Let's get this history party started!

[MegMill]

Okay, everyone should be finishing up their applications, so let's start talking and comparing.

I am applying a million schools. Phd only.

Harvard

UPENN

UNC-Chapel Hill

Duke

Northwestern

Vanderbilt

Emory

University of Chicago

University of South Carolina

NYU

Columbia

University of Illinois

University of Michigan

University of Virginia

Georgetown

Boston College

UG GPA: 3.65; UG Major (History) GPA: 3.7

Law school GPA: 86.77

GRE: Verbal: 620, Quantative: 640, Writing: 5.0

LET'S TALK. I have gone through this entire process completely in the dark. No old professors, etc, have desired to guide me. So maybe some of y'all can help me! I am very interested in everyone's "credentials" .... let's play the compare game!

Edited December 3, 2010 by MegMill

[history_PhD]

U Virginia

UNC-Chapel Hill

OSU

Boston U

U Michigan

Yale

U Colorado- Boulder (maybe)

GPA- overall 3.93

Major GPA 4.0

GRE Verbal 590 and 730

Quant- 710 and 610

AWA 5.0 and 4.0

[a piece of bread]

Even if I don't know your fields I think both of you have a shot at schools you are applying. As a Middle East historian (18th century Ottoman), I am applying both history and Middle/Near east studies programs.

MES/NES-

Harvard

Princeton

NYU

Chicago

History-

UT Austin

UPenn

Ohio State

Queens (Canada)

McMaster(Canada)

Maryland

Georgetown

Islamic Studies-

McGill(Canada)

UG GPA: 2.96 (Economics)

MA GPA: 4.00 (History)

TOEFL: 106 GRE: 570V/800Q

Strong SOP and great LOR's included in my package. I did spend much time on language training, am native in Turkish, near fluent in English, advanced in German and Persian, elementary in Arabic and have an excellent reading ability of ancient Turkish, Ottoman.

Very best wishes in your applications!

[Jdealla]

Applying for 20th-Century Latin America

3.37 UG

3.82 History

650V/640Q/4.5AW

Spanish (fluency)

2 years living in Latin America

Applying to 7 programs

UNC

Wisconsin

Princeton

Georgetown

Indiana

NYU

Vanderbilt

[Sparky]

I just want to wish everyone the best of luck!

I'm rooting for y'all!

Edited December 3, 2010 by Sparky

[Emerson]

I'm early American cultural, intellectual, and religious history.

As I am already enrolled as a graduate student at a respected school with the option for staying on for a PhD, I'm only applying to my dream scenarios: Harvard, BU, UPenn, Virginia, and W&M.

GRE: 640V, 660Q, 5.5W

GPA: UG 3.7; UG Major 3.8; Graduate, 4.0

My first master's degree earned distinction; my current master's program is one of the most highly regarded of its field.

7 published articles, 5 published book reviews, 16 academic conference presentations. Three years as a research assistant for an acclaimed and endorsed Papers Project.

Near fluent in French, reading level in German, primary skills in Spanish. Two years of volunteer work with inner-city communities (primarily western-African immigrants) in Washington DC.

And might I add, I always feel good about my chances until i see everyone else's credentials on this forum. Y'all make me feel inferior with your high GPAs and GRE scores.

[sidiosquiere]

I'm applying for Middle East history (late 19th - early 20th century Ottoman)

UCLA

NYU (Joint PhD in History/MEIS)

Berkeley

Michigan

OSU

Illinois - Urbana

UCSD

Arizona

Good luck to all!

[RDX]

And might I add, I always feel good about my chances until i see everyone else's credentials on this forum. Y'all make me feel inferior with your high GPAs and GRE scores.

Same here. I thought I was good... Now I was like .... nothing..

I don't speak so many languages and don't really have high gpa.. actually my major gpa is lower than my overall gpa..

Edited December 4, 2010 by RDX

[packerboy31489]

I am applying in Early American history focusing on slavery, antislavery and religion.

