annieca

I wonder, if being narrow is also a plus. It makes finding a POI incredibly difficult at some times, incredibly easy at others. It certainly makes your SOP more focused. And I would imagine (correct me if I'm wrong) that schools don't hold you down and force feed you only your SOP research topics. SOPs are so short that if I said everything I wanted to study within the subfield I'd have no room!

^Zahar - I'm iffy on the PhD myself. I know I'm super interested in my subfield (more than I've ever been with any of my evolving interests) and the one professor whose interests mirror mine teaches at Indiana. I suggested a PhD because of how I want to continue doing research in my area and I felt like an MA/MLIS would prevent me from doing that as a job. You didn't sound harsh. It's a nice reality check. It's good to know from more than one person that I could get almost any job in Eastern Europe stuff with just an MA.

rec center

I'm considering switching from applying to dual MA/MLIS to PhD programs in History. I'm a Post-Cold War Eastern European social historian (if you can explain what that is, I'll give you the bowl of cookie dough ice cream I'm eating!) and so I've found only two programs that match those interests - Indiana and UNC-CH. Indiana has a professor I'd die to work with. Anyone have any other suggestions for universities? I've got a working knowledge of German but I want to pick up either Czech or Romanian (preferably Czech). Lastly, and PLEASE don't take offense at this. But what do you all plan to do with your MAs or PhDs? I am not totally interested in teaching but I want to keep my ability to research my subfield that I have fallen 100% in love with and I know with an MA/MLIS I would be working in a museum where I might not be happy and definitely not working with Post-Cold War Eastern European things.

They're expensive to get in the US, but Langenscheidt's is probably the best resource I have ever used. The textbooks (Berliner Platz) are made for foreigners learning German in Germany so you definitely learn practical German immediately. There is very little English in the textbooks which is *awesome* for learning. That being said, the Berliner Platz series has problems with teaching grammar - I would recommend buying a separate grammar book to help you with the four cases. I got through the first two books and never learned the fourth case, for example.

Congrats! I'm sure that you're happy to be able to not worry about money as much. And so, with the less worrying I agree with oseirus - you need to go to Vegas! I hit a bit of a snaffu yesterday in thinking about my future. Which of course means a long conversation with my undergrad advisor and asking you all a million questions. One of which is... Can you apply for two different History programs within the same college? I am considering doing an MA/PhD at one university in addition to applying for their MA/MLIS. But, I have a feeling if I did that I would be pegged a flip flopper and someone who doesn't know what they want to do. Which, ironically enough, is the case. Congrats again theregalrenegade!

Congrats!

Hi all - As I've been making a list of what schools require what, I've come across this: "Please send your GRE scores to the college (XXXX) and the department (YYYY)." Is this considered two out of your 4 that the GRE gives you for free? As a dual MLIS and MA applicant I know I'll have to send scores to both the College of Information Sciences and the College of Arts and Sciences, but then to send to each department? That's going to be a lot of codes.

Maryland and Auburn have, by far, the worst websites I've looked at for schools. South Carolina's is fairly user-friendly. I think Catholic University of America has been the most user-friendly.

^^ I read Kafka on the Shore by Murakami earlier this summer. Hated it. It was a little too trippy for me. Right now, working on Hunchback of Notre Dame which is on my list of 1,001 books to read before you die.

I know as someone with 2 sleep disorders that professors/employers can be really not very understanding of the situation. I feel like at times I am required to explain what both conditions are and why that means I can't be up the same amount of time other people are. And I know it's going to affect my grad school work. My sister (no sleep disorder) is regularly up until midnight-1 am doing reading for classes/grading, etc. I can't do that. I know that I'm going to have to learn to cope a lot better than I have in undergrad but still, it's going to be a challenge.

From what I've discovered, there is no way you're going to find something close to College Park without a roommate for anywhere close to $500. In fact, I would say you would be lucky to find a two-bedroom, with a roommate for less than $800 a person. But, that's just been my experience in searching. I wish you luck!

I went to the National Council on Public History's annual conference this year and they had a session just on this topic. I'll tell you what they said: PhDs - it's not a requirement normally. The reason a lot of people in the department have PhDs is because of the fact that it's *hard* for History PhD's to find tenure track and so they come (as the House of Representatives Historian said) "to the right side." MLIS/MA - those two together can get you a lot of job offers. Think about government/contracting jobs that are "para-academic" - Office of the Historian in both the House and Senate, Office of the Historian for the State Department, etc. You would be amazed at the amount of History jobs that are by the US Gov't. For example, I know someone who works for Joint Munitions Command (they make the bombs and the bullets, not the guns. That's someone else) for the Army. Even in that organization, they have a historian. Which is great if you're a military historian of course. But if you're not, and you're flexible you can find lots of jobs. USAJobs and all it's confusing-ness is where I would point you to. Lastly, is the idea of History contracting. It's kind of new. The only one I know of is History, Inc. which does contracting services for museums, non-profits, etc. The guy I heard at the NCPH talked about his job and how he was currently help make a museum exhibit for a museum in Egypt. So, I really hope that helped you feel a bit better about the "para-academic" world. Feel free to PM me if you have questions about any of what I said earlier. I've gained a ton of knowledge just from that one session.

