_wanderlust

Wasn't planning on it.

It's so good to see that I'm not the only Fall 2012 applicant already thinking about this! I'm graduating with my BA in history this May and I'll be applying to PhD programs this fall for Fall 2012 admission. There was no way I was going to be able to put time away to ace the GREs while working on my BA degree and working two jobs. :-/ My interests are intellectual history, US history in a transnational context, Progressivism in the United States... and I'm also interested in resistance to totalitarian regimes (as one of my professors says, "That will be your second book.") It's cool to see that there's a great diversity of interests in this forum. Anyways... GRE stuff... Are you guys going to be taking the old GRE or the new GRE? I'm hesitant to take the new GRE... being allowed to use a calculator means that the math is probably harder.

Thanks everybody. It means a lot that you took time to respond and deal with my post. I'm really not sure if anybody else can relate to this, but I just feel absolutely drained after going through all of the information for one school. I keep a folder for every school that I'm semi-interested in on my computer. I have a word document where I list financial aid information, application information, etc., and then I keep another word document with a list of the faculty I'm interested in, recent PhD publications from the department, etc. I'm try and download a few of the supplementary or recommendation forms so I can have everything I need in one place. I'll do this one school at a time. Seriously, though, if I try and do more than one school over two or three days, I get depressed. I get bogged down by information. I'm not sure if I'm the only one that finds this whole process really draining, but one thing I've definitely learned is that this is a process. It can't all be done at once, and this is something that I basically just realized this past week.

I just want to thank all of you who have posted this advice. It means a lot and it's incredibly helpful.

I've wanted to get a PhD in history ever since I was 12. This may be a sign that I am not sane. (Then again, after lurking on here for quite a while, that would put a whole slew of us in the same category.) I'm graduating in May 2011 with a BA in history from a top 30 public university. I'm really confident about my personal recommendations and my writing sample. The statement of purpose doesn't scare me. I can make it compelling. I've wanted this for a long time. Seriously, though, I'm really worried that my GPA and my academic history will close a few doors in my face. Academic history: Did one year of a program at a well-ranked school in the United Kingdom. I got pretty good grades; this was the first year of an honors history program. For financial reasons, I transferred to a public university in my state after one year. I also took three classes at a community college to save money and fulfill three gen-ed requirements. I haven't taken the GREs yet but I'm basically devoting the entire month of May to this endeavor. Gotta kick some math ass, y'know? GPA: cGPA upon graduation is going to be a 3.769. My GPA within my history major is going to be 3.933. Interests: The history of ideas/intellectual history. The Progressive Era in the United States. The place of the US within the world -- how American history fits into the big picture when considering the world and other important ideas (I love mixing it up and finding US influence in other countries and vice versa). Also totally random: resistance to fascist and totalitarian movements. Goal: PhD in US history. Considering an MA enroute to the PhD if I can't get into a desirable PhD program. The MA would hopefully be a one year MA. I'm toying with the idea of going in the UK for the MA program. Potential list of schools (for Fall 2012 admission): - University of Wisconsin-Madison (A girl can dream.) - Brandeis - Columbia - Northwestern (Probably my top choice. Love the program; love the professors; 2 of my 3 main referees have Northwestern PhDs and are quite adamant about me applying) - CUNY Graduate Center - UC-Irvine - NYU Masters: - Oxford - St. Andrews - Warwick - Durham - Cambridge Now, I'm not sure if you guys can relate -- but when I took a long hard look at that 3.769 and then looked at the transfers on my academic record, I just felt like a bunch of doors were potentially slammed in my face. I don't know if that's stupid or unreasonable, but maybe you guys have felt that before. I also get anxiety when I look at more than two schools per day. That also probably sounds really weird. I want this so bad, but the whole process of researching schools and applying is seriously giving me anxiety and upsetting me. During my year off, I'm hoping to further clean up my senior paper and get it published. I'm also hoping to get some more experience within history -- not sure how that is going to happen, but I'm asking around about some internships and the like. If anybody has any opinions, I would greatly appreciate them (honesty is awesome.) Are there programs that I should scratch off my potential list? Are there programs that you think I should definitely consider? My list is not at all comprehensive, as it's quite late and I'm currently procrastinating (avoiding my physics homework... yay for gen-eds...). (After reading through this post I'm pretty sure that what I just threw out there is 1/3 stream of consciousness, 1/3 mumbo jumbo, and 1/3 everything else.)