[The Job Market for History PhDs ...]

Thank you everyone for the replies. I guess, I have one final question, and that is how do you know what a tier 1, tier 2, etc. history program is? Where would a school like OSU fit? I look at the US News Rankings, but I don't know what they mean really. Thank you!

My impression has always been that rankings are very sub-field specific, and the US News Rankings don't really take this into account. The National Research Council has rankings of different programs, as well, which would give you a better sense of what the academic community thinks of each program. If you play with the settings a bit you can see the NRC rankings at PhDs.org. That being said, I've always been told that the reputation of your advisor is a much more important consideration. Where have their advisees ended up? That may be a better indication of what academic career opportunities your PhD will offer you than the program's ranking.

[The Job Market for History PhDs ...]

I read the same articles that the OP did about a year ago, and I've since all but concluded that a PhD isn't for me. I nearly quoted a bunch of sad statistics at you... but I think you've gotten the point from earlier posters. The job situation for PhDs in the humanities is pretty dire, even for people at top schools.

That said!! There really are a lot of great resources out there for people with PhDs looking into alternative academic careers or non academic careers.

Here's a blog that lists 10 great websites on the subject:

http://www.selloutyoursoul.com/2011/01/09/10-essential-non-academic-blogs/

I'd especially check out Beyond Academe which is a resource specifically for historians (but is applicable to people in other disciplines as well). There was also a list of advice for new grad students in a Chronicle of Higher Ed blog that encouraged students to seek internships and work outside their fields while in school.

Good luck! (And I hope you're able to get more advice on your situation than I've given!)

[Bikes]

This has been very useful! Thanks for your all your advice! I think changing a tire is the extent of my bike repair expertise, but I've always wanted to know more. There does seem to be a (perhaps inactive) bike co-op where I'm headed, so I'll definitely check that out when I finally get stateside.

My problem is this: I'm short. Like really short. I usually say I'm 5`3 to make myself feel better, but let's be real. I'm 5`2, with short legs for my height. I'm worried this will make it difficult to find a suitable second hand bike? Any tips on sizing? I've heard that going with 26" tires is better than 700c for the vertically impaired like myself.

[Bikes]

Anyone have any recommendations for a good commuter bike? I've decided I can't afford a car on my stipend, so it looks like I'll be taking the bus and biking most days -- including grocery trips. Originally, I thought I wanted to spend about $300, but bikes fully outfitted for a daily commute (fenders, lights, rack) tend to run about twice that amount. I've got my eye on a Novara Transfer that almost seems worth it, though.

Any bicycle commuters out there? What are you riding?

[Student Loan Repayment]

Thinking further. The terms of my private loans are fixed at 3.4 %. I had great credit at 19 and my parents had amazing credit. Not many people have fixed interest rates. So, this might be dumb. What if I took the subsidized stafford loans necessary to pay interest that would accrue on the private loan and my unsubsidized loans from undergrad. Would this be dumb?

OK, let's think this through. Here's an accrued interest calculator:

My linkhttp://www.collegeanswer.com/financing/lt_financial_planning/ltfp_accint.jsp

Someone please correct me if I'm getting this wrong here! God knows I'm no expert. But let's say that you had 30,000 in debt at 3.4% interest. Your current monthly interest payment would be $85. Assuming you didn't have to make payments for 24 months while you were in graduate school, but interest still accrued, when you left school you'd have $2040 in increased debt, bringing you to $32,040. Your new monthly interest payment on that would be $91 -- a $6 increase.

So there's that. But let's say that instead of doing that, you took out a subsidized Stafford loan for $2040 to cover that interest. You wouldn't have any payments in the short term, but after your grace period, you'd be making payments (minimum $50/month on Stafford loans) plus interest. The interest would come to $12/ month. Because of the minimum Stafford payment, you'd finish paying off this loan in under 4 years, and you'd have accumulated $286 of interest in that time. (I figured this information out here: http://www.collegean...fp_monthrep.jsp).

This is what you'd be looking at with the Stafford Loan:

Stafford Loan

Time it takes to pay off $2040: 3.88 years

Initial amount interest you would pay on the $2040: $12/month

Total repaid (from here): $2040 principle + $286 interest total = $2326.

