history_hopeful

Hi Everyone, After three years of working in a corporate environment after undergrad, I'm considering a History PhD. While I've been interested in academic history for a while, my advisor cautioned me that I should work outside of a university for a few years first to make sure that I was really passionate about my research interests and historical research before applying. After a few years working full time, I keep returning to the idea of history graduate work and I am thinking about applying to start in Fall 2022. I am interested in American history (late 19th and early 20th century) with a focus on the progressive era, the temperance movement, the social history of vice, and the history of gender and race more broadly. My ultimate career goal would be an academic or museum curator position. If the job market continues to decline, I would also be open to teaching high school (and wouldn't necessarily consider the PhD a waste of time - it would be a privilege just to get to do historical research again). I graduated with a 3.9 undergraduate GPA from a small liberal arts college. I completed an honors thesis (which I would use as my writing sample), received several departmental awards, and have several professors who would write letters of recommendation for me. I also completed historical research internships at a Smithsonian and a local archive. I haven't taken the GRE yet. Is there any chance I can get into a top PhD program with funding? Which programs would be a good fit for my interests, and what resources might help direct my search? Should I apply to masters programs first? Any advice would be much appreciated.