thedig13

So, basically, here it is. I currently go to a decent (but not great) school as an undergrad. On US News & World Report's rankings, it's ranked between 75 and 100. If I want to be a competitive applicant to a top-tier graduate school (i.e.: Columbia, Brown, Northwestern, Berkeley, maybe Stanford if the powers-that-be shine upon me), should I transfer to a higher-ranked school for my undergrad studies? I've heard it both ways: yes, where you went to undergrad matters, and, no, it doesn't really matter as long as your GPA/GRE/experience/LORs are legit. My primary concern is that, if I transfer to a more competitive school, my GPA might drop a bit. Some advice, input, pearls of wisdom, stories about your own paths to grad school would be great here.

How would I do that? Can you give me an example of how I would approach that?

So, do you think the Blood Diamond Trade in Sierra Leone with the RUF is fair game? Or should I focus more on, say, the Weather Underground Organization of the late 1960s?

I'm just wondering, because some of my "historical" interests involve pretty recent events and parties. For example, the Blood Diamond Trade in Sierra Leone, the cyber-activism group Anonymous, the martyrdom of Khaled Said, the Rodney King Riots, etc. Where, exactly, does a prospective paper stop becoming "front page news" and start becoming a "historical" research?

At the same time, my response to that would be that "German" isn't just a modifier. If an individual identifies himself/herself as BOTH German and American, why does one have to be the noun and the other have to be the modifier? Wouldn't a hyphen imply that the person values both components of his/her ethnic background equally? For example, a "student" and "athlete" are both nouns, and an individual who is both a competitive athlete and a scholar is referred to as a "student-athlete." Wouldn't the lack of a hyphen imply that the individual was a student of athletics, or somebody who (somehow) applied athletics to his or her studies as a student?

Recently, I got into a discussion with a friend as to whether or not it was proper to use hyphenations in ethnicities in formal writing. He argued that ethnicities -- even ones indicating foreign ancestry -- should be written without a hyphen (i.e.: Irish American, African American, Vietnamese American). However, I feel that it's perfectly fine to write an ethnicity with a hyphen (i.e.: Chinese-American, Japanese-American). After doing some research (mostly on Wikipedia, which isn't a very valid source, but still...), I found that there is some historical background of racism against individuals who identify themselves as "German-American" rather than "German American." Also, while Wikipedia's article on Asian-Americans is titled "Asian Americans" (without hyphen) and its article on African-Americans is titled "African Americans" (again, without hyphen), it typically lists historical events centering around a specific ethnicity (i.e.: African-American Civil Rights Movement, Japanese-American Internment) with a hyphen. Then again, this is all Wikipedia, so it's probably not the most reliable source ever. Basically, I'm confused. Seriously. I was hoping for some input here.

Yeah. I definitely think I'll go with being Americanist, largely because, ultimately, I want to be able to teach U.S. History, and I want my primary field exam to be on the U.S. Thanks for the help, guys.

The thing is, my primary interest is more about how U.S. consumer culture, politics, and attitudes play a role in the economies and development of those areas, rather than the history of those regions in and of themselves. Do you still think World History would serve me better than American History?

So, they don't mind if you use a dictionary for your translation exam at the MA level? Also, I'm probably going to be an Americanist focusing on the consequences of Cold War politics and consumer culture on the World as a whole. I was thinking maybe Russian so that I could analyze the politics of the Cold War from the perspective of the Soviet Union, and maybe French because I have a particular interest in America's role in the development of modern-day Algeria. One topic I've been juggling around in my head lately is the role of American consumerism on the rest of the World as seen through the blood diamond trade in Sierra Leone (a primarily-English-speaking nation). Does that make any difference?

I'm aware of the fact that most grad schools require you to know a relevant foreign language before you can get your MA. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard that grad schools are more likely to accept an applicant if they (already) have some familiarity with the language they intend to study. So, my question is this: if you never received any *formal* education in the foreign language (i.e. college courses), but you managed to learn some other way (i.e. private tutor), is this still something that you would be able to mention on an application, and is it something the grad school would acknowledge and take seriously? Or, should I not worry about that? If you've never taken any courses on a certain language before, how difficult is it to master the language to the extent necessary to quality for a MA? P.S. If it makes any different, I'm planning on either using French or Russian as my other language.

