Applications 2019

[Procopius]

8 hours ago, Tigla said:

It is time to throw my hat back into the ring. Last year, I was accepted into two UK universities (one of which I deferred for a year) and was waitlisted on my three US applications. Hopefully, this round will be the one!

In a broad sense, I focus on global development programs during the Cold War. A lot of work has been done on American and Soviet programs, the role of international organizations, and the effects of 'development' on the 'Third World.' Following the literature from the Global Cold War, my plan is to attempt to look at how European countries, specifically the Germanys, justified their programs and the decision-making process once the decision was made to aid a country. Through my work, I hope to be able to combine the growing political and international histories of the Global Cold War with the economic and intellectual histories of development aid programs. Then, apply these frameworks back into Europe to figure out why European countries actively engaged in these programs.

• UNC-Chapel Hill: Klaus Larres and Karen Hagemann (Need to go through the faculty again)
• Princeton: Harold James, Christina Davis, Helen Miller, Andrew Moravcsik
• Northwestern: Daniel Immerwahr, Lauren Stokes, Kyle Burke
• Brandeis: David Engermann and Shameel Ahmad
• Columbia: Matthew Connelly, Anders Stephanson, Adam Tooze, and Paul Thomas Chamberlin
• NYU: Stephen Gross and Mary Nolan (still a maybe)
• TAM: Hoi-eun Kim, Jason Parker, and Adam Seipp
• Stony Brook: Young-Sun Hong, Larry Fordham, Michael Barnhart (another maybe)
• Harvard: Erez Manela, Charles S Maier, Arne Westad
• Indiana: Nick Cullather and Stephen Macekura

I'm still expanding my list and trying to cast my net fairly wide before starting to cut universities. The rest of my application will be mostly edited from last year's one. My writing sample, however, will be a chapter from my MA thesis which used exclusively German sources. As for my recommendations, they will change because 2 of my writers are leaving academia for the private sector.

You should also consider ut Austin. They placed somebody into duke a couple years ago doing almost the same thing as you but from the Eastern European perspective. 

[Imenol]

8 hours ago, Tigla said:

It is time to throw my hat back into the ring. Last year, I was accepted into two UK universities (one of which I deferred for a year) and was waitlisted on my three US applications. Hopefully, this round will be the one!

In a broad sense, I focus on global development programs during the Cold War. A lot of work has been done on American and Soviet programs, the role of international organizations, and the effects of 'development' on the 'Third World.' Following the literature from the Global Cold War, my plan is to attempt to look at how European countries, specifically the Germanys, justified their programs and the decision-making process once the decision was made to aid a country. Through my work, I hope to be able to combine the growing political and international histories of the Global Cold War with the economic and intellectual histories of development aid programs. Then, apply these frameworks back into Europe to figure out why European countries actively engaged in these programs.

• UNC-Chapel Hill: Klaus Larres and Karen Hagemann (Need to go through the faculty again)
• Princeton: Harold James, Christina Davis, Helen Miller, Andrew Moravcsik
• Northwestern: Daniel Immerwahr, Lauren Stokes, Kyle Burke
• Brandeis: David Engermann and Shameel Ahmad
• Columbia: Matthew Connelly, Anders Stephanson, Adam Tooze, and Paul Thomas Chamberlin
• NYU: Stephen Gross and Mary Nolan (still a maybe)
• TAM: Hoi-eun Kim, Jason Parker, and Adam Seipp
• Stony Brook: Young-Sun Hong, Larry Fordham, Michael Barnhart (another maybe)
• Harvard: Erez Manela, Charles S Maier, Arne Westad
• Indiana: Nick Cullather and Stephen Macekura

I'm still expanding my list and trying to cast my net fairly wide before starting to cut universities. The rest of my application will be mostly edited from last year's one. My writing sample, however, will be a chapter from my MA thesis which used exclusively German sources. As for my recommendations, they will change because 2 of my writers are leaving academia for the private sector.

Add Mazower to your Columbia list! 

[Tigla]

1 hour ago, Imenol said:

Maier is retiring!

 

I talked with him when he came to my university 2 weeks ago and he told me that too, but he also said that he may take on one last student. At most, Maier would be a third reader, but more than likely a person to bounce ideas off of if he remains around a bit (A stretch I know but one can hope). I'm mainly interested in working with Manela and Westad as advisors, and the two centers for international/global history at Harvard.

