Can I get into a PhD program?Your thoughts!

[ronwill06]

Hey guys, I am trying to get into an African History PhD. The problem I have is I only got a 3.2 GPA this past Spring semester as an Africana Studies major. The semester(F/2011) before that I was a Broadcast Journalism major and only got a 2.8 GPA.

Prior to attending the university I go to now I was at a community college, and majoring in journalism where I got a: 3.1,3.3,3.5, and 3.6 GPA respectively. I also recently took the GRE where I got a 148 V/142 Q/3.5 W. I can get some really good LORs as I'm close with my school's Provost. I'm really close with a lot of professors who have already expressed how much they would like to write LORs for me. I also plan to take the GRE again in August and hope to improve my scores.

One the reasons why my GPA hasn't been as high as I'd like, is because I work a full time job on an overnight shift, and I go to school full time. Therefore, I haven't been able to do the type of work I know I'm capable of, and I haven't been able to do a lot of extra-curricular activities because of work. Before going to school I was also in the U.S. Navy, in both Active and Reserve components.

Honestly, what are my chances of getting into an African History PhD program?

[ronwill06]

I'm also going into my senior of college. Two more semester of hope!

[ANDS!]

I don't think grad committees buy the whole "Well I was working full time. . ." bit. I'm sure they are compassionate and understanding that taxing your time can lead to sub par grades, but something tells me they might view such situations as "poor time management/prioritizing" and not "I'm sure there is 'A' potential under that 'C' student."

That said, you're going for AA, which probably doesn't have that many applicants (and perhaps might be more competitive for it); I would invest in potentially taking the Masters route to be honest and then applying to a PhD program. Great LOR's that can speak to your potential would be good, but if you've just switched majors, it might be hard to count on someone within the AA field attesting to your abilities.

[ronwill06]

I already have an AA.I'm going into my senior year at a university.

[ronwill06]

I graduated with Honors from the community college I went to

[OregonGal]

I think by AA he was referring to the African history program? I do think that regional history programs that are not Europe or the US have a smaller pool of applicants to draw on, which is in your favor. Also, I think you would really have to emphasize that you were working full time on top of your course load--it's true that your GPA isn't the best, but unless you took 9 years to graduate your route shows off your work ethic/discipline and that's a great thing to be able to demonstrate for adcoms who don't want to waste money and effort on someone who may drop out due to the PhD candidate workload.

Also, you said you have a year of school left? The most important thing you can do is make straight A's your last year. Not only will it boost your overall GPA, but it will show an upward progression in your grades to the adcom (2.8 right after transferring, then 3.2, then a 4.0 in the fall right before you apply). Most grad schools don't look at your GPA your first two years because you're expected to stumble upon entering college. Your last two years, when you're taking most of your upper-division major coursework, is where you need to shine.

[abdefghijkl]

Hi Rondale,

My dad served in the US Air Force when he was at grad school at UCDavis, worked the night shift at McClellan Air Force Base, so I know from experience that you have a giant work ethic, so you can get into grad school if you take the right approach to things. Working the night shift does have its dangers, though, so start thinking now about how you can reduce the amount of time you spend working and make sure you get more sleep and better grades.

Ands! is right - you should focus on getting the best MA in African History that you can. Once you've done that, you'll have a much better choice of schools to go to for the PhD. A great MA makes you seem much less risky to PhD admissions committees, the members of which want to see in a PhD candidate evidence of real intellectual independence and can-do. Admitting PhD students makes us profs nervous -- it's a big risk since those students and their supervisors will invest a lot of time and energy and we know that many, many PhD students don't finish their degrees.

Ok, so here's what to do:

In your last year of undergrad,

- keep up those good relationships with your letter writers

- scrape up the money this fall to take a GRE test prep course like Kaplan's at which they'll tell you how to improve your score and make sure the instructor tells you the tricks they know for guessing the right answer on GRE questions

- focus your coursework on courses that pertain to your specific area of research -- ie. History, especially African, but also any course that addresses the historical questions you want to study in the African case

- make a vow that you will get a 4.0 in those last two semesters -- or, if necessary since you work, stretch those last 10 courses across 3 semesters. It is WAY easier to get those top grades if you take fewer courses at a time (I did this myself as an undergrad), and when people see the grades you got, they won't care if you were only taking 3 classes instead of 5. Hire a grad student in History as a tutor at the beginning of each semester and make sure you get those top marks. Don't give away any grades by skipping discussion groups or other things that count toward your final marks.

- find about four or five universities that offer a terminal Master's Degree in African History, apply to those five and work your butt off!

- get that degree done FAST (two years MAX), and while you're finishing up you can apply to top PhD programs.

Also, why do you want the PhD? If you would like to teach at a community college you won't make much money, but you get to teach people about something you care about and there's a huge range of schools you can get a PhD from and be hireable at a community college.

Do you want to be a university professor? Then there's only a handful of top schools you can go to and get a job thereafter, so you'll need to be very strategic about this.

Drop me a line if you need more help and, by all means, don't be deterred.

Edited June 26, 2012 by Prof. Susan

[jayeyesee]

You really need to work on that GRE score. A low GPA coupled with a low GRE risks the possibility that your application might not even make it past the pre-screening phase even if you are applying to a low demand field. History programs stress the verbal section a lot more than the quant but your quant is low enough that it's going to raise a giant red flag with adcoms. A 142Q translates to the 19th percentile. You should at least try to break the 50th percentile barrier for both to be somewhat competitive. That means scoring above 150 for both sections.

Edited June 26, 2012 by jayeyesee

[ANDS!]

The problem is, his current academic profile is already largely fixed since any application he sends in for this coming application season will be based on his current grades. I agree with the plan to perhaps stretch his graduation date to fall of 2013/Spring 2014, thus giving him an opportunity to do exceptionally well and show an upward trend in his academics.