maeisenb

It looks like according to last year (for whatever that's worth) the earliest they get back to people is at the end of February if not the middle of March.

I don't know the answer to either one of these, but if they are specific questions for particular schools I would wait until they provide some type of larger packet with regard to funding specifics or email/call the various departmental contacts to ask. Not saying that people might not know (such as NatSteel at Yale if I remember the name correctly who might know), just that those official sources will know the answer for sure and probably faster too.

Wanted to post here before I did in the forum so people don't ask questions there. I just got in to Princeton as well via an email from the graduate school. I hope for the best for everyone else.

I think you missed the point the OP was trying to make. While fellowships and scholarships would reduce the amount borrowed in the front end, they don't change the amount owed post graduate school. The 100k figure is probably too low anyway since it's tuition alone without cost of living, which could be low each year depending in how frugally you are ok living, but probably brings up the overall debt to around 140k. So say you get 40k in grants in fellowships then, you still owe 100k and the numbers are correct. But back to the real question: how much of this is self reported from HKS? Like all the law school stats that say you will make 140k your first year out and will definitely get a job, only those people who have a job and make that much report. (HKS breakdown says "those reporting employment.") So what is the "real" number? Plus your number would then seem to indicate that a "typical" HKS student who has the full debt requires employment at least at the federal government level to break even. Thus, it's probably not a good bet for someone who wants to work at a non-profit as the poster said. Two questions then: 1. Does an HKS degree require you to basically work in a coastal city (plus Chicago) or a state capital at minimum to break even? 2. How do these debt numbers compare to problems currently facing law school students (which the NY Times has brilliantly cataloged recently)? Better, worse, the same? Why or why not?

Ok, cool that narrows it down quite a bit then and this is assuming you want to go to MD (I can answer CU specific questions if you have those too). If you aren't concerned with getting into DC itself all that often to go out then the thing to do is to be somewhere north of the city. The building specifics should be very doable though I don't know particular ones, so I can't help with that, and the MD side is packed with malls and other complexes so that grocery stores shouldn't be an issue either, but that's something to check with specific buildings. But the next things to weigh will determine cost: 1. Proximity to a Metro line. If you're on the MD side then either off the red or green line. There are a lot of apartment buildings clustered right on the Metro lines so that people can walk to them and work downtown. They tend to be more expensive (in fact often times as expensive as complexes in DC itself). If you are ok with being a 5 minute drive or 15 minute walk then the cost reduces significantly. 2. Inside or outside the Beltway. College Park is outside the Beltway, so you can live outside of it, which also reduces the cost significantly. Most of the big apartment places also have parking lots/facilities so you should be fine in that sense. I wouldn't say that the whole Maryland side is run down at all, as it depends per neighborhood. Maybe the stuff that they usually rent to undergrads is, but there are a lot of nice places in the surrounding areas so take a look at them for sure. Anyway, fire away with any other questions...

It depends what your goals are, so maybe you can post those or feel free to message me. If you want to be able to go out in DC in terms of nightlife, having a good time, etc., then there are very different neighborhoods than if you want to be near one of those two schools. The general rule is that off the Metro line is cheaper than on, but, again, that will come down to if you want to go out in DC or not. Nothing should really be an hour commute to either of those places if you are on a Metro line, unless you want to live in Virginia, which I wouldn't suggest at all. (For example from say Columbia Heights to College Park is probably 30 minutes and it's about the same by bus or Metro to Catholic) The area around Catholic will be cheaper since it's not as nice as College Park as well, so that' something you have to decide on as well. As for prices, well it really depends on neighborhoods. But anywhere from 1200-2000 a month somewhere in DC would be about normal depending again on neighborhoods.

First time for me to post in awhile, but saw the UNC medieval history admit and wanted to say congrats since I know there are very few of us around here. I didn't apply myself, but just curious what you work on. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you want as well and congrats again!

Well to respond in reverse order your GPA is good, although increasing it is of course great. Study for and take your GRE this summer if you can as well. The key for anything medieval will be language preparation so make sure to keep working on or start Latin, French, German, and any other particular languages you might need. The more you can do the better. As for places, the best way to learn is to read articles and books by people whose work your really like and then see where they are working. So just read as you go along, then Google them to see where they are, if they work somewhere that takes students, etc. Also, if you want another year to strengthen your skills certainly take a look at some of the great medieval studies places in the UK as well.

The key question is: do you want to live in the suburbs, away from the metro line, and have a car or do you want to live in DC proper? Anything on the Orange line from Ballston inward (Virginia Sq, Clarendon, Courthouse) are just as expensive as something in DC, so keep that in mind. If you're going to be going to GW, and want to be on the blue/orange line look at Eastern Market or areas like that, which are cheaper and in the city itself. If you want to live in NW, then I would look at Columbia Heights, Mt. Pleasant or Petworth for places. The last places are all on the yellow/green line but are where younger people tend to live and are easy to get to Foggy Bottom via bus or metro.

I sent you a message with some thoughts.

The difference between ancient history and classics at some places can often be a divsion between those who do language and those who do history but within the same program so thus an application goes to the overall department - although that's a generalization and not always true. I doubt whether your MA would really hurt since it shows you know the languages. The only real impediment would be if you have no historical training at all. The real question is: what do you want to study exactly? And, once you know that, apply to programs that have people who do that.

