2022 Application Thread

[Imperator Totius Hispaniae]

13 hours ago, Jibrananand said:

Hi, another quick question about sop word limits. I've managed to cut down my sop for other schools to within the word limit. But with Harvard there seems to be some contradictory information. GSAS recommends 1000 words but the FAQ on the History Department's website says 3-5 pages. Does that mean I am allowed a bit of extra room assuming Times New Roman and 1.5 spacing? I do understand and value a concise proposal, but I was wondering if the recommended word count indicated the preference for a longer form SOP? Something like 1300 words or so? Thanks in advance and good luck to everyone applying.  

I will echo Sigaba and killerbunny and say that writing as clearly and concisely as possible is paramount! I'm sure if you went over your SOP and cut out unnecessary adverbs, prepositions, and the passive voice, you will be able to shorten it.  However, based on reading application instructions for all the programs I'm applying to, it seems like you should defer to your program's specific instructions on the program page for the SOP, writing sample, etc. The general instructions act as default requirements in the event your particular program doesn't provide specific instructions.  My advice: go with what Harvard's History Department says re: word length for the SOP, not GSAS.

Btw, what subfield are you applying to? I'm applying to Harvard as well.

[Sigaba]

A bit of a rant.

The need for applicants to read the tea leaves at all is increasingly infuriating. I don't think that it's unreasonable for departments and graduate schools to harmonize the guidance they provide. Professional academic historians worry about the craft being in crisis yet won't do all they can to put applicants in a position to succeed.

More grist for the mill.

If you're really stressed about your SOP, don't read the following. (The double espresso may have been a HUGE mistake.)

When it comes to conflicting guidance on the application, a relevant question may be What's the relationship between the graduate school and an academic department? And from there:

1. Is the former going to rubber stamp the recommendations of the latter?
2. Does the graduate school have final say IRT offers of admission and/or funding?
3. Are there unknown conflicts (political, personal, philosophical, budgetary) between the two and aspiring as well as current graduate students are getting caught in the middle?

Also, consider this. Applicant B exceeds word limits on a component of his application (be it SOP or writing sample). Professor Laufeyson says to Professors Rogers and Stark I really like Applicant B, maybe even more than Applicant C, but C writes more efficiently...and is better with boundaries.

[Jibrananand]

Thanks for this and to all the others for their help. I will definitely try and do that. I'm applying to the South Asian sub field. What about you? 

[sonnybunny]

On 11/19/2021 at 5:25 PM, Sigaba said:

Have you considered the University of Texas at Austin?

If you can stand withering heat, debilitating cedar pollen, grackles, and a research library shaped like the Lone Star State, you may find what you're looking for in Phillipa Levine <<link>>. 

The master's program includes a thesis option and a report option.

Thank you for the recommendation. Will take a look at this program...

[sonnybunny]

Question: One of my letter writers is no longer in academia and instead works as an administrator in a museum. Any insight as to whether universities look at this in a negative light?

[dr. t]

7 hours ago, sonnybunny said:

Question: One of my letter writers is no longer in academia and instead works as an administrator in a museum. Any insight as to whether universities look at this in a negative light?

Negative? No. Less positive? Maybe, but do you have other options? If not, is it really worth worrying about?

[parallaxview]

On 11/19/2021 at 11:20 AM, wluhist16 said:

Use the version that you submitted to the article (or rather, the copy-edited version). Add a line at the top with something like "Forthcoming in Blank, please do not circulate."

 

Source: I used a forthcoming article for early job apps. 

Follow up q: it's no longer forthcoming! Same deal?

[wluhist16]

2 hours ago, parallaxview said:

Follow up q: it's no longer forthcoming! Same deal?

If it's out and you have a real PDF - send that!

[Atsm]

Hello everyone. Third time PhD applicant here. Anyone have guidance on the CV we submit with our apps? Should it be classic professional with bullet points and specific duties or academic style with paragraphs/synopsis etc.? A PhD candidate I know told me to do the paragraph way. However, I have two non-academic jobs to summarize that I have held over the last five years, and the paragraph style looks kind of strange to me. Thoughts?

