L13

Congratulations to everyone who's gotten acceptances, and commiserations to the rejected!

Also scratch that no-interview theory; looking through TGC's backlog it seems professors from the department in question contact students for skype meetings every year around this time.

Thank you very much! I got the impression I'll be the one asking questions, but I suppose there's a huge chance they'll be the one doing the weighing and measuring...

Hm, thanks for checking that; your post has helped me to put my own experiences in perspective. I received an email from a professor I'm interested in working with asking me to have a skype meeting with them, but it was not explicitly phrased as an interview request. Based on your observation I speculate the department they're at does not interview candidates as a rule, but they decided they'd like to talk to me (most likely not only me) for some reason.

It is good to project confidence, but there's a way to do it without sounding like you're bragging. Your passage strikes me as too smug, perhaps because it is repetitive; of course, that's just me. Also, it was not your "high performance" that enabled your project to succeed, at least not directly. It was the knowledge and skills you developed. You should say you worked hard to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed, if you must mention it at all. As others have said, your transcript will speak for itself.

I have a similar issue. I'm an international student who goes to college in the States, so I don't need to submit proof of English proficiency. Most universities I'm applying to have provisioned for this situation and provided clear instructions on how to waive the TOEFL requirement. One university's application form, however, simply asked me to input a specific TOEFL test date and a score of zero to indicate I meet their requirements for a waiver. So now my application is listed as incomplete, because of missing scores, and the website claims it won't be reviewed until all my materials are turned in. I guess they're supposed to take care of this on their own, given the way they've set up the application software, but what if they don't! I feel like I need to email them to inform them of my situation. Ugh, but I hate sending stupid emails.

You're actually graded on your performance on the last (second) section. You can have mistakes on the first one, but as long as you do well enough to get the hard second section and ace it, you'll get a 170. Also, the test is no longer adaptable between questions but only from section to section. You can see how many mistakes you made and where if you look up the GRE Diagnostic Service, which is a free ETS tool, and log in with your test details.

lol, so. Knowing that professors are a fickle and forgetful lot, I requested not three but four recommendation letters, expecting at least one of them to be forgotten about or not submitted. I was totally right to expect that because one of my letter writers simply did not turn in their letter to the two PhD programs whose deadlines came up first. The other three, however, did, so I was happy and did not pursue the matter further (meaning, I did not email the delinquent professor to remonstrate with or beg them). Well, today my fourth letter writer submitted their letter! A week late, but it seems to have been accepted at both places because it appears on my applications. I'm pleasantly surprised.

You're right and I did submit it on time I think wishful thinking got the better of me for a second, but then I went to their website, checked, and submitted. Thanks for the reminder, though! Ugh, I was not ready for these deadlines. Oh, well. I was always expecting to get a master's degree first anyway.

After submitting my application to Harvard at exactly 5:00pm without previewing it, I'm pretty sure I can write that one off. But hey, I now have a whole extra day to look for typos in my writing sample before UChicago's deadline. Which is to say, I'm pretty sure Harvard is gonna be a wash, but it's good that I finally submitted *an* application because it forced me to add a conclusion to my writing sample. January deadlines, here I come.

I'm in a very similar situation. Today my advisor suggested a program that would be a great fit for my interests, which I originally dismissed because I didn't want to have too many super reaches on my list. Now that I'm almost done with my applications, however, the only cost of applying to one more school would be financial, and I'm trying to decide if it's worth it. However, one logistical consideration is worrying me: How would I report my GRE scores if I decided to apply to one more program so late in the game (their deadline is the Monday after next)? Does anyone know how fast electronic GRE score reports are delivered to universities? (I realize it takes many departments longer to match the score report to the application, but I assume they don't hold applicants accountable for that delay.) Oh, and I have an academia.edu profile, which I use to read and bookmark articles, book reviews, etc. The point of the website is to widen public access to research by allowing authors to upload individual articles online. It's very useful.

