Safferz
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Posts posted by Safferz
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I wonder if the people who are having problems simply don't have a very close relationship with their letter writer? Or are picking 'bad' letter writers? There is one prof I can think of in particular who I think is a great mentor but is known to be absent-minded, which would often lead me to consider others before asking him.
Not necessarily. The professor I mentioned above is one I've gotten to know well over the last four years -- he's also written a fantastic letter for me before (for a fellowship he suggested I apply to), and he's always been quick to reply to emails. So it's strange that he didn't reply to my initial email in September or my follow up, knowing how enthusiastic he's been about my grad school plans.
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I decided to just show up during the professor's office hours (who didn't reply to my email in September, or my follow up earlier this month), and the first thing he said was "I owe you an email!" I'm glad to have gotten that out of the way, but I sense that I'll have to badger my referees over the next six weeks to make sure the letters are actually in on time. I suggest those of you who can make use of a professor's office hours do so -- often they'll read the email and simply forget that they didn't reply.
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This might have been covered on another thread, but I thought I'd get some advice from history folks.
How are you all managing your reference letters? Any best practices to recommend? Do you give each referee a package with your application materials and links to online application so they can input the letter? Is anyone using a dossier service?
I am temperamentally unsuited to asking people for favors. So I hate asking for reference letters, even though professors have been really nice and have offered to do it. I know many professors are happy to do it, but I still don't like asking for them. So, I just want to make the process as efficient and glitch-free for them as possible.
Any advice on managing / tracking / submitting letters would be appreciated!
I gave each referee a package - a sheet with the name of each school and its deadline, and a copy of my SOP, transcript, CV and writing sample. My understanding is that with online applications, we'll have to register the name and email of each referee, and each will receive an email instructing them on how to upload their letters to the online application. So I've told each professor to expect those emails, and that I'll try to register their names on all of my applications on the same day (I'm aiming to finish all my applications by the second week of Nov), so they can receive all nine emails at the same time.
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Does your school have counseling services so you could speak to a professional about this? I hope you find good advice and support here, but the important thing is that you speak to a trained professional. I think you need to think of yourself right now and make your mental health and well-being a priority above all else, instead of worrying about letting others down.
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Disregard/ambivalence. I feel like there's nothing to support. They have no clear goals and are mostly just a spectacle. I was listening to the radio on my way to school this morning, and Dick Gregory was being interviewed. Here's an 80-year-old social activist who has lived through the civil rights movement and he basically, politely, described the movement as a bunch of spoiled white kids who desperately want to create some sort of 60s-70s type movement. He laughed at those who compare it to the civil rights movement, and cautions the group to try not to do so, because they don't know how good they really have it.
http://www.cbc.ca/th...y-dick-gregory/
I listened to the same interview on CBC, and that's not what he said at all. He said they could bring down the system, and when the interviewer asked "you think so?" he said, "I know so." What he said about the movement being white-dominated is to point out that it won't be the same as the 60s Civil Rights Movement (even though many of the Occupy WS activists think of it that way) because this is not a historically oppressed group demanding their rights, but people with "400 years of white privilege" who feel the system worked and has gotten worse, when black activists have held that it never worked to begin with. He also warned that the police response can't deal with young white people with the same violence it has unleashed on blacks and Hispanics.
- Two Espressos, runonsentence, awwdeerp and 3 others
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With GRE testing costs (took it twice, and spent quite a bit on study material), sending extra score reports, ordering and mailing transcripts, and the actual application fees for 9 schools, I'm looking at about $1500.
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What Sigaba just said. Remember Yale has hundreds and hundreds of applications for less than 15 spots. Is this book review worth the stress?
I'm not trying to discourage anyone from applying to Yale but just more of helping to think about where your priorities should lie in terms of creating a strong application for each school you apply, not just Yale and would the potential result could be if you just concentrated all of your time on Yale.
That is discouraging. I don't think trying to do a great job on Yale's application is a problem, and I wouldn't assume doing so would come at the expense of other applications.
- modern, Safferz and goldielocks
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For choosing a book for the book review: I asked myself "if I could have written any book, which one would it be?" So, if I wanted to study the American South, I would choose The Strange Career of Jim Crow. Since I want to study the Cold War, I obviously chose We Now Know (kidding--though the more I think about it, the more I think it could have made for somewhat fruitful review). I think choosing a book that looms large in the historiography of your field has its benefits, although you do risk sounding unoriginal. Also consider if your potential advisers at Yale have slightly different interests than your potential advisers elsewhere. It could be beneficial to tailor your book review to their specific research and teaching interests.
I briefly flirted with the idea of writing about Marc Bloch or EH Carr, but thankfully decided against it.
Great advice! I'm going to review Susan Geiger's 'TANU Women: Gender and Culture in the Making of Tanganyikan Nationalism, 1955-65'. My research interests relate to women/gender and African anticolonial nationalisms, and Geiger's interventions in the historiography of African nationalism, as well as her theoretical approaches to gender and nationalism, shaped my thinking about the subject more than any other work I've read. I plan to read it again before writing my review.
