What are my chances of being admitted to a history PhD program?

[jmvargro]

Hello everyone,

After a while of lurking around these forums I decided to finally post for the first time. What I really want to know is if I stand a chance at getting admitted to any history PhD programs.

I am 33 years old (a bit old to enter a PhD program I realize) but it is something I've always wanted to do. I have worked at a law firm for about four years doing the grunt work as legal assistant but I am ready to move beyond that and I am ready to go back to school. I am convinced that I want to teach whether that is at a community college or a four year university. I am not driven by the desire to work at a top school (provided that there are jobs available when I finally graduate).

Here's the deal: I want to enter a PhD program in Latin American history. My major was Latin American studies from UC Santa Cruz. I did not take any history courses while at UCSC but during my first two years at community college I took four history courses in which I performed very well. My final GPA from UCSC is 3.83. I have yet to take the GRE but I am confident that I can perform well on it except for maybe the math section which has always given me trouble. As for LORs, I have enlisted two professors from the Latin American studies department as well as the department chair. The problem is that while at UCSC I had to work 30 hour work weeks so I did not have time to participate in extracurricular academic mentorship programs or anything. I didn't even get to write a thesis and instead opted for a "senior exit requirement course" which required a major work of research but does not compare at all to a thesis.

Anyway, I would appreciate any advice in this decision making process. As a first generation immigrant and first in my family to attend college it is very difficult to decide whether this is the right path or whether I'm just dreaming.

As I live in California I am interested in attending a school nearby. My top choices right now are, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, Stanford, UCLA, University of Washington, University of Oregon.

Regards,

jmvargas

[Riotbeard]

Hello everyone,

After a while of lurking around these forums I decided to finally post for the first time. What I really want to know is if I stand a chance at getting admitted to any history PhD programs.

I am 33 years old (a bit old to enter a PhD program I realize) but it is something I've always wanted to do. I have worked at a law firm for about four years doing the grunt work as legal assistant but I am ready to move beyond that and I am ready to go back to school. I am convinced that I want to teach whether that is at a community college or a four year university. I am not driven by the desire to work at a top school (provided that there are jobs available when I finally graduate).

Here's the deal: I want to enter a PhD program in Latin American history. My major was Latin American studies from UC Santa Cruz. I did not take any history courses while at UCSC but during my first two years at community college I took four history courses in which I performed very well. My final GPA from UCSC is 3.83. I have yet to take the GRE but I am confident that I can perform well on it except for maybe the math section which has always given me trouble. As for LORs, I have enlisted two professors from the Latin American studies department as well as the department chair. The problem is that while at UCSC I had to work 30 hour work weeks so I did not have time to participate in extracurricular academic mentorship programs or anything. I didn't even get to write a thesis and instead opted for a "senior exit requirement course" which required a major work of research but does not compare at all to a thesis.

Anyway, I would appreciate any advice in this decision making process. As a first generation immigrant and first in my family to attend college it is very difficult to decide whether this is the right path or whether I'm just dreaming.

As I live in California I am interested in attending a school nearby. My top choices right now are, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, Stanford, UCLA, University of Washington, University of Oregon.

Regards,

jmvargas

Your GPA is great (it is in the range where any differences between others are unimportant), and assuming your GRE scores are solid you certainly have a shot. How long ago did you finish undergrad, if it has been a long time you may benefit from getting a stand alone masters or at least enrolling somewhere locally (preferably a four year institution) part time to take some history course to show that you are re-engaged in the field? Are you tied to the West because of family obligations or are you just unwilling to move, because there are a couple of great Latin American programs you are leaving out further east. I don't think your age in itself is necessarily a huge drawback (at least at most programs) but the age of your degree may hurt you, but you can fix it by getting re-connected to academia if only in a limited capacity (if your degree is old). One of my cohort member entered are program at 29 straight from undergrad, and his age is not a factor. It would also be helpful now to start tearing your writing sample apart and if needed, add a historical element to it. Thesis writing would have been a helpful exercise but it hardly expected out of someone with an undergrad degree.

