d1389jjch
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Posts posted by d1389jjch
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Question: Why assume that non-tenure jobs in academia are bad jobs, or not even a job?
Temporary faculty positions at community colleges and universities offer higher salaries than the U.S. average. The majority of jobs in the industry are not tenured as well. Being unemployed, getting fired, and changing jobs are common for anyone. Plus, we are already being paid for doing something we love.
I don't understand why it is assumed that getting a job in the industry will necessarily better than a non-tenured job in academia. For me, as an immigrant who is not a native English speaker and without a strong network, I can't imagine a better job than teaching the history and culture of my own country. Even a temporary contract at a community college would be an excellent job in the eyes of many people with similar backgrounds to mine. It's also a good job for the average American, I believe. -
On the Harvard and Berkeley History website, it says the overall acceptance rate is five percent, while for international students is one percent. I'm wondering “international students” here refers to citizenship or where they did their undergraduate studies? Do history departments in the US set quotas for how many international students they will admit? (I know Canada does)
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In the field of Chinese History, the greatest problem facing young white scholars is the lack of access to archives. In China, the accessibility of archives is extremely unstable. Many archives that are not open to the public can be accessed through personal connections. However, I don't think doing Chinese history as non-Chinese is necessarily a disadvantage. As someone who grew up in China, I need to keep reminding myself that "The past is a foreign country," but many Chinese scholars do not realize this, and it creates problems. I think a non-Chinese perspective is very valuable to the field, but unfortunately, the Chinese archival and field environment is not friendly enough for non-Chinese scholars.
In studying US history, I sometimes feel that I understand the intellectual environment of the nineteenth-century US better than many Americans do. This is because China today is in the midst of a similar historical process, including urbanization, rapid economic growth, and the prevalence of social Darwinism. -
12 minutes ago, OHSP said:
Why? I was always very open about not wanting to go on the US job market as an international student and no one has ever batted an eyelid. But I also did not mention this in my SoP, because I dedicated that piece of writing to current historiographical questions/project + past work + why i would be a good fit for x school. My advice for the SoP is that given you have very few words to play with, it's a waste of space to talk about your current career goals for any more than a sentence or two. Profs want to know about your project, your questions, your ideas etc because that tells them about your potential in their program. If the program is renowned for producing museum curators and you've been working towards being a museum curator for the past five years then that's the sort of thing you would mention, but imo it's not worth mentioning that you do/do not want to be a prof.
Thank you! I agree with your point about research questions being the most important part of the SOP rather than career goals. The reason I ask is because some graduate schools' official websites clearly require that career goals should be addressed in the SOP. Although it is usually from graduate schools of arts and science instead of history departments. Anyway, thanks for the advice about the overseas job market, it is very helpful!
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Hello everyone! I have a question about talking career choices on SOP. I've read a lot of the discussion and noticed a paradox. On the one hand, the production of phd's has become much larger than the number of faculty positions, and many schools are encouraging their students to explore career diversity. On the other hand, talking about any non-academic career goals on sop might hurt my chances of admission because it is inconsistent with the nature of the phd program. My question is, would a faculty position outside of the US be a reasonable career goal to talk in the SOP? This seems to resolve the paradox. But I'm not sure if US universities would want to commit resources to someone who decides to leave the US after graduation.
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1 hour ago, Ryan_The_Grogu_Fan said:
Ah okay, congrats! It is strange they’re taking so long to notify those who are getting rejects because it looks like they usually release all decisions over the span of 1-2 days in typical years.
I just checked the admission results for English and some people got rejection letters while others received nothing. It seems that the graduate school of Arts and Sciences has been slower than previous years due to work remotely. My guess is that although the History Department has sent the results to the graduate school of Arts and Sciences, the Arts and Sciences is too busy in updating the results for English department and has no time to update for History. If this is the case, we should see the results in the next few days instead of the end of February.
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It’s wired Yale did not sent out any rejection letter today. It seems that in past years they always sent rejections(update in portal) in the next day of acceptance.
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Guys we really need to stop thinking about the result. It will come sooner or later, and we can't do anything about it. It is ok to be anxious. But it is not ok to refresh the email and result page all the time! Just do the work we currently have and go get some fun at the weekend. If you can't, force yourself to.
(speaking to myself)
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14 minutes ago, automatic_peas said:
When I interviewed at Yale, my POIs told me results would likely be delayed from last year, so doubt they are out.
It seems like they released the result on February 2th last year. So even with the delay, it might still be possible to see the result next week?
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@jocelynbymarcjacobs @missamericana @bakeseal @TMP Thanks for everyone's advice!
I still could not find the exact time on my application system. So I decided to try to submit everything one day before the deadline, or at least before 5 pm on the deadline.
Good luck with everyone's application! -
Does anyone know what is the exact time for each deadline? For example, does December 15th mean December 15th 11:59 pm, or December 14th 11:59 pm?
I'm sorry for this stupid question..... -
As far as I know, most German MA programs do not require SOP and they need your undergraduate degree to match their programs. I would email them to ask if your undergraduate courses in German studies count as a related field.
3 hours ago, duesseldreamer said:For personal interest, language proficiency reasons, and the tuition issue, I am definitely set on studying in Europe.
Could you explain more about this? In the US and Canada, there are some funded or low-cost History MA programs that welcome non-History major undergraduate students to apply. Why wouldn't you consider these opportunities?
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Has anyone considered the job market outside the United States? A PhD degree from top US schools would be very comepetive in other countires.
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I have attend a session held by MAPH and they have provided a application fee waiver code. Feel free to dm me if anyone is intrested.