Safferz, congrats on finishing the SOP draft. I keep scratching mine and starting over. It's frustrating. I also have to do the book review... Yale?
I had the worst SOP-writing anxiety before actually starting it, since I was so overwhelmed by the thought of beginning a task that would likely carry the most weight in my application. I think the key is to just do it and start writing, even if what you have isn't great at first. Break through the paralysis! The earlier you start, the more time you'll have to review and revise. It also helped that I promised my referees a draft to look at by mid-Oct, so the pressure of having a deadline certainly forced me to get to work.
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I've gotten the first draft of my SOP out of the way, and I'm feeling great about it. I'm now working on editing my 27 page writing sample down to 20, a conference paper due in under three weeks (gah!), and a few additional assignments for certain applications (a personal history statement, and a book review). I'm trying to balance this all with a full course load, but applications are my priority right now. I'm bracing myself for the hellish 6-7 weeks ahead.
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I'm in the same situation for two of my references, which is odd considering how responsive these professors are with emails. But I know it's easy for emails to get buried during a busy semester, so I'm planning to drop in during office hours this week.
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It let me register an account, but still says it won't open until "early fall". I've been checking it obsessively every day so I can get my application started. I don't know if the department/college/division effects it, but I'm doing Art History.
Same. I wonder if that means we've registered accounts for the previous cycle, and will have to create new accounts when the application is available.
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I'm with you, goldielocks! I'm also working on (err, starting) a conference paper for mid-November, taking a full course load and working on applications. I only started my SOP this week because I was so overwhelmed by the thought of it, but writing *something* has gotten me through the paralysis and I'm actually quite excited about what I have so far. I'm planning to contact professors over the next week, which is something I've also put off. I've been in a bit of a rut since taking the GRE just before classes started, but with deadlines around the corner, I'm back into the swing of things.
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I'm having some serious SOP-writing anxiety. I MUST get my first draft done this week, so my letter writers have something to look at. I've been thinking about it for months, but I'm feeling so overwhelmed by the task that I haven't written a single word yet.
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Most of the applications I've seen ask for no more than 1000 words, while a few have 500 word limits. If the history department doesn't specify a length, usually you'll find some information about it on the graduate school's website IME.
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University of Michigan-Ann Arbor is one of the top schools for African history, so I'm a bit disappointed to hear I can't apply there. Most schools also take 1-2 students in the field, while Michigan took 5 for fall 2011. So needless to say, I'm a bit anxious now that they're crossed off my list, especially when the other schools I've found to 'fit' are quite ambitious on my part. But it's a bit of a crapshoot, right?
Well, folks... I take the GRE Monday. I have to say: I feel grossly under-prepared. But between a myriad of health problems, two conferences, coursework, the thesis, and the rest of the application business... I just want to get it over with.
Anyone else taking the exam soon?
Best of luck! I found going in with the "f*ck it, I just need to get this done" mindset was quite helpful, actually.
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Just a heads up -- I got an email from the director of graduate studies at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and she said that they've decided to suspend admissions for one year, because they had twice as many students accept their offer last year than anticipated. They won't review any applications for fall 2012, but their joint programs (with classical studies, women and gender studies, and anthropology) will.
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What are you interested in studying within history of gender? The awesome thing about women's history, after all, is that there have pretty much always been women.
Political, legal, intellectual, economic history? What region, what era sets your soul on fire? History academia works according to geographical and occasionally chronological divisions; you don't, typically, get a job in "women's history," but you might get a job in Latin American history, having written your dissertation on women in labor movements in 20th century Guatemala. Graduate programs tend to categorize students and, by extension, applicants, similarly.Agreed. I'm also in History and Women & Gender Studies, but I will be applying to history programs as an Africanist interested in questions of gender.
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Great thread! I absolutely must have the first draft of my SOP completed by the last week of September, since I'd like to include it in an email to my letter writers along with my finalized list of schools. It's really stressful knowing this task is likely the most important part of my application.
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I'm also worrying and haven't even submitted any apps yet. What do you think we're all worried about? Possible rejections? Or having to wait several months to find anything out? What's on your minds?
I find the entire process terrifying. I think it's because I believe I'm a competitive candidate, but I only have so much time (and space, given the word limits) to put together a great application that will convince a committee who doesn't know me that they want me in their program. It's a lot of pressure to put on yourself, and once you throw in occassional feelings of self-doubt and "wtf am I doing applying for a Ph.D??" moments, you can see we have some pretty difficult months ahead of us. I've given myself one week to hammer out the first draft of my statement of purpose, and I'm absolutely dreading the task.
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I'm taking the GRE again (I took it in 2008) and I've been having some of the same concerns. It seems like adcoms might view the two scores as comparing apples and oranges... I've been wondering how to address this in my statement of purpose. Any suggestions?
