CrazyCatLady80

Welcome everyone! What are your fields? Any thoughts about possible schools? I have a list of around twenty schools. I am going to start narrowing them down this summer. My top three at this time are UMich, Berkeley, and Washington.

The other good piece of advice I received about going for a PhD is only do it if you can't imagine doing anything else with your life. In my previous life, I was an archivist. I worked with a lot of PhDs on this public history project and they first put the idea in my head. I still was unsure so I decided to go for a MA. At that point, I was unemployed and my archivist career really never took off. After a lot of thinking, I decided to do it. Despite having a rough time the past month with an advisor from hell, I can't say I regret the decision.

Is the guy included?

Have you just thought about going for a MA? The professors at my school always tell students to only go for a PhD if you are interested in teaching at the college level. That doesn't often end up being the case with the competitive job market, but that should be your main goal for going for a PhD.

My dream job would be teaching at a CSU. I like the idea of helping that first generation college student or that person who had it difficult in school getting their college degree. Yes...I know that means dealing with people who don't know how to write or actually think the Berlin Wall was in Japan to keep the communists out (yes....that was a response to one of the exams I graded), but I would rather deal with those kind of people than rich white kids at some of these more elite schools.

I have noticed a couple of posts for Fall 2014. Do you guys think it is too early to get this discussion started?

I think it depends on what you want out of your PhD. If you want to end up at a major research institution, you should aim for a top twenty program. If you want to focus mostly on teaching, it isn't as important. My grad school is a large CSU in the LA area. Though they hire people from top programs, they are more concerned about the quality of teaching than research and where you got your PhD. One of the recent hires is from some school in El Paso that doesn't even rank in the top 100, but has an excellent programs in borderlands (another super hot area).

TMP has a point in that with job market a lot of schools are looking for people who specialize in those areas. However, that being said, pick a field that you love instead of what is hot. You are going to be studying this for seven years of your life. You better like your field or you will go nuts. Luckily, race and gender are two of my fields and I love them both although some of the writings on gender can get annoying.

Just curious - when you apply to do wait till your recent fall grades have been posted? Can you do that?

I am aware of the ranking list as well. Just curious of anyone here knows more about it.

Does anyone know anything about the University of Rochester. A lot of big names were associated with the school around fifty years ago. Wondered if it is still a big name in history field.

Actually, it isn't that uncommon. I know several people who were teachers and went back for their PhD. I think it makes them not only good academics, but strong teachers, which is sadly often lacking in academia.

My fields are 20th century U.S urban, political, racial, and gender history. My research right now focuses in on suburban political and racial diversity in conservative neighborhoods. I became interested in urban and racial history back in my archivist days while working on a project documenting African Americans in the Bronx. My boss was an urban historian and I always found race issues interesting. Once I entered grad school, I realized political history was also a good fit. I have done a lot of work on political campaigns and just seem to have six sense when it comes to politics. With women and gender, I only started that in the past six months. I got sick of seeing these beautiful, bright, funny, and all around amazing young college women feel they have to play stupid in a classroom in order to be liked. Studying women and gender history makes me feel like I am helping to solve this problem.

I would say the best part of grad school is the schedule. I don't start my work day till 11AM and finish around 9 or 10PM. If I have an appointment, it is easy to work it out, because I am the boss of my own schedule. I love it and a huge perk of being an academic.

Sometimes you don't have a choice. Most of the PhDs I know here in SoCal take out student loans, because it is near impossible to live on 1500 a month in this area. Depending where I live, I will probably take out more and keep in mind that I have debt from two masters, but I will start paying some it back when I am in grad school.

It depends. The money isn't there anymore. The glory days of California public higher education are over. Plus, the classes and the cost is insane. When I went through some papers this weekend, I found a bill for my very first semester my freshman year at Sonoma State back in 1998. The total cost for fifteen units was $850. Now it would be $3,500. However, the faculty is very strong and passionate about teaching. My library at CSUN is amazing. In fact, in many ways, I like it more than UCLA or USC. After I am finished with grad school, I would very much like to teach at CSU. It may not be as glamorous as teaching at a top school, but I like the idea of helping people that have problems academically or personally get a college education to improve their lives. I find it extremely rewarding.