UNC

Minnesota

Brandeis

Boston College

Duke

Northwestern

Rochester

Tufts (MA)

North Carolina State (MA)

GPA: UGPA: 3.5 Major: 3.82

GRE: 630V, 690Q and 5.5 AW.

My recommenders have all been really supportive and complimentary of my writing sample. I know it's a crapshoot, so I am glad my wife is applying to med school.

Best to all

Edited December 4, 2010 by packerboy31489

[qbtacoma]

I'm doing 19th/20th century US with a focus on public health, race, and immigration.

In no particular order:

Michigan

Wisconsin

British Columbia

Washington

Brown

Columbia

GRE:

720 V

660 Q

5.5 AW

Overall GPA 3.72, Major 3.86

Good luck to all!

[TMP]

I know it's a crapshoot, so I am glad my wife is applying to med school.

Excellent. You have a lot in common with your wife already. I have several friends who have been applying to med school over the last few years. Even though the admissions processes are so different, one just has much of a chance of getting into a med school as one getting into a history PhD program.

Maybe you and your wife can come up with some kind of betting game?

As for posting stats, frankly, it's pointless. Your SOP, writing samples, and LORs (and perhaps language fluency), the most subjective aspects of your application, are far more important than your GPA and GRE scores. I just don't believe in evaluating chances or see the point of posting such stats. Especially when there are really a lot of highly qualified people out there. The recession has very little impact on the overall quality of applications, surprisingly (as professors have told me).

[packerboy31489]

Excellent. You have a lot in common with your wife already. I have several friends who have been applying to med school over the last few years. Even though the admissions processes are so different, one just has much of a chance of getting into a med school as one getting into a history PhD program.

Maybe you and your wife can come up with some kind of betting game?

As for posting stats, frankly, it's pointless. Your SOP, writing samples, and LORs (and perhaps language fluency), the most subjective aspects of your application, are far more important than your GPA and GRE scores. I just don't believe in evaluating chances or see the point of posting such stats. Especially when there are really a lot of highly qualified people out there. The recession has very little impact on the overall quality of applications, surprisingly (as professors have told me).

I am hoping she has a better shot than me b/c her stats are so good for med school, and stats matter a great deal more. The MSAR says she has a 90% chance of getting in somewhere, so we are just waiting it out. It truly scares me when I look at the highly qualified people that are applying just from my undergrad. This processes is just too crazy. Best of luck to everyone though.

[a piece of bread]

I'm applying for Middle East history (late 19th - early 20th century Ottoman)

UCLA

NYU (Joint PhD in History/MEIS)

Berkeley

Michigan

OSU

Illinois - Urbana

UCSD

Arizona

Good luck to all!

sidiosquiere, what exactly are you studying in ottoman history? i think the reason why the schools we apply differ is the time period we focus on. you probably know all professors whose research interests fit those of you. but still we can help each other find the best fit school. i study iranian-ottoman borderlands in early 18th century.

[sidiosquiere]

sidiosquiere, what exactly are you studying in ottoman history? i think the reason why the schools we apply differ is the time period we focus on. you probably know all professors whose research interests fit those of you. but still we can help each other find the best fit school. i study iranian-ottoman borderlands in early 18th century.

Hello a piece of bread,

I am interested in studying poverty relief in the Arab provinces during the Hamidian and Young Turk periods.

My top choices are UCLA, NYU, Berkeley, and Michigan. You applied to a really wide range of schools! Wish I had done that

What's your top choice?

[a piece of bread]

Well, it is a bit hard to answer this question I want to work with Prof. Ariel Salzmann but she is at Queen's. Yet she is saying the university has cut the department's international scholarships. In such a case, my top choices would be UPenn, Georgetown and Chicago. I have just received a warm e-mail from Prof. Fleischer of Chicago. My friends there, however, make me scared by saying that there are thousands of requirements in the program. I don't think that I am a student of that caliber in terms of studying hard. I won't say the famous turkish saying for this We'll see!