Really? That is quite strange. I was handed a citation manual during orientation week of freshman year (which has proved really useful now that I'm writing my senior thesis and encountering all sorts of obscure citation dilemmas). Also, one of the history professors at my school has an extensive footnoting handout and makes all of his students read it, and there's usually a citation workshop during the research seminar history juniors are required to take. It's the kind of essential skill that no department should be above reinforcing, in my opinion.

I think that's highly unlikely

Thanks a bunch for the link!

Anyone applying to UChicago know what's up with their online application? It was supposed to be ~available by early Autumn~, but I'd say we're past early Autumn now and they still haven't put it up. Or am I looking at an out-of-date page on their website?

I would advise you to approach the verbal sections strategically. Skip the long passages (of which there should be one or two) on your first run through each section and answer the sentence and short passage questions first. For the single-paragraph passages, it is often a good idea to read the question before the passage because that way you can find the information you need more quickly. When you're done with those questions, go back to the longer passages. When working on a long passage, try not to reread it. Read it once, then try to answer the question at hand. Isolate answers that are obviously wrong as soon as you know they're wrong. If you're choosing between two or three answers and have no idea what to pick, go back to the relevant sentence. If there is no single sentence that addresses your question, or the answer is contingent on information provided elsewhere in the text, reread the entire paragraph. Reread the whole passage only if, after doing all of the above, you still have absolutely no idea what the text is telling you. I admit I don't know how useful my tips are because I've never really thought about my critical reading strategies too deeply. However, I've never been pressed for time on the verbal section of a standardized test either, and I think part of the reason is that I follow most of the advice I've given you. (BTW, I'm not a native English speaker either.)

I don't think what you want to do is impossible, but you'll need to develop a good writing sample that shows you're capable of historical writing. Are there any history professors at Pitzer who could take you on for an independent study project or something like that? Can you become a research assistant for a history professor next summer? I don't think you necessarily need either of the above on your resume, but you should be looking for opportunities to prove you have an affinity for the subject. On an unrelated note, I'm doing the reading for my Japanese colonialism class right now

I have also noticed a lot of Oxford/Cambridge DPhils/PhDs in humanities departments in the US, in particular at my small liberal arts college, though I haven't tried to track their performance by discipline or sub-field. That being said, I just went on the faculty page of a random 'top' history department, UChicago, and found 3 Cambridge PhDs (and several other European ones). I think given that a relatively small proportion of Cambridge PhDs vie for academic jobs in the States, compared to the graduates of the top US departments, that is a very good showing for Cambridge. That's why this board's ceaseless refrain of "Don't go to the UK if you want to work in the US" seems a little overblown to me. I don't think a doctorate from Oxford or Cambridge (or, for that matter, from King's, St Andrews or UCL) is as big an impediment as some people think. In particular, I think top research universities that try to position themselves as knowledge producers of global significance are not shy about hiring Oxbridge grads at all. Regional US departments, on the other hand, especially if they focus on local history and/or don't have a lot of in-the-know faculty, may be more prejudiced. (These guesses are based on what I've observed, but they're by no means scientific.) On the subject of the fabled lack of teaching opportunities in the UK, based on my own experience I think that is a particularly baseless worry. I spent a year at Oxford as a visiting undergraduate. One of my tutors there was a DPhil student, and one had just gotten their doctorate (but had taught other undergraduates before). A casual acquaintance I made in my college, a DPhil student in medieval history, told me they had some light teaching duties. A DPhil student sat in on the discussion class for one of my history courses and observed the professor who led it because they (the DPhil student) were required to do that before they could lead their own discussion classes, which they were supposed to start doing in the next academic term. A DPhil student in archaeology told me about supervising student tutorials and class discussions. Et cetera, et cetera. In summary, it's definitely not true you can't get teaching experience as a grad student at Oxford. (I can't speak to Cambridge or other places in the UK.) I think many US departments are well aware of these things and don't necessarily view Oxbridge job candidates with the jaundiced eye this board imagines.