I know I get the "Why go to grad school" almost exclusively from non-History majors. And my college, History is the hardest non-science/social science major. And we definitely do the most writing. I think fellow History majors are also way more realistic about job prospects than say, my English major friends. They don't ask why I'm going to grad school because they know it's one of the ONLY ways I won't end up living in a van down by the river.

Schedule for me. Not saying it's going to work for everyone. I'm just crazy and paranoid and moving halfway across the world for a study abroad at the end of September. So: Now-August Ask for letter of recs (informally. I'll follow up with an email later in the process) Revise the heck out of my Writing Sample. Study for the GRE SOPs August-September Take the GRE SOPs CV revisions Email profs about LORs End of September Email POIs about programs (I would love to do this earlier but profs have a habit of not checking their email over the summer) And then End of September-December Apply! Eek. That seems so close to now.

On a Kindle you can make your own notes so you don't ever worry about the "previous owner's" marks. Granted, if you're using used books, then yes, that's a potential problem. I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to book buying. I cannot, and will not, buy books if they've been marked in. Other people's highlighting is the worst. But come whenever book lists come up I make an Excel spreadsheet with the book and then comparison's for about 10 different places - bookstore, new; bookstore, used; bookstore, rental; Amazon; Chegg; Campus Book Rentals, etc. That way I know I'm getting the cheapest price possible on a book. I'm also a big fan of renting. I know this is somewhat less feasible for those who will eventually be taking quals, but it definitely saves money and precious apartment space!

Just got back from my first conference today. It was definitely an eye-opener for me. There was some serious networking going on. Not to mention the historical discussion and the "Oh, it's you! I haven't seen you since two years ago in Tuscola!" And the informality! Even as a Master's student I would never dream of calling a professor/professional I didn't know "James" but here people are, calling them by their first name. Maybe it's just because it was Public History and we're a really weird bunch of people. *shrug*

I have two schools for you: - Indiana-Bloomington - they have an Eastern European center that literally is one of the best I've ever seen. I'm not totally sure but I think they also have FLAS grants so you can get paid to study German some more. - UNC-Chapel Hill - Chapel Hill is pretty well known for its Eastern European center. I know it's more "democracy" based (or so I'm told), but it's a good program for what is that iffy "postmodern" from when Germany became Germany to today. The head of my department is a modern German historian and she went to Chapel Hill. UNC also has FLAS grants. As for studying German, aren't those cases a pain? I know they trip me up every time and I haven't even learned genitive yet!

A good question superrockr1! I am curious to the answer too. My cousin went to South Carolina and she's a pretty liberal gal. My question involves average rent and neighborhoods. I'm looking for a one bedroom or studio (preferably one bedroom). What would I be looking at rent wise? And where is the safest/shortest commute/near public transportation in your opinion?

Anyone else applying/have applied to dual MLIS and Public History degrees?

A few things - Brown's reputation is nothing to sneeze at. Brown is considered Ivy, as is Columbia. 50K for one year is amazing so you shouldn't have too much of a problem affording NYC rent. In that way, money isn't a problem. Providence isn't too far from Boston - about an hour without traffic - so you would have the ability to travel to a bit city if you need to. Lastly, Columbia has a very big graduate student enrollment (I think it's somewhere near 11k). You honestly have to ask yourself if you're okay with that many people being graduate students in a huge city where it can be hard to get away from people, or if you want a smaller university in a smaller town.

I am amazed at how much time you all are devoting to the test prep. 2-4/day, 5 days a week for 7 weeks? That's between 70 and 140 hours. I am starting to realize that the GRE is nothing like the ACT where you can just walk in and do fine. Hmm... things to consider.

I'll be studying in Wales where it apparently rains every day but it gets cold every once in awhile. For those in the Pacific Northwest (UOregon, I'm looking at you), I recommend a trench coat with a removable liner. Mine has a fleece lining that I can zip out when it's too warm for them and it's amazing. I don't know how I hadn't thought about it before. As for the expensive foundation, cheap eyeliner, mascara - that's me! I use Pur Minerals primer and foundation and then Avon mascara and usually Covergirl or Revlon eyeliner. I don't see the point in expensive eyeliner or even mascara - I go through mascara so quickly it's not worth it.

Currently reading The Haunted Land about East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland after Communism fell. It's a really interesting, social-history based read.

Have you looked at Amtrak? I'm guessing that's going to be the fastest - maybe not the cheapest.