This is where I think I might be reaching the limits of my usefulness to you, since figuring out the total cost of letting the interest accrue on your private is more complicated (/makes my head hurt). However, it seems like if you just let the interest accrue, instead of taking on the Stafford loan, you'd end up paying less in monthly payments and spend less money overall. I'll leave the math to someone better at it, but let me explain my thinking.

The length of time it would take you to pay off $2040 added interest on your private loan depends on the monthly payment, which I don't know. But assuming you have to pay $32040 (30,000 plus accrued interest) back in 10 years, the payment should be something like $315 (from here). That means that you would pay off the accrued interest in 7 months with an interest of 3.4%, which seems better than 4 years at 6.8% for Stafford. Also consider what your monthly payments would look like. If you took out the Stafford to cover the interest, your initial payments for the private loan would be $295/month plus your Stafford payment which would be $50 (minimum payment, assuming interest is included?). That's $345 a month, and you'd be paying close to that for the duration of the Stafford loan (just under 4 years). If you just let the interest accrue on your private loan, assuming you have 10 years to pay off 32,040, your initial payments would again be about $315.

Take from all that what you will. Again, I'm no expert and I may have it all wrong. Do check out the loan repayment I linked several times above. You could put in your real numbers and figure it out yourself.

By the way, a $19,000 stipend is quite healthy, depending on the area you'll be living in . You could also just apply $1020 of that toward the first 12 months of your interest payments, if you'd like to keep current with them. That's personally what I would do.

[Student Loan Repayment]

I should also mention my family is cosigned on the private loan and I'm just no comfortable with that.

Hmmm. It really only seems to make sense to switch to the Stafford loans (and their higher interest, and thus eventual greater expense to you) if you are confident that you're not going to have the ability to make your payments on your current loan. (That's also the only case -- that I can think of -- where it would matter if your parents were cosigned.) If that's the case, it might make sense to switch to governement loans for the IBR option. However the IBR description you posted clearly stated that "these lower payments may result in a longer repayment period and additional accrued interest." In other words, it'll cost you more money. You'd going to be adding insult to the injury of the already higher interest rate.

If you're sure that you won't be able to make your payments, that'd be one thing... I don't have any answers for you, but it seems pretty clear that taking the Stafford loans will result in you losing money. (I welcome correction on this point, if I'm mistaken!)

[GRE tantrum:]

More than math, more than verbal abilities or analytical writing, the GRE tests its takers on their ability to take the GRE. Fortunately, the GRE isn't anywhere near the most important factor of admissions, so I wouldn't worry too much! But you might ask if your program has a minimum score requirement.

I'll warn you that I had similar confidence that my writing score would be high, and well... It wasn't. So brace yourself on that front as well. My poor score didn't stop me from getting funding from 4 of the 7 masters programs I applied to, though. My sense is if you present an otherwise strong application, it should be that great a factor.

[Should I ask for a Tuition Reduction]

I have been accepted without funding to a Masters program at a top school. I am wondering if I should write them and ask if they would consider a tuition reduction since my circumstances have changed since I applied.

Any suggestions about this topic would be appreciated!

If you filed for FAFSA and you're now making less money -- or have another situation going on that will affect you financially -- you can contact financial aid, explain your circumstances and see if they'll offer you more aid. For grad students, that generally comes in the form of loans or work study, however, not grants.

On the department side, if other applicants have turned down funding, there may be some money available. But if you were elligible, they probably would have already informed you, since the admissions decision deadline has pretty well passed. Department aid is usually "merit based" rather than need based, however. You could also ask if there would be any available TA or RA positions, which would cut your tuition a bit.

If you`re not financially able to attend any more, you could ask for a deferment or to be released from your decision. My understanding is that if you have a compelling reason, a lot of programs are flexible about these things.

[Importance of Undergraduate Prestige]

I come from a pretty much unknown liberal arts school, and had no problems getting into great programs this year. If the reputation of your school is a factor, I suspect its not one that can't be overcome with strength in other elements of your application.