[fred2000]

Anyone here applying to computational biology/bioinformatics programs?

[Jibrananand]

Hi all,

Sorry to bother you guys but I had a couple of questions regarding transcripts and education information. I am an international student and I am currently enrolled in an MPhil program in my home country. I have completed my coursework and I am about to finish my thesis but covid has adversely impacted my department and my supervisor told me that the process before I get my official transcript could be a very long time- perhaps even July(since there are two interviews, external grading and a viva). 

Where would you suggest I include this degree in my educational qualifications? I have a transcript for my coursework but not for my thesis. If I include it in my main academic qualifications, would departments/ office ask me to submit official transcripts by May in case I get an offer? Or could I withdraw from my current course without it impacting a possible offer? 

But if I only include it in the fall semester grades section, that would leave a relatively large gap in my educational history(last two years).

Thanks in advance for all your help. 

[Mert93]

Hi everybody, I wish you all the success in this application year.

 

I have a question concerning Northwestern History applications. Besides it, I am to apply some other less prestigious universities' history PhD programs. I got in touch with four of the faculty from Northwestern and got encouraging responses. Actually, one of them told me that my MA thesis shows I am ready for the PhD studies while another one said that my MA managed to build on the argument of a famous scholar in the field.  The thing is, although I have 2 publications (1 book + 1 academic article in a domestic prestigious journal) and excellent MA(4,00) and PhD (3,92) (discontinued) GPA, I unfortunately have a very bad undergraduate GPA (3,08 out of 4) My question is that would having such a low undergrad GPA result automatically in elimination during the selection process, or do you think I still have a chance of admission thanks to other positive factors like publications and high MA/PhD GPAs? I would like to hear your opinion because I don't want to waste my money.

[AfricanusCrowther]

4 hours ago, Mert93 said:

My question is that would having such a low undergrad GPA result automatically in elimination during the selection process,

No. In fact it probably won’t be considered much at all. 

[AP]

On 11/26/2021 at 6:05 AM, Jibrananand said:

Hi all,

Sorry to bother you guys but I had a couple of questions regarding transcripts and education information. I am an international student and I am currently enrolled in an MPhil program in my home country. I have completed my coursework and I am about to finish my thesis but covid has adversely impacted my department and my supervisor told me that the process before I get my official transcript could be a very long time- perhaps even July(since there are two interviews, external grading and a viva). 

Where would you suggest I include this degree in my educational qualifications? I have a transcript for my coursework but not for my thesis. If I include it in my main academic qualifications, would departments/ office ask me to submit official transcripts by May in case I get an offer? Or could I withdraw from my current course without it impacting a possible offer? 

But if I only include it in the fall semester grades section, that would leave a relatively large gap in my educational history(last two years).

Thanks in advance for all your help. 

You only need official transcripts for enrolment, not for application. If you are still doing the degree, you say that you are doing it. Worst case scenario, you request a letter from the dean saying that you have earned your degree and transcripts are delayed (I did that before starting my job).

On 11/27/2021 at 2:03 AM, Mert93 said:

Hi everybody, I wish you all the success in this application year.

 

I have a question concerning Northwestern History applications. Besides it, I am to apply some other less prestigious universities' history PhD programs. I got in touch with four of the faculty from Northwestern and got encouraging responses. Actually, one of them told me that my MA thesis shows I am ready for the PhD studies while another one said that my MA managed to build on the argument of a famous scholar in the field.  The thing is, although I have 2 publications (1 book + 1 academic article in a domestic prestigious journal) and excellent MA(4,00) and PhD (3,92) (discontinued) GPA, I unfortunately have a very bad undergraduate GPA (3,08 out of 4) My question is that would having such a low undergrad GPA result automatically in elimination during the selection process, or do you think I still have a chance of admission thanks to other positive factors like publications and high MA/PhD GPAs? I would like to hear your opinion because I don't want to waste my money.

Unless you enter you UG GPA in a specific box in the application portal, that wouldn't be grounds for elimination. However, having a high GPA in other degrees will not automatically put you at top of the pile, especially at NW. 

