borderlands

Get professors from your history department to write you a letters of recommendation. They need to be familiar with your work! Preferebly someone whom you have taken a seminar with that included a significant writing project or that you have written a thesis under his/ her supervision. Anything less than this can hurt your chances of getting into a good program. Try to secure at least four letters of recommendation. Ask for three academic letters and one recommender who can speak to your teaching skills/ experience-- some graduate programs (Berkeley, Stanford to name a few) like this because its what most students do after the Ph.D. But one should be enough, do not compromise your ability to do research/write for teaching--or you will end up selling yourself short. If the online application allows for four applications then submit all four.

I'm no expert in the field of linguistics but funding should be taken into serious consideration, as well as your girlfriend if both of you are moving towards marriage. While UC Santa Barbara shows promise it is limited in its resources as far as funding and limiting your research with a bind to TA. Also one cannot take serious empty promises of future funding that is not written. UC system, in general, is known for exploiting its graduate students--while you may be getting teaching experience there is a thin line between getting experience and being taken advantage of. How many courses would you have to TA for? What is the typical average class size? Ask for feedback from current graduate students how they handle teaching assistantships and doing research. Another cost to calculate would be travel costs. Also how would the relationship work in far distance? These are the kind of questions only you and your significant other can figure out. I would go where the funding is at but that depends on what you are planning to do with your degree. If Santa Barbara offers more opportunities are you willing to take the risk of limited funding?

While having an advisor who is known in your field of interest is great it is not necessary. In fact, there are great scholars who did not have faculty in their dissertation committee who are specialists in their fields of study. Interests change and it is not completely unheard of a graduate student applying interested in something and realizes their second year they are interested in something else. Of course, when applying one looks for ideal advisors in such and such specialty, but one should also look for support even if it's outside of their knowledge. I have had faculty who is outside my historical subfield supervise my thesis simply because there was no one else doing that kind of work. This can be rewarding as well as frustrating, at certain points, because one can't turn to an advisor for specific questions. But in regards to the historical field the objectives are the same and one can engage with professors outside of one's department to other history departments as well as conferences. I would look into the department as a whole and ask: if I were to change my research interest would I still go to this university for the next five to seven years? I look for supportive faculty, even those outside my subfield in history, as well as fellow students I can share my work with.

That's an interesting question. I also saw two bedroom apts have much larger rooms and kitchens plus a living room. I'm willing to share the space but the question is do we have to find another university student to move in with us? Or is it just a two person lease each paying their own share??

I think I'll probably be heading out to Chicago in mid-August before school starts. From what I have gathered from the university visit earlier this month the graduate student housing option is quite good and for a competitive price. Initial deposit of $300 which is deducted from the first months rent. Also one can move in a quarter before school starts. I need to be doing research in archives outside of Chicago during the first summer so this is a good option for me; not having to bind to a contract for the summer or worry about sub-leasing an apt. Is any one else considering the university's graduate housing? any comments or thoughts?

@ Herodotus. I'm interested in knowing what you are thinking of working on. I can tell you a little more about the professors you've mentioned since I know some of them quite well. DeLay is a great professor to work with, he is relatively young (compared to most professorial standards) and highly talented. He was one of my letter of recommendation writers and was very supportive. He is giving a talk at SMU on April 2, 2011, http://smu.edu/swcenter/ContestedSpacesEarlyAmerica.htm Its kind of like a who is who in U.S. Southwest borderlands with some early Americanists. Martin Waldo is also a great cultural and social historian. Known for being supportive but his ideas differ from David Hollinger who is on the post-racial America. Hollinger is a great professor whom getting a recommendation from him will take you to far places but there is are some differences between him and Waldo. Kerwin Klein, as you know, focuses on more historigraphical issues in history from the frontier and imagination; to his to be released book focusing on history and theory, a critique of historians engaging with questions of memory and its dangers. Candida Smith is just up the alley from Klein although his focus is more on oral history and Western/ California artists. Brilliant is a great lecturer who's interest are in modern U.S. history but he does deal with issues of race and inequality but more from a social and law perspective. He is also comparatively young and supportive of graduate students. Rebecca McLennan focuses more on the rise and use of prisons although does not really have an interest in race also she is very busy writing and on high demand. She has slowed down a bit after recovering from a heart attack. I'm interested in knowing what your research interests are in U.S. southwest borderlands.

I'm also kind of in the same boat. Rejecting a graduate program after one has met the faculty, as well as the graduate students, and one has continued to be in contact with them can be hard. National rankings as well as funding has made one school more attractive than the other. I feel I have a better connection with faculty at the lesser ranked and funded graduate program although both are great schools. This latter program is really exited about the prospect of me attending their school and more than one professor in the program has contacted my undergraduate advisor--all of this, for me to simply say "I'm sorry but rankings and more funding does matter" . . .

