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I'd be very interested in hearing about making this transition as well. I earned a law degree before I applied to grad school, if that makes any difference to think tanks.

Not sure how helpful this is, but I can tell you from personal experience that Alford is an absolutely wonderful and knowledgeable person. Harvard is also known for having better integration between its history dept. and law school than Columbia (and Princeton obviously doesn't even have a law school, or uses Columbia's as a resource). I can't comment on the strength of the East Asian history faculty at Harvard though.

Um, wow, that is fast. When did you submit your application? What's your field? I haven't heard a thing

Anyone come across applications asking for "relevant experience"? I'm sort of vexed as to what to put here, especially if redundant with my CV. I haven't worked as a teacher, research assistant, or professor of any other kind before, so do I put nothing, or enter other job experience that might be justifiable as "relevant" (because it involved some vaguely transferable skills) to a PhD? Same goes for publications -- I clarified what were non-academic publications on my CV, but I'm guessing they only care about academic publications if asking for them separately on an application?

If space permitted I included a whole page describing the full arc of the thesis and the chapter's place within it, and pointing out the research/skills involved in researching it.

PLEASE DELETE. problem resolved!

I was wondering about that. Presumably you don't have to do a FAFSA until after you're admitted, right? I'm close to the end, although my deadlines are scattered throughout December. Trying to resist the temptation to eat up time I need to use doing other work with endless and probably pointless tweaking of my statements/sample/etc.

I think people are just too busy trying to get everything done to be freaking out here (yet). I know that's true for me.

I took mine last week. No idea about writing yet, and great verbal score, but my Q was 155. I know it could be worse, but this feels like it might not be enough for schools that care about this, and I don't think I have time to retake. Anyone know where / how I can figure out where to save myself an application fee because this will automatically disqualify me?

Thanks - so I shouldn't feel weird about annoying recommenders as classes are starting? I would also like to talk to 1-2 of these people about schools, advisers, the SOP, etc...even if I don't, I feel like it might not be a great idea to send an SOP or list of schools to all three only to get some good advice from one that causes me to change everything. So my sense is that I should maybe wait a week or two to contact everyone and only supply other materials after I've talked it out with them. Would this give them enough time?

Thanks for all your help, everyone. I just picked up the Princeton Review book and it does look more helpful than Kaplan, which I'd been using. As I mentioned before, I'm waiting for one of my recommeners to continue our conversation, but does it seem like it would be a bad time to initiate contact with my two others, or should I do this straightaway? What about for POIs at the schools I'm applying to? And while we're on the subject, has anyone used a service that will collect and submit LORs and know if this is something worth doing / widely accepted at history PhD programs? I only saw one school specifically mention that it could work with their system, but if it's more widespread it seems like it would definitely save a lot of time and potential for error among letter writers...

In the interest of not creating another thread: I'm signed up to take the GRE November 3rd. My deadlines begin on December 1. Is this going to be a problem? These schools seem willing to wait extra days or weeks for recommendations and other supplementary materials, so should I be extremely worried they won't get the scores by that time?

Excellent advice, thanks! I notice you said that I should focus on what I should offer as a colleague. Any suggestions as to how one typically discusses that while basically applying for training? Also - is anyone else applying for the Gates Cambridge Scholarship or any other funding at Cambridge? The deadline for recommendations is apparently 14 days after the application is due, which for history is October 1! If I want to do this, I guess I would have to rouse my recommenders from their seasonal cycle and somehow get them to submit straightaway -- at this point in the year, is this at all wise, or counterproductive if I want good recommendations?

Thanks, both. I've definitely included a discussion about my journey from law to intellectual history...I wonder how much space I should really devote to this, though? I'm starting to feel like I'm going to be at a competitive disadvantage with applicants who can use precious SOP space to demonstrate their deep understanding of historiographical debates, etc. As for languages and international history, I guess my question could be illustrated best by an example. Say someone is doing an international history of a certain commodity. Their history would encompass more territories than the applicant could realistically learn the languages of. But if they said they would focus on one language/region, this would compromise the whole point of doing an "international" history of this phenomenon. How do applicants and/or grad students navigate this dilemma?