 I had Mazower on my list, but then took him off for some reason. I will take a second look. Thanks for the reminder!

 

43 minutes ago, Procopius said:

You should also consider ut Austin. They placed somebody into duke a couple years ago doing almost the same thing as you but from the Eastern European perspective. 

One of my recommenders just said this today! Thanks for the heads up, though.

Edited June 5, 2018 by Tigla

[Studiosusreipublicae]

Hello everyone! I’m a rising senior at a top US public school. I’m interested in Early Modern (and maybe late medieval) Poland-Lithuania, and military history. Jewish history is also an ancillary interest for me. Unfortunately those areas are not too popular right now, though I do have a professor here who studies Poland-Lithuania. I’m thinking of applying to a couple master’s programs in the UK for Fall 2019, or else maybe taking a year or two off and then applying for PhD programs in the US or Canada, though I am worried about losing languages in the meantime. Schools I’m considering are

UK

Aberdeen (Frost, Friedrich)

Oxford (Nowakowska, Parrott, Wilson)

Canada

Dalhousie (Hanlon, maybe Pekacz)

McGill (Hundert)

US

NYU (Wolff)

UNC (Lee)

Minnesota (Louthan, maybe Bachrach)

Brown (Teller)

Fordham (Teter)

Ohio State (Parker [though he’ll probably retire soon], Helferrich)

[historygeek]

Reposting to add schools/advisors.

I'm primarily interested in the transnational study of Italian women's agency in Italy and the US in the early 20th century, but I'm also interested in Italian-American women's history as well. I'm writing my honors thesis next year on how Italian immigrants in Saint Louis maintained a cohesive ethnic identity. I'm applying to: 

• Columbia (De Grazia, Hallett, Chauncey, Kobrin, Ngai) 
• Harvard (Cohen, Clutario, Cott, McGirr)
• NYU (Ben-Ghiat, Diner)
• UCLA (Avila, Finch, Reiff, Higbie) 
• Michigan (Gaggio, Ballinger, Simmons) 
• Boston (Oh, Lyerly) 
• Georgetown (Benton-Cohen, Chatelain, McCartin) 
• George Washington (Joselit, Chapman, Matthesin) 
• UC Davis (Dickinson, Materson, Tsu, Oropeza) 
• SLU (MA - continuing working with Ruff, Gavitt, Hester) 
• Fordham (MA - working with Goldberg, Patriarca)
• Loyola (MA - working with Cardoza, Fraterrigo) 

Suggestions for this list would be much appreciated. 

[Sigaba]

12 hours ago, AP said:

Welcome new cohort! Rising sixth year here. I found the forum very helpful when I was applying so I'm happy to pay it forward. If may, let me give you the single piece of advice I wished someone had told me (or at least had made it super clear): as you prepare your applications, stop thinking as an undergraduate (if you come straight from undergrad or have graduated in the past two years); start thinking like a professional, grad student.... if you think of this as a specialization of your work, as a way to further your career, believe me, it will transpire into your application materials. 

The guidance above looks like the post below.

12 hours ago, Tigla said:

In a broad sense, I focus on global development programs during the Cold War. A lot of work has been done on American and Soviet programs, the role of international organizations, and the effects of 'development' on the 'Third World.' Following the literature from the Global Cold War, my plan is to attempt to look at how European countries, specifically the Germanys, justified their programs and the decision-making process once the decision was made to aid a country. Through my work, I hope to be able to combine the growing political and international histories of the Global Cold War with the economic and intellectual histories of development aid programs. Then, apply these frameworks back into Europe to figure out why European countries actively engaged in these programs.

 

[Sigaba]

4 hours ago, Procopius said:

You should also consider The University of Texas at Austin

Hook 'em.

Before picking The Forty Acres, I very strongly recommend that you do your due diligence for your tolerance for humid heat and for cedar pollen, especially if you have insomnia.

[ashiepoo72]

14 hours ago, AP said:

Welcome new cohort! Rising sixth year here. I found the forum very helpful when I was applying so I'm happy to pay it forward. If may, let me give you the single piece of advice I wished someone had told me (or at least had made it super clear): as you prepare your applications, stop thinking as an undergraduate (if you come straight from undergrad or have graduated in the past two years); start thinking like a professional, grad student. 

