wynntir

About writing samples - is everyone including the bibliography in their page count? From reading past threads it seems people are divided. My citations are Chicago style so I don't need the bib, but I don't want to leave it out if it looks bad.

Thank you for the advice! I want to focus on organized resistance to public health movements. My interest lies in uncovering how public education has become a catalyst for antiscience thought. Fighting against compulsory vaccination has always started with schools. If you've read Kim Tolley's School Vaccination Wars, I was greatly influenced by it. Situating that debate within the Progressive Era and its many restrictive social movements is where my main points lie, but the timeline of education/health is vast (as you mentioned) and I don't want to marry myself to one time period. However, the intersection between religion and social movements are exactly what interests me, as they are so clearly represented in the response of parents to compulsory vaccination in schools throughout history. I'm hoping to find a department that will allow me to work interdisciplinarily.

Coming back to this to say after some soul searching I've determined a much clearer path for myself in this field. Thanks to all for the advice!

Hi everyone! I'm a senior history/education double major getting ready to apply to a mix of PhD and masters programs this fall. I'm interested in studying mostly in history of science/medicine departments, focusing on the intersection between public health and public education. I'd love to do work specifically on the anti-vax movement in the 19th and 20th century US. At the moment my top program is at Yale, but I'm also looking at Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Penn, and Oregon State. I'm deaf so learning languages is quite difficult for me and many schools unfortunately don't count ASL in their history departments, so that will be my big tough sell. I'm feeling pretty anxious and out of my element, so any advice is appreciated, particularly if you know of any programs that would fit my interests.

My ideal program is with SHEG at Stanford for curriculum studies in history, however, I don't think I have enough experience to apply for that program yet. I was hoping to get a masters in a related history topic to my research plan, then teach for a few years, then apply, but it seems that terminal masters in history of science are rare. Most seem to be granted along the way in PhD programs. Masters of education in my chosen subject area are also few and far inbetween. This is where my dilemma lies.

Thank you for the advice. I guess I should clarify that my ultimate goal is to change the curriculum for secondary education to include more emphasis on the history of disease in the social studies. I assumed that graduate school for education was step one of reaching that goal, but my professor has really been encouraging me to go for a history degree. Either way, it's definitely a unique pulling together of two seemingly unrelated fields. Working as a teacher for awhile is an option, but I'd rather get some more education under my belt so that I can try out curriculum ideas within my school district with research to back me up. You're definitely right in my viewing this as an undergraduate application. I honestly don't have much frame of reference otherwise. I'm a solid writer with clear goals, but not clear pathways to reach them.

Thank you for that. Many of my classmates already have their top universities chosen, fullbrights started, etc. and I guess the constant comparison is getting to me. I'll feel better once I at least have some idea of where I want to go!

Hi all, So I'm feeling a bit lost, even after reading through all the related topics here, and would appreciate any and all advice. I'm a current undergrad double major in Secondary Education and History at a large state research University. I'm about to enter my semester of student teaching this fall. My goal for the last two years has been to work with SHEG at Stanford in their CTE PhD program. I'm particularly interested in the intersection of public education and disease, essentially how and why we should incorporate epidemiology into the high school social studies curriculum. Here is where I'm stuck - do I apply straight out of undergrad, do I get a masters/PhD in a related field (history of science or other education concentration), or do I just teach for a few years and apply then? I have a 4.0, had an internship at a medical archive that included a publication, I've worked in public history as a historic tour guide for the last 4 years, I own my own (unrelated) business, and I spent the last three summers teaching an inner city summer school. I have at least two very strong letters of recommendation from professors who know and love me, one of whom has connections at Stanford, and my writing skills are very strong. I have a very clear research topic and great, proven research skills. All that being said, I don't have any volunteer/extracurriculars outside of one sport because I work full time, and I did transfer into my program with just a 3.8 from a very different major. I know that all of these things don't determine my admittance, but I can't decide if I should chance it this application cycle or wait until I would be considered competitive. I haven't found any other programs that fit what I'm looking for, so I'm considering doing a history degree first to get more experience and become competitive. I don't particularly want to teach straight out of undergrad as I need a masters to move with my husband, but I will if yall think that's the best option. Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi all, So I'm feeling a bit lost, even after reading through all the related topics here, and would appreciate any and all advice. I'm a current undergrad double major in Secondary Education and History at a large state research University. My capstone professor has convinced me to consider grad school for history, rather than education, which was my original plan. I am considering just doing a MA, but finding one in my field that is funded seems pretty impossible. I'm not sure if I want to devote myself to applying for a PhD right off the bat because I'm not sure of my chances, and I've had my eye on a education PhD program at Stanford that I am very unqualified for at the moment without teaching experience. I have a 4.0, had an internship at a medical archive that included a publication, I've worked in public history as a historic tour guide for the last 4 years, I own my own (unrelated) business, and I spent the last three summers teaching an inner city summer school. By the time I graduate next fall I will have student taught. I have at least two very strong letters of recommendation from professors who know and love me, and my writing skills are very strong. All that being said, I don't have any volunteer/extracurriculars outside of one sport because I work full time, and I did transfer into my program with just a 3.8 from a very different major. I know that all of these things don't determine my admittance, but coming into this blind, I don't know if I would be considered for the top institutions or if I should aim lower. I really want to focus on public reactions to public disease in 20th century U.S. My senior capstone focused on the beginnings of the anti-vax movement within the failed 1976 influenza vaccine. A project I'm particularly interested in given my background is the intersection between public education and disease. I've been researching programs for fall 2022 like crazy, but as I'm a bit late to the game, I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed. If anyone knows any programs that would fit my interests and that I would be competitive in, I would be extremely grateful for any sense of direction here. I will say that ideally I don't want to take the GRE (as I have to take licensure exams already this summer) but I will if I have to, and I tend to test decent. Thanks in advance!