Chiqui74

Via my MA dissertation on 18c British Literature. I've always been interested in novels, then theory, and then slowly but surely interested in novels as historical documents. Thanks greenblatt in second year! 
 
I noticed that nobody had really worked on the topic of religion in the novels of Frances Burney before, despite lots of subtle references to English Catholicism and her pretty open mindedness towards the faith. Then when I was reading around, I noticed that there was a lot of evidence for toleration between English Catholics and their Protestant neighbours, especially at the tail end of the 18c. 
 
Despite this, there were still anti-Catholic riots, emancipation didn't pass till the 1820s... why? I'm arguing that there existed a split between cultural representations of Catholicism and everyday experience. The last decent social history of anti-catholicism was in '93, and models of English national identity in the long 18c still follow Colley's stringent protestantism. 

If you want to find a question no one has answered about some particular theme/location/time period you need to read as much of what has been written about that subject as you can. Then you'll know all (or many) of the questions people have already asked about it and what hasn't been asked, or hasn't been answered.
 
Also keep in mind that you don't necessarily need to ask a new question if you think that it hasn't been "answered." In my field, people still write books about "Why did Rome fall?" even though this question has been posed many times. If you have a new interpretation, or you use different source material to answer an old question your project can still be very worthwhile even if your question has been "answered" before.

Well, I know I've gotten into at least one program. I just got my offer of admission to Florida International University's PhD in Latin American History program. All it takes is one "yes."

I've applied to a program to obtain my teachers certificate. Thankfully the deadline had been extended. Must have been fate.

I am seriously re evaluating if obtaining a phd in history is what I want. This is my second time applying and I have to remin myself I'm still quite young. All in all, I am glad I wasn't offered admission. I need to do some soul searching because I think I got too caught up in wanting an acceptance. I know people in history phd programs who are unhappy or who have the exact same job outlooks I have with a Masters.

Not to be a Debbie downer to the rest of you guys. But I have realized quite a few things during this process. I will be going on with my life and figuring out what I want and don't.

Best of luck to you all.

Ugh.  I just emailed my POI at Rochester declining the offer.  I feel terrible.  I know I shouldn't, but I do.

Well, guys, I have officially accepted NYU.  I'm relieved, excited, and terrified all at the same time.

Confirmation I'll receive a full vice chancellor's scholarship from Cambridge for the History faculty.

Well, guys, I have officially accepted NYU.  I'm relieved, excited, and terrified all at the same time.

Well, I just got a job offer to teach a class on U.S. History Through Film back in Oregon in the Fall....so at least I'll be in a classroom, teaching, if not studying.

I feel my undergraduate institution did not prepare me to participate in this discussion. FML

Program prestige is moderately dependent on your subfield. The general prestige of the institution always comes into it.
 
After some thought, I would phrase my point thus: We want to spend our lives in the study of a small part of history. This is our goal, and a PhD is the means to it, and not the final achievement. When applying to and choosing programs, keep yourself centered on the actual target and be sure you do not substitute the intermediate step for it.

Well unfortunately these are not often things you do consciously or that you can actually influence. But, for example, the paper topics you have in your first year and second year seminars will probably determine to some significant extent what your qualifying papers and ultimately dissertation will be about. The people you choose to talk to will inform the theories you will think about. Some of this will be determined by the topics the particular instructors you had in your intro courses chose to cover in the particular year you took the class (and topics and instructors change from year to year) and who was accessible and available to advise you on these projects when you were just starting out. Not to mention the school you chose over other acceptances you didn't take when choosing grad schools. The luck of the draw will determine that some abstract will get into a conference and another might not, and you might pursue the one that was accepted at the expense of the one that wasn't. You might study language X for your field methods class, but if you'd done it the year before/after you'd have studied language Y, and the project that would come out of it would be very different. A lot of projects come out of work in these field methods classes, sometimes leading to whole dissertations and research programs. Same for experimental methodologies - you need to decide very early that you want to be trained in that, and have the luck of having the right courses offered at the right time, and the right advisor being around and available (for example, not on sabbatical or busy with a sick family member), and even the right research question that is amenable to being asked experimentally using the tools you have available. 
 