I understand this is very vague advice, but it's so because it applies differently to all us. In my case, it meant to stop worrying about stupid things (like GRE) and worry about the important ones (the SoP, for example). If you set your mind to the application process being already part of graduate school (you will be applying for stuff for the next 6-7 years at least), if you think of this as a specialization of your work, as a way to further your career, believe me, it will transpire into your application materials. 

All the best!!!!!!!

I'm glad you said this. Totally made me lol. When I drafted an SOP for MA applications, my BA mentor told me to scrap it because I literally wrote: "I am applying to graduate school because I have loved history since I was a little girl." She gave me a harsh but valuable lesson on what adcomms want to see and what grad school is actually about, which proved invaluable when I applied to PhDs.

If I've learned anything that I wish I knew from day one, it's that profs care about the mechanics involved in conceiving a dissertation proposal, even knowing the proposal in the SOP will more than likely change (do you understand historiography and relevant methodologies? are you asking interesting and historically-grounded questions? are you flexible enough to branch out but knowledgeable enough to conceive a viable proposal? have you thought deeply and thoroughly about fit and shown how your potential committee can support your proposal?)  They also value intellectual curiosity. GREs and GPAs don't show these things.

[KTJ]

On 6/5/2018 at 3:06 PM, Studiosusreipublicae said:

Hello everyone! I’m a rising senior at a top US public school. I’m interested in Early Modern (and maybe late medieval) Poland-Lithuania, and military history. Jewish history is also an ancillary interest for me. Unfortunately those areas are not too popular right now, though I do have a professor here who studies Poland-Lithuania. I’m thinking of applying to a couple master’s programs in the UK for Fall 2019, or else maybe taking a year or two off and then applying for PhD programs in the US or Canada, though I am worried about losing languages in the meantime. Schools I’m considering are

UK

Aberdeen (Frost, Friedrich)

Oxford (Nowakowska, Parrott, Wilson)

 

If you'd like any advice/perspective on applying to MA programs in England let me know! I'll be heading over there this fall (Oxford) and I'd like to imagine I could be of some help if you do decide to apply/take that route. 

[historygeek]

Just fyi to everyone studying for the GRE-- ETS (the test provider) offers free practice tests that are exactly like the test!

[TMP]

@Studiosusreipublicae, I suggest taking time off.  I'm in a similar field and have been watching the job market.  There are just no jobs. I urge you to look at H-Job Guide and AcademiaWiki to get a sense of what's happening in Jewish Studies market. So if you want to do your PhD in those areas, make sure you are doing it with a very open mind and two very open eyes that you will not wind up as a professor.  It's a very, very long shot, is what I am saying.  Also, Parker hasn't had a student in a long time.  He is quite close to retiring but sticking around because he loves research... and everyone respects him.  So, just one of those cases.

@Sigaba Your astute observation cracked me up! 

I was told-- informally-- that admitted students in my program generally have a GRE Verbal higher than 89% and GRE Math above 54%.  That should give you all a bit of a baseline to work with.
 

[urbanhistorynerd]

Hello everyone!

I'm a rising senior at a state school in Michigan.

I focus on mid-late 20th century American urban history, my honors thesis focuses on the intersection between urban renewal and the carceral state. I've been researching how the rise of mass incarceration, the transformation of policing, and neoliberalism has influenced late 20th century urban renewal, specifically in cities such as Chicago, Washington D.C., Newark - but most of my research has been done on Detroit. I'm a scholar of the built environment and the carceral state, and I'm interested to understand how the rise of the carceral state has influenced the built environment.

I'm applying to:

• University of Michigan (Matthew Lassiter, Heather Ann Thompson, Matthew Countryman)
• University of Chicago (Destin Jenkins, Kathleen Belew)
• Northwestern University (Kevin Boyle)
• University of Maryland (David Freund, Chantel Rodriguez)
• Harvard University (Elizabeth Hinton)
• New York University (Andrew Needham)

This summer I am polishing my writing sample and SOP, doing two funded research projects, and working as research associate at a historic home on my campus (I'm also interested in historic preservation!).

