Weepsie

Thanks. I know. I will be be getting down to those details mid October I'd say. I'm a bit in flux until my final result comes in. Still in the midst of investigating precisely where to apply. I'm applying to universities in both the US and Canada, and probably the UK but I'm familar with their system. I don't expect anyone to be an expert, and am more inclined to ask the advice of those who admit they are not,

I'm not too different to yourself. I have no particularly bad grades (no fails whatsoever at undergrad or postgrad), but some first year results for Classics and English were not brilliant (particularly the former which I dropped). I was a bit inconsistent, I could write a brilliant essay and then a subpar exam (though always preferred the essays). I lost interest in my MA thesis topic but m also very stubborn and committed to it, finishing what I started. A lot of this was due to geography. I am in Ireland and was writing about the importance of exploration and mapping of the Rocky Mountains in the early 19th century, so the near endless amounts of sources I needed were a few thousand miles away. I was having trouble motivating myself due to other concerns too, and was really not impressed with the content of my MA course (The research methods course was utterly terrible). I'm also doing an MLIS (just finished and awaiting results) and am expecting First Class Honours. I realised that I did the MA at the wrong time, and in the wrong place and maybe even the wrong MA as their was an American Studies MA that had far more scope, content and still allowed me to take all the history modules. I put it down to youthful naivety and will hopefully use the SoP to address all this. My biggest problem is getting to grips with the North American system which is a lot different to the system over here. New England Nat, if you wouldn't mind, I might have to get in touch about SoP, no worries if not.

The Postdoc has already said yes. Now where as i see where they are in a junior position, the postdoc in question has a better cv than some long serving professors. Their research output is a little bewildering and are fairly highly thought of. They're are also privy to all my results and as it's a relatively small department, they will have seen other work I've done. I'm fairly confident that all of my LOR will be good, as my results and efforts this year have been excellent (I can write a substandard thesis and still get first class honours such are the results so far). My supervisor is the head of the school too and is widely regarded as one of the leading minds in their particular field (though again that is not history). Thanks for all the innput. I infact got a response from the uni concerned earlier today, and they said it shouldn't be a problem. It's the SOP that I need to worry about mostly with them I think.

I could be wrong, but isn't the title of Professor somewhat different in North America than it is in UK & Ireland (I'm in Ireland). Here it is generally reserved for the head, or heads of the department (The history Dept has three or four professors, only one of whom was there when I was), whereas other staff are Dr. ...... It's

Thanks for the reply. Yes, they all have PhDs. One if a post-doc, one is teaching faculty and the last is a senior member of the department.

I was going through the application guidelines for one of the places I am most interested in, and as expected it had a note about needing 3 referees. It did state however that two of them should be from Professors of History. It is four years since I've complete my MA in History and at the time I only had three lecturers. One of these was not an historian so to speak, and the other was only there for a year. I've not kept in touch either with the other so I would not feel comfortable contacting them. As for my undgergraduate lecturers, a number of them have retired, and I know a number have also gone abroad. For the past year I have been studying for an MLIS, and all in all it's going rather well. I have already been guaranteed references from a number of lecturers and I expect them to be quite strong too. My problem is none of them are History professors, they are sociologists, information science, and similar. Should I expect this to be a problem, or should the strength of the recommendations be good enough. I would also be explaining in an SoP that I took a second masters after a number of years for the purpose of applying to a PHD as I wanted better results and to gain some better research skills (which the MLIS really did).

I have seen mention a couple of times of Universities that offer Dual PhD, ie Penn State offers the PhD in History with a few other subjects (Women's, Asian and Classical Studies I think). Are there many, or any at all that offer similar programmes. The Classics at Penn State would interest me having done it for a year as an undergrad, but dropped it as I could only do 2 subjects after first year, but I would prefer something that perhaps offered International Relations/Foreign Policy. i'm a gluton for punishment it seems.

I would always go with the place that I think suits me best. Rankings bring out pettiness and elitism in people. I would feel that those working towards PhDs now are those in a position to subvert the rankings in future. If you're willing to put the effort in, and your research is good then where you did it should be an afterthought surely, but alas that is not how it is.

Perhaps it was lucky Princeton was not on my radar.(Northwestern is also on the list) I'm trying to be realistic as possible, but as the Irish System is so different from the North American system, it's hard to gauge my grades. I'm on my second masters and providing my final project does not go badly (it's not going great, though not due to me and colleagues) I should have a first overall. Previously I have a 2.1 for MA and BA, so don't know how to address that in applications, particularly when I know I probably should have done better. I guess this is where the statement comes in, sell myself and my desire to do a doctorate.

