Improving apolication for next year?

[synthla]

As far as how much training is enough, you need to pass the school's language competency test. These vary by school, but the most specific description I've seen is something like the ability to translate 800 words of a text in an hour w/ the aid of a dictionary. I guess how hard that might be depends on the language, but for the standard European languages, that's not too exacting.

Yeah, the minimum requirements aren't usually too high, but I haven't talked to one professor who hasn't emphasized how much better they expect you to be in reality, at least for your primary language(s). Not being able to read the language of your primary country of interest would be a serious hindrance in graduate-level work, at least from the perspective of many faculty.

[sra08]

I know some American History PhD programs allow "statistics" to count as a language in some cases. I would think this depends heavily on your research interests, though. I'm better with statistics than foreign languages, but the latter is more useful for my research interests.

[synthla]

I actually enjoy learning languages, but, at least in my experience, there is unavoidable frustration in the sense that no matter how good your memory or natural language ability, you can't just read a grammar and know the language. A lot of (seemingly) mindless repetition and lots of practice is just a mandatory part of the process. (I'm sure there are a few language savants out there who have it easier, but I'm just talking about the average case.) So for me, boredom is more a threat than actual difficulty of a language itself. But I like the challenge and the satisfaction derived from being able to understand formerly incomprehensible text. Lately, I've probably been working on languages 1 - 2 hours a day.

[rising_star]

If you suspect a professor may be leaving, that may be a good reason to get in touch, but isn't that more about determining where to apply than improving your chances of admission at a school?

It greatly improves your admissions chances if you apply knowing that a professor is or isn't accepting students. Also, you can email and ask that question without knowing or suspecting a professor may be leaving. Sometimes your recommenders and others may not know that someone is planning on taking a different job, so you would have little reason to suspect s/he might be leaving. Asking outright really clears that up.

[ctvu]

I personally think this mentality is BS. Especially the part about "your in trouble if you can't get into a top 15 program" Of course a Ph.D. from Berkeley or Princeton can make securing a job easier but plenty of grads from schools in the Top 50 and even below have landed great positions recently (even in this market). UCSB for example landed 10 tenure track positions for grads in 2007-2008. Going to a slightly lower ranked school can sometimes offer benefits that you couldn't get at top tier department. Up and coming faculty who are younger and more willing to incorporate you into their research for example. And don't forget that a school might be ranked in the top 5 of all schools, but they might be unimpressive in your field. UPENN for Latin America for example. And there is no point talking about how the job market is atrocious, because anybody who is still in the process of applying to school won't be on the job market for almost 10 years. Let all hope that it improves, but really who knows.

I think the key is to find schools that are a great fit for your interests and that you have a realistic chance of getting into. Why waste your time applying to places that won't even look at your application. Honestly what you need to get into a decent program and get funded is a good overall package. That can take time. If you need to take a year off to make yourself a better candidate. Take that time. I took two years preparing after undergrad. Specifically you need a good GPA, GRE's as close to 700 and 6.0 as possible, a serious commitment to your field (I moved to Colombia for a year and a half to work on my Spanish and do heavy reading in my areas of interest. Do all the entry level reading in your field, and be able to talk about which historians and books influenced you. LORs from teachers who believe that you are ready for a Ph.D. program (ask them if they think you are) and show those letter writers, what you are doing outside of class to prepare for the application process and the graduate work. That way they will realize how committed you really are and express that in their writing. Writing samples: I wrote a thesis as a senior on a topic related to my field, and got an A, but it still was nothing that was going to impress committees. Even though you might have a great 25 page paper, with a good argument, what you need to show is your ability to do research (Primary Source research) . I took my 25 page thesis tossed it and wrote a 45 pg paper arguing the same thesis but based almost entirely on primary sources. Don't worry too much about Pg limits, I sent my whole paper to every school and got no complaints. Again this takes time, but take that time if you need to. Lastly, actually read the work of the professors you want to work with, and not just an article. Read a good portion of one of there books or two or three articles. And then use that as an introduction to contact them. Don't let a tepid response from faculty you contact get you down. When you make initial contact they don't know much about you so sometimes all they can say is we share interests and lets hope you get in. And refer to their work specifically in your statement of purpose. The SOP is basically a clean and succinct explanation of this entire package, just sell yourself. If you have spent the time accomplishing the things above, selling yourself will be easy.

I hope this info will be helpful for anybody preparing for there applications, or applying a second time round.

OP,

With the current state of the job market - very few people got jobs this year from even from the top schools - you should still consider my advice strongly even if the job market is expected to clear up by the time you finish your program.

[StrangeLight]

while i agree with your assessment of the job market, i disagree that you need a degree from a top 15 school to land a job. you need a degree from the top 15 in your field. often these overlap, but it opens up a few more viable options for people.

and i actually think PhDs need to be prepared for an even worse job market than most of us are talking about. when times are good economically, 1 in 5 PhD students will get a tenure-track position (3 won't finish the degree and the other will hop around as an adjunct until they get sick of being in poverty and do something else for a living). that's when the market was good. now? most schools suspended their searches for new faculty members this year. this will probably happen again next year, and even the year after, causing at least two cohorts of new PhD graduates to apply for jobs at the same time.

many schools may cancel their search for new faculty members entirely, and even if the boomer generation retires or schools start firing tenure-track profs to save some money, they won't be replacing those positions by hiring full-timers. just more adjuncts, earning $3000 per course they teach, with no medical benefits and no job security.

some in higher education are predicting small colleges to actually close in the coming years. that will mean there are plenty of experienced professors who will be joining the new grads in the search for a job in academia.

it's not gonna be pretty. the yale graduate is going to have a hard time finding a job at a community college. seriously. hopefully grad students can tear themselves away from the fantasy of being a tenured professor long enough to secure a well-paying (even high-paying) job outside of academia.

http://www.beyondacademe.com is a good resource that offers advice on how to find a job as a historian outside of academia.

[feisty]

http://www.beyondacademe.com is a good resource that offers advice on how to find a job as a historian outside of academia.

What a great site, thanks for posting that.