Preparing myself for applications

[Rfwarlick]

I plan on applying to graduate schools this fall, however my undergraduate grades do not reflect what I am capable of. In the next months I plan on acing the GRE, as well as start a history blog to reflect my research abilities, and my analytical abilities in regard to history. I plan on volunteering at a local museum and helping bring them into the 21st century.

For those who have applied to graduate schools to pursue history, what else have you done to make yourself shine?

[Arcanen]

Since you mention "research abilities", I'm assuming you're applying to doctoral programs or research intensive masters programs. This post is going to seem harsh, because it seems as if you're going about your preparation in the wrong way.

 

I plan on acing the GRE

 

Just remember that the GRE is much less important than you think. It's good to do as well as you can, but it's generally not considered all that much when it comes to the actual decision makes. That said, you want to at least be in the ballpark of the schools you're applying to so you're applications aren't thrown out by administrative staff.

 

as well as start a history blog to reflect my research abilities

 

Complete and utter waste of time. A blog will not "reflect your research abilities". Admissions committees will not consider a blog as evidence of such, and will likely find it humorous that you think it is if you ever list it as a thing in your applications. What you need to demonstrate your research abilities is actual research experience. Research experience that will allow you to get strong letters of recommendation and that you can write about in your statement of purpose.

 

I plan on volunteering at a local museum and helping bring them into the 21st century.

 

I'm not in the history field, but "extra-curriculars", volunteering etc. generally isn't considered at all for the graduate level. Can you get this museum to officially designate you as being part of an internship program? Are there PhD level respected researchers working at this museum? Would you be working closely enough with them that they could write you a letter of recommendation? Can you actively participate in research work that can be written about in your letters and statement of purpose? If the answer to any of these questions is no, it's also a waste of time.

 

what else have you done to make yourself shine? 

 

Strengthening your base application (the people giving you recommendations, your actual research experience, published papers, your statement of purpose etc) is much more important than the things you're mentioning. The blog thing in particular would likely be a net negative against your application. It says you're passionate enough to have written thoughts on various topics, but not good enough to have had those thoughts published. It's also so unusual that they'll think you aren't a serious applicant if only because you thought it was a good idea.

Edited April 29, 2013 by Arcanen

[ArtHistoryandMuseum]

I'm not in the history field, but "extra-curriculars", volunteering etc. generally isn't considered at all for the graduate level. Can you get this museum to officially designate you as being part of an internship program? Are there PhD level respected researchers working at this museum? Would you be working closely enough with them that they could write you a letter of recommendation? Can you actively participate in research work that can be written about in your letters and statement of purpose? If the answer to any of these questions is no, it's also a waste of time.

^^ I generally agree with Arcanen.

While I'm not in the history field, I *am* in the museum field. If in your museum -- you would be conducting original research, and/or writing for publication of some sort (such as, but not limited to: exhibition catalogues, newspaper columns, magazine articles), for your grad apps those may be worthwhile activities. It would also be a wonderful boon to you, if the person(s) supervising you at the museum had advanced degrees, e.g. MA, PhD (like what Arcanen writes). That these people would be able to write you letters of recommendation that fully reflect your researching abilities.

However, if you are just "bringing the museum to the 21st century," where you are doing tasks like: updating the social media accounts, inputting donor info (or object info) into the museum's databases, offering audience-geared tours, etc, it is not a waste of your time per se, you'd be helping the museum, but it is not really helping your ultimate goal of preparing yourself well for your grad school applications.

Now it would be one thing if you are using this experience to be able to work in a museum someday, or use it for a back up plan (such as build skills for the workforce, in case you are unsuccessful with your apps). Otherwise, all of those activities that I've listed in the above paragraph... they are simply busy work, distracting you from putting your energies elsewhere (where you can really demonstrate your academic capacities). A better use of your time would be tasks like, writing/rewriting your SOP.

Finally, if this is helpful for you - both of my LOR for this application cycle were from museum staff. However, one of my letter writers has a PhD (in a subject closely related to my field), and the other is earning a PhD. Also, my role at the museum is researching history, culture, and art. Although I do offer tours to museum visitors, I am often speaking on my academic focus (decorative arts), or contexts related to it. Furthermore, I conduct a lot of independent research. That's important.

I also get a ton of reading from my institution to do. It's almost like... grad school. Which is great prep!

Unfortunately, this last application cycle, I didn't discuss this (or the topics of my tours) at all, but I'm thinking of doing so for the next cycle, especially as it can distinguish me (I'm thinking about a meta-topic actually too: histories of collecting). This discussion also illustrates: my sustainable passion for my subject, and that I love this research/topic so much that I continue it outside the workday. Anyway, this nascent idea I have shows you how I'm considering how I will spin this museum life that I've had in the past few years, to best support my case that I'm curious, enthusiastic, and ready for research in academia.

But this may be a unique set up that I have. I also work for a pretty large museum, in terms in staffing. Given your language of describing your volunteering "as bringing the museum to the 21st century", I'm thinking you will be spending your time in a small museum, and often, in those kinds of museums, you are: fighting for funding, fighting to keep people interested, and fighting to essentially keep the lights on. Even fighting for the reason to be active digitally. (I've volunteered at a museum where Facebook was looked at with suspicion by the board. True story.) If this is the case, that you'll be volunteering in a small museum, it might be interesting, but it is probably going to take up your energy, and you might be spinning your wheels.