[Congressional Budget Cuts]

Here's a link to a short blog post on the international education cuts: "Programs that fall under the Title VI umbrella include National Resource Centers, grants to universities for modern foreign language study; the Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowships; Language Resource Centers, which research teaching and learning of foreign languages; and centers for international business education and research, among others. Many emphasize languages and regions that are considered strategically important or are infrequently studied, Kazanjian said.The Education Department also administers Fulbright grants for doctoral dissertations, faculty research, group projects and seminars abroad."

http://saveourforeig...nguage-funding/

Worrying. Though one of the experts quoted in the article you linked suggested that the Department of Education may have some discretion about where the $50 million will be cut:

“It remains to be seen how much flexibility they’re going to have to not cut Title VI for $50 million,” Kazanjian said. “They would have an ability to shift things around, to my knowledge. Hopefully they’ll do that in a way that won’t be so devastating to these small programs.”

The Dept. of Ed. already assured my department (which in turn assured me) that my FLAS funding would not be touched for the coming school year. I'm hoping this indicates Good Things more generally for the language and area studies initiatives that the Department of Education supports... But it does seem like the wind is blowing in the opposite direction. Maybe the 2012-13 school year will be a bleaker picture.

Here's another article on the matter from the Chronicle of Higher Education:

http://chronicle.com/article/Language-and/127122/

[How did you figure out what you wanted to do as a career?]

I'm still searching for what I want to do with my life, as well, but one book has helped me tremendously along the way. It's called "What Color is Your Parachute?" About half of it is a job hunting guide, but the other half is about figuring out what values, interests and skills matter the most to you, and how you can turn those into a career. Whenever I feel lost or adrift, I re-do the exercises in this book. I still have no idea what I'll do with my future, but I have a very clear idea of what the parameters are and how to go about making my decision.

Check it out:

What Color is Your Parachute -- Amazon Page

[Ann Arbor, MI]

So, I currenly live in Japan and I won't be making it into Ann Arbor until mid-August. Anyone have any suggestions for a long distance housing search? Should I wait until I land in Ann Arbor to start looking or should I try to secure it now? I'm uneasy signing a lease sight-unseen, though maybe this wouldn't be such a risk at a complex. The problem is most complexes are a teensy bit out of my price range (I'm really pushing for something under $750), and since I'm not planning on buying a car, Ypsilanti is probably out of the picture. (Unless someone wants to tell me otherwise!)

Any suggestions?

[Asian Studies 2011]

So it's past April 15th- where is everyone going?

I'm at Michigan! I didn't have a ranking of programs before I applied, but I can't really imagine a better fit for me.

Now I'm just trying to figure out how to secure housing from something like 9,000 miles away.

Everyone else?

[Asian Studies 2011]

I got a lot of really good feedback from current and former students at Duke. It is a relatively small cohort but that means personal attention and the administration and professors got good reviews. If you are interested at all in pursuing doctoral work a lot of APSI students go on to excellent PhD programs. I don't really know anything about Michigan but as a large State school I am sure the environment is very different from Duke.

Good to know about Duke! The Michigan students I talked to emphasized that they had a lot of personal attention in their small cohort, too, however, so I don't think the programs are distinct in that sense. Michigan seems to have a lot more resources... funding people to go to Middlebury and IUC in Yokohama, etc... It also has the number two ranked anthropology department in the country, which is where my disciplinary leanings lie.

They're both strong programs. I wish one had a glaring problem -- it would make deciding so much easier!

[Asian Studies 2011]

So, at the 11th hour, I just had two huge funding packages land on me from both Duke and Michigan. I don't suppose anyone here has a sense of whether one program is markedly stronger than another? Obviously, Michigan is a Japanese Studies program and Duke is EAS, so the focus is a little different. Any thoughts about these schools?

[Now that you've been accepted/rejected.......]

I would say the importance of your GRE is really dependent on your field. I did well enough on my verbal and quantitative sections (690/600), but I positively bombed my analytical writing section (3.5). I got into six of the seven schools I applied to, and got funding from two of those.

I used the Princeton Review prep book, plus the Kaplan Verbal and Quantitative workbooks to study. The ETS website also has some very useful software to take realisitic practice tests on your home computer.