Princeton's NES is a small and highly competetive program. I still believe you should not miss the chance to work with Prof. Sukru Hanioglu who can help you with your interests. But I think your best fit school is UC San Diego with Prof. Kayali. The biggest obstacle is funding at UC schools, though.

What about your language training?

[sidiosquiere]

Are you applying this year or next year? I don't have the grades to go to Princeton, so I did not apply. I was considering Chicago with Professor Shissler, but I didn't think there was much of a fit. Actually, the program seemed very medieval/europe centered, so I did not want to apply. And I didnt apply to NELC because I want a degree in History. Currently I am at a NES program. UCSD is great , but the only concern is that I cannot study Turkish there. I would have to do it during the summers. I have three years of Turkish and one of Ottoman, but I am not fluent yet. Türkçe çok zor I have Arabic, though, so hopefully that helps. My main concern is that my UG GPA was a 2.9. MA GPA though is 3.7. And you and I have similar GRE's. I also just discovered some serious typos in my writing samples for UCLA and Michigan In fact, does anyone know WHO reads the writing sample? Do they read SOP first? I'm curious what is the Turkish phrase for not working hard haha?

Well, it is a bit hard to answer this question I want to work with Prof. Ariel Salzmann but she is at Queen's. Yet she is saying the university has cut the department's international scholarships. In such a case, my top choices would be UPenn, Georgetown and Chicago. I have just received a warm e-mail from Prof. Fleischer of Chicago. My friends there, however, make me scared by saying that there are thousands of requirements in the program. I don't think that I am a student of that caliber in terms of studying hard. I won't say the famous turkish saying for this We'll see!

Princeton's NES is a small and highly competetive program. I still believe you should not miss the chance to work with Prof. Sukru Hanioglu who can help you with your interests. But I think your best fit school is UC San Diego with Prof. Kayali. The biggest obstacle is funding at UC schools, though.

What about your language training?

[Henry Hudson]

Applying to

in the US:

U Michigan

UC Davis

Arizona

(I was going to apply to Yale, but opted not to)

in Canada:

Alberta

Simon Fraser

all the above for History.

For Indigenous Studies, possibly Trent.

UG GPA: 3.94 History major GPA: 4.0

MA GPA (thus far): 87 (/100)

GRE:

650 verbal

790 quant

5.0 analytical writing

[StrangeLight]

In fact, does anyone know WHO reads the writing sample? Do they read SOP first?

the graduate committee reads the writing sample. this usually consists of anywhere from 5 to 12 professors and sometimes one or two graduate students, depending upon the university. i know that for cornell in particular, the entire faculty reads the applications, writing samples included, but i think that's fairly unusual. no idea if every program reads the SOP first, but it would certainly make sense to. i imagine they decide if your writing sample is worth reading at all after they decide if your SOP was good.

[a piece of bread]

Are you applying this year or next year? I don't have the grades to go to Princeton, so I did not apply. I was considering Chicago with Professor Shissler, but I didn't think there was much of a fit. Actually, the program seemed very medieval/europe centered, so I did not want to apply. And I didnt apply to NELC because I want a degree in History. Currently I am at a NES program. UCSD is great , but the only concern is that I cannot study Turkish there. I would have to do it during the summers. I have three years of Turkish and one of Ottoman, but I am not fluent yet. Türkçe çok zor I have Arabic, though, so hopefully that helps. My main concern is that my UG GPA was a 2.9. MA GPA though is 3.7. And you and I have similar GRE's. I also just discovered some serious typos in my writing samples for UCLA and Michigan In fact, does anyone know WHO reads the writing sample? Do they read SOP first? I'm curious what is the Turkish phrase for not working hard haha?

Then as our GPA's are also similar we are indeed similar candidates . I am applying this year, but in case I don't get in anywhere I will enroll in the PhD program at my current university and will try next year too. I have not completed the application for Princeton yet. But I don't think that they have cut-off's. As for NELC program, with three Professors working in Ottoman history it seems a quite appropriate place to me.