So if you want to help out your community museum, that's great, just know it doesn't probably translate for whole lot for the world of academia.

Anyway, if you have any more museum questions, let me know. I wish you the best of luck!

[Rfwarlick]

Let me go a little bit more into what I am doing with the blog and the volunteering. My overall goals as a historian will be to consult with museums, write and do research, and influence education and bringing the humanities back into education.

My interest in the museum is two fold. I will learn what is sought out in consultants, and gain experience in the museum, and references, and also, it is a museum that is about my city, so it will help my blog. This volunteer experience will be treated as an internship, however, it will not be an official internship.

My blog will be more like mini research papers that reach out to the general public. They will have references and a great deal of research. I will also work on writing samples based upon this research. It won't just be a blog on places I've traveled or something. Of course it may involve traveling, but each post will be written, readable to the general public, but researched as though each post were a miniature paper.

I am also placing so much influence on the GRE because my undergrad were well below stellar. In a lower level school, that I learned a lot from, I didn't even make a 3.0. Now I didn't push myself either because I didn't have plans that would involve graduate school in 2008, when I graduated. My top school is also an Ivy League, in which I was told to shoot for a top 90th percent on my GRE. I've also been told that these schools don't look at scores to see your potential, but rather your work available, which I will try to make impressive.

What are your thoughts with this information?

[ArtHistoryandMuseum]

I will have to return to this topic when I'm not on a mobile device, but my first thought is if you want to get the humanities back into education (schools?), maybe a career in museum education is for you. I'm thinking primarily about school programs, and how you'll be researching history and utilizing a history background to design educational programming, while making partnerships with local schools. I can see consulting in this, too.

Unlikely, you will need a PhD, though. However, whether it is in public history, museum ed, or history, an MA is definitely helpful.

There is also this combination -- you could go down for a PhD in museum ed, but first earn a MA in in history? I'm unsure you'd want to do this, though.

[Arcanen]

My blog will be more like mini research papers that reach out to the general public. They will have references and a great deal of research. I will also work on writing samples based upon this research. It won't just be a blog on places I've traveled or something. Of course it may involve traveling, but each post will be written, readable to the general public, but researched as though each post were a miniature paper.

 

Doesn't matter, grad admissions won't care. If you want to do it for your own interest, by all means go ahead. But it shouldn't have anything to do with your applications. All it could do is make your application weaker. All they'll see is someone who put in the time but wasn't able to get published. By the way, I don't necessarily think this is fair, but it's how it is. If your main purpose for this blog is to make your applications stronger, you should stomp the idea before you ever start.

 

If you really think volunteering in the museum could result in you ending up with worthwhile references (or you genuely want to do it for your own enjoyment), go ahead. But this may be unlikely and there may be much better uses of your time.

 

I am also placing so much influence on the GRE because my undergrad were well below stellar.

 

Doesn't matter what you're paying attention to, it matters what admissions committees pay attention to; and they don't really pay much attention to the GRE. I very much doubt you'll require high 90th percentile scores for history programs (by all means do as well as you can, but don't get bogged down in the GRE at the cost of the much more important aspects of your application). Because as you've noted

 

these schools don't look at scores to see your potential, but rather your work available

 

But this doesn't mean blog posts. This means research experience that you've had at universities, thesis work you may have completed during your final undergraduate year, published papers etc. You're much better off trying to see if any professors from your undergrad would be ok with you researching with them for free. You might end up with a strong reference, a name on a published paper, something you can write about in your statement of purpose etc.

 

I get that you're pretty set on this blog thing, and that it's hard to just throw that away because of what some random stranger is telling you on the internet. But it won't be a useful way to use time for the purposes of getting into grad school.

 

ArtHistoryandMuseum:

 

and the other is earning a PhD

 

Danger Will Robinson! Be very careful about this. Generally speaking, it is a terrible idea to get a letter of recommendation from a current grad student. It's not a matter of "oh they haven't got a PhD" (though letters from professors are always better than letters from work colleagues), but that they generally aren't established. If this person earning a PhD is really established in the field and is just returning to do a PhD later on in life... that's probably ok. Otherwise (and probably even if the former is the case), you're better off getting another letter from a professor who you've done research work with in the past.

Edited April 30, 2013 by Arcanen

[somethinbruin]

Let me go a little bit more into what I am doing with the blog and the volunteering. My overall goals as a historian will be to consult with museums, write and do research, and influence education and bringing the humanities back into education.

My interest in the museum is two fold. I will learn what is sought out in consultants, and gain experience in the museum, and references, and also, it is a museum that is about my city, so it will help my blog. This volunteer experience will be treated as an internship, however, it will not be an official internship.

My blog will be more like mini research papers that reach out to the general public. They will have references and a great deal of research. I will also work on writing samples based upon this research. It won't just be a blog on places I've traveled or something. Of course it may involve traveling, but each post will be written, readable to the general public, but researched as though each post were a miniature paper.

