off.

Thank you for your response! I have a writing sample that I'm thinking of using (it's pretty polished and uses a variety of primary sources), but it's not in my field of interest so I might rework a less polished piece to fit it in better.

As my junior year winds down, I've started to look into graduate schools. I've reached out to people of interest who I think I would work well with and have gotten very positive responses so far, and I am applying only to schools where I could work well with two or more members of the faculty. My field is the transnational history of Italian women in the United States and Italy. I'm a history and Italian studies double major at a decent, private, Jesuit university (Saint Louis University). Last year, I studied abroad through another private Jesuit school (Loyola Chicago) for a year in Italy. There, I was an intern at the Pontifico Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana, a Vatican higher education institute, and took Italian culture classes. Back home in Saint Louis, I served this semester as an intern at a local neighborhood center in Saint Louis' Italian neighborhood, where I did research about Italian-American history. This is the foundational work for the honors thesis I'll be working on next year, which is centered on the history of the Italian ethnic identity in Saint Louis. I also have different extracurricular activities and leadership position (historian in my sorority, president of Phi Alpha Theta, and treasurer of the Italian Club). I've also received awards, been on the Dean's List twice, and had a piece published. In addition to being fluent in Italian, I can also speak and read Spanish and Latin. I don't think I'll have trouble with letters of recommendation; I'm asking one of my thesis advisors who I've taken two classes with, my faculty mentor (who's another thesis advisor), and my internship supervisor for my current internship. My GPA is something that I'm worried about. I had an awful freshman year, so my GPA at the end of this semester will probably be about a 3.45. My history GPA is a 3.85 (the lowest grade I've gotten was a B freshman year), and my Italian GPA is a 3.71. I haven't taken the GRE yet. Knowing myself, I wouldn't be able to take a year off and then still have the motivation to try to go to graduate school. I'm applying to top programs, as well as some lower tier and MA programs.

Yikes-- didn't mean to downvote! Taking a year off would probably be awful just knowing myself: I would find it too hard to get back into the swing of things and would likely lose the motivation. My project that I mentioned about Mafia intelligence is about Italian-American history (the use of the Italian-American Mafia), and I may rework and expand it.

I should also mention that, the way that my thesis course is laid out, the first semester (fall 2018) will be all research culminating in a 10-15 page prospectus. In spring 2019, I will actually be writing the thesis.

Yes, I brought it up in our meeting today. He said that would be a good idea, but also pointed out that I may come into contact with some research material during my first semester doing my thesis that would contradict (or broaden) information written in a condensed sample. It, admittedly, freaked me out a little.

Yes! It will include some Italian documents about out migration, as well as accounts about the condition of the Italian poor following the Risorgimento.

Hi everyone, I'm writing an honors thesis next year, but it definitely will not be done with it in time to submit it as a writing sample. I have a couple papers that I could use: one is in my field or closer to it, but I'm not sure it's very well-written; my other one is more well-written and (I think) uses a wider variety of primary sources. I could also just write something new that I've had in my mind for a while. What would you do? For reference, I want to do a transnational history of Italian women in Italy and the United States. The paper more in my field is about the use of Mafia intelligence in the Second World War; it uses the Herland's Report and a newspaper article from 1947. The paper not in my field is about the relationship between food and colonial attitudes in the British Empire and India, and uses cookbooks, a journal from the nineteenth century, a novel from 1848, an advertisement, a journal, and a travel pamphlet. The paper that I would write would be about the constructions of Italian masculinity by Italian and American media.

I'm a history major, so obviously I'm not incredibly in tune with what is required for your program, but I've always been told that your writing sample (at least in history) is most always a deciding factor.

I have three people that I want to write me letters of recommendation: my faculty mentor/thesis advisor, another thesis advisor who has known me since freshman year, and a professor I had last year that I have a great relationship with. The other day, my internship supervisor who oversees my work in the research field I want to get into offered to write me a letter as well, and then a third professor joined the advising team for my thesis. Who would be the people that I should reach out to?

I'm applying to primarily PhD programs.

Thankfully, my intended field is a comparative study of Italian women in the US and Italy, so (hopefully) my fluency in Italian will be sufficient. However, I'm also proficient in Spanish and reading Latin.

Thanks so much for your response! I do plan on cutting my list significantly and am currently in the process of figuring out which schools I will for sure apply to.

Hey everyone, I'm currently freaking out because it looks like I'll be applying to grad school with a 3.45 and I feel like that's not enough. ? I do have a 3.85 GPA in history, which is the program I'm applying to. Other things on my application: -Conference presentations -Student panels -Two internships -Fluent in one language other than English, reading proficient in another two -Honors thesis -Deans List (x2) -Publication -Awards (Diamond Award for NRHH and Italian language award) -Extracurriculars (+ leadership positions) -President of our Phi Alpha Theta chapter for 2 years I've also reached out to the professors I want to work under, who have all said I would be a good fit. My faculty mentor says I have a "first-rate application," but I'm still worried my 3.45 and Bs (only in non-major classes) won't be enough. For reference, I go to a private, top 100 Jesuit school.

I would be in-- I'm applying for PhDs and MA programs next year.

Just popping in-- I'm a Cincinnati native! Cincinnati is a great little city. It's not super big, but it's not a small town either. The cost of living is pretty low and you can easily get around with public transport (we just put in a street car, too). There's tons to do and tons of little neighborhoods to explore. The Cincinnati Zoo is amazing, and then of course you have the Cincinnati Museum, Reds Hall of Fame and Museum, Newport (with the Aquarium). The people are friendly. If you're into beer, there are tons of craft breweries around, and lots of small businesses (read: amazing restaurants and bakeries). It's a great city if you want a city that doesn't feel like a huge city!

Thanks everyone! I’ve tentatively decided on a piece in case my thesis doesn’t work out. It’s a relatively original topic, well-written (I think, at least), and uses a variety of primary sources.

I’m in the same boat. My faculty mentor told me that your writing sample should show your best historical writing and use of primary sources. I’m using a paper I wrote on Anglo-Indian food and British colonial attitudes as my writing sample, even though my intended field of study is comparative gender history in the US/UK and Italy.

Hey everyone! I'm applying for a PhD at Loyola Chicago. I attended their study abroad institute, the John Felice Rome Center, and would love to work in part under one of the professors there. Is this even a possibility?

If you're still interested, I just drafted my Columbia statement of purpose and it needs review. I would be happy to review yours.

I've just finished my statement of purpose for Columbia University, so I am seeking feedback. This is relatively rough, having just been finished, but I would love any comments. Thanks in advance! The prompt: "Applications must include a personal statement explaining your reasons for wishing to enter graduate school and outlining your scholarly interests." https://docs.google.com/document/d/19_67SSAUqJ5Fw0taKKpcuOPOjbbQ0IGUcCOIBNinKps/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you so much for your response! I really appreciate it.

I'm beginning to draft my statements of purpose, and I have no idea how to start it. I've seen different approaches; most commonly, something like "I am applying to the PhD in history at blah blah blah..." Is this a good way to start? Help?!