Baron1160

Thank you to you all! I appreciate the feedback and the honesty, with supportive family and friends I felt that I needed to seek out some more objective views to help reorient things in reality. I just wanted to clarify that I didn't necessarily mean that NYU was not a great, very competitive program, just that it was outside of the Top 20 on US News and World Report (which I know can be seen as rather dubious in its utility, but still a way to help compartmentalize...one professor gave the top 20 as a rough cut-off for solid employment odds in academia). I was under the impression that BU was a suitably generous location with fully funded PhD's but I suppose I shall revisit that. My predominant concern is where to commit my money, more towards Masters programs with whatever funding I may be able to find or PhD programs where that is not as often an issue depending on the institution. I think I have my answer, but I shall definitely follow up with professors here to glean their opinions and advice as well. Good luck to you all in your endeavors!

Hello all, I suppose this is overdone but I am hoping for honest feedback on chances for acceptances since I tend to oscillate between high hopes and serious doubts about my chances with applying to PhD programs in the coming months. I am especially interested in your experiences and feedback as I am not a History major in my undergraduate studies (or even technically a student that will graduate with a BA) and I'm rather unsure of how I may stack up in general and compared to History BA applicants. To get right down to it, the requisite stats: Cornell University undergrad in Industrial and Labor Relations (technically a BS but I hope that won't detract too much)/ History Minor (I assume that doesn't count for much) 3.88 Cumulative GPA/3.99 History (28 History Credits) GRE: V: 168, Q: 155, Wr: 6.0 (Contemplating retaking to get the Quant. up but I'm unsure if I could actually improve since I'm not too strong in Math) I've had one History Seminar course in which I wrote a paper for presentation to a small panel at the National Defense University which will serve as my writing sample, and I am to hear back from a Committee on approval for an Honors Thesis proposal this week for my ILR degree. The history seminar professor will serve as a LoR and I'm hoping for a strong letter from him. In terms of internships, I worked for the National Labor Relations Board for a summer as a student Field Agent with a small caseload, but that had more of a legal slant than anything. I'm contemplating using one of the LoR I have from this but I'm also unsure if that would be wise or if I should just try to stick to academic. My interest would be mostly centered on 19th century Europe (Britain primarily) in the spheres of war mobilization and military history (an odd pivot from labor I suppose). Right now, I'm looking at programs more in metropolitan areas due to my SO's career aspirations and I'm looking at programs like Columbia/Harvard/Penn as optimistic/reach programs and looking at BU, BC, NYU, University College London, and King's College London as well. Frankly I'm not even sure what "tier" programs I should be looking at or if I should just focus in on Masters programs first, I don't really know how to value my application. Any guidance or advice would definitely be most appreciated, and thank you for your time.