It is a fellowship just in the CSU system. It covers visits to various schools, application fees, conferences, journal subscriptions, etc. Plus, you get an internship at a UC of your choice. It really is an amazing program.

Ok....so far I have application fees, GRE (the test itself), GRE fees, and transcripts. Am I forgetting anything? I better get this fellowship or I will be homeless after the application season is over.

I am working on yet another fellowship this weekend. This one is to help fund some of the costs associated with applying to grad school. Can anyone give me an estimate of how much money I should budget for application fees? I am aiming to apply for twelve schools (yes...I know it is a lot). Also, did any of you meet your POIs the summer before you applied? There is money in the fellowship to make campus visits to meet POIs and wondered if any of you found this helpful.

Congrats to the new admits. I am thrilled for all of you.

imri1968 - Don't know if you are from the area, but I have lived in L.A. most of life and have a pretty good idea about cost of living expenses. Live somewhere in The Valley - it is cheapest. Despite getting a lot of money last year, don't expect a huge amount from UCLA. I am guessing it is going to be somewhere between 16-18,000.

reminis - I have heard of a couple of grad students getting Cs in my program. I think that is the lowest it goes for grad students. It isn't the most difficult nor demanding program. Most of my grades are As and A-s. I do have two B+s when I first started grad school. I was working full time on a major archives grant project. I didn't have that much time to dedicate to my school work so I perfectly accept those grades. aec09g - I am applying Fall 2014. Didn't apply this year. I do agree with you just sitting back and letting the pieces fall where they fall, but that is super difficult. Part of me feels that at the end of the day the grade will be changed on my transcript and everything will be ok. If the guy is no longer my advisor and I have my letter writer's support, I might go to the Head of the Department and complain. I do have a pretty solid case against him, but right now I am doing nothing. TMP - I am trying to change advisors. The problem is that might not happen. The other person in my field is retiring and can't take on any new people. I sent out an email to someone else this weekend. If I change my topic slightly, she might be able to take me. I might be able to survive with him, but he is just so unpredictable that I am worried what he will say in the letter.

Does anyone know if UCLA has accepted anyone yet?

Thank you everyone for your support. It really means a lot to me. These past two weeks have been hell. Even though the professor is disliked by the department, I know if I took further action I run the risk of pissing everyone off. The department's whole attitude is that this was a simple grade mistake and sorry I wasn't notified. There is nothing that I can do, except change advisors and get the paper published. I've thought about approaching him for a grade change if the paper is published. He has the biggest ego and the fact that he gave a B to paper that ended up being published doesn't make him look good at all. In fact, when I told him that it might possibly be published last week his expression was priceless. I know everyone tells me a 3.7 from a 3.8 isn't a big deal, but I have a hard time believing that. The fact is that I don't know anyone who has gotten accepted to a top 50 program with a GPA less than a 3.8. My undergrad grades aren't that good either. I do have a MLS and got a 3.7. I know the GRE will be difficult since I am horrible at standardized tests.

The whole situation with the paper is very strange. Basically, he loved it and told me that I should publish it. Based on that information, I agreed to do an independent study. A week before I was to present it at a conference and mid way through the semester, he decided he hated it and needed to move on to a different topic. Of course, I couldn't change the topic a week before the conference and mid-way through the semester. He never puts anything in writing so I have no documentation of this except my word against his version. I presented it at the conference and heard a lot of good feedback. I presented it again at another conference and it is being considered for their student publication. I am going to submit it to another editor after I get another professor at my university (not my advisor) to look it over. The paper has also been reviewed by other faculty members and they loved it. The grade change is a long story. He said he gave me an A by mistake, but I doubt his story, because he has done stuff like this before to other students. Honestly, I don't know what kind of letter he would write me. He is very unpredictable. I really want to stay clear of him for other reasons that I can't post here. I am trying to change advisors, but that might not happen.