mjl52

It's a good program, but conservative.

Thanks for the reply -- I needed the reassurance. As for my research interests, I am interested in the historical, cultural, and ideological formation of 20th century social movements in Latin America. In terms of methodology, I am most interested in historical materialist and structuralist approaches. The senior thesis to which I referred in my previous post attempted to debunk Roger Burbach's thesis that the EZLN is a "postmodern" political movement which has broken with the dominant revolutionary paradigms of the 20th century. I've given a fair bit of thought to professors with whom I would like to study. At NYU, I am particularly interested in Gregg Grandin, with whom I have met, as well as Sinclair Thomson. As far as Singh and Saldana are concerned, neither are in Latin American history, although I'm pretty sure I read Singh once on identity politics and US labor and it was pretty good stuff. Are you in Latin American history? Or US? Also, any suggestions for the SoP? I think mine is fine, but I'm afraid I don't go into enough detail in some areas -- overall it has more breadth than depth. Thanks again for the advice!

Hi all, I'm putting the final touches on my application for admission to PhD programs in Latin American History and was wondering if there wouldn't be someone out there kind enough to give me a sense of where I stand. I'm applying to most of the top programs in the field: Yale, Harvard, NYU, Columbia, UMich (in Anthropology & History joint program), UWisconsin, UChicago, Stanford and Berkeley. As for my background, I graduated from Yale in 2007 with a BA in History and Latin American Studies; my undergraduate GPA was 3.62 overall, 3.73 in history, and 3.71 in Latin American Studies. I also have a Graduate Certificate in Labor Studies from the Graduate Center at CUNY; my GPA there was 3.92. I'm a bit concerned about my undergraduate GPA, but the real downer are my GRE scores: V 720 (98%), Q 670 (65%), and AW 4.5 (58%). I'm not a math guy and I'm applying to history programs in any case, so I'm perfectly happy with the math score; and I'd be an ass if I complained about my verbal. The writing really worries me, though -- I've heard its the most important part of the GRE for programs in the social sciences and humanities. The irony of all this, of course, is that I had an 800 on the writing portion of the PSAT and on the writing SAT II, won the prize for the best senior thesis in Latin American history my senior year at Yale, and now work as a professional journalist for a major labor union. Will this make up for the low AW score? If someone who knows about this stuff or is in or applying to similar programs in Latin American History would respond, I'd very much appreciate it! Thanks!

I'm applying to the top-ranked programs in Latin American History, but I blew the AW section of the GRE. I have a 720 verbal (98%), a 670 quantitative (65%), and 4.5 AW. I think these scores might be a little low in general -- I've seen a lot of people on these boards with 1400+ combined scores -- but it's the writing which really bothers me. The irony, of course, is that I won the prize for the best senior thesis in Latin American History my senior year at Yale and I now work as a journalist for a major labor union. Given this experience -- and a well written SoP -- is it worth it to retake the exam?

Hi all, I'm putting the final touches on my application for admission to PhD programs in Latin American History and was wondering if there wouldn't be someone out there kind enough to give me a sense of where I stand. I'm applying to most of the top programs in the field: Yale, Harvard, NYU, Columbia, UMich (in Anthropology & History joint program), UWisconsin, UChicago, Stanford and Berkeley. As for my background, I graduated from Yale in 2007 with a BA in History and Latin American Studies; my undergraduate GPA was 3.62 overall, 3.73 in history, and 3.71 in Latin American Studies. I also have a Graduate Certificate in Labor Studies from the Graduate Center at CUNY; my GPA there was 3.92. I'm a bit concerned about my undergraduate GPA, but the real downer are my GRE scores: V 720 (98%), Q 670 (65%), and AW 4.5 (58%). I'm not a math guy and I'm applying to history programs in any case, so I'm perfectly happy with the math score; and I'd be an ass if I complained about my verbal. The writing really worries me, though -- I've heard its the most important part of the GRE for programs in the social sciences and humanities. The irony of all this, of course, is that I had an 800 on the writing portion of the PSAT and on the writing SAT II, won the prize for the best senior thesis in Latin American history my senior year at Yale, and now work as a professional journalist for a major labor union. Will this make up for the low AW score? If someone who knows about this stuff or is in or applying to similar programs in Latin American History would respond, I'd very much appreciate it! Thanks!