WS and SOP are what matter. 

[AP]

Also, re: word limits in SOPs

While @QWERTYMNB97 and @CoffeeCatsCorgis are probably right in that you will not be denied admission based on 30 words, I second @Sigaba's point.

As a professor, I can assure you we don't count words but we do see when you could have said something in so many less words. Egs I gave my students: 

• What is important about all this... means "This crucial to X"
• In his book Bla bleh: the American Dream and the question of whatever comes next can simply be "Jane Smith (2001) explained that..." 
• "I am passionate about history" should never be a part of your SOP
• "The questions I have are: ...? ...? ...?" should be "Research with Professor X has sprung my interests around X, Y, Z, specifically how X and Y intersected in the context of...
• No passive voice or verbs to be/become/appear/seem. Trust me! These verbs say absolutely nothing.
• avoid too many lists, including coordinating conjunctions (and/or). "I am interested in X,Y,Z, in the context of W,V, and U, as it pertained to Black and Brown women and children in urban and suburban settings of the mid-to-late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries." See the mouthful? 

So, yeah, you won't be thrown out for 30 words, but you should be able to downsize 30 words. 

[hydro]

Is filling out the employment history necessary? My professional experiences are already listed on my CV. 

[sonnybunny]

10 hours ago, hydro said:

Is filling out the employment history necessary? My professional experiences are already listed on my CV. 

If there is a section in which I can fill in information, I do. There is no harm in filling it out, but there could possibly be harm in not filling it out. Better safe than sorry, in my opinion.

[Sigaba]

11 hours ago, hydro said:

Is filling out the employment history necessary? My professional experiences are already listed on my CV. 

I recommend that you provide all information in the requested locations. One never knows who (or what) is reviewing/sorting application materials before members of the admissions committees start reading.

Don't put yourself in a position where missing/misplaced/incomplete information can sidetrack your application.

[dr. t]

Just wait until you go on the job market and are asked to upload your CV, and then the form auto-populates the field data from your CV except it gets it totally wrong and you have to delete every field and re-enter it.

No, I'm not grumpy, why do you ask?

[AP]

18 hours ago, dr. telkanuru said:

Just wait until you go on the job market and are asked to upload your CV, and then the form auto-populates the field data from your CV except it gets it totally wrong and you have to delete every field and re-enter it.

No, I'm not grumpy, why do you ask?

Just wait until you apply for the green card and you have to provide work experience since you were 16, including addresses, names of supervisors, and contact information. ?

[psstein]

19 hours ago, dr. telkanuru said:

Just wait until you go on the job market and are asked to upload your CV, and then the form auto-populates the field data from your CV except it gets it totally wrong and you have to delete every field and re-enter it.

No, I'm not grumpy, why do you ask?

Online applicant tracking systems are a bane of my existence.

Yes, I've many banes.

[Sigaba]

21 hours ago, dr. telkanuru said:

Just wait until ..

 

2 hours ago, AP said:

Just wait until ...

...you encounter an interface that asks for exact start and end dates for schools you've attended and jobs you've held.

[Imperator Totius Hispaniae]

I'm applying to the History PhD Program at the University of Michigan!

[Jibrananand]

Hi, 

I have to write a book review for one of my applications which is 1000 words. I had one prepared but I was considering changing the book and re-writing it. Any clue on what works better?  if the book should be a) recent and / not often commented on c) directly in one's field( for example could I review a work on historical anthropology) and directly in one's sub field( along with temporal and spatial parameters)? Thanks in advance for all your comments. 

[psstein]

6 hours ago, Jibrananand said:

Hi, 

I have to write a book review for one of my applications which is 1000 words. I had one prepared but I was considering changing the book and re-writing it. Any clue on what works better?  if the book should be a) recent and / not often commented on c) directly in one's field( for example could I review a work on historical anthropology) and directly in one's sub field( along with temporal and spatial parameters)? Thanks in advance for all your comments. 

A recent book in your field of interest that received overall positive reviews is a good place to start. I would strongly advise against any controversial books.