Hi! I'm not sure if it's appropriate to post this here, but I figured I might as well ask. Pretty much, I'm not sure if it's worth applying to history phd programs because I don't know if I'd be a strong applicant .
About me: I'm a senior at a small liberal arts college majoring in history. I love studying history and really want to pursue a phd. I'm currently working on a senior thesis about the early 20th Century United States-- particularly the Communist Party of the United States' ideology in regards to gender and the engagement/activism of women within the Communist Party. I'm broadly interested in the early 20th century-- especially the ideological, political, and cultural changes of the times. Generally, I want to study who became engaged with these massive changes, how these changes came about, and who they left behind. I'm particularly interested in how the 20th century changes relate to gender, and therefore I'm fascinated by the interaction between gender, labor activism, and cultural works. Given these interests, I'm thinking of applying to phd programs at Wisconsin, Michigan, Columbia, Berkeley, and UCLA. I know it's a long shot, so is it worth applying? FWIW, I have a strong GPA and good GRE scores. But, I'm also still an undergrad without any "real life" experience. So, if anyone has any advice/insight, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks so much!