Good luck for everyone's application!
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"** We regret to inform you that we will not be admitting students into our MA program for the 2021-22 Academic Year **"
I have just see this from UCSC History department website. I know many universities not accpeting phd students because of funding. But why are they cutting down the self fund MA program? It doesn't make any sence to me
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On 8/21/2020 at 10:32 PM, AP said:
You are receiving sound advice here so I will highlight only two aspects.
First, writing a literature review for your senior thesis is all good. However, I think @TMP was suggesting that for your MA, trying to further the understanding not only of what they say, but what is going to be your contribution to that conversation. We all go to grad school to learn. A PhD application is not like an UG application in the sense that it does not rely on numbers so much. It relies more your ability to ask cool question and potential to provide interesting answers. As @AfricanusCrowther mentioned, the MA is a great opportunity to transition to the professional craft of historians.
Second, and somehow connected to this, I do applaud your ambition to have a good research record "measured" in publications and conferences. Again, I will emphasize, do not focus on the number but on the quality. Your work as a MA student will tell the PhD AdComms how you conduct yourself. If you are a person that wastes time in little conferences for the sake of a line in the CV, while admirable, it is detrimental because it may interfere with good thesis-writing. So, yes, plan a research agenda but be very strategic.
Finally, a footnote on money. While you are in a privileged position, do apply for travel grants, research monies, and the like. Funding brings more funding, and funding usually means a thumbs up from your community. While there is a moment and a place for making these application (eg: as a TT I would never apply for the ACLS fellowship for early career scholars in precious positions), there are also many fellowships and grants you should prepare for.
WoW Thank you so much for your advice! This information is so important and helpful
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18 hours ago, kapuzenernie said:
You mentioned being interested in studying in Germany, so I thought I would address that potential. Most German universities are "free," which means that they only charge a student services fee which usually includes a transportation pass. I studied at the University of Hamburg, which was 350 euro/semester, ~120 of which was my metro pass. You may also find that the cost of living is much lower in Germany, with the exception of real estate in large cities like Munich or Hamburg. Even then, there are plenty of affordable places to live.
German MA deadlines are usually in the spring, but I would highly recommend applying to the DAAD Masters scholarship in November to see if you can get funding through them. Having an award like that would definitely be leg-up in later PhD applications. There are two very important things to consider when applying to German MA programs though (with a few exceptions): (1) your BA degree must match what you plan to do in your MA (which it sounds like it does) and (2) the language requirements are very stringent. Most degree programs require that you are fluent in German and English as well as two foreign languages in your subject matter. Some schools allow you to achieve fluency during your program, but some require you to already have that fluency upon admittance. So, regarding your plan, it might be worth it to dedicate a year or so to taking language courses. If I could recommend two programs to you, I would suggest exploring the Global History program at Humboldt Berlin and the East Asian Studies MA at the University of Göttingen. Both are English language programs, plus Berlin and Göttingen are both cool places to live
Thank you!! These two universities are on my list, another one is the Chinese studies in Freiburg(unfortunately it charge 1500Euro/semester). But I have never thought I could apply for the DAAD scholarship before I get admission. It sounds a great idea. I could apply North American universities and DAAD at the same time, and make a decision later when I get the result. Thank you!
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4 hours ago, TMP said:
Can you read classical/traditional Chinese handwriting on top of simplified? Are you familiar with how Western scholars understand China and have analyzed Chinese and non-Chinese materials coming out from Western, Chinese, and Taiwanese archives?
My supervisor asks me to write a 50-pages long literature review as my senior thesis. I guess the point is to get me to familiar with western scholarships. I have done some researches using classical Chinese handwriting sources, but it was difficult. The main challenge for me is to put punctuation correctly. I will work on it! thanks for the information! It’s very helpful.
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Hi all!
I'm an undergraduate History student at a Canadian University going to my fourth year. I want to go to the top 10 phd programs in the World(or, in the US), focusing on modern Chinese History. I understand it is extremely competitive, and I'm not a super-smart student. But my parents would support me for the next 3-5 years to just prepare for the phd application. They would pay tuitions of any unfunded MA program, my living expenses, and research travels(I'm really really lucky). I'm looking for advice on how to using the money and time wisely.
I currently have a 3.0 gpa for the first two years(due to languave diffcuties, I'm not a native speaker), 3.8 in my third year, and expected 3.8 in my final year. I think my first step is to go to a MA program, either funded or unfunded. My current list includes Yale(History), Uchicago(both MAPH and MAPSS), UBC(History), U of T(both History and East Asian Studies), and NYU(History). If I'm refused by all, I will apply for some German Universities since their deadline is much later than North America.
After finish my MA in 1-2 years, I think my next step is to learn one or two new languages. I'm a Chinese native speaker, so I will need to learn Japanese, and probably one European language. While learning the language, I will try to go to several conferences, and see if I could publish one or two articles. By the time of application, I wish I could read two or three foreign languages(including Chinese), have one or two articles published, and two or three conferences.
I have many questions about the plan. Even after 3-5 years of preparation, what is my chance to get into the top 10 phd program? If I take 2 to 3 gap years after MA, would it have any negative impact on my lop and CV? How difficult to maintain relationships with my undergraduate and MA supervisors during the gap years? Is it wasting my parents' money(even if they are willing to support me), or is there any better way to use the money?
Any advice/thought is appreciated!
Thanks!
Don't Do a PhD in History
in History
Posted
Were you include community college instructors? I can find many full-time community college instructor positions available, but I am not sure how competitive they are.