norellehannah

I had 0 experience w/ academic book reviews when I applied last fall and found it really helpful to read reviews for other books in my field (I kind of thought reading reviews for the book I was reviewing would muddy my perspective/sort of felt wrong but not sure? But do what feels right to you on that front)! It gave me a good sense of how reviews are written and what scholars in my field tend to comment on when they review. I also think that keeping in mind (though not writing about directly) why the book is meaningful to you can actually be useful! If aspects of the work shaped your understanding of the field or changed your perspective, those things are definitely worth bringing up in the review. Just shift the perspective from your personal understanding to the growth of the field (e.g. "this work centers women in the history of anatomy" rather than "this work made me realize how central women were to the history of anatomy"). Good luck!

Thanks everyone! I think what you’re all saying resonates with the senses I’m getting from these different programs but it’s really helpful to see it all laid out like you have here. Thank you thank you!!

This has all been really helpful! I have a question regarding cohort size, specifically if any of you are early modernists (currently attending or otherwise!). What are your thoughts on being one of only a few early modernists in a program (but possibly getting more attention, time, or care from an advisor or department) versus being part of a more robust/larger early modern program (but possibly being in a more competitive environment)? I’ve been hearing a lot of conflicting advice, so would love to hear what you all think.

thank you so much!! congrats to you on Yale!!

I'm one of them (though I still don't believe it's real)! I'm early modern Europe/gender and sexuality, and my email was from Findlen!

Also for rejections, there's always the classic "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter à la American Idol Season 6... so ridiculous it makes me feel a little better ?

Seconding this! Aside from being a great way for the department to get to know you, I also found it really helpful for my own purposes. As far as I know JHU HistMed is one of not very many departments that does organized visit days before applications are due, and I really appreciated getting to learn more about what grad school could be like, what I should be looking for/asking about, etc. before I hit submit and paid those steep, steep application fees.

Thank you! It's one of my top choices, yes

That was me! I'm early modern Europe/gender & sexuality, so (perhaps obviously, lol) my POI is Mary Fissell. She just gave me the good news and told me that the official offer, funding info, etc. would be forthcoming, as well as some details about the recruitment visit. Hello!! Yes, I'll message you!

I don't know for sure but if you look through the results page the only interviews listed are for Art History!

Also re: self-care, I personally have found a great deal of comfort in/highly recommend hobbies & crafts. Currently trying to learn to hand-embroider! I really enjoy watching Netflix, etc. and embroidering - as someone who sometimes can't sit still long enough to watch a TV show when I'm too riled up and anxious, I find that keeping my hands busy helps a ton. Plus there's the added bonus of creating wearable and/or display-able symbols of conquering stress!

I think Yale is one of the schools that does do interviews, but I don't think they're necessarily done across the board. I applied EM Europe and haven't been contacted for an interview (though I reached out to/spoke with profs before I applied which might qualify as an interview for them?), but got an email a few days ago asking my permission to move my application to a different program pool, which I assume they wouldn't do if they weren't still considering me (at least that's what I'm telling myself! lol). All this to say I don't think a lack of an interview is a death sentence! I obviously could be very off base and it could vary by program, but for now I'm trying to take it as a neutral "they know everything about me they need to know."

Haha don’t worry, I live my life with low expectations! I’m very aware of the difficulty in finding a good match, especially as someone with relatively niche interests myself. I’ve been very lucky to have had some very fruitful conversations with potential advisors, as well as with numerous people who know them who I trust. Nothing more I can do but work hard on my apps, do my due diligence on people and hope for the best On USC, thank you for bringing that up! It’s definitely something I’ll be sure to be wary of.

Hi all! I’m currently applying to PhD programs in early modern history/history of science, and have received conflicting advice about the writing sample. My undergrad thesis advisor (whom I trust immensely and who got her PhD from my top choice school) suggested I condense my 90-something-page thesis basically into an article-sized piece for the sample. On a phone call with a potential PhD advisor (at a different school), however, she recommended I use a chapter of my thesis and simply write a "foreword" explaining the chapter's place in the rest of the project. I mentioned my undergrad advisor's advice and she seemed confused by it, saying that that seemed like both a lot of work and like a lot of my more intricate source work would be lost. This definitely resonates with me (bringing something from 90 to 10-25 pages without losing anything important felt damn near impossible) and I will of course go with the latter route for that school, but is my undergrad advisor's advice a total wash? I'm thinking of just asking potential advisors what the department would prefer when I speak to them, but that also feels like it might be perceived as fishing for insider secrets - the first prof offered this particular nugget of her own volition. Many thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Yes, in all likelihood! I had the chance to speak with her this week; felt like a good fit :) Thank you, will definitely reach out!

Hi all! I'm currently applying to PhD programs in early modern history/history of science, and have received conflicting advice about the writing sample. My undergrad thesis advisor (whom I trust immensely and who got her PhD from my top choice school) suggested I condense my 90-something-page thesis basically into an article-sized piece for the sample. On a phone call with a potential PhD advisor (at a different school), however, she recommended I use a chapter of my thesis and simply write a "foreword" explaining the chapter's place in the rest of the project. I mentioned my undergrad advisor's advice and she seemed confused by it, saying that that seemed like both a lot of work and like a lot of my more intricate source work would be lost. This definitely resonates with me (bringing something from 90 to 10-25 pages without losing anything important felt damn near impossible) and I will of course go with the latter route for that school, but is my undergrad advisor's advice a total wash? I'm thinking of just asking potential advisors what the department would prefer when I speak to them, but that also feels like it might be perceived as fishing for insider secrets - the first prof offered this particular nugget of her own volition. Many thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Haha hi!! Always happy to meet more HistSci friends! Stanford, Brown, Johns Hopkins, and USC are the schools I'm most excited about - there are at least 2 profs in the dept at each school who feel like perfect matches for me. The other schools I'm applying to are UCSB, Yale, UPenn, and UW-Madison, where there are profs whose work/methods line up with mine but aren't as perfect a fit as the others. Still very excited about them though, of course!

Hi all! Very happy to have stumbled upon this thread. I just graduated college in May, and am applying to PhD programs for Fall 2020. I'm very glad I took the year to prepare - I never thought just sending emails could be so stressful! I wrote my honors thesis on the voices of midwives in seventeenth-century London, focusing on the ways they held authority outside of the birthing room through an analysis of their presences in popular print and criminal trials. I'm hoping to focus in my grad work on women, gender, and sexuality as they relate to medicine and science in early modern Europe (and I'm open to Atlantic World as well). I'm proficient in Spanish and have taken a year of Latin, and will have completed a year of Italian as well by the time I (hopefully!) enter grad school. For all those of you on the thread planning to learn Latin on your own, www.magistrula.com is a great resource for practicing all those nasty declensions In terms of research, I'm very inspired by the work of people like Katharine Park, Paula Findlen, Mary Fissell, Carlo Ginzburg, and Londa Schiebinger in particular. I'm applying to 8 programs as of now, I would say about 4 of which feel like a really great fit. Currently, I'm trying to figure out how to email potential advisors whose work I find very interesting but divergent enough from my experience/immediate interests that I have to explain why I'm emailing them, lol. Very happy to have some virtual people along for the ride with me! Best of luck everyone -Han