[Balleu]

On 6/5/2018 at 4:00 AM, AP said:

Welcome new cohort! Rising sixth year here. I found the forum very helpful when I was applying so I'm happy to pay it forward. If may, let me give you the single piece of advice I wished someone had told me (or at least had made it super clear): as you prepare your applications, stop thinking as an undergraduate (if you come straight from undergrad or have graduated in the past two years); start thinking like a professional, grad student. 

Thank you for making this so clear. I know for myself, this means resisting the temptation to focus on numbers. My UGPA is lower than I'd like because I had a health crisis a decade ago and dropped out of my first undergrad institution. I could easily go down the road of worrying about that, or overanalyzing my GRE scores ("My Verbal is 168 but AW was only 4.5. Is that a red flag? Is that cause for concern?"). But numerical measures are the area that I have the least control over, and numbers are not going to make the case to an admissions committee that they should commit time and resources to my research over the next 5+ years. 

Having read through the "Lessons Learned" thread, I think I have a sense of the community consensus on writing samples, but I'm feeling torn between two options. Any input would be much appreciated:

• Sample A: A 20 page seminar paper analyzing a primary source in my research language and making a modest new argument on that source's interpretation. Won my department's Best Seminar Paper prize and will need polishing but not significant revisions. Less closely related to my proposed graduate research area (paper is on late medieval Iberian cultural history, graduate interest is early modern Atlantic Creole social history). 
• Sample B: My undergraduate honors thesis, based on a larger archive of primary sources but all in English. My research for this thesis was funded by my department and required me to travel to another institution to access their archives. To use it as a writing sample, it will need either significant revisions or excerpting a section. More closely related to my proposed graduate research area (thesis is on colonial Nigerian social history). 

[AP]

40 minutes ago, Balleu said:

Thank you for making this so clear. I know for myself, this means resisting the temptation to focus on numbers. My UGPA is lower than I'd like because I had a health crisis a decade ago and dropped out of my first undergrad institution. I could easily go down the road of worrying about that, or overanalyzing my GRE scores ("My Verbal is 168 but AW was only 4.5. Is that a red flag? Is that cause for concern?"). But numerical measures are the area that I have the least control over, and numbers are not going to make the case to an admissions committee that they should commit time and resources to my research over the next 5+ years. 

Good thinking. What's important is that you don't explain your "flaws" but transform them into something positive, a learning opportunity, and even a research question. E.g. "Having to drop out from college myself due to a health crisis, I am now interested in the intersections of education and public health. Specifically, I seek to examine the mechanisms local authorities employed to serve regional stakeholders in war-torn borderlands" [I'm CLEARLY inventing!  ]

43 minutes ago, Balleu said:

• Sample A: A 20 page seminar paper analyzing a primary source in my research language and making a modest new argument on that source's interpretation. Won my department's Best Seminar Paper prize and will need polishing but not significant revisions. Less closely related to my proposed graduate research area (paper is on late medieval Iberian cultural history, graduate interest is early modern Atlantic Creole social history). 
• Sample B: My undergraduate honors thesis, based on a larger archive of primary sources but all in English. My research for this thesis was funded by my department and required me to travel to another institution to access their archives. To use it as a writing sample, it will need either significant revisions or excerpting a section. More closely related to my proposed graduate research area (thesis is on colonial Nigerian social history). 

I think your sample A could be more manageable. Does it stem from the thesis? if it does, you can then introduce the main themes in the thesis and then go into the paper itself. 

[gsc]

On 6/5/2018 at 7:38 PM, historygeek said:

Reposting to add schools/advisors.

I'm primarily interested in the transnational study of Italian women's agency in Italy and the US in the early 20th century, but I'm also interested in Italian-American women's history as well. I'm writing my honors thesis next year on how Italian immigrants in Saint Louis maintained a cohesive ethnic identity. I'm applying to: 

You might give Rutgers a look. We accepted quite a lot of Europeanists in this 2018 cycle so I do think admissions for that field will be slim-to-none in 2019, but if you pitch yourself as either an Americanist or a women's & gender historian first (and an Italianist second) you might have better success.

