jwilheim

Riotbeard, thanks for the advice. I would very much like to find some less-competitive programs to apply to, and I'll look at Tulane. Are there any other schools you think would fit within this category?

Over the past couple of years, I've developed a goal of doing a PhD in the comparative history of slavery. Currently, I'm enrolled in a master's program in education that's not really related, but that has taught me some things I believe could give me an interesting perspective from which to study and frame the topic. I've sat in on a course similar to what I would hope to study, teach, and research and spoken to the professor about my interest. She says my current program probably would not be handicap in applying, but I'm still a bit nervous about it. I'm pursuing my current program largely because I know the realities of academic job markets these days and want to have another degree and skill set I could use if finding work as a history professor doesn't pan out. I'm not totally sure how to "spin" that on an application. As an undergrad, I double majored in religion and history, but didn't really study the areas of history I am interested in doing work in. I had a 3.4 GPA overall due to a rocky freshman year but was on the Dean's List every semester starting the middle of my sophomore year. The highest GPA I had in any given semester was a 3.7. I didn't write a senior thesis but am going to work this semester on a paper in my field of interest (the professor I mentioned above says this is acceptable for graduate history admissions). I took the GRE in early 2008 and had a 700 V/670 M/6 AW. I'm looking at a number of programs with professors in my area of interest--Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, NYU, Yale, and a couple of others. My overall concern is that it might be necessary to pursue a master's in history first, and my financial circumstances might make that difficult. Any advice?