I'm sorry for jumping on this, but I hate starting new threads when there are similar ones. I'm in a situation of wondering what schools to look at too. Coming from Ireland, I'm still slightly puzzled at the whole system. I will be applying to UBC I think, Madison and Chicago. They are the only ones I am sure of. I've never put much credence into rankings up to this point as I know plenty of people who have gone to what are considered lesser colleges here than others and have far better careers. I've seen what look like fantastic PhD programmes, really well structured and with good funding that I think I would have a good chance at getting in, but they are not in the great universities I suppose, or at least rankings wise despite having a good repuatation. I dislike a lot of the eilitism that surrounds it all. Are there any schools that I might not be aware of (remember I'm in Ireland) that have well thought of history depts., that might not be overly publicised. I'm US History (Mapping, Exploration, Trade, European perceptions) I'm currently finishing my second masters, and will be working in an academic library for the year so have some time to get myself a good GRE, polish my proposals and rememember my French.

I'm currently working in an academic library for the next year, having been studying librarianship for the past year. I'm fortunate enough to have worked in my National Library too for a year. Though not the same as a museum, there are plenty of worse ways to spend a year. I got to see some first edition Joyce, Yeats and Swift on a near daily basis.

No sorry, they are two distinct areas, either one I am happy to do and/ or have done research in. I should make it my life's work to find a link and become broken and dejected.

My back up plan is to go on a worldwide walkabout, though I'll be applying to UK unis too so I hope it'll be ok. Just need to get out of Ireland for a bit, if I can do that through studying all the better.

I have a deep dislike in all forms of standarised testing, though it's not that common in my neck of the woods. I've generally done fairly well in any I had to do, but they have always seemed unnessesary and have too much of a one size fits all. Now if there was a facility to explain and justify answers rather than selecting (A) as the best answer then that's okay, I can at least apply my own logic and then they would see some form of critical thinking, but instead its just marked by machines.

American History R_Escobar (20th century, American Indian), crazedandinfused (antebellum, intellectual), hopin'-n-prayin' (southern, religious), stevemcn (transnational), Simple Twist of Fate (early American), zb642 (20th century, labor/working-class culture), BCEmory08 (19th-20th century Catholicism, labor), irvinchiva10 (20th century, immigration/immigration reform) natsteel (early American political culture and intellectual history) unforth (19th century US political and military history, US Civil War) hbeels (colonial, early national, 19th century, transappalachain west, historical memory of these eras/areas) thedig13 (20th century U.S., culture and protest, African-American) Weepsie (North American Mapping, Exploration and Trade, Anti-Communism/Socialism in Interwar period, bit of a mixed bag) European HistoryKelkel (Modern Germany, political), goldielocks (Britain), SapperDaddy (Eastern and Central Europe), kotov (Modern Romania, Holocaust, labor), RevolutionBlues (Modern Western Europe/France labor and leftist politics), theregalrenegade (18th/19th cent British Empire/environment), jrah822 (19th century Britain; emphasis on colonial relationship to India), grlu0701 (Intellectual & cultural history,fin de siecle Germany and Italy), naturalog (modern European [mostly German] intellectual and cultural/sexuality and gender/political radicalism), runaway (Eastern/Central, memorialization & visual culture), Sequi001 (Modern France, gender and sexuality, colonialism/imperialism) Abetheh (19th/early 20th century Germany and France, religious politics vs secularization) African HistoryOseirus (precolonial/early colonial West Africa), Singwaya18 (20th century East Africa), Safferz (20th century Horn/Northeast Africa), The People's Scholar (Spanish colonialim in Africa- i.e. middle/West Africa) Jogatoronto (Psychiatry in early colonial West Africa) ronwill06(Social and political radical movements) Latin American HistoryCageFree (20th century, Southern Cone), BH-history, The People's Scholar (18th-19th century Colombia) StrangeLight (20th century Central America) East Asian Historyalleykat (Modern China) kyjin (Pre-Modern Japan) Near/Middle Eastern Historyuhohlemonster, (modern Israel, Iran, Palestine) oswic (modern Egypt, gender) Atlantic Worldsandyvanb crazedandinfused Global/World History cooperstreet (Cold War) melissarose8585 Jewish History [*]uhohlemonster, (modern Israel) [*]hopin'-n-'prayin, [*]kotov (Holocaust), [*]naturalog (sometimes modern European/Holocaust), [*]runaway (memorialization & visual culture), [*]ticklemepink (20th c. Germany/U.S) Science/Technology/Environment [*]shaxmaty1848 (Cold War) [*]StrangeLight (environmental history, ecological distribution conflicts) Social [*]annieca (Cold War and Post-Cold War East and Central Europe) Classical and Medieval [*]Hogs of War (Monastic Studies and Conflicts in Authority) Cultural [*]StrangeLight (gender, race, ethnicity, and religion) [*]hbeels (race/ethnicity, religious, masculinity/feminimity, print/literature) [*]crazedandinfused (race, nationalism, performance, rhetoric) [*]alleykat (religion, race/ethnicity, cultural relativism) Canadian History [*]truthfinder (New France, religious) [*]