Hello all,
I could not stop myself being a member here and starting this topic as I really need advice. I am an international student considering of applying to the PhD programs in History for Fall 2013. I got my B.A. degree in Economics with a 3.0 GPA. During my undergraduate years, however, I took 9 courses related to History with very good grades. I should emphasize that my grades in Econ courses were terrible enough to make members of an admission committee avoid voting in favor of me Afterward, I started my M.A. program where I got a 4.0 GPA. I have various degrees of knowledge in four languages other than English.
The first question is how I can compensate this low GPA in my undergraduate school. By getting a good score on GRE and TOEFL, good letters?
The second question: Due to my position at a state university in my country as a research assistant in Economic history, I have an oppurtunity to receive a grant for four years (and two more years without funding) to study abroad. However, if I can find funding by an American school, I will resign from my job, which will mean that I will lose that oppurtunity. Do you think this external funding increases my chances of being admitted at such schools as Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, UC Berkeley and Ohio State? What should my policy be in such a process? Should I inform the schools in their deadlines that I have an external funding or wait until they rejected me? It sounds a bit funny to me saying "hey, i've got my own funding" after a rejection Among these schools, only Stanford's website states that they rarely accept those applicants with their own funding. The reason why I don' want to tell it initially is I am scared that they may tend to accept me without funding even if they find me competent enough for their program.
Thanks for any help.