am I being realistic?

[lockemein9]

Hi all - a friend suggested I post here to get some views on my current situation. Majored in history in undergrad and absolutely loved it. I've wanted to study history/be a professor for as long as I can remember...but now that it's actually time for me to start applying I'm starting to hear more and more fears about job prospects, what I can do with a PhD in history, how intense grad school is, etc. I'm also starting to realize that it will take more than just wanting to study history to succeed and I was wondering if any of you can give an honest, realistic perspective on what grad school life is like and what one can expect both as a student and later as a graduate and (hopefully) as a professor. I know there will be pros and cons to pursuing this dream, but maybe having a better idea of what the field is like will give me some clarity.

I plan to apply to 5 (maybe 6) schools ranked in the top 30 and I'm interested in intellectual history in the British Isles c. 1600-1800. THANK YOU in advance for any input and advice!

[TMP]

It is more than studying history but you need to LOVE it first. What you are hearing are likely true.

A PhD student should be doing more than coursework. S/he will be expected to create a publishable paper in one of his/her research-based seminar by the end of the second year. S/he will be expected to present in conferences and collaborate with colleagues for future panels, presentations, and workshops. S/he could serve on a committee with other graduate students or something in their department for "service" (though best to avoid it as much as one can unless it can directly beneficial like being involved on a search committee).

Not to mention.... one still have to teach! Teaching loads can vary from school to school, usually about 2-4 sections of about 18 students max per week. Too often, TAs spend too much time on this.

Even if one gets release from teaching in the first year due a fellowship, the adviser will expect serious productivity in coursework, research, language fluency (if applied), and prepping for exams (because teaching reduces your course load and everything else).

All of these are simply preparing you to be a professor. Grad school is a good time to trip up and make mistakes without serious consequences as grad students figure out how to balance all of these duties.

There is much more than being a professor. It depends what else you're interested in. Are you interested in libraries? Archives? Museums? Digital technology? Government work? Historical editing? You just need to be creative. The AHA blog has been doing a pretty good job of covering "alt-aca" (alternative to academia) careers. Take the time to read AHA stuff- those people are standing on the ground. Departments and programs are still a bit up in the clouds, though more and more of them are coming down. Historians realize that, out of all humanities programs, we stand the best chance of surviving during times of budget and program cuts, and we have to show that we can do more than being professors by offering our talents and service to the government and public.

[Sigaba]

@lockmein9--

IMO, you might benefit from doing research on the viability of your areas of interest. The objective of this task is to see If your areas of interest fall into trajectories of historiography that are fairly doing well or if you aspire to study fields that a majority of established professional academic historians would consider unimportant (like military and naval history. But I'm not bitter. )

Define as clearly as circumstances allow what you mean by the "intellectual history in the British Isles c. 1600-1800" as well as your other areas of interest. Concurrently, figure out what areas of interest represent the other end of spectrum--perhaps a variant of popular culture-- and see how well scholars in these fields are doing.

Then, using resources such as jstor and printed (not digital) editions of the AHA's Directory of History Departments and Organizations in the United States and Canada, start researching how well others who share your interests--and those who have "rival" interests are doing. Who is getting hired? Who is getting published in prominent journals? Who is writing featured book reviews? Who is asked to contribute in discussions of "the future of history"? Who is winning the big prizes? Who is giving keynote addresses at professional conferences? And so on.

If you find that the cohort you imagine joining as a historian is, as the saying goes, pooping in the tall cotton, or is on the outside looking in (and I'm still not bitter), or anywhere in between, you can re-ask yourself pragmatic questions about your career options in the Ivory Tower.

HTH.