annieca

For those who don't care about nightlife (seriously, never have, never will be a nightlife person), and are thinking about Maryland is it better to live north of College Park? What about east or west of UMD? i know parking at UMD is atrocious but, I've also heard if you get a stipend you get free parking. But that might just be a rumor. I'll call have a car so I could drive to the metro if I wanted to go into the city but right now the idea of $1400 a month for a one bedroom/studio seems a bit crazy. Especially since that's basically $5000 when you include the first and last months rent and housing deposit.

I'm considering the dual MLIS/MA in Public History between Chapel Hill and NC State. I've heard it's about a half hour commute from Raleigh to Chapel Hill unless something goes wrong, and then it's two hours. I've also heard it's better to live in Raleigh and commute to Chapel Hill than the other way around. However, this was all advice from someone who thinks Tar Heels are the bane of the world's existence and is a firm supporter of NC State. Is there a good place in between CH and Raleigh? I'm looking for a one-bedroom or studio (preferably one bedroom) with non-on street parking, laundry in the building and PLEASE, not in someone's basement. Knowing that, what communities do you recommend?

Ah the curmudgeon professors. I think that yes, more people are applying to graduate school than normal. For some it's a back-up plan for not getting a job, not wanting to face the real world. Others this is honestly the thing they want to do. Add that with degree inflation and you've got our current state of people in grad school programs. I don't think that you HAVE to have a 3.9 to get into "tier 1" programs. They take into account a lot more than just GPA. Make your personal statement shine. Do the absolute best you can do on your applications. That's all you can do.

@kotov - Me too! But I'm starting capstone research soon and I'll be doing research in DC and in Wales and I'll need to find a new method. Shipping index cards = no fun, especially if you lose that one critical one.

"What's your major?" "History." "So you want to teach, right?" [talking about high school there really] "No, I want to go to grad school for library science and public History." "Oh." Awkward silence.

Thanks everyone! I suppose since applications are mostly online now they can be done from anywhere. @crazedandinfused - No hurt feelings. People think I'm crazy for having the deadline. But I do have my reasons. When my sister was in China I filled out 15 recommendation information forms for her and sent them off to the professors. I don't want to do that for my family so hence the "before I leave for Wales" bit.

@crazedandinfused - It's weird for me to think about waiting. I'm doing my last year of undergrad in Wales so I really want to get all of my applications done before I leave towards the end of September. One of my schools says that they consider your contact with faculty very highly in the application process and so I wanted to get a head start. That, and I'm going to be in the area this summer and I could potentially visit the department and the POI while I'm there.

I'm wondering, how in the world do you introduce yourself to those POIs you'd like to email? Every time I've tried writing the email it comes out, "I'm so and so and I'll be applying to School X's degree in Y. I saw that you were interested in Q and my interests are related - in R." Even if that's the format, where do you go from there? Talk about the weather and hope that they get the idea you want to work with them?

Bahumbug. I've been trying to find statistics on grad school's success rate after graduation - what percent are employed within six months of graduation? A year? Where are they employed? And I'm not getting anywhere. Anyone else know where I can find this? As another point of annoying research into the schools themselves, perhaps someone can explain Maryland's incredibly confusing policy about admissions. So, I'm applying to their HiLS (History and Library Science) and here is what they say: Does this mean I'm required to send my application twice? Or my GRE scores twice? The decision is separate but there's one application? I am thoroughly confused. Anyone care to help out?

@hbeels - First off, take out the "hopefully" part. Something I've been told is this: If you doubt that you'll get in/get funding you won't. It will show in your application, interviews, etc. You have to have the extreme confidence that says "Yeah, I'm awesome. You'd be an idiot not to take me." That being said, don't get cocky. There is a fine line and one all of us have to walk. As for the MA/PhD dilemma it really is a personal one. PhD's have more funding availability, obviously. However, you have to do what you're ready for. Some people aren't ready to go straight from MA to PhD. Some people need to take some time after their Masters to decide if the PhD is really right for you. Yet, you do always have the option of going into a PhD program, deciding it's not for you and dropping to just a Masters. My sister did that and while there was some issues to be worked out with funding, she is much more happy doing that. Some people find that they *hate* teaching and so a PhD will do nothing for them except make them over-qualified for whatever job they want outside of academia. What do you want to do with your PhD? Teach? Research? Live on a beach and pontificate?

^^ Ticklemepink, thanks. I figured this was the case but I didn't know how important scholarship was to Public History.

I was researching my POI's today, crossing most off of my list when I came across a professors who interests almost idenitcally mirror my own. I'm interested in Eastern European social history after the Cold War and his interests are very similiar. Here's the thing, I'm not going for History, I'm going for Public History and Library Science. The professor is at a reputable school but it's in a small-ish town where I would have to travel for museum opportunities. To sum up, is it more important for Public History to find that professor that fits your potential research field even if they aren't in a good city job prospect wise - or - is it more important to focus on the job prospect aspect since research isn't as important in the subfield.

difficult situation

I'm just outside of Milwaukee right now, and something to think about is how comfortable you are "city driving." The Marquette Interchange is enough to make the sanest driver go crazy. Combine that with left-side exits and drivers who don't know where they are going and it's a mess. Madison seems nice. It's a bigger campus than Milwaukee, but then again, how many grad students really tramp across campus for classes like undergrads do? (Or is that just my small college that has a separate graduate center is misguiding me?)