Sidenote: during my year outside of academia, I worked as a paralegal. I feel your pain. Academia is way more rewarding.

[ChibaCityBlues]

There's an eight year gap between when I received my BA and when I started my MA. Now a few months into my PhD and I'm the second oldest person in my cohort. All those things that participation in extracurricular activities while an undergrad are supposed to demonstrate are easily substituted by a little thing I like to call "life experience." I haven't met a single professor who hasn't mentioned how nice it is to teach and work with students who have several years of life experience outside of academia. We tend to come with a better work ethic, a better sense of professionalism, and a better sense of purpose. A lot of things are required in order to be a successful grad student, and few of them have to do with how brilliant you are.

Instead of considering your life experience as somewhat of a liability, embrace it. An SOP that can successfully explain why the applicant wants to pursue graduate studies and what they want to study while centering their life experience is a thing of gold. As long as your writing sample is good, don't worry that it isn't a thesis. DO mention that you maintained a great GPA while working 30 hours per week. I know several LA Studies people who moved into history for graduate study.

Also, I understand the desire to stay close to home, but you should really consider applying outside of the west coast. Higher education in CA in particular is in a bad spot. Faculty are leaving and being poached, graduate funding is drying up, entire campuses might shut down. Anyway, when you do get on the job market, you'll have little say where you're going to end up, so best get used to not caring where you live now.

[StrangeLight]

your age and life experience will actually be a benefit to you, not a hindrance. for history programs, having some real life experience and even a previous career is usually a good thing. one of the latin americanists that started my program at the same time as me is in his 40s and had spent decades working as a lawyer and law professor. i don't think anyone anywhere saw that as a negative, even though his undergrad degree was completed long, long ago, in another field, in another country (cuba).

so don't worry about that. LA studies is a good springboard for a history program. you will want to apply to a range of combined MA/PhD programs and some terminal MA degrees. just cover your bases. the MA is where you'll learn to do history, you don't need to have those skills already. they help but they're not a dealbreaker. the more important skill to have is language proficiency, so if you have spanish but no history, you're going to beat prospective students with history degrees and no spanish.

your GPA is excellent. no worries there.

one place where you may legitimately run into trouble for your application is finding letter of recommendation writers from your undergrad that still remember you. you need 3 letters total and one of them NEEDS to be from your undergrad. in general, you want all 3 to be from people that have PhDs themselves and can attest to your research potential, but since you spent some time in the real world, someone with a graduate degree in law who can attest to your research work would be a suitable option as one of the three letters. if you can't really get these letters together, then you may need to do as others have suggested and enroll (on your own dime, unfortunately) in some graduate history classes at a nearby school. try to take one or two a semester in addition to working your regular job and build relationships with the people that teach those classes. they'll be valuable resources for your LORs. you might want to start a class this january and try to apply in fall 2011, or you may want to take classes in fall 2011 and spring 2012 and then apply in fall 2012. this might push your start date back more than you anticipated, but these recommendations are crucial to getting into grad school. also, some schools require that at least one of the letters comes from someone in your discipline (i.e. history). so since you have no history courses, you presumably know no history professors. taking a history class in a latin american topic this spring would be a good move. anywhere that's close to you. the classes only meet once a week, so a longer commute for the most appropriate class is worth it.

beyond that, you look to be in good shape. when you do decide on schools to apply to, try not to limit it by geography too much. think about what, in particular, you want to study. US/mexican borderlands? race and citizenship in brazil? law in cuba? then look at who is at each school near you. if people work on the general field you're interested in (either thematically close or on the same country/subregion) then they're good places to apply. if you want to work on 20th century mexico and the only people at UC wherever do colonial andes and 19th century caribbean, then it doesn't matter how great your application is, they won't take you on as a student. you need to fit with their specialties a little bit, which will reduce some of your options on the west coast but maybe encourage you to look at the southwest or even the east coast.

anyway, good luck! don't let the age thing deter you, some of the best students in my cohort are pursuing their degrees as second or third careers. the life experience is actually an asset, not a liability.