BG7

I did my undergrad studies in the math and sciences, so I have very little background in history (I just took 2 semesters' worth of lower-div gen ed courses). However, I am considering pursuing graduate studies in History. I realize I won't get into any good phD programs with my background (and atrocious 490 verbal GRE score). What are the best ways for me to acquire the necessary history background so that I can get into the more competitive phD programs? Are there any Master's programs that provide funding to its students and accept students like me without a History background? Or do I have no choice but to earn a second Bachelor's degree in History or take History classes as a non-degree student?

phD

if you haven't heard back, then you're probably rejected. I asked about this to find out. They already sent out acceptances and wait lists

Yes, I know my application would be reconsidered if I got the NDSEG fellowship. But would it be reconsidered if I notified them about the fellowship after the April 15 deadline?

I emailed them. They mentioned that the late notice is because they have to wait for the DOD or something like that. Screw them

so I found out today that they won't make any decision until LATE April! But schools have deadline on April 15th for me to accept their offers of admission or not. Is it possible that if I received the NDSEG fellowship after the 15th that the schools I got rejected would still be willing to accept me?

So I got into the applied math programs at Arizona and Maryland (but not Cornell ). At the moment, I will probably pick Maryland because it has a better overall reputation than Arizona which matters to me since I don't have a clearly defined research interest. I could go into physics, astronomy, fluid dynamics, numerical analysis, or dynamical systems/DEs. Luckily both programs are very interdisciplinary, so thats why I thought they were great matches for me. Does anyone have any detailed thoughts or opinions about these programs? For now, my main interests are probably in astrophysics and optics

So I got into the applied math programs at Arizona and Maryland (but not Cornell ). At the moment, I will probably pick Maryland because it has a better overall reputation than Arizona which matters to me since I don't have a clearly defined research interest. I could go into physics, astronomy, fluid dynamics, numerical analysis, dynamical systems/DEs, and maybe even signal processing. Luckily both programs are very interdisciplinary, so thats why I thought they were great matches for me. Does anyone have any detailed thoughts or opinions about these programs?

Did they say how many 2nd round admits, if any, they plan to have? If only 10-15 people get admitted, then their website is bull**** as they say they usually admit 15% of their applicants

I would too, but its rather expensive, right? Anyways, I'm just spending my time self-studying what I expect to see in grad school. In addition to preparing me for the intense workload, I also see it as self-punishment because I spent this past year doing little as I could've applied last year if I had better known what I wanted to study

has anyone not heard back yet from Cornell? I called them yesterday and they told me NO decisions had been made yet! yet I see lots of people posting their results here about whether they've been accepted , waitlisted or rejected. The wait is killing me

By the way, how much of my undergrad really matters for getting funding if I have almost no prior engineering background? Though I had a 3.8 phys/math gpa and worked on 2 different research projects, would I have been any worse off than if I had a 3.2 gpa with no research projects and tried to get funding in Aerospace Eng? I only took 2 engineering courses: got an A in heat transfer but B- in intro fluid mechanics

For UCLA, I tried contacting the professors I wanted to work with countless times. They always just told me that they dont currently have funding and don't know when to expect to get it. BTW, tuiton is about twice as much at GaTech and UT-Austin vs UCLA for me. But for personal preference, I would love to go to a different school than stay at ucla.

I did mention my interest for the phD. I just thought it would be wiser to apply as an MS student rather than phD since I have no engineering background.

So I've been admitted to UCLA for the unfunded MS program for fall 2010 (last fall), but since it was the only school I applied to for fall '10, I decided not to accept the offer and instead wait to apply to programs for fall'11. So far, I've applied to Georgia Tech and Texas-Austin for fall '11. Since my BS degrres are in physics and applied math, I figured that I had no chance for PhD programs, so I just applied to MS programs. I want to do the thesis option and will probably continue for the PhD. How likely are MS students to get a TA ship or RA ship in Aerospace Engineering programs? Since I'm from CA, the in-state tuition is much cheaper than the out-of-state tuition at GaTech and UT-Austin. If I get accepted into either one, but am unlikely to get funding, would I just be better off going to UCLA? Or perhaps taking classes at UCI (I live close to UCI) as a non-degree student?