Ceiba

I felt compelled to sign up and respond to your post because I was in virtually the same position last year. I, as well, graduated from an unknown state school and was terrified about sending applications to higher ranked programs. Our GPA's are also nearly identical - I graduated with an overall GPA of 3.9 and a History GPA of 4.0. I am also an Americanist. After a good deal of needling from my professors and working up some confidence, I applied to one top 10 program, five programs in the 10-25 range, and two local programs. I was accepted into six schools (five fully funded) and rejected from the other two. I was accepted with a five-year fellowship at the top 10 school and that is where I will be attending in the fall. The gist of the story? DON'T SELL YOURSELF SHORT! Several bits of advice I would offer: - I think your undergraduate institution does matter but it won't rule you out of any grad school program either. With that said, the rest of your application needs be sterling or close to it. - The dreaded GRE's. If applying to top 25 schools, just make sure your verbal and analytical are above or around the 90th percentile. I don't want to discourage you from studying on the quantitative (you'll often hear it can come up when making fellowship decisions) but I am walking proof that most history programs don't really care about your quantitative score. Also, look around department websites. Some schools, like the University of Washington, actually post the median scores of recent admits. - I completely agree with American in Beijing's assessment that support from professors is a reliable indicator of your grad school prospects. Ask them for help when it comes to whittling down your list of schools or adding programs you previously didn't consider. - I have no way of knowing this for sure but I think my writing sample was the biggest reason for my admits. With that said, I did have the benefit of having a senior seminar that endlessly vetted the paper. Regardless, it seems like you're on the right track by working closely with a faculty member. Most faculty won't be crazy about reading your 20+ page paper but try to get as many eyes to go through it as you can. One faculty member who researches in my sub-field was invaluable to sharpening up my paper. - In terms of your statement of purpose, it sounds like you already know how important it is. I found this UC Berkeley guide helpful to getting an idea of how mine should be structured. - Do NOT apply to MA programs. This was the very first thing faculty members talked me out of. I understand that some students have been able to enter MA programs and eventually find funding but these stories seem less commonplace as of late. With so many departments slashing funding, PhD students get any money that is available. - I used the US News rankings above to give you a broad idea of the programs I applied to but don't let them consume your decision. In terms of research interests, I was a strong fit at every University I applied to. Try to make sure you can say the same. It sounds like you're headed in the right direction and I wish you the best of luck!