In the 1-2-3 year most people are not in a position to articulate their research program -- which is ok and makes sense, because to a large extent that is determined by your research experiences. But by the time you get to 4-5 year and go on the job market, there is not too much you can do to "invent" parts of your profile that don't exist but you wish were there. Not too many advisors will actually have a conversation with you once in a while about how your profile as a scientist is developing (and a lot of people may not want that or may be too intimidated) but as it turns out, my profile now as a 1st year postdoc is determined almost exclusively by what I've done in grad school, which in turn was determined to a very large extent by accidents of topics and instructors that happened in my first year. That determines to a large degree the broader research questions I can formulate that encompass (most of) my previous work and the work I want to do in the future (or at least, the work I tell hiring committees on job interviews that I want to do). 
 
This all said, I am of the firm belief that although my research might have been very different had I gone to a different school or had a different independent study advisor in my first year, or if I had not stumbled onto experimental work, etc., it would have been just as good. My character is my character and my abilities are my abilities, so my productivity would have been similar, just that the actual papers and topics (and methodologies, languages of interest, etc) would be different. I think it would have been good either way, just.. different in ways I can't imagine, which is what I mean when I say that early choice points lead to very different possible outcomes.

I have nothing but good things to say about the department, my POI and the grad students at UCSB. They're a fantastic bunch, and a lot of interesting work is getting done there. Anyone interested in interdisciplinarity (which I totally am) should definitely check them out--they don't just say they encourage it, they act on it. One of the 4 comp fields is pretty much required to be outside the department.

I'm going to have lots of tough decisions to make! I'm at MSU now and absolutely loving it (snow and all!)

If anyone ever wants more information about these departments, shoot me a PM.

I'm not sure, TBH.  I do feel there are more people in Michigan that I could potentially work with in my subfield and time period, but there are other issues that make me inclined to accept NYU instead.  For example, NYU REALLY, REALLY wants me. I've even had professors not in my field contact me offering help and offering to talk to me about anything that may make my decision to accept the offer easier. They've done a superb job in courting students, and although I can't speak for others, it has worked on me.  Michigan only has me on a waiting list which means they can take me or leave me, as they say.  Also, since I'm bringing my family along, I need to think about career opportunities for my husband, who is the main earner since I'll be on a fellowship.  NYC has a HUGE market for what he does and Ann Arbor, well, does not. Sure, we may be able to afford a larger place in Ann Arbor, but only if my husband can find a job at all, which will not be a problem in NYC. So, despite my feelings that perhaps Michigan would be a tad better for me academically speaking, it's not significantly better than NYU for me to disregard all the other considerations.
 
Also, I've always wanted to live in NYC so there, I get to move!  Honestly, I am very happy with NYU and do not feel it is a consolation prize at all, but it would have been nice (not to mention the BEST fit for me) to get into Harvard.  Ah well, c'est la vie.

I've had a surprising season, not least of all to myself, so I thought I'd share what I think made a difference for me.

1. Take your time. Start thinking about where you want to apply well in advance. I started researching potential advisers about 10 months before I actually submitted applications. I made a pretty detailed spreadsheet (must say I'm pretty proud of it haha) that listed the program, it's rankings (NRC and US News), and at least 2 people I could see myself working with, including their contact info. I wanted to make sure at least 2 people in my subfield that I could work with were accepting students. I nixed programs that only had 1. Get in contact with grad students as well--they can dish about stuff that professors might not know about, like the details about living in grad student housing, stipends, TA responsibilities, departmental drama etc.

2. Obsess over fit a little bit (or a lot). I spent so much time contacting POIs, seeing what they were working on and if they were interested in what I want to work on. I looked at entire departments--if I felt I couldn't be supported by the department (because let's be honest, most people don't have advisers that encompass everything you want to do) then I didn't apply to those programs. Look at the university resources--are there amazing special collections resources? A good university library? Centers and institutes that you could use? Area/language studies that would help your project? Then I recommend going beyond the school and looking at the state/surrounding area itself. Any good presidential libraries around? Archives? Depositories? Historic sites? Think about methodology. Do you want a department that supports interdisciplinarity? Comparative history? Strength in ethnic studies? Gender? You should go through a laundry list of questions to really determine fit, and only apply to places that have that fit. I'm convinced that the main reason I've been accepted to a bunch of programs was all the time I spent thinking about fit.

