MtrlHstryGrl

Hello! The title says it all. I am applying to a graduate program at Birmingham with a professor that fits my interests wonderfully. On the application page, it gives me the option to upload reference letters. Just out of curiosity, do programs contact your references if you have already uploaded these letters? Thank you!

Well, didn't get the Fulbright this time around! I have a possible job offer or two coming soon--so when one door closes, I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I got to semifinalist status! Seems like it was a competitive year.

I forgot about this, sorry! I did get feedback from her. It was mostly that the works I used in the historiography section were too "broad" and not focused on the exact time and place as my work--so I may have unconvincingly tried to argue that the works I used were broad because there were very few works pertaining specifically to the project at hand. (There were also some structure comments, though she had praised the structure of the rough draft). I decided to workshop the paper, and I'm going to be submitting it for publication. Ideally, she won't get upset with me for publishing without her permission again. As for my interests, I've used this almost as a motivating factor. I've maintained that I am going to be applying for PhD programs, and she advised me to take a theology course on Christian Women Mystics this coming semester. If I can get an LOR from her is a different story, though I have several people in mind who would be willing to do so for me.

With this professor, writing something to make her happy is the only way to get any kind of positive feedback. ? It's a well-documented problem with her and something that I was warned about.

I did a lot of revision, especially in the historiography/methodology/etc., which were her main critiques, and she at least seemed happy with the historiography when I ran it past her. At this point, I'm nervous that my analysis of my sources wasn't as strong as I thought, even though her comments were mostly "good" and "yes" at specific points. ?

This is mostly a rant. I’m a second-year master’s student in history, specifically focusing on medieval history. There’s one medievalist professor in the department and she’s my advisor. She’s always been kind of an absentee advisor, and she has never really encouraged me to present or publish. When I expressed interest in doing individual research, she encouraged it at first and didn’t do anything since. I’ve also had her as a professor, once my first year and once my second. In the first class I took with her, I got a B+. Which is fair—I didn’t really get the importance of participation and the paper wasn’t great (and my paper had conclusions she didn’t want it to have, even though I did the sources she suggested AND the topic she suggested). I took her class this semester, which was in my intended research field. I participated more and wrote the best paper I have EVER written- she even read and complimented the hell out of the rough draft. I got my grade yesterday—and got a B+, and the only way that happened was by getting a B+ on my paper. She has also made it clear to the class that she won’t give individual feedback. To make matters worse, she’s told me multiple times that I can’t get PhD letters of recommendation with B+s/from professors that give me B+s. At this point, I’m really rethinking going into medieval history and especially my specific subfield. I’m just feeling really discouraged and I’m not sure what to do.

Yeah, I heard they were trying to send people in January, but... we'll see. Where are you applying?

Is anyone else applying for a Fulbright? I'm wondering if we could have a small group chat of historians applying this cycle.

Would someone be willing to give their thoughts on my Fulbright statement of grant purpose? It is a little over 2 pages long and is for a history research award.

Hello! Anyone else in the process of the Fulbright app? I submitted mine to my school yesterday. I'm a second-year MA student studying European History, and I'm applying for a research award in the Czech Republic. I'm having so much anxiety already and I haven't even had my Campus Committee Meeting. ?

Not sure how helpful this is, but University of Toronto plans to accept a F21 cohort. As does Penn's Religious Studies program.

I hadn't seen this yet, so I figured that I would make one! I'm a second-year Master's student, studying European History, and I'm applying for an Open Research Award in the Czech Republic. I just submitted my application to my school and I am freaking out about not having a chance. The Czech Republic has a relatively small application pool, but with Covid and finalists re-applying, I'm scared that I won't be a semi-finalist, much less a finalist. My profile is: Second year Master's student at a top producer (my school had the 4th highest number of Fulbrighters in 2019) Czech language proficiency (and proficiency in Latin, German, Italian, and French) Project is about Czech nationalism & independence and medievalism Personal statement explains personal (3rd generation Czech) and academic (have been connecting all of my academic reading/work to the Czech Republic) 3 affiliation letters (2 from Charles University, 1 for community engagement/volunteering in my field) 2 journal publications, 3 blog & newsletter publications, 5 conference presentations Letters of rec from undergrad thesis advisor, grad school advisor/prof/I was her research assistant, & grad school prof that I've had for two classes Studied abroad for a year, had an internship abroad, started a community service event abroad 3 scholarships, 3 grants, on Dean's List 3 times Volunteer experience, leadership in my sorority, currently have a peer editing position I've also had a lot of support from my school's Fulbright team, who have worked with me a ton on my essays/short answers, so I think those are pretty strong!

Hello! I am trying to start writing my statements of purpose, but I feel a bit stuck. Originally, I had gone straight into my interests ("At [School], I plan to study..."). I have also been told that starting with a brief anecdote that relates to how I became interested in what I want to research. My first thought, anecdote-wise, was seeing my female friends at my Catholic undergraduate school form their devotional lives and identified with certain saints, and then placing that historically through my academic reading. I feel like this may be okay for religious studies applications, but not necessarily history or medieval studies. Some other things that I was thinking about: Study abroad experience-- particularly a study trip to Greece (seeing the Caryatids) or experience in Assisi Experience working on an archaeological dig in northern Italy, but it does not seem as female-oriented as some other experiences

Haha, jinx! I heard about NYU History from two people in my program, though I am not sure if that is true or not. I have heard from Fordham, Toronto, and Penn Religious Studies faculty that it should not be an issue, but I just emailed my potential programs to confirm. FWIW, a professor at Yale recommended Medieval Studies to me, as it was smaller and would likely not be as affected by budgetary constraints. Nevertheless, I sent out emails, and will be trying like hell to win my Fulbright.