In regards to how you are framing your project & object of study - I'm not sure "agency" is the best word here. It's not particularly specific; it actually doesn't tell me very much about what you want to study beyond the fact that you're interested in Italy and women. So why not just say "the history of Italian women's political participation" or "Italian women's religious organizations" or "Italian women's activities outside the home," or whatever the case may be? Relatedly, Lynn Thomas has a fantastic article on the perils of the term "agency" which is a really worthwhile read for anyone doing gender history. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1468-0424.12210

 

Edited June 11, 2018 by gsc

[L13]

13 hours ago, Balleu said:

Thank you for making this so clear. I know for myself, this means resisting the temptation to focus on numbers. My UGPA is lower than I'd like because I had a health crisis a decade ago and dropped out of my first undergrad institution. I could easily go down the road of worrying about that, or overanalyzing my GRE scores ("My Verbal is 168 but AW was only 4.5. Is that a red flag? Is that cause for concern?"). But numerical measures are the area that I have the least control over, and numbers are not going to make the case to an admissions committee that they should commit time and resources to my research over the next 5+ years. 

Having read through the "Lessons Learned" thread, I think I have a sense of the community consensus on writing samples, but I'm feeling torn between two options. Any input would be much appreciated:

•  Sample A: A 20 page seminar paper analyzing a primary source in my research language and making a modest new argument on that source's interpretation. Won my department's Best Seminar Paper prize and will need polishing but not significant revisions. Less closely related to my proposed graduate research area (paper is on late medieval Iberian cultural history, graduate interest is early modern Atlantic Creole social history). 
• Sample B: My undergraduate honors thesis, based on a larger archive of primary sources but all in English. My research for this thesis was funded by my department and required me to travel to another institution to access their archives. To use it as a writing sample, it will need either significant revisions or excerpting a section. More closely related to my proposed graduate research area (thesis is on colonial Nigerian social history). 

Sample A, definitely.

Stuff like prizes and funding is nice, but it doesn't really affect profs' perception of your writing sample. And how closely your sample relates to your proposed topic is not very important, if at all, at least not based on my observations.

Demonstrating facility with primary sources and relevant foreign languages is FAR more impressive, especially if it comes with an original argument. Also, the fact your paper is already the length of a typical writing sample means it is already digestible as a complete piece and you don't have to cut it down from 50-100 pages while retaining the structure and clarity of the original historical argument, which is pretty difficult and time-consuming if you've never done it. Also, frankly, senior theses tend to be unfocused and to lack rhetorical impact and seminar papers are often where the best undergraduate writing is to be found, but obviously YMMV on this. (I say this as someone who wrote a senior thesis and used one of its chapters as a writing sample, so no hate.)

Edited June 11, 2018 by L13

[historygeek]

13 hours ago, gsc said:

You might give Rutgers a look. We accepted quite a lot of Europeanists in this 2018 cycle so I do think admissions for that field will be slim-to-none in 2019, but if you pitch yourself as either an Americanist or a women's & gender historian first (and an Italianist second) you might have better success.

In regards to how you are framing your project & object of study - I'm not sure "agency" is the best word here. It's not particularly specific; it actually doesn't tell me very much about what you want to study beyond the fact that you're interested in Italy and women. So why not just say "the history of Italian women's political participation" or "Italian women's religious organizations" or "Italian women's activities outside the home," or whatever the case may be? Relatedly, Lynn Thomas has a fantastic article on the perils of the term "agency" which is a really worthwhile read for anyone doing gender history. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1468-0424.12210

 

These are great recommendations! I hadn't really looked at Rutgers, but I'll definitely look into it. This article is great-- I've been a little frustrated with how bulky it's been explaining my research interests, so framing them in a different way is probably going to be in my best interests-- no pun intended. 

[dr. t]

On 6/10/2018 at 11:20 PM, Balleu said:

My UGPA is lower than I'd like because I had a health crisis a decade ago and dropped out of my first undergrad institution. I could easily go down the road of worrying about that, or overanalyzing my GRE scores ("My Verbal is 168 but AW was only 4.5. Is that a red flag? Is that cause for concern?"). But numerical measures are the area that I have the least control over, and numbers are not going to make the case to an admissions committee that they should commit time and resources to my research over the next 5+ years. 

I think we get a lot of people coming to the forum like this (it's something of my story, too), so let me give two things.

