Newly considering PhD in History/Middle Ages: early questions

[possibleapplicant]

Hi there--was encouraged by a faculty member in religion to consider applying to history departments as well since a couple of my top scholars are considered affiliated with their university's religion departments, but primarily located in their history departments. But as someone with a nontraditional background, I thought I'd ask some early questions:

• I have an MDiv from a top-tier school and an MFA from a reputable university, but as far as I'm aware, MFA rankings aren't a thing in the way academic programs are. Will the MFA prove a hindrance, and should I focus on recommenders from the MDiv program even though the MFA is more recent? I took some literature classes for it, but had the profs only once or twice, though one offered his recommendation. My most-taken medieval prof was a literature prof with whom I was close in undergrad, but that was a long time ago, so I'm not sure that would be wise either since it's my oldest degree.
• My main interest area is in late medieval religious culture in England and Scotland. What language prereqs do history departments typically have for this? My previous programs didn't offer a lot of support here, but I was able to take a couple. I was browsing a couple programs' pages, and while they said there would be examinations during the course of the program, they didn't list prereqs. Forums like this I've stumbled across online, however, say someone needs to be extremely fluent and formally trained in French and German and Latin prior to admission.
• I see a lot of discussion about undergraduate GPAs, but not master's. What's a competitive master's level GPA for a university like Northwestern, and what's the "don't even bother" cutoff?
• Would it be wise to mention graduate assistantships for which I taught students how to write research papers and supervised students writing theses and dissertations in my SoP?
• Are there rny resources you'd recommend for programs in this area outside the U.S.? 

My gratitude for your thoughts on any or all of these. I'm in the very inchoate planning part of this, just kind of surveying the land and seeing what the typical expectations are before I consider throwing my hat in.

 

Edited September 21, 2020 by possibleapplicant

[Sigaba]

Welcome to the grad cafe. Here are some threads that may help you start the process of finding answers to your questions.
 

 

 

 

[possibleapplicant]

7 minutes ago, Sigaba said:

Welcome to the grad cafe. Here are some threads that may help you start the process of finding answers to your questions.
 

 

 

 

You are an angel. Thank you for these.