There are a couple of things you have to take into consideration particularly the cost vs. what you eventually want to do with that degree. How much is the cost for an M.A. at NYU? + the cost of living How much would you have to pay for an M.A. at Chicago? + cost of living It is hard to make a decision where you are going to be at for the next one to possibly two years without visiting the campus and getting a feel for what it is like being a student there. I would try to get in contact via email with the faculty as well as graduate students in these programs. If you are leaning more towards journalism and building a network I would go to NYU. Chicago's program seems much more academic oriented with the Latin American Studies MA.

@Herodotus The question: What makes you say I'd get more faculty support at Harvard? Do mean a simple comparison of resources, which are clearly deeper at Harvard? The way the Berkeley program is structured has its benefits as well as not so great things. A graduate student is admitted without having an "official" direct advisor. Graduate students are expected to be after professors rather than them guiding you. Although a relationship tends to build from taking courses and what not. I do not mean to discourage you from attending Berkeley. After all, I was just an undergrad at this institution so it might be different at a graduate level. From my experience if one is not after professors scheduling meetings for advising they could care less about how your research is going because they have so many other students and are trying to write as much as they can. The genuine care about teaching was not there, at least, from my experience. As far as resources they are some but like I said it's a public institution meaning that outside of the history department resources are scarce. Berkeley spends a lot in its buildings but little for human resources at libraries (cutting hours) and other administration offices. If you come from a private institution this is going to be a big change but if you come from a public university then it probably would not be any different. Frankly, after being at a great public university, like Berkeley, having to wait in line for an hour to get the attention from the financial aid office or another offices/ services on campus has left me a sour taste. Seeing the personal attention private university students gets makes me jealous that the professor actually cares whether I learn or not and not just getting the "I do great research that's why I'm here; I really do not care about teaching". I think I may be giving Berkeley a bad rep but if you know what you are after and are able to find great faculty support I'm sure you'll do great. Would you be more happier at berkeley than Harvard? If you want to have a life outside of berkeley I think it's definitely do able, not just family wise, there are a lot of opportunities and things to do in San Francisco and Oakland. Public transportation is arguably one of the best in the country with the BART system. Also opportunities to teach in the community college system to make some extra cash and experience. There is definitely plentiful of grants and fellowships available solely to UC graduate students. It definitely has its positives.

What makes an applicant competitive? I believe there are a couple things that answer this question beyond your letter of rec. writer knowing so and so and he/ she is a great friend of mine. Even if your professor knows another professor in the admission committee it does not guarantee you admission in any way. Curriculum Vitae is one of ways to measure "competitiveness" for graduate school and professorships. Particularly, for inquiries of previous research, presentations, conferences and publications. Anyone of these, while applying to graduate school, can give you a leg-up from other applicants. Quality of the research sample. Can the applicant write well? Engage with historiographical arguments and make a significant contribution to the field while using primary sources from archives. Straw of luck. Admissions committee is looking for so many in such and such field or possibly no one in that field for various reasons; including retiring faculty, tenure denial to a professor in that area, more admits from a field accepted than expected last year. Also, funding, the most hard hit right now are state schools. As one can see multiple things go into selecting an applicant rather than simply someone in the admissions committee knowing someone, however, it is not unusual because the history profession is indeed a small world. None of my letter of recommendation writers knew anyone at U of Chicago where I was admitted although they had certainly heard of them and know their research. The real question should be: what can I do to make my application stronger for the next admission's cycle. Others in this forum have made plentiful of suggestions to this concern.

It seems as though you are leaning more towards Harvard than Berkeley; the doubt stems from rankings that place Berkeley higher than Harvard. I can speak more of Berkeley than about Harvard. Both have excellent library resources, use the semester system, expensive places to live near by, and have excellent faculty. I say go with the school that you feel would give the most personal intellectual and financial support. Berkeley is a great place that is intellectual and politically active in social issues. More recently, the budget cuts UC system, tuition hikes, increasing out of state students-- looking more and more like the U of Michigan finacial composition. Berkeley will continue to live up to its reputation even if it means privatizing the university. History department is largely insulated from cuts. While other departments have had to cut staff and not replace retiring faculty, the history department has denied tenure to professors who do not perform up to par (this is why no Latin American emphasis students were accepted this year and why eight graduate students were left as orphans), it has hired at least three other faculty members in the last two years. Gender balanced more towards women--at the faculty level. Berkeley also has a reputation of having graduate students guiding their own research. This is both good and bad depending upon your preference. I'd say go where you will have the most faculty support and I think that is at Harvard.

I am also on the waitlist at the U of Michigan and wished that I would have gotten a simple yes/no answer. I think waitlists can be a "false hope" do not get me wrong, people have been accepted with funding off the waitlist, as seen in the results page, from past years, however most just get turned down. I emailed U of Michigan last week to asking how the waitlist works and they still have not gotten back to me. I just feel like sending them an email to tell them i'm no longer interested.