@theregalrenegade - My Historiography paper was on the Welsh Nationalism movement of the 1880s and luckily, my university has a quite large Welsh collection. I knew maybe one word in Welsh before I started the paper - Cymru and my topic was Cymru Fydd which I figured out meant Wales of the Future. From there, it was just words that kept popping up and I would look them up. Welsh is actually super, duper hard to learn. Even the Welsh have trouble with it. I hope to pick some up more when I study at the University of Wales - Aber this fall and be able to actually pronounce it. ^^ Sorry, if that wasn't very precise/helpful. I have heard that BBC Wales is pretty helpful as well, if you can get over the IP Address issue.

My best advice: Pace. Seriously - it helps. You will have a lot of nervous energy and pacing helps get that out. Plus, you speak clearer and more articulately when you are standing up. That, and I would recommend dressing up a bit. If I'm in pj's, I feel like I'm not serious about what I'm talking about as much as if I'm in khakis and a nice top.

First off, thanks for the help, @ticklemepink! I'm a future MA/MLIS student. No plans for PhD in my future right now. Also, I *don't* know what country I'm most interested in. I'm going to write my Capstone on the Velvet Revolution and my favorite paper I've written so far has been on the East Germany identity crisis. While I haven't written a paper on it, I also love the idea of studying Romania. As you can tell, I'm an Eastern European gal. I think Romanian would be the best in terms of availability of non-English sources. My undergrad adviser said I would be able to find many more primary sources in English for Czech history than Romanian. I do know it's possible to take a foreign language in grad school without funding for it. I know many a person that are doing that just now. Whether or not you could get funding to go to the country is another issue. Two of my schools - UNC and Indiana-Bloomington, have Eastern European Centers that actually Czech, Hungarian or Romanian. However, I'm wondering if it's necessary for me even to take classes or just kind of immerse myself in it, the way I did Welsh when studying a Welsh topic a few years back.

I've been thinking about adding another language to my repetoire and I can't decide which. I'm a social historian who focuses on the nationalism movements at the end of the Cold War in Eastern Europe (specific, I know). I already know German and a little Spanish (I used to be fluent but I'm losing it as I don't use it.) I was thinking, since I love Eastern Europe it might be useful to do another Eastern European language. So I was thinking: - Czech - Romanian - Hungarian I would do Russian only as a last resort. For some reason, Russian freaks me out. Any suggestions of the three? Very few of my schools offer Russian and even fewer offer the other three. However, I feel like knowing another Eastern European language would be extremely helpful so I could figure out how to learn the language without taking classes.

Anyone have any recommendations for social history (particularly nationalism movements) and Cold War/Post-Cold War Eastern Europe?

I am doing that - finishing my undergrad abroad. I've done two years here in Wisconsin and I'll do my third, and final year at Aberystwyth. The biggest I think you need to think about it, if you go that route, is transcripts and those costs. Simmons, for example, requires separate transcripts from the study abroad program even though it is an exchange with my home university. Depending on the French school, that could get expensive because you'd have to have them translated and sent to the US.

@Emily - Yay! I'm in the same boat as someone else! I'll be starting grad school at 20 which is a little more than scary. My biggest concern has to do with the awkwardness of the drinking situation. My sister (a grad student at Oregon) has occasionally had class in a bar. While I know that's a whole lot less likely than a bunch of grad students getting together for a drink after grading massive amounts of finals, it still worries me. Anyone else have the experience of class in a bar?

I would argue that you cannot understand nationalism movements without reading Imagined Communities. Great, great book.

Just like our fields of history thread, I thought it would be interesting to see what languages we all know. Feel free to add them as you see fit. German annieca Spanish annieca French Italian Latin Greek Russian I know I want to learn either Russian, Czech or Romanian because of my interest in Cold War and Post-Cold War history in Eastern Europe.

@Oserius - and here I thought you were saying that Ivy-league was the best and how dare I criticize it? My sarcasm detector might be off a bit.

American History R_Escobar (20th century, American Indian), crazedandinfused (antebellum, intellectual), hopin'-n-prayin' (southern, religious), stevemcn (transnational), Simple Twist of Fate (early American), zb642 (20th century, labor/working-class culture), BCEmory08 (19th-20th century Catholicism, labor), irvinchiva10 (20th century, immigration/immigration reform) European History Kelkel (Modern Germany, political), goldielocks (Britain), SapperDaddy (Eastern and Central Europe), kotov (Modern Romania, Holocaust, labor), RevolutionBlues (Modern Western Europe/France labor and leftist politics), theregalrenegade (18th/19th cent British Empire/environment), jrah822 (19th century Britain; emphasis on colonial relationship to India), grlu0701 (Intellectual & cultural history, fin de siecle Germany and Italy), naturalog (modern European [mostly German] intellectual and cultural/sexuality and gender/political radicalism), runaway (Eastern/Central, memorialization & visual culture) African History Oseirus (precolonial/early colonial West Africa), Singwaya18 (20th century East Africa), Safferz (20th century Horn/Northeast Africa), The People's Scholar (Spanish colonialim in Africa- i.e. middle/West Africa) Latin American History teachgrad (20th century, Southern Cone), BH-history, The People's Scholar (18th-19th century Colombia) East Asian History alleykat (Modern China) Near/Middle Eastern History uhohlemonster Atlantic World sandyvanb Global/World History cooperstreet (Cold War) Jewish History uhohlemonster, hopin'-n-'prayin, kotov (Holocaust), naturalog (sometimes modern European/Holocaust), runaway (memorialization & visual culture) Science/Technology shaxmaty1848 (Cold War) Social annieca (Cold War and Post-Cold War East and Central Europe)