Hey, I'll be applying for grad school soon, and I'm planning to write my thesis on one of two things: 1) McCarthyism in the Cold War era, with particular emphasis on how it affected American cultural attitudes and thoughts, and the social and cultural counter-reactions to Cold War mentalities in the 1960s 2) Globalism, with emphasis on decolonization, the influence of Cold War politics on emerging nations, as well as American consumer culture's effect on the modern World at large. These are my primary interests in terms of history. Is this too broad for a statement of purpose/thesis? Also, can you recommend any particular professors/schools that specialize in either/both of these topics? Any other general advice, pearls of wisdom, or input would be appreciated. Thanks

Hey -- This isn't actually an answer to your question, but this program happens to be my top choice for grad school. Seriously. So, if you don't mind, can you disclose your GPA/GREs/qualifications/experience/concentrations/advice/etc.? I'd like to know exactly where I stand in terms of the other candidates for this program. PM me if you'd like. I'd seriously, seriously appreciate it. Thanks, man.

Thanks for all of this help. I would say that I'm particularly interested in decolonization, Cold War politics (both foreign and domestic), and modern American consumer culture, which all ties into the broad theme of 20th century globalism. I had a professor I was interested in, but he passed away about a year ago (Howard Zinn, BU). So right now, I'm not sure who I'd ask. Also, with respect to maintaining high GPAs, I'm not sure it'll be that hard. I imagine it'll get harder during my junior and senior years, but, at the moment, I'm balancing my free time and my homework time pretty well. Money isn't an issue for me. I don't mind, as long as I can keep food on the table for myself, and I can afford little pleasures in life. Paying for college isn't really an issue either, as my parents are M.D.s. But yeah. Do you guys know any professors who might be interested in working with me? (Again, my interests are globalism, decolonization, Cold War politics (both foreign and domestic), and consumer culture.) Thanks for all of your help.

All right. So, exactly how should I contact the professors I want to supervise me on my Master's work? Do I just e-mail them, and say "Hey, you're into colonialism and consumer culture, I'm into colonialism and consumer culture, will you help me out?" [Or a more formal statement to the same effect] Thanks for the help.

So, I'm thinking about going to grad school. I'm currently a double-major in History and Creative Writing at UC Riverside, second year. I have a 3.9 GPA (not sure if I'll be able to keep this up over the next few years), some decent work experience at a historical research center, and I've gotten a few honors and awards. If I go to grad school, I'm probably going to try to get a Master's in History and eventually become a history professor or a teacher at an elite-level secondary school at some point. I've been looking around, and some of the schools that've piqued my interest are Oxford University, Columbia University, NYU, BU, and University of Toronto. Am I shooting too high in terms of where I'm applying? Am I screwing myself over by even considering a Master's at all? Should I be studying something other than history? What can I do to improve my chances of getting in? Any advice on applying to grad schools? What kinds of GPAs and GRE scores and work experience do typical successful applicants to these schools have? What kinds of internships should I be looking for? Any input, insight, advice, tips, information, pearls of wisdom, etc. could be appreciated. Thanks.

So, I'm thinking about going to grad school. I'm currently a double-major in History and Creative Writing at UC Riverside, second year. I have a 3.9 GPA (although I'm not 100% sure I can keep up this level of performance), some decent work experience at a historical research center, and I've gotten a few honors and awards. If I go to grad school, I'm probably going to try to get a Master's in History and eventually become a history professor or a teacher at an elite-level secondary school at some point. I've been looking around, and some of the schools that've piqued my interest are Oxford University, Columbia University, NYU, BU, UC Irvine, UPenn and University of Toronto. Am I shooting too high in terms of where I'm applying? Am I screwing myself over by even considering a Master's at all? Should I be studying something other than history? What can I do to improve my chances of getting in? Any advice on applying to grad schools? What kinds of GPAs and GRE scores and work experience do typical successful applicants to these schools have? What kind of internships should I look up? Any input, insight, advice, tips, information, pearls of wisdom, etc. could be appreciated. Thanks.