Odds for History PhD?

[history_hopeful]

Hi Everyone,

After three years of working in a corporate environment after undergrad, I'm considering a History PhD. While I've been interested in academic history for a while, my advisor cautioned me that I should work outside of a university for a few years first to make sure that I was really passionate about my research interests and historical research before applying. After a few years working full time, I keep returning to the idea of history graduate work and I am thinking about applying to start in Fall 2022. I am interested in American history (late 19th and early 20th century) with a focus on the progressive era, the temperance movement, the social history of vice, and the history of gender and race more broadly. My ultimate career goal would be an academic or museum curator position. If the job market continues to decline, I would also be open to teaching high school (and wouldn't necessarily consider the PhD a waste of time - it would be a privilege just to get to do historical research again). 

I graduated with a 3.9 undergraduate GPA from a small liberal arts college. I completed an honors thesis (which I would use as my writing sample), received several departmental awards, and have several professors who would write letters of recommendation for me. I also completed historical research internships at a Smithsonian and a local archive. I haven't taken the GRE yet. Is there any chance I can get into a top PhD program with funding? Which programs would be a good fit for my interests, and what resources might help direct my search? Should I apply to masters programs first? Any advice would be much appreciated. 

 

 

[psstein]

6 minutes ago, history_hopeful said:

Is there any chance I can get into a top PhD program with funding? Which programs would be a good fit for my interests, and what resources might help direct my search?

A few statements here:

1) There are zero programs worth attending that do not offer funding. Given the nature of the academic job market, I'd consider an unfunded offer a soft rejection.

2) I don't have enough understanding of your particular field to give good answers regarding programs you should consider.

What I would suggest is to look at the books you found compelling in your respective areas of interest. See where the authors work and where they received their PhDs. Then, look at the citations. Who's being cited most frequently? Where do these scholars work?

 

[AfricanusCrowther]

1 hour ago, history_hopeful said:

I graduated with a 3.9 undergraduate GPA from a small liberal arts college. I completed an honors thesis (which I would use as my writing sample), received several departmental awards, and have several professors who would write letters of recommendation for me. I also completed historical research internships at a Smithsonian and a local archive. I haven't taken the GRE yet. Is there any chance I can get into a top PhD program with funding? Which programs would be a good fit for my interests, and what resources might help direct my search? Should I apply to masters programs first? Any advice would be much appreciated. 

 

 

I agree with what psstein said about funding. On paper, you sound like a fine candidate, but PhD admissions in history mostly come down to the quality of your written work, especially the strength of your statement of purpose, and how well a department would serve your research interests ("the fit").

In terms of finding programs, think about the important books and articles published on the topics that you want to research and find out where those people are teaching. Then get a sense of how many successful PhD candidates those programs produce. If in doubt, consult Google Scholar.

It's great that you might want to teach high school, but make sure to plan for this potential career path while in grad school. There are steps you can take that will make the transition to high school teaching much smoother.

Edited February 25, 2021 by AfricanusCrowther

[TMP]

You might want to consider teaching in private schools/prep schools that do generally prefer PhDs. Take a look and see what the qualifications are.  Also you'll want to think about where you'll ultimately want to teach high school -- most states require certification for teaching, which is *not* part of any PhD teaching training and is something you'll have to do on your own on the side.

[AfricanusCrowther]

10 hours ago, TMP said:

You might want to consider teaching in private schools/prep schools that do generally prefer PhDs. Take a look and see what the qualifications are.  Also you'll want to think about where you'll ultimately want to teach high school -- most states require certification for teaching, which is *not* part of any PhD teaching training and is something you'll have to do on your own on the side.

Bear in mind too that even those schools that do hire a lot of PHDs will still desire applicants who appreciate that college teaching and high school teaching are not the same (or so I've heard). When you get to graduate school, talk to the people (faculty or grad students, as the case may be) running the professionalization program in your department to see if you can organize a panel or two on high school teaching featuring those who have made the transition.

[Chiqui74]

Before you try to go the PhD route, ask yourself what it is you want out the PhD. The academic job market has been abysmal for years and currently non existent. The state of academia and higher ed is a complete disaster and chances are almost zero anything will change in the next few years. It's almost certain that you will not get a tenure track job, so if that is your goal, I urge you to reconsider and NOT do a PhD. If that is NOT your goal, then why do a PhD? If you just want to learn things, you can do that without going through the arduous and often demoralizing process of getting a PhD only to end up less qualified for non-academic jobs than you were before going in. If you are independently wealthy and just want to do a PhD for fun, I question your definition of fun, but go right ahead.

Museum curators have their own career path and a PhD in History is NOT the best way to go about it. Plus, they have their own job market issues. If you want to be a curator, look into Public History programs with a museum specialization, or into a Museum Studies program.

Also, absolutely do not attend a PhD program that does not cover your tuition AND gives you a stipend.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Chiqui74

[Sigaba]

On 2/25/2021 at 12:15 PM, history_hopeful said:

I am interested in American history (late 19th and early 20th century) with a focus on the progressive era, the temperance movement, the social history of vice, and the history of gender and race more broadly. 

[...]

Which programs would be a good fit for my interests, and what resources might help direct my search? Should I apply to masters programs first? Any advice would be much appreciated. 

For starters, I recommend browsing through The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era to see where its contributors and reviewers teach and also looking at the backgrounds of its editorial board. 

It may not be too early to start thinking about how your prioritize your interests. What is the first among equals? Are you a social historian who looks at a specific time period or are you a historian of a specific time period who uses different types of historical analysis to bring that time into sharper focus?

You don't have to commit to anything for a while, but understanding how the pieces fit together may help you to develop your SOP and to refine your honor's thesis. (The professor who advised you to work in the private sector may be pleased if you show that you have grown as a historian the last three years.)

It may be prudent to start looking for archival sources that are available on line and maybe even downloading what you can now. COVID-19 may not be done and there may be other pandemics in the next few years.

If you see yourself at a boarding school, it may be to your advantage to get your arms around the additional responsibilities you will have, the challenges of teaching exceptionally competitive students, and the roiling scandals that have been unfolding at numerous institutions.