I wouldn't waste any space on the SOP to address the GRE! Here's what ETS has to say about comparing scores:
"How will institutions compare scores on the GRE General Test administered prior to August with scores on GRE revised General Test?
Since GRE scores are valid for five years, it is likely that schools will receive applications with one of three score scenarios: scores based on the new score scale, scores based on the prior scale and scores based on both scales.
As part of the transition effort, the GRE program is providing institutions with concordance information to help bridge scores from the previous score scale (200 – 800) to the revised score scale (130 – 170). The concordance information is designed to help institutions compare scores on the GRE General Test administered prior to August 2011 with scores received on the GRE revised General Test. This new information will be available to institutions in November 2011 after the completion of statistical analyses required for transition to the new score scale.
Concordance information will also be included on your GRE revised General Test score report."
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hey, could you help me out understand this revised gre? i think the hardest parts of verbal part have been removed from the test. right? as far as i am concerned, it is possible to choose one of two types of gre now: revised computer based and revised paper test. can you say that revised version is easier than the old one? which one do you recommend to take? what kind of study strategy helped you get such high scores from the verbal? which word list did it work for you the most? in fact, i do not worry much about the quantiative section because i majored economics and am pretty familiar to those basic math stuff. but the problem is the verbal section is more important to a history phd applicant. and one thing more, you are talking about 600's and 700's, but isn't this new one on a 130-170 score scale? or perhaps it is still possible to take the old one?
thanks in advance.
Hi Orient,
The only test available as of August 1st is the revised GRE. Until November, the score you'll receive at the end of the revised GRE will be a 100-point range in the old score format.
I would say the verbal section is much easier now (for native speakers of English, at least), since it no longer rewards memorization and emphasizes context and comprehension. You still need to have a large vocabulary to do well, but since you're asked to complete fill in the blank sentences and analyze passages, if you have a strong grasp of the English language, you can often figure out words from context and make good guesses.
One book I'd recommend is the Kaplan Revised GRE Verbal Workbook (I also used their math workbook, and would have done a lot worse on the quant if I hadn't!). Both workbooks are structured the same way - 30 practice questions for each type of question on the GRE (sentence completion, sentence equivalence, reading comprehension), and six 20-question practice sections so you can time yourself. Although most books no longer include word lists, I think it's still important to get familiar with high frequency words from the old GRE, since they still come up on the new test. The Kaplan workbook includes a high frequency word list.
That's pretty much it. It's important to remember that the GRE is really testing your ability to take the GRE more than anything else, so practice as much as you can to get familar with GRE question types, and make sure to take several full length practice tests to get used to the test before you sit down for the real thing. I think practice tests are crucial, especially for those who are not great test-takers and get anxious about it. PowerPrep is available on the ETS website, and Manhattan GRE has free practice test as well. I also used the Barron's CD that came with the New GRE book, which includes two tests.
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Oh, Safferz, I understand your pain. I know what I got at the end (not that they let you easily write down that information and take it with you out of the testing room) but I want to know the real score! Ah, I have signed up for a retake on the 4th of Nov (not happy with my math score, though I know it really doesn't matter for History) just to be safe. But I don't think that really matters, either, because the old scores won't come out until the 8th or 9th. I didn't realize that until *after* I had scheduled for the 4th. Meh. I just ranted about this elsewhere and then read this post, so I'm sorry guys if I am double-ranting...but I had to! :0)
On a good note, I asked my favorite professor if she would write me an LoR and she said of course. :0) She asked after my GRE scores and I told her (690-790 on verbal/crap on math) and she said I should not worry even though I don't know the exact score on the new scale.
Ahhhh stress!
Your verbal score is higher than mine, actually -- I ended up with 640-740 verbal, which I'm happy with. I don't like my math score either, but I don't think I could do any better on it (my quant score on the old GRE is at the bottom of the range I received) and I don't think it matters much anyway. There are more important aspects of your application, so if your verbal scores are good (and composite score is decent, since that may matter to some programs), I wouldn't waste any more time thinking about it.
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Kaplan's GRE Math workbook is quite good. It goes over the types of questions on the GRE with practice questions for each (10 basic, 10 intermediate, 10 advanced) and includes six 30-question GRE math sections so you can time yourself once you're comfortable with the problems. The other half of the book is a detailed math review section which covers every concept you'll need for the GRE.
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I'm applying for Public Policy and International Relations programs. I was lucky with my score as I only studied for about 4 weeks so I think with more time to do so, I can get even better scores. I think my LOR can definitely be better. I am contacting the same professors but with more work experience and having two articles published in the past year as well as being a regular contributor to an online newspaper, my app is looking stronger already. Other things are out of my control really. My PS is good (if I say so myself!) so the GRE score is the one I am aiming for.
Why do you feel your GRE scores need improvement? The GRE is not as significant as you seem to believe, and your energy is better spent refining the aspects of your application that do matter, like others have suggested.
I absolutely bombed the GRE :(
in GRE/GMAT/etc
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You did not bomb or flunk the GRE.