1) GREs don't really matter, but AW matters the least. I myself had a 4.5 and asked a DGS if that would hurt me. His response: "Uh, is that the thing that's out of 6?"

2) I failed out of my undergraduate... twice. My GPA from that experience was 0.86. Here's how I handled it on my writing sample. Notice how it's a pivot, and how it launches aids rather than disrupts the narrative.

"The further I progress in my historical study, the more firmly I hold to the conviction that calling something a `first cause' simply means that one has failed to fully understand the events which preceded it. Still, I can put my finger on the precise moment at which I began to take a professional interest in medieval history. During a survey course on the high and late Middle Ages, I was given a handout with a variety of medieval quotations about women. The second of these read: ``We... recognizing that the wickedness of women is greater than all the other wickedness of the world and that the poison of asps and dragons is more curable and less dangerous to men than the familiarity of women, have unanimously decreed... that we will on no account receive any more sisters... but avoid them like poisonous animals.'' I was struck not only by the misogyny, but also by the practical implications contained within the passage. It painted a portrait of female sexual depravity which was primitive, animalistic, and universal. Yet I knew that the western Church held that every person possessed free will. How did the quote's author reconcile these two seemingly disparate truths to himself or to others? This question became a term paper, the term paper became a senior thesis, and down the rabbit hole I went.

Ten years earlier, if someone asked me what I wanted to be, they would have received an unequivocal answer: an engineer. Throughout high school, I had been an active participant in the school's robotics team, and I had advanced through the standard mathematics curriculum and onto subjects such as linear algebra and multivariate calculus. In 2004, I entered the mechanical engineering program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. I quickly received a rather rude awakening. The courses were esoteric, dealing only in abstract concepts and rote memorization, and we were given no opportunity to explore, tinker, or build. I quickly lost interest and direction. My grades declined rapidly, and I was forced to leave the university in 2007. Returning home, I took a job at the local Trader Joe's and went to work putting myself back in order. I used my job to finance a career as an amateur fencer for several years, competing in national and international tournaments, but eventually, the daily grind of customer service took its toll. I was still unsure precisely what I wanted to do in life, but I was sure that, whatever it was, it did not involve shifts that began at five in the morning. I have always had a passing fascination with what I would now call popular medievalisms---Tolkien, the Arthurian legends, and Disney's Robin Hood, to name a few---so when I saw that the Harvard University Extension School, Harvard's night school, was offering a course on medieval warfare and the crusades, I enrolled, thinking it would be a way to rekindle my academic interest. It did. For the first time, I had fun in a college class. The following semester, I enrolled at the Extension School as a degree-seeking student, signed up for the survey course, and received that decisive handout.

The Extension School offered me a second chance at academic success. There, in addition to my history coursework, I was able to improve my Latin and French, finding a new interest in these languages as their utility to my studies became clear. Once I had exhausted the Extension School's medieval course offerings, I applied and was accepted to Harvard's Special Student Program. Through the SSP, I was able to take the regular daytime course offerings at Harvard in subjects such as paleography, German, and historiography. It was through this program that I first took courses with Dr. Beverly Kienzle, Dr. William Stoneman, and Dr. Michael McCormick, all of whom have been my mentors and advisers. Shortly before my graduation in 2013, I presented my undergraduate thesis, advised by Dr. Kienzle, ``Holy Women and Submission to the Divine: Free Will, Gender, and Sanctity in Medieval Europe, ca. 1100--1300,'' to the undergraduate session at the International Congress for Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo, MI. I began my master's degree in the History of Christianity at Harvard Divinity School the following fall.

