From History to Law and Back Again

[Henricus_Rex]

I'm looking for some general opinions about my position and prospects of getting a PhD in History.

I graduated from the University of South Carolina Honors College in 2009. I majored in History and had an overall gpa of (I believe) 3.76 and a History GPA of probably about 3.9 (again, I don't have the precise figures in front of me, but I believe I only had one or two B's in History courses and the rest were A's). Most of the History courses I took were 300 or 400 level, and I completed a thesis for the Honors College on the topic I intend to study. That paper wasn't my best, but it was well-received and I believe it was a necessary starting point for what will prove to be a complicated topic. Still, I'd like to polish it some before submitting my applications.

All in all, I believe I have fairly strong credentials for a PhD or Masters program. However, I have some wrinkles that I fear will prove to be problematic. First, it's been a few years since I graduated, and since I'm probably going to have to apply for a 2013 program due to application deadlines (are they later in the year for Masters programs?), it will have been quite some time since I studied History in an academic setting. I spent the first year after graduation working, then spent last year at the William and Mary Law School. I decided to leave that program after I realized that it didn't suit both my personality and desires, and it was there that I realized that History was what I had truly wanted to study all along. I'm now working at an office in Atlanta, which pays well but is time consuming. My original goal of applying for 2012 PhD programs fell by the wayside, so I'm looking at the next year.

My concerns are that I've been out for a while and, with my focus shifting from law to History, my contacts are a bit rusty. I don't think it's going to be very easy to go back to professors from several years ago to ask for letters, particularly since I asked them for letters for law school a couple of years ago and now I'll have to explain my shift in direction. Also, my GRE scores weren't spectacular. I took the new test and got a Verbal of 167 (98th percentile). My Quantitative, however was a 144 (26th percentile), which I expected given my lack of practice in math over the years. My AW was only a 3.5 (29th percentile), which definitely shocked me. Maybe that year of uncreative writing in law school had more of an effect than I thought? In any case, I have the time to retake the test, but this has left me wondering if I'm really strong enough right now to get into a PhD program, or if I should go into a separate Masters program first.

I should mention, by the way, that my focus topic is on (in as few words as possible) the connections between Britain's political turmoil of the 17th century and the development of the American Colonies. For this I require a department that is strong in both Colonial and Early Modern English/British History, preferably in a way that actually blends the two instead of keeping them in separate spheres. Right now the strongest schools in this particular area seem to be Penn State, Washington University in St. Louis, and LSU. I'm still surveying the schools, though, and there are many good schools that are strong in theses areas but don't blend them to the degree that I would. I also would like to dabble in some Southern US History, particularly the Reconstruction and Gilded Age South, and Medieval England (aside from a general interest, I'd like to expand my original Early Modern topic at some point into the rise of England's Parliament in the late Middle Ages and how this culminated in the English Civil War).

So, any thoughts on my position? I'm definitely going for a PhD in the long run, but I want one from a good institution, and I'm worried that right now I may only be competitive for Masters programs.

[bachr1989]

I think that if you are considering LSU, it wouldn't hurt you to apply. Their Masters program's deadline is January 15th if you're looking for funding and I believe sometime in April or May if not. Your verbal GRE score is great! The writing may hurt you, but a writing sample could probably offset that as well as the statement of purpose. LSU is a pretty decent school from what I gather, plus you can't get into their Ph.D. program without first having the Masters.

Good luck!

[Hopin'-n-Prayin']

Wow, this is a really interesting story, filled with nice little sub-plots. Our stories are somewhat similar. After majoring in History, I went directly to law school and practiced law for many years, before deciding to pursue a career in history. I applied to my local state university (a legitimate school, but not that well known or prestigious) to get an M.A. (which technically I get on Friday-yaay!).

Here are some notes from my M.A. experience that may help your analysis. First, I finalized my application in early December 2009 and was admitted for January 2010 (also many M.A. programs allow spring admission). Second, assuming I get into any of the PhD programs I am applying to, I will already have the 2 years experience doing work at the graduate level. Third, not quite sure if you took evidence at W & M, but education and training in using evidence to build an argument has proven invalueable as a history student. Lastly, at the M.A. level, target faculty that not only match your intellectual agenda, but also have the connections at top programs and have proven their committment to placing students.

[Henricus_Rex]

Thanks for the advice. I'm concerned about being able to get an application in for this upcoming year, though, even if the deadline is January. Again, my contacts from Undergrad aren't as solid as I would wish and I don't really have any letters of recommendation lined up. I performed well in Undergrad, but didn't develop relationships with much of the faculty because they didn't really specialize in my areas of interest. I'm also concerned about being rushed into a decision for a school. I just spent a very unhappy year in law school and want very much for my new setting to be a natural fit. That being said, waiting two years to enter a program, after putting it off for so long, is very unpleasant. I wish that I had been better able to prepare applications before the deadlines this year, but my decision to leave at the end of law school was rather abrupt and since then I've spent much of my time finding a job and adjusting to my new settings.

I believe I'm going to contact the departments at some of the schools that I'm interested in, such as LSU. At the very least, I'd like to hear their opinions on my position. By the way, one of my chief concerns, especially for a PhD program, was that I have the time to strike up a correspondence with certain professors at my target schools. I knew this would take some time, and I had hoped to read some of their works before making contact. Does anybody have an experience with this? How vital is it? I would also like to finish my second attempt at the GRE before reaching out to them.

@ADMITedlyLucky - I didn't stay long enough to take the official Evidence course, but I did, of course, see ample use of sound (or not so sound) evididentiary support for arguments just from simple case reading, and work in my second semester included preparation for a mock trial that was to take place in the current semester. Between this and the practice I had as a History undergrad, I believe I'm pretty well prepared for building solid arguments. Oh, and congratulations on your (soon-to-be) MA!