I've read statements from people on grad school committees in history to the effect that foreigners, even if they come from English-speaking countries or education systems, tend to score lower on the GRE than American students for reasons unrelated to their ability. Therefore, grad school committees give those students some leeway on the GRE. I would expect journalism programs to be similarly aware of the unfairness of the GRE to foreigners, though since they teach creative non-fiction writing in English, they may not be willing to compromise on that point. I don't know. My best advice is: make sure to polish your writing sample.

I have a much more favorable view of the AW section than most of you. I think it does a good job of evaluating your ability to communicate ideas clearly, and I think that ability is instrumental to being a good writer. Which is not to say that the writing you are asked to produce on the GRE is necessarily 'good' in the same way the short stories in The Paris Review are good. Merely that a good writer should be able to look at the sample essays on the ETS website and replicate the quality of those in the 5-6 score range. Those essays may be quite prosaic, but they build a logical argument and lay it out clearly. If you consider yourself a good writer, that kind of writing may be different from your preferred writing style, but you should still be able to demonstrate mastery of it. For the record, I read some of those sample essays in preparation for the test, and scored 5.5 on the AW. I didn't follow any prescripts like "make your transition sentences obvious and use transition words," or "use three examples and write as much as possible." I wrote two short, unflashy pieces that made sense. I'm not particularly proud of them, but I do think they were well-written. (One more so than the other; I actually expected to get a 6 on the analysis and a 5 on the argument because those were the scores I would have given them myself.)

Hello, world! I was roaming the internet in search for an explanation of my recently acquired GRE scores and their importance in the admission process, and found this blog post from 2012: http://www.historiann.com/2012/11/03/great-scores-or-egregious-scores-who-gives-a-crap-hint-we-do-sorta/ One of the comments under the post, which invites discussion of the place of GRE scores in graduate admissions, is by Anthony Grafton, who gives insight into the procedure at Princeton. I feel a little creepy reposting it here, but it's a very informative post and he signed it with his real name in a public forum, so I figure he meant it to be of wider use and I wouldn't be violating his privacy if I quoted him. So I'm quoting him: Note that although he denies the overall importance of the GRE, the second paragraph implies that native, US-based speakers of English won't get a pass on it as easily as foreigners. I'd speculate that Grafton, like other academics, feels some distaste for the GRE, but circumstances force him to take it into consideration during the selection process. Anyway. You can find more academics' opinions on the GRE in the discussion under the post. I quoted Grafton's comment specifically because it sheds light on the admission process at Princeton, which is one of the most selective history departments in the US (and probably the world). I'm sure there are people here who're applying to Princeton and/or its peer schools; they might find Grafton's words interesting. (I'm not a native English speaker, I don't really have a reason to worry about my GRE scores and I'm not applying to Princeton. I have no idea why I sought out this discussion or why I'm wasting my time pasting from it here now. My procrastination better help someone!)

Thank you! And good luck to you on the test this week!

I took it today, so I don't know my analytical writing score yet, but I thought that section went quite well, so I'm hoping for something above 5.0. I took one of the PowerPrep practice tests several days ago and got 168 V | 164 Q on it. On the real test today I got 170 V | 164 Q. I think I could raise my quant score to 167+ if I studied for it, but I'm applying to grad programs in history, where the quant score is meaningless, and don't have the money or time for vanity retakes. Still, I wish I had studied more! My total prep time was probably around 30 hours spread over four months, mostly focused on refreshing my memory of high-school math and familiarizing myself with the test format. Oh well.

Just in case my permission as thread starter is necessary/desired, and the two of you don't mind conversing in public, I wouldn't mind it at all if you used this thread to discuss napoleon87's question and other similar queries! The more useful knowledge people share with each other here, the happier I will be

No, you didn't imply that, don't worry! I just wanted to clarify my own impressions of the language training expectations in the application process. Your comment was valuable and I was just building on it. Sorry if I seemed to be cutting you down.