3. Agonize over your SOP. And I mean agonize. Rewrite it a dozen times, get at least 2 professors to edit it, send it to your trusted family and friends. I've reread my SOP several times and haven't found a mistake because I went through it over and over and over and...you get the point. I read other people's horror stories and looked for those mistakes in every SOP, not just my "general" one. And as a sub-point, try to really tailor your SOP to each school. A lot of mine was the same--my "hook," research experience and interests. But I went through and included fit details throughout, as well as a fit paragraph at the end (and I think the end is the best place for the fit paragraph because that's the impression the reader is left with...I recommend any "extenuating circumstances" information to be buried somewhere after research experience and interests, but not at the end).

4. Think about what you want to do research-wise. I mean, really think about it. Read secondary literature and pull the bibliographies. Allow yourself room to change and grow. This will help you choose programs. My initial list was vastly different than my final list of programs because my research grew in slightly different ways, and I had to admit that and cut programs I initially felt excited about from the list.

5. Make your writing sample tight. Intro, historiographical review, clear thesis, and strong primary source research with good engagement with secondary sources. Write a compelling conclusion, but don't drag it on and on. Make sure your citations are pristine (go over this a lot. I found mistakes after 3 read-throughs and ended up doing like 6-8). Make an impeccable bibliography. I highly recommend sitting someone down and reading the entire writing sample aloud to them. You'll pick up on awkward spots and mistakes, and they can tell you if something doesn't make sense (I'd pick an intellectually-engaged non-history major).

6. Start on the nuts and bolts of the application ahead of time. I had all biographical data/other information, transcripts uploaded (if applicable), etc done wayyy ahead of time so when I finished my writing sample and SOPs I could quickly upload them and click submit.

7. Plan money-wise for application fees, transcripts, GREs, etc. don't be caught without enough money at the very last minute.

8. Think beyond the application--like best areas for you to live as a grad student, housing costs, if you have a kid start researching schools and daycare etc. This helps you figure out if stipends are sufficient when you get accepted. You'll probably have to set up your living situation pretty quickly after you get accepted and choose a program, so looking into this ahead of time is just good research that'll make your life easier.

9. Enjoy the process. Get excited about your future plans, programs you're applying to, research you're thinking about. Be confident in your abilities and your preparation. At the same time, don't let the process consume you. Do normal things with your friends, don't let coursework fall by the wayside if you're applying while in school, and spend quality time away from applications.

Best of luck!

Everyone is different.  Some Big Names are invested in history as a profession and want to influence it and keep it going by mentoring promising new scholars.  This, for them, is an important part of the job.  Others are on the verge of retirement and might want to ramp their advising way down.  Others are just too busy with talks, books, etc. and their advisees become an afterthought.
 
In any event, I would suggest that you not pin all your grad school plans on one particular person, even if they are your history-hero.  
 
Personally I turned down the chance to work with a Huge Name (major pioneer of my subfield) because I felt like the overall university environment would make me unhappy, and I didn't want all my scholarly hopes and dreams to be so bound up in a single relationship.  What if this person abandoned me for another job (or retirement) or just didn't get along well with me?  What if my scholarly interests evolved beyond this subfield -- would I be able to change course?
 
I'm now at a university where I feel really happy and supported overall.  And it looks like I will have a fairly Large but not huge Name on my committee.  But I chose this person because I like them personally and felt we could have a productive relationship, not because of how it would look on my CV.

I get this question a lot.  "So, does your husband agree to just up and move across the country?"  My reply always is "Well, I don't know about him, but 'I' am moving."  It shuts them up.

Bugger! It's fine, it's what I expected really but you can never be too optimistic...

I'm not an expert but some schools only fund through TAships so all students get that; some schools only fund through fellowships so all students get that.  Other schools fund through a combination with TAships making up the majority of the student funding and fellowships being reserved for exceptional students.  I don't know of a single program where TAships are given only to students with good teaching potential.  This is US-centric info, of course. 

Congrats, Molly!

I got into Georgetown!! AHHHH! Is this really happening?

Dear UPenn and Harvard,
 
Please, put me out of my misery so that I can make my choice in peace.
 
Sincerely,
 
(Not so) Hopeful Prospective Student Who Knows the Blow is Coming.

So I'm on my way to the Greyhound station, about to embark on a journey to Santa Barbara. Only freaking out a little bit, of course...

AAAAH. I know I haven't posted too much (I applied for MA in public history or history/museum studies) and I just got into American University! I wasn't sure what my chances were so it was definitely a nice surprise to see that email!