annieca

Congrats nohika! I'm doing a happy dance in your honor! So I was insane and looked up past acceptances for the programs. Last year they all seemed to go out the 15th of February. Which kind of terrifies me...that weekend I'm in London for a Model United Nations conference where I HAVE to focus and not constantly check my email. And what if there's no Wi-Fi we can use at Imperial College? Or they let me know via post (back in Iowa and I'm in Wales) like Indiana did? Suddenly that conference just got 10x more stressful. There's a black tie ball on Saturday night. Fully expect me to be the girl in the corner, checking her email every 5 minutes.

Heard back from Indiana- first acceptance! Of course, Indiana doesn't have Archives so my focus would be digital humanities. Waiting to hear from: South Carolina Maryland IUPUI And submitting my application to Aberystwyth soon.

Woohoo! Congrats to the Harvard interview and the acceptance to UC-Riverside whomever you are!!

I am waiting on a letter from a recommended so I can submit one of my apps. The university is AMAZING in turn around and promises a decision in two weeks. Since it's my favorite program I really really want that acceptance or rejection in my hands. Also so I can learn the Latin I need for the program. So a question for all of you guys. How long after the initial requesting letter do you follow up? This man literally just has to attach a file to the email. Doesn't even have to change anything!

@stillalive - I did. I haven't heard back from the History Department yet. Just the School of Library Science (lovingly referred to as SLIS). Many many thanks everyone! I will be happy to congratulate you all when you get accepted to the many places I'm sure you will be!

I just finished one book Dynamics of Contention. Loved it! I am such a historiography nerd. For my plane trip back to the UK I'm going to be reading Hunchback of Notre Dame or something along those lines. When I get back on campus I will be reading The Slovak Dilemma by Eugene Steiner.

First acceptance letter came in today! It's a Library Science School so don't everyone start frantically checking your email. Although I bet you're already doing that. Even though it is lower on my list of favorites, I'm happy I got in somewhere!

@TMP- sort of. I'm writing it this semester. My true supervisor is one of those blunt Brits as Katenmusik noted. However I'm Skyping into my Honors Colloquium from Wales so I needed a supervisor from my home university. She's mostly there so Carroll's happy and doesn't have to deal with my British supervisor who has no idea what's going on. Clear as mud, I know. The professor's American. *shrug* She drinks enough tea to be a Brit.

I like this way of thinking! She's my home-basis senior thesis adviser so I'll still have to deal with her but thankfully, just by email. @runaway - It's a blessing and a curse. I'll get to read my third letter soon so that means I'll know the whole picture. It's a blessing because I can say "Well, they decided with good and bad things said about me" but also a curse because I decide in my head based on what they've said and not based on what the ad comms think. As for paying for my dream school, in the UK...I'm doing my last year here in the UK so I'm writing my thesis at the school I want to go to. If I get a First, I get something like half off of my tuition. That, plus $10,000 left in my college fund from undergrad and it only being a one year program = affordability. Thanks all for the sympathy and I hope your journeys are less painful!

I think it really depends on if you strictly mean an MA or if you mean a PhD. I would say YES, 100%, there are options for History Master's holders who don't want to go into academia. As historians we are prized by organizations for the fact that we have to be able to write effectively, argue effectively and you know, generally know what we're talking about. Never doubt how useful our research skills are to companies, especially those think-tank places you mentioned or non-profits/NGOs. That being said, I don't know if doing a History master's will make a huge difference if you're competing against those with public policy degrees, etc. Having a Master's puts you on a more even playing field as those with other master's but not above. The National Council on Public History has some great resources about life outside of academia and I would highly recommend perusing their website to see if they can better answer your question than I can. Hope that helps!

Well that was a definite hiccup! I received one of my letters of rec to submit to a school and needless to say...it wasn't good. I was recommended as being a great office assistant and that I could clean (seriously?!) but that I couldn't make original historical arguments. This from a women who I asked specifically "Can you write a strong letter?" This letter went out to all of my U.S. options. Thankfully my favorite school is in the UK and I don't need 3 letters of rec so I can eliminate her but still. There was MAJOR panicking and tears yesterday when I read the letter. My best friend keeps telling me that I can't count myself out yet and that my achievements will speak for themselves. It's still a nerve-wracking confidence-shattering experience. Hopefully the other letters (one of which I've read and gushes) will help outweigh the bad one. Anyone know how much adcomms weigh LORs?

All but one application have been submitted. I'm waiting on a letter of rec to input into my application for Aberystwyth, but otherwise DONE! It's a relief, yes. Except... Maryland's system is odd. I sent in my transcripts a month or so ago and they say "Wait 2-3 weeks for us to upload it to our server" which I did. It hasn't shown up on their server that they got my transcripts. And so here I am, sitting on the 2nd of January wondering "What happened Maryland?" The deadline was December 15th so I'm worried that I'm now out of the running because of their computer system. But, I did email the Graduate Admissions people and ask them, "Do you have it and I'm just not seeing it, or do you not have it at all?" Waiting for that response... I'm suppose to hear from two of my schools within the next two weeks so there's that to (not) look forward to! Stay strong everyone!

1 side of A4 is the same as one page, double spaced. 2-3 pages is exactly that, two/three pages. They have a weird thing about sided paper, as far as I've learned, in the UK, hence the mention of sides of paper.

@GuitarSlayer - I was at the University of York earlier this semester for a conference. Beautiful campus - the new section with the Ron Cooke Hub is gorgeous with lots of water (drowning risk, perhaps?). Otherwise, York isn't much of a happenin' town. But then again, you don't pick universities for graduate school for their happenin'-ness. Working on cutting down my writing sample for St. Andrew's. Indiana lost my Goals essay (woohoo!) so I've got to email that to them, and then Maryland can't seem to figure out if they have my transcripts or not. Goal: Before the end of the year all applications will be DONE and hopefully, off my mind so I can focus on more important things... like a long-overdue pizza, wine and movie night with some friends.

@runaway - Yep, the deadline is January 14th so I can easily get it done once I get back from my Christmas spent in the States provided I give my two recommenders notice now. Of course, going to St. Andrew's just kicks the can of "What am I going to do with my life" down the road a little further.

This is why I shouldn't hang out with politics people... I've been told my interests are really more "InterPol" focused than "History" focused. That's why I decided not to do a full History master's and instead focus on Public History/MLIS. Everyone I tell my interests "transition between Communism and Democracy in Eastern Europe" they said "Oooh, you're doing network theory!" Normally I ignore them. But then someone mentioned this program at St. Andrew's. It's a one year Master's of Literature in Peace and Conflict Studies. I could really focus on my love of ethnic contention and social history. I love, love the idea of staying in the UK one more year, getting a Master's and then taking over the world. It's definitely more practical for me to stick with my original plan of Archives/Public History but now that someone has suggested this and said, "Ann, this is what you are really interested in..." I am realizing they are right. I AM a politics major in disguise. Why am I discovering this after I've submitted all but one of my applications for Archives/Public History and December of my senior year of university? EEK!

Congrats everyone on getting in the applications! I have the first wave due December 15th. They're submitted by me but I'm waiting for recommenders. At what point do I start spamming their email inboxes with reminders? I'm tempted to do it now just because I'm freaking out, have nothing better to do, and can't go and pester them in person since two are in Wisconsin, one is in D.C. and I'm in Wales.

Finished all but one application (Aberystwyth University in the U.K.) but it's a M.S.Econ in Archives Administration so I'm not sure if that counts. Anyhoo... applied to South Carolina, Maryland, Indiana, IUPUI for their Library Science programs, dual with Public History. I'm focused on archives and somewhat on digitization. Cheers!

@runaway - you go [insert gender pronoun of choice here]! It's probably a good thing that all your deadlines are close together so that you can just get them all done, wham, and then not have to think about them again until the decisions start rolling in. I am DONE with all of my U.S. applications as Brown just got my $75 and the amount my parents owe on their house (is that really necessary to admit me?). It's a relief, definitely. Two of the schools I applied to have rolling deadlines so as soon as my LOR's come in, they'll make a decision within two weeks. Granted, it's the two schools I'm *least* excited about, but still, two decisions is a good start. My last application - to the school where I'm studying abroad now - has a weird catch to it. It doesn't have that "Shoot out an email for LORs, they log-in with special passcode, etc." thing. Instead, I have to either upload, via PDF on letterhead, my LORs or here's where it gets weird write them in the textbox. I know my two recommenders trust me not to mess up their letter, but does anyone else think this as odd?

My applications are basically all submitted. Brown wants financial information (how much my parents house costs?!) that I can't get until I Skype with my parents on Sunday. Aberystwyth wants ME to submit the letters of rec so I have to wait until my two recommenders send it to me. And I've now got the joy of bugging my parents from 4,000 miles away to send my transcripts to places. Or, well, more correctly, send the form to Carroll so THEY can send the transcripts to places. I had to knock a school off of my list because of technicalities in my degree, alas. But instead, I added a UK school that I love, love love. Love so much that I kind of have it ahead of my U.S. schools. I could get a Master's in 1 year instead of the 3 years it will take me to get my MLIS and MA at the same time (or just MA at Brown). Hope everyone isn't hung over from turkey, shopping or the pre-Christmas eggnog!

I worked at an archives this summer so here's what I observed worked best for people - BE NICE to the archivists. We have rules for a reason. And sometimes if you are exceptionally polite we feed you cookies when the staff brings them in. Ask if there's a photo stand. You usually get better pictures that way anyway. I also second, third or whatever round we're on to asking the archivists. Sure, it might be an obscure topic but generally a combination of all the archivists will know the catalog forward and backward. Wish you luck and have fun!

I am!

Personally, I think to hell with what is "overdone." You find what speaks to you. For some people that means a topic that a lot of people have covered before. And yes, it's kind of naive to think that you might ever produce something groundbreaking and new on something written so much on, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth studying. It depends, I think, on your "type" of history. Maybe political Alexander to Stalin history is incredibly overdone. What about economic? Social? Cultural? I think though that one of the BENEFITS of doing a super well-researched topic is the ability to find a professor that truly meets your interests as a supervisor. There aren't a huge amount of historians in my area so finding one professor who fits what I study is incredibly difficult. Consider yourself lucky that you have a whole crop of people to choose from. As for complaining, I don't think you are. Grad school is a *huge* decision and it's also a long process. There's advice coming at you from all sides of the issue and there will be people who don't see the point. You truly have to believe in yourself and have someone at your university that believes in you too. Talk to your advisor - see what he/she thinks. Where do they recommend? What steps do they think you should take? Take all the advice with a grain of salt, as with this site. As a third year undergrad, I would focus on your classes and getting a great writing sample. No, it doesn't HAVE to be published. In fact, I know of very few published undergraduates. There's a blog of one of the frequent contributors here (I think it's TMP) that says you should write your statement of purpose before you look at schools. You might try that. Really narrow your focus and know what you want. Maybe your SOP writing will help you determine, "Hell no, I can't do this right now." Or maybe it will make you want to dive into the research of schools headfirst. Lastly, about taking a year or two (or several) off. I think it is beneficial for some. For others, they need to go straight in for a multitude of reasons. You know yourself better than anyone. Could you take a few years off and be happy during those years? I hope that helps!

My undergrad needs the form either by fax, mail or in person. Since I am clearly not paying the pound 1.28 per school for transcript request forms to them, I'm having my mom fill out the form, send them to undergrad and then get to send them to the grad schools. Is this ridiculous (or just me?) to ask for a fillable PDF form and email so that I can save the cost (and time) of stamps? Also - TMP - I'm filling out the Maryland application now and I want to shoot someone. It's incredibly annoying since it's nothing like any of the others.

Oh Maryland, why must you be so different from all the other schools? I'm submitting my first application this weekend. I don't care what people say about it being too early, etc. I'm ready and I know that if I stare at my SOP one more time bad things will happen. The fun part about this first application (other than handing over $75) is that they want both an SOP and an essay. The essay prompt is actually covered in my SOP. Except the essay is suppose to be 500 words, the SOP 1,000. I am almost considering just cutting my SOP down to size since I'm pretty sure my SOP goes to the History department and the essay to the College of Library and Information Science. Ugh. I've got 5 more of these to go and I already feel wiped out. Perhaps it's the nasty Welsh weather. Hope all are fairing well in their pursuits of finishing (or starting) applications.