At the Divinity School, I have been able to both refine my academic interests and explore new ground. Through coursework and independent study, I have greatly strengthened my research, linguistic, and paleographic skills. However, my interest in mathematics and computers never entirely went away, leading me to become deeply involved in the digital humanities. I participated in Harvard's first graduate seminar on digital history in which I received hands-on experience in crowd-sourced projects, social network theory, and `popular' history. With Dr. McCormick's encouragement, I first became a research assistant and then the managing editor of his \textit{Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilization}, a project which seeks to map archaeological, natural, and social data for the late Roman and Medieval periods. These experiences have not only taught me how to manage cooperative research projects, but also how to incorporate diverse methods and sources of information not frequently utilized in historical study, such as spatial and statistical analysis and climate data, into my research. I have used social network theory to examine the political role of a monastery with few surviving documents, and I am writing a paper on the use of quantitative analysis of style in Latin texts as a means of investigating questions of authorship. Other pieces of my work follow more traditional models: my first publication, a codicological examination of a copy of Eadmer's Vita Anselmi, is currently receiving final revisions. However, the majority of my time has been spent studying a collection of thirteenth-century sermons or collationes preached by the monks of the Cistercian monastery of Foigny, which I am translating for publication. It is through my study of Foigny and its sermons that I first began to be suspicious of monastic claims of stability and isolation, the central topic I will address in my doctoral studies."

Edited June 12, 2018 by telkanuru

[emhafe]

On 6/5/2018 at 5:06 PM, Studiosusreipublicae said:

Hello everyone! I’m a rising senior at a top US public school.

For whatever reason, the first thought that came to my head when reading this was high school and I was super impressed you were applying to PhD programs straight out of high school. ?

[dr. t]

3 hours ago, emhafe said:

For whatever reason, the first thought that came to my head when reading this was high school and I was super impressed you were applying to PhD programs straight out of high school. ?

Eh. Applying right out of high school? Anyone can do that. Getting in is something different ?

[Balleu]

On 6/10/2018 at 2:59 PM, AP said:

I think your sample A could be more manageable. Does it stem from the thesis? if it does, you can then introduce the main themes in the thesis and then go into the paper itself. 

 

On 6/11/2018 at 2:11 AM, L13 said:

Sample A, definitely.

Stuff like prizes and funding is nice, but it doesn't really affect profs' perception of your writing sample. And how closely your sample relates to your proposed topic is not very important, if at all, at least not based on my observations.

Demonstrating facility with primary sources and relevant foreign languages is FAR more impressive, especially if it comes with an original argument. 

Excellent, Sample A it is then. The "Lessons Learned" thread is also pretty unambiguous about the need to demonstrate language proficiency whenever possible. Using Sample A does mean I won't be demonstrating in my WS that I am familiar with the historiography of my proposed research area. Is that something that can conceivably be incorporated in an SoP? Or just hope that my recommenders can speak to that?

On 6/12/2018 at 2:24 AM, telkanuru said:

I think we get a lot of people coming to the forum like this (it's something of my story, too), so let me give two things.

1) GREs don't really matter, but AW matters the least. I myself had a 4.5 and asked a DGS if that would hurt me. His response: "Uh, is that the thing that's out of 6?"

2) I failed out of my undergraduate... twice. My GPA from that experience was 0.86. Here's how I handled it on my writing sample. Notice how it's a pivot, and how it launches aids rather than disrupts the narrative.

Thank you so much, both for sharing your SoP and for the words of comfort. My six year customer service stint was running a game store, so I have my own version: "I don't know what I want to do with my life, but I know it doesn't involve getting leered at while I try to explain the rules of Settlers of Catan." 

2019 cohort, how goes your process? I have a pretty healthy spreadsheet at this point with program info (language reqs, course sequence, funding), application info (deadlines, fees, max page counts), and POI info. Speaking of which: I put together a little research elevator pitch for when I start reaching out to potential advisers.

"My research background has focused on the relationship between gender, access to the public sphere, and discourses of respectability during the West African colonial period. I wrote my thesis on Nigerian market women's resistance to an attempt by colonial authorities to regulate the Lagos food marketplace. I especially focused on the competing discursive strategies that Lagosians and colonial officials used to frame this conflict, and the claims they each made about the distinctive nature of foodstuffs markets. 

As I move toward graduate research, I know that I want to bring those themes (gender, economic and social access, food and the environment) into an Atlantic African context. Broadly, I plan to focus on Afro-Iberian creole societies in the 17th and 18th centuries, with particular focus on gender in the process of community formation and adaptation to the natural environment."

Too much? Too little? No one cares about my interests/background in an introductory email?

[psstein]

1 hour ago, Balleu said:

Too much? Too little? No one cares about my interests/background in an introductory email?

It's not unimportant, but I'd suggest mentioning the PoI's work in your email and how it relates to your own.