I am not sure the veracity, but two people in my program have told me that NYU History is not accepting students for Fall 2021.

Hey, everyone. I wrote this paragraph in one of my SOPs, and I was wondering if I could get some feedback on if it makes sense/is coherent. As a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania, I plan to study the intersections of the cult of saints and women’s devotional lives in the late antique and early medieval Mediterranean. My intended research project will specifically explore how lay elite and noble women expressed their devotional lives and formed identities around them. Typically relegated to the domestic sphere, elite and noble women’s conspicuous religious and ritual performance and proverbial and physical connection with the saints solidified their place in social and religious hierarchies. Differences in access to saintliness and intercession also contributed to imagined stratifications on who was more deserving of a place in Heaven. My research will also explore how devotional lives and identities were shaped by cross-cultural exchange in the Mediterranean, overarchingly exploring the connection of religion and identity formation. This research will showcase lay women’s participation in the cult of saints, contributing to the growing body of scholarship about popular piety in lay women and filling the gap left by the lack of feminist scholarship about the cult of saints. This research will help to better understand religiously based social hierarchies in later medieval and early modern Europe and their ramifications, as well as understanding how contemporary religious lay women form devotional identities around a certain saint.

This is fantastic and very helpful! Thank you so much.

Thank you for the thoughts, everyone! This will likely be a longer post, sort of thinking out loud. The questions that have really interested me are: Major: How did women form and perform their devotional lives and identities, specifically related to the cult of saints? Specifically, how did noble and elite women perform religion and religious life? How did they use objects, art, and place in this performance? What were the social implications of performance? How did noble and elite women show power and status via religious patronage and performance? How did the role of women in religion and ritual evolve? Was this continuity as Peter Brown suggests, or change? I will say that I am fairly awful in formulating questions. My thoughts regarding place: Italy: I have a specific interest in Rome as a religious center and a cultural center. Rome has seemed like the most obvious choice, but I fear that just Rome is limited. I am also interested in both Ravenna and Venice. I think that these places would all help me explore cultural exchange and religion, and give me some sort of ability to study Byzantium. This would also work the best with my language background & skills. England: This was the first medieval history that I became truly interested in. I feel like this may give me the best way to study noblewomen in the most traditional sense, and there are tons of sources on women's participation in religion. Further, the religious history is rich and could give lots of Reformation implications. Byzantium: I am just generally interested in the shift from paganism towards Christianity, and have a genuine love of Byzantine art and archaeology. This would also give me a chance to explore the impact of the Great Schism. The archaeological sources, especially in Greece and Turkey, are also strong. I do want to fit in a global aspect, if that makes sense, particularly regarding religious cultures and expressions in North Africa and the Middle East, and their presence and legacy in medieval Europe. All this to say, I had the idea of focusing on England (Canterbury), Italy (Rome), and Jerusalem because of my desire to study trans-regionally and globally. I am feeling that I may be more flexible in time period. I am interested in late antiquity through the central Middle Ages, and I think that my questions could fit in fairly easily in these. I did speak with a professor from Toronto who suggested that late antiquity would be a good background for setting my project in the early and central Middle Ages. I am just not entirely sure where to place it. I am very interested in the evolution of religion from classical religion to the Reformation.

I will say that I am also considering focusing on England (esp. Canterbury), Italy (esp. Rome, but I am also interested in Ravenna and Venice), and Jerusalem, primarily because of pilgrimage and religious sites. I feel like this could help me focus on elite women and the saints/saint worship as well!

This is very helpful! I do have Latin and I am working on Greek (and plan to take an intensive Greek course next summer), but I am not sure if my Greek will be as good as my Latin coming in.

Hello! I am having a lot of trouble narrowing my project down, temporally and geographically. My interests are specifically in Late Antiquity to the High Middle Ages. I am mostly interested in Italy, Rome specifically, but also in Byzantium and England. It has been suggested to me by a professor to just focus more on the theme, but I feel like that would be doing me no favors in application season. I have also considered determining time period/geography based on the fit with the program, but I am not quite sure of that, either. Do you have any tips for narrowing this down?

Hi, everyone. I have been spending some time trying to refine and rework my interests a little, and wanted to get some thoughts, if possible. It ended up being a bit longer than my first go 'round, but I think it is a bit stronger! My work aims to close two historiographical gaps. Scholarship about women’s religious lives has traditionally focused on cloistered women project, and much of the work done on the cult of saints is not centered on women. I am broadly interested in the devotional lives of lay women and the ways in which they formed their identites around and within religious life, particularly in the context of the cult of saints. Provincially, my project will focus on lay female nobility in particular, their roles in religion and ritual, and the relationship between noble women, power, and religion. This was expressed through patronage of religious art and charters of religious spaces, such as monasteries and churches; the public performance of religion, both as expressions of belief and of social standing; and access to shrines and saints' bodies. Further, women's use and/or ownership of religious art (particularly icons), objects (relics/reliquaries, jewelry), and space (social geography of churches, if that makes sense) is of particular interest. I intend to use an anthropological study, putting it at the intersection of religious history, gender history, and medieval history. I have secondary interests in Peter Brown's idea of continuity over change and classical reception and the influence of cultural exchange and communication on aesthetics and practice. I want to thank @telkanuru for suggesting Toronto. I spoke with Professors More and Cochelin today and it was a great talk, and their The Other Sister project is a very exciting initiative that I would love to work in.

Thanks! I cut out the bibliography and some things that were irrelevant to the overall paper, so I am just going to keep workshopping it.

Hello! I am applying to PhD programs in the fall, and I am looking over a potential writing sample. Currently the sample is 23 pages, including 4 pages of endnotes and 4-ish pages of bibliography. For schools with a page limit of 15 pages, would this be acceptable?