Just a few quick thoughts, but as TMP said above, no one can tell you exactly what will happen, even though your stats (GPA, honors, etc) are great. Your languages are also quite extensive and should really prepare you quite well. That being said, the key will be to determine what exactly you want to work on in the early medieval/late antique world and how you want to position yourself. Most importantly, do you see yourself as teaching medieval history (i.e. survey courses going up to 1500) and thus in a history department or teaching more classical world stuff (e.g. languages and/or Roman history) and thus in classics. While late antiquity obviously falls into that classic gap between the two periods, the program you get your PhD will determine how you aim your applications and what you end up teaching in the end. Also, what specifically do you want to work on area wise? Do you want to do stuff with North African religious history (e.g. Donatist) or more broadly on say Arianism in the west? If you want further thoughts on this and specific ideas on places or people and how they seem to approach, feel free to shoot me a message as well. As I said though, just some initial thoughts.

The two main issues that were explained to me were: 1. Lack of teaching possibilities. Some UK places do let you TA or provide other teaching arrangements, but they aren't as common or required as in many US schools, so that puts you at a disadvantage. Even if you do get to teach, it's often only for 1 year at best, since most PhDs are 3 years. 2. Networking possibilities are reduced. Like any job, it's often who you meet (often times by chance) that help you out. So if you are presenting at regional conferences or something like that then you are obviously more likely to meet people teaching in the UK than those who might be in the US if you want to teach in the US.

They are pretty tough to get from the institutions themselves, since they have very few of them to begin with and most are restricted to UK or EU students. You can apply for some outside funded organizations (e.g. Fulbright) or sometimes there might be internal awards (e.g. college ones at Oxford or Cambridge or departmental awards). Most of the internal ones at best only cover tuition though, not cost of living so you need to calculate that as well. That being said, one year at a place in the UK including cost of living can often be about the same as one year (of two) in tuition alone at US MA institutions.

It depends on the size of the program, but it can be pretty fast if you aren't looking for funding and the program isn't huge. There often isn't a committee looking at applications, but just 1-2 people. So in other words, it depends, but it's not uncommon.

Have you thought about working in DC? You can probably work for a bunch of places that do stuff in that field without a PhD.

I've read the history forum recently, but refrained from commenting (per StrangeLight's views on the matter) since things will arrive when they arrive, the Penn one seems a bit odd considering that it says the person got an interview offer on Dec 15. Not saying it's made up, but just that applications to Penn were due on that day, so seems a bit unlikely...

I will admit to not knowing CEU very well but after doing a brief search of their website they seem to have a bunch of people who focus on late antiquity in the east, if that's something you are particularly interested in. That being said, if you want to go back to the UK and get PhD funding you're probably still better off doing an MA at Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, King's College London, SOAS, etc. since they are more well known in the field especially in the UK. Also, if you're a UK resident the number of funded places for MA programs is not particularly high, but there are some. Finally, consider the cost of moving to Budapest in any calculations. If you have more specific questions about particular UK programs, I do know some of them well, so feel free to send me a message.

Send it to me in a PM if you still need someone.

You should be fine, although the biggest problem you'll have will be securing any funding. UCL (and LSE, KCL, Oxford, and Cambridge) will all be very familiar with Americans applying and what grades and such equate to (i.e. 2.1 in England means 3.whatever in the US). If you are doing some type of MA over there, then your chances are probably pretty decent, since you will most likely have to pay non-European fees (i.e. much higher), but that also means you only have to do 1 year instead of 2 for the cost of about half a year tuition in an MA program here. For a PhD, your biggest problem will be funding and coming back to the US if you want to teach eventually.

It's going to be quite different from Texas, but then again, if you are going to be in LA, that will probably also be quite different from Texas. As Spriteling noted, the biggest change will be to use their amazing public transportation system (buses, tube, trains, etc.) and to really walk places and explore different neighborhoods rather than driving everywhere. In terms of weather, it rarely ever gets cold, but rarely gets really hot as well - just something in between with rain once a day, so keep that in mind. It's a great city with a lot of cool places to visit, especially in the countryside nearby. One thing to also keep in mind is that school wise it's also quite different in that you will probably have 1 exam or at most 1 paper and 1 exam and a lot less teaching than you're used to. So nowhere near the contact hours that the US system has.

I would think a strong writing sample might show that you have the necessary skills to do in depth research, so that could somewhat offset not having done a thesis, especially if it was from one of your classes that's in your field. That combined with a strong SOP showing you know your field really well couldn't hurt. As remenis said, you might want to look at some MA programs (abroad maybe as well?) if you don't do as well as you would like this round, since it would probably help your chances should you choose to apply again.

Well what do you want to do career wise?

You could add in conference presentations or independent primary source based research papers that you did as well...

Do whatever works best for you and doesn't look terrible. If you've ever worked somewhere lower on the totem pole and had to open mail, then I'm you probably spent very little time staring at the package and probably just opened it, threw out the packaging part, and placed it in the appropriate pile. If they receive 100+ applications, they don't have time to look at packaging and, who's to say that the person who opens all of them reads them anyway.