Also, don't feel like you have to answer each and every question. A lot of times when one is presenting at conferences that are interdiciplinary good questions will emerge that are out of the scope of your research, and sometimes disciplinary battles do emerge, but avoid answering charged questions with a simple "out of my research question" answer.

If I may add my two cents from applying this year I would also suggest a couple things: Contact professors you are interested in working with even if you are afraid that they won't respond or are too busy. Why? Sometimes they can let you know important information e.g. we are not accepting any students in ____ subfield Get ideally four to five professors to commit to writting letters of rec. You do not want to be rejected simply because a professor was too busy or bailed out on you last minute. It also helps to alternate recommenders, if only 3 letters of rec. are allowed, or use all four recommenders. Do not simply apply to all the top programs in your field. Make sure to include mid-level programs (4 ideal; 3 realistic; 3 "safety") I put safety in quotation marks because realistically there is no such thing as a safety school. Graduate school is really competitive and continues being as such when applying for fellowships and eventually the professorial job market. I also agree with TransnatinalHistory that one should apply everywhere without regard to questions of funding. UCLA is noctorious for admitting graduate students without funding but every year funding changes. Also there are fellowships that one can receive competitively from the graduate college. Apply for your own funding! Just to name a few: Ford Pre-Doctoral Fellowships, Jacob K. Javits Fellowship, there are also others. Note these programs have deadlines before graduate school application deadlines, ask for letters of support early. While winning these fellowships does not guarantee one a spot in a graduate program; own funding can be an incentive for a program to admit you. If the program is allowed since some schools do have a cap on number of admits. Funding makes you that much more attractive.

@ "The Dudester" As far as I know Alan Taylor is not planning on leaving UC Davis anytime soon. I'm referring to another professor in the history department. It is not unusual for professors to apply for other jobs in order to negotiate a higher salary at a university with the dean. In most cases if they like the department they will stay-- it's just a bargaining tool-- also most have families so it is not just a simple decision to leave because a better offer opened up elsewhere. I'm leaning more towards one university and by early April i will make a decision to open up space for someone else to be admitted or be offered higher funding.

Funding varies from one institution to another, largely private vs. public state school, also how well the history department is funded and established, in general. For example Berkeley's history department is better funded than other UC's history department. If a school accepts you with more funding than another and they really want you they will offer more funding and perks like not teaching first and second years. A lot of in state schools also require that graduate students do readerships/ teaching assistant to get tuition exceptions. I was originally offered minimal financial support at Davis that included one readership for three quarters about 5k and 10k of additional support. When I told them about another institution's offer they raised their offer 7k and included no teaching for first year, also added summer funding of 2.5k for three years. Funding varies all across the board but it really depends on the resources it has at its disposal.

I applied to 7 schools; all History Ph.D. except for the last one: Harvard, U of Chicago, U of Michigan,UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC San Diego, Yale (American Studies) Rejected: Harvard, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Yale Wait listed: Michigan Accepted: U of Chicago (24k for 1st-2nd year no teaching; 21k for 3-5th year w/ teaching), UC Davis (19,500 1st year, no teaching; 17,500, 2-3rd year; 15,000 4-5th year + writing grants). Decision: Between Chicago and Davis; both of my ideal advisors are being recruited elsewhere I won't find out if they are leaving until early April.

I have not attended this particular "summer institute" but I would be worried about paying $900 or any other exuberant fee. It's hosted at UC Berkeley but beware of programs who profit heavily for 2-3 hour "star professor x" presentations, which is not uncommon. Particularly this from the 2006 summer institute "A daily schedule and reader are provided, with time allocated for practice with equipment, touring, fun. One evening is devoted to an oral history of California food and wine, including a wine tasting." This sounds more like a tourist activity to me. Also you have to worry about where you are going to stay unless you have a friend in Berkeley. Add food and hospitality that's at least another $600 + flight = too much unless you have two extra grand at hand. If you want to learn about oral history go to a real conference or ask an oral history professor.

I just got Yale's rejection letter from the American Studies. It feels better knowing.

After you log in it should be in the left top part. Right under the tab "Home" and before "Instructions" and it is right in between.

Is anyone else just waiting for one last school that seems to be taking its sweet time? I'm waiting for Yale's American studies program. Just say it. Do you want me or not because I'm not going to be waiting in vain. Are you waiting for any other schools?

I applied to just one interdiciplinary program and six history phd programs. And i was wondering if anyone else in this forum has not heard back from the American Studies program at Yale, either a rejection or acceptance?

Log into http://apply.embark.com/grad/UCDavis/ Check under the tab "View Messages"

I also just got the news from U of Michigan and I'm on the waitlist. I'm just waiting for the American Studies at Yale, which looks like a rejection. Then, decision time.

Anyone heading to the U of Chicago?