I am also placing so much influence on the GRE because my undergrad were well below stellar. In a lower level school, that I learned a lot from, I didn't even make a 3.0. Now I didn't push myself either because I didn't have plans that would involve graduate school in 2008, when I graduated. My top school is also an Ivy League, in which I was told to shoot for a top 90th percent on my GRE. I've also been told that these schools don't look at scores to see your potential, but rather your work available, which I will try to make impressive.

What are your thoughts with this information?

 

I agree with a lot of what Arcanen and ArtHistory have said. I do think that the position you describe seems more suited for a museum studies, museum administration/education, or non-profit administration degree. Those degrees seem like they will let you do the sort of outreach you desire, whereas history grad programs generally prepare you to be a researcher in a specific field/period. 

 

If you're set on history, I think your best bet is to try to bulk up your CV in ways that admissions committees like: research assistantships (volunteer if you have to), conference presentations, peer reviewed publications. Also, I think you should be realistic about the effect your GPA is going to have on your applications. You say an Ivy is your top choice, but the reality is that Ivies rarely admit students with sub 3.0 GPAs, regardless of other factors in their application. They just don't have to because their applicant pool is so large and strong. Your resources might be better spent identifying programs where your chances of admission are higher.

 

If you feel compelled to do the blog for your own personal edification, then by all means go for it. But Arcanen is right that it won't do anything for your application, and might even hurt. Likewise, an unofficial internship isn't worth very much to committees since you can't put it on your CV. In the end, your application boils down to these things: Your grades, your SOP, your CV, your letters of rec, and (much less important) your GRE scores. Focus on the things you can affect in the next six months: Your CV, SOP, and letters of rec. 

[Rfwarlick]

Alright, I greatly appreciate all this insight, and I'm probably going to put off my ultimate school plan for awhile, and work on my sop and cv.

I am still going to do the blog to get my name out there and for fun, but the research will also be applied to papers to be published.

Excellent! Thank you all so much!

[Andean Pat]

Hello! 

 

It seems you have closed the topic, but I wanted to add something. I agree with Arcanen. Let me add what future advisors suggested when I contacted them last July. In you SOP and CV show who you are. It is not completely pointless to try to compensate for your low GPA but try not to force it. 

 

I can see that you want to show that you like doing research. A blog is fine for writing but the fact that it is "out there" does not mean people are reading it. What I suggest is to present papers in real conferences and real journals. First of all, it adds to your resume more than your blog (you can still blog, but do not count on this as "research"). Secondly, it helps you reflect on you own questions and thus your SOP will be more clear as far as interests. Last year I presented two lectures at two conferences and got published another paper. 

 

Now, as an educator myself, I understand your concerns of the role of the humanities in education. There are plenty of conferences and chapters that discuss this, you should at the very least read them! In my country, every major history conference has a round table on education and many scholars present papers there as well as there main field. If this is a topic that intrigues you, go ahead and plunge into it! 

 

All the best of luck to you!

[Rfwarlick]

Thank you for your further advice, I'm always ready for it. I do plan on continuing with my blog as the basis of my research, and then combining and editing blog posts to submit as articles. However, how would I go about presenting papers in conferences? Do I submit a paper to conferences and apply to present it?

[somethinbruin]

To propose a presentation for a conference, you generally have to submit an abstract, not the full paper. Abstract formats vary. I've submitted to conferences that wanted 100 word abstracts and others that wanted 500. In general, your abstract should succinctly present the argument your paper will make. They're tricky little exercises, because you have to do a suitable amount of preliminary research, set out a clear argument and make the case for why it matters, all in an appealing way that will make them want to select you. Writing abstracts takes practice, and if you're not familiar with how to do them, I would recommend having a faculty member whose feedback you trust take a look at them before you send them out.

 

After your submit your abstract, it will be read and decided upon by a chairperson or by a blind committee who decides which papers are accepted. This process is usually completed a few months before the conference, so you should have plenty of time to complete your research and write the paper. My MA program encouraged students to present at least once a year, preferably twice, and that expectation continues throughout PhD programs.

 

I don't know about any specific history websites that publish calls for paper, but here is a humanities call for papers database that you might be able to find some conferences on: https://www.h-net.org/announce/group.cgi?type=CFPs

[greenwintermints]

To go off of what others have said re: conferences, I wouldn't advise applying to the most prestigious, famous conferences you can find - even if you got in, it'd be overwhelming.  Conferences (in my estimation) are draining experiences (I'm really introverted and all the socializing, networking, etc, exhausts me after a while) - start off with some smaller, regional conferences to ease into it first. If your first conference experience is positive (like mine was - I presented at a conference for grads/undergrads), it's much more pleasant to talk about and much easier to apply to more.

[Andean Pat]

To go off of what others have said re: conferences, I wouldn't advise applying to the most prestigious, famous conferences you can find - even if you got in, it'd be overwhelming.  Conferences (in my estimation) are draining experiences (I'm really introverted and all the socializing, networking, etc, exhausts me after a while) - start off with some smaller, regional conferences