Edit: I'd note that I think the writing score didn't kill me because I put A LOT of time and effort into my statement of purpose. I think in many cases a poor score on the GRE can be compensated for if you can show other evidence of ability...

[Asian Studies 2011]

I have read here and on the American Anthropological Association's EA listserv that Peace Winds Japan and JEN (donation page) are good alternatives to the Japanese Red Cross.

Edit: The Japanese Red Cross has actually stated that it is not in need of international donations at this time. (See their PDF bulletin here.)

[Asian Studies 2011]

So, the quake up here in northern Japan hit in the middle of my appendectomy. Just got out of the hospital. My prefecture was fortunate and didn't see any real damage, though. We just have a gasoline and (to a lesser extent) a food shortage going on. If you haven't, I hope you all will consider donating to the Japanese Red Cross or other natural disaster NGO in Japan.

Michigan sent me two funding letters. I've gotten one department fellowship, and I'm wait-listed for FLAS. What are the odds that one will come through? I can't imagine anyone turning down that kind of money!

I still haven't heard anything from Hawaii, though their deadline is extremely late (March 1). Does anyone have a sense of whether Duke has handed out its FLAS awards yet?

[Michigan Joint History-Anthropology PhD]

Has ANYONE heard ANYTHING about this program?

Could you be more specific?

I know its reputable and one of the few programs of its kind in the field. If you're interested in Cultural History or Historical Anthropology, Michigan is a great place to be.

That's second hand from people who were in Michigan's anthro program, though. You might get in touch with the program yourself and ask to talk to some of their doctoral students.

[Master's before Ph.D.]

Sure, some application committees might prioritize a student with a degree from a prestigious university while others may give priority to the content of the student's master's thesis. Therefore, a choice between the prestigious uni and the best fitting program may limit some opportunities, but will surely open up others.

I definitely see your point here. I kind of had the same thought. The thing is though, all of the schools I'm looking at are relatively good fits. Three of them I could classify as excellent fits. And as far as I can tell (and please enlighten me if otherwise) they're all strong programs in either East Asian Studies, Anthropology or both.

So how might I go about whittling them down? If the percieved quality ("prestige") of the program is out of the picture, what criteria would you look at?

[Master's before Ph.D.]

Similarly, I've been wondering what constitutes a good funding package for an MA, i'm on the verge of accepting an offer, but i'll be hovering at the poverty line in terms of the money they're giving me... BUT they're giving me money? is that good enough?

From what I've gathered from my adivsers, any kind of funding package for an MA in anthropology is a good funding package. Its a rarity! Congratulations!

[starting off a SOP...]

Your SOP is your case for why you should be admitted -- I think you should focus on your strengths. If you search the forum, you'll find a range of advice on this, but I would leave potential weaknesses completely out of your SOP.

If there's something you feel you have to address, you might cover it in an addendum. Most schools give you the option of uploading additional documents to their applications.

[Master's before Ph.D.]

So, I’ve applied to East Asian and Japanese Studies master’s programs, with an eye to preparing myself for PhD study in cultural anthropology. I’ve been accepted to more schools than I expected – I didn't think I'd have any choice in the matter, but now that I do, I don’t know how to decide!

There’s a lot of advice on the board about this for PhD level applicants – but what about for masters students hoping to apply for PhD programs in the future? Does anyone have a sense of what factors should be given the most weight in choosing a program?

In my case specifically, I'm wondering how much to consider the fit or repuation of potential adivsors, and whether it matters if I attend a "presitgious" school or not. For example, would a degree from any of the programs I’ve been admitted to (see below) give me an advantage for Anthropology Ph.D. admissions? If not, what should I be considering when making my deicision?

Any thoughts?

[Keep A Word Drop A Word]

paper tiger

[Asian Studies 2011]

I wouldn't mind having an adviser who isn't on tenure, but that's just me.

I don't think I'd mind either, generally. I'm more looking ahead for when I apply for my PhD, and wondering if it'd be better to have an advisor whose been in the field that much longer and would have that many more connections. My decision probably won't come down to that. It's just something I'm pondering.

I just got into the University of Michigan! It's my dream school. Their acceptance package could bankrupt a small developing nation. I've never seen so much glossy, color print paper in all my life. Funding results out in mid-March.