[ashiepoo72]

Regarding how much to put into inquiry emails, this was my template, which I modified accordingly:

subject: Inquiry from Prospective PhD Student

Dear Professor Awesome,

My name is Nerdy and I am completing an MA in US history at Happy University. I'm interested in the study of TIME PERIOD/THEMATIC FOCUS, with an emphasis on REGION blah blah one short punchy sentence on interests. I recently read [book/article] and your discussion/analysis of x and y informed my approach to/research on/conception of z. I would love to learn more about your current project on super dope topic, as I envision my research touching upon similar themes/ideas/subjects/methodologies.

I wanted to inquire if you are accepting graduate students for the 2015 academic year and, if so, would you be able to answer some questions over email or phone?

Thank you for your time.

Best,

Nerdy

 

obviously the first paragraph changed a lot depending on who I emailed. I was told that because profs are busy and stereotypically bad at responding to emails it's best that the initial inquiry email is one they can read without scrolling.

If a prof doesn't respond in like 2-3 weeks, its a good idea to resend your initial inquiry email with a friendly note saying you're aware they're super busy and are resending the email just in case the first one fell through the cracks. Honestly, I got way more responses this way, including from people who eventually accepted me.

 

[AP]

12 hours ago, ashiepoo72 said:

Regarding how much to put into inquiry emails, this was my template, which I modified accordingly:

subject: Inquiry from Prospective PhD Student

Dear Professor Awesome,

My name is Nerdy and I am completing an MA in US history at Happy University. I'm interested in the study of TIME PERIOD/THEMATIC FOCUS, with an emphasis on REGION blah blah one short punchy sentence on interests. I recently read [book/article] and your discussion/analysis of x and y informed my approach to/research on/conception of z. I would love to learn more about your current project on super dope topic, as I envision my research touching upon similar themes/ideas/subjects/methodologies.

I wanted to inquire if you are accepting graduate students for the 2015 academic year and, if so, would you be able to answer some questions over email or phone?

Thank you for your time.

Best,

Nerdy

 

obviously the first paragraph changed a lot depending on who I emailed. I was told that because profs are busy and stereotypically bad at responding to emails it's best that the initial inquiry email is one they can read without scrolling.

If a prof doesn't respond in like 2-3 weeks, its a good idea to resend your initial inquiry email with a friendly note saying you're aware they're super busy and are resending the email just in case the first one fell through the cracks. Honestly, I got way more responses this way, including from people who eventually accepted me.

 

When I receive e-mails I want the purpose of the e-mail right away. Though the example above is very good, I will make a suggestion: begin with "My name is X and I am an MA student at Y". I am writing to inquire if...." and then you begin to talk about you. Otherwise, the e-mail just reads as "me me me" until the very end. 

 

My two cents. 

@Balleu depending on how you word it you don't need to demonstrate now that you know the historiography of your project because that's what graduate school is for. You need to show that you have interesting questions and cool potential for expanding the field. Sometimes that means that you know your research is interesting because you have read the relevant scholarship. So, yes, you could include this narrative in your SoP (and even if you didn't choose sample A, I would still include it in your SoP).

 

[centinel]

I am currently gearing up for my second year of an M.A. program, and I'm planning on applying to PhD programs in the fall. My primary interests are in early American political and constitutional history (I gravitate mostly toward the Revolution and the early republic, although I also have secondary interests in colonial America and the British empire). 

I applied to a couple of top-tier PhD programs right out of undergrad, but I didn't really have a clear research agenda and I consequently failed to identify programs and advisors whose strengths closely matched my interests. My research interests and understanding of the field have become significantly clearer in the last couple of years, so hopefully this round of applying to doctoral programs will go more smoothly.

I fared reasonably well on the GRE a couple of years ago (although not quite as well as I would have liked). I think my scores should be satisfactory enough to adcoms, so I'm primarily focusing on writing a solid M.A. thesis.

So far, my list of prospective schools/ advisors is:

UCLA (Yirush)

Ohio State (Brooke)

Boston University (McConville)

Maryland (Brewer)

Notre Dame (Griffin)

New Hampshire (Gould)

Indiana (Knott/Irvin)

South Carolina (Holton)

Missouri (Pasley)

Any fellow Early Americanists out there?

Edited June 14, 2018 by centinel