As you experienced, Turkish, I suppose, is difficult for foreigners to learn Coming to turkey can make it easier, though. It is perfect that you speak Arabic. For the PhD topic you mentioned, you will need both. Almost anything in Ottoman archives is in Ottoman language. I don't want make you scared but the archives itself has many blind spots: the provinces and the center communicated with each other imperfectly, both for technical (infrastructure), sociopolitical, and cultural reasons.

You have Arabic and three years of modern Turkish and one Ottoman, so you can easily get familiar with the Ottoman. I recommend you to do apply Harvard's summer school in Turkey when the time is right. http://ottomanstudiesfoundation.com/

[natsteel]

I think ticklemepink is right in that posting your GPA and GRE scores doesn't really say much about anyone's real chances. Nevertheless, in the spirit of the thread, here are my "stats":

Field: Political culture and intellectual history of early America (colonial and revolutionary periods).

Applying:

Harvard (Armitage)

Yale (Freeman)

Penn (St. George)

UVA (Onuf/Edelson)

Ohio State (Brooke)

Columbia (Foner/Haefeli)

College of William & Mary (Hoffman/Grasso)

Boston University (McConville)

Rutgers (Clemens, Lewis, Delbourgo)

Northwestern (Breen/???)

CUNY Graduate Center (Berkin/Robertson)

GPA: 3.92

Maj: 4.0

GRE:

660 Verbal

560 Quantitative

4.0 AW

Writing sample: Accepted for publication in the Fall 2010 issue of The Columbia Undergraduate Journal of History.

[history_PhD]

Columbia (Foner/Haefeli)

Foner does early American? I thought he specialized in 19th C.?

Edited December 10, 2010 by history_PhD

[radagast]

Hello All!

Field: late 19th century/early 20th century U.S. social/cultural history with a focus on immigration and race.

Schools:

Boston College

Georgetown

George Washington

Johns Hopkins

University of Pennsylvania

University of Michigan

Yale

I went to a top ten LAC and got good enough grades, but I don't really feel the need to share. I got a five on writing on the GRE despite focusing my essay on Lady Gaga and a 750 in math without looking at a single math section (let's not dwell on verbal, which could have gone better).

In other relevant news, I passed my college PE requirement during the first semester of my senior year with a turbo kick-boxing class. I think that's the experience grad schools are looking for.

Edited December 10, 2010 by radagast

[natsteel]

Foner does early American? I thought he specialized in 19th C.?

He is primarily 19th century but has written a bit on 18th century (Tom Paine). Columbia hasn't had a tenured early Americanist in a LONG time and so he has overseen those dissertations. In fact, he has overseen dissertations in the 20th century, as well. Though he told me that he's retiring in 4 years and that the younger guy, Haefeli, should be getting tenure next year and that early Americanists would obviously work with him from then on.

Edited December 11, 2010 by natsteel

[history_PhD]

He is primarily 19th century but has written a bit on 18th century (Tom Paine). Columbia hasn't had a tenured early Americanist in a LONG time and so he has overseen those dissertations. In fact, he has overseen dissertations in the 20th century, as well. Though he told me that he's retiring in 4 years and that the younger guy, Haefeli, should be getting tenure next year and that early Americanists would obviously work with him from then on.

Wow, glad I didn't apply to Columbia then. It's a good thing you contacted him. Sounds like they might need some new professors in the 18th-19th centuries soon. Did you name him as your primary advisor in your personal statement?

Edited December 12, 2010 by history_PhD

[natsteel]

Wow, glad I didn't apply to Columbia then. It's a good thing you contacted him. Sounds like they might need some new professors in the 18th-19th centuries soon. Did you name him as your primary advisor in your personal statement?

Yeah... actually Foner used to teach at CCNY and came to give a talk about his new book so I got to meet him afterwards in the department and we traded a few emails after that.

In my SOP, I kind of named both him and Haefeli who will only be going up for tenure next year. The situation there makes it not one of my top choices but I'm from NYC