Hi all, It's been so long since I've been on here that I nearly forgot my username! I am still plugging along with applications, and I'm at a point where I have a number of questions that I hope some of you may be able to help me with: 1. My SOP is more of a struggle than I anticipated - I'm finding it difficult to define my interests specifically when I don't really have a good sense of how specifically they actually need to be defined, both at this point and later on in grad school. In my essay, I've currently tiered my interests like this: - Broadest area of interest (modern European intellectual history, post-1750) - More specific area of concentration (late 18th century to mid 19th century) - Even more specific potential focus areas, within the late 18th and mid 19th century, asking historical questions about them This is to say that I would like to read broadly in post-1750 intellectual history, but I recognize the need for a smaller area of concentration. However, personally, I would be more interested in pursuing more disparate focus areas within my broadest area of interest - for example, early 19th century British liberalism AND 1930s German social theory. Does it make any sense to say this or should I stick to my current schema because this is crazily unfocused? 2. When it comes to international or intraregional history as an approach, what is the position of adcoms on languages? For example, I imagine you would not have to know every Polynesian dialect to do Pacific History, or everything from Swahili to Bengali to study British imperial history, but that European languages alone might not suffice? 3. How long should I be waiting for professors' emails? I guess it's a busy time of year with classes starting, but I've had a recommender drop off the radar in the midst of a positive exchange. 4. I've seen it written elsewhere on here that someone with a PhD is a preferable recommender. I went to law school after undergrad and I think it makes sense for a law professor to write a recommendation so that it doesn't seem like I'm falling back on my undergrad record. Would it be okay to include him as a third recommender or should I find someone else in addition? 5. Finally, I know this has probably already been addressed somewhere and this is hardly the place, but can anyone recommend a source for revised GRE practice tests? So far I have the PowerPrep software but I hear of people taking 20+ tests and I want to know where I can find these. Thanks!!

Thanks. I am pretty sure I am "going the academia route," at least as my first choice. But given the considerable risk of that not working out, I think it makes a lot of sense to consider lay opinion of the degree as well...not that I have high hopes many employers would consider someone who spent seven years cooped up doing a history degree anywhere very competitive. I honestly think this has to be at least tied for the most important factor unless, in the very likely event things do not work out, there's some way you can slot back into some other job after grad school easily, or else are okay with scrambling in entry level positions in your mid-30s, competing with kids right out of college, as long as you've been incredibly well-trained in something you will not have the chance to pursue as a profession.

I can't speak for lafayette, but for me the "top" programs, while they correlate with prestige, are problematic because they are also the schools with the most statistically difficult to surmount acceptance rates, and the safeties would be those which would give me a greater chance of being able to pursue any of the things you mentioned, both suitable training and professional development - because we can all agree admission is the first step. The problem is really twofold: 1. I need to find schools that are good fits that are more likely to admit me 2. I need to determine what to do if all the schools that are good fits are very unlikely to admit me

This is more or less my exact situation...

Thanks...I guess one of the reasons I wouldn't apply to 20 (beyond lack of fit) is because grad school apps require you to individualize virtually every aspect of an application, and I feel like this would be taxing on my recommenders (not to mention me - I'm doing all this while working!) Still, I want to apply to a large enough number to be admitted somewhere, given that whether or not I feel I found a fit won't necessarily mean a certain department, or many departments will. So while I'm sure there's no magic number...it sounds like somewhere around 8-10 is standard?

naturalog - did you use the same recommenders for your PhD applications and your Fulbright English Teaching one? What did they think about that / what did you say to them about it if so?

One almost wonders why academics bother writing books and not simply introduction/conclusions with some long supporting foot/endnotes, which is essentially the way most academic books are read (the meat being optional).

^ Related q: what's a reasonable number? When I applied to law school I think I sent apps to nearly 20...I guess it'd be crazy to try to hedge my bets anywhere near that much now?

Just want to butt in briefly in the sports discussion / regional battle royale and register a thank you to CageFree for the encouraging/inspiring story about starting this whirlwind process late in life, while working and on top of wedding planning at that!

Thanks, lafayette. I think I'll almost definitely apply to Berkeley -- it has one of the great history departments -- but I have multiple friends in the UC system (including at Berkeley) and they've all experienced either enormous funding scares or complete funding cutoffs. One was even forced to move to Australia to continue in her subfield. It just makes me think twice...

Thanks - I discovered that program awhile back, just unsure if I could ever stomach living in Texas...even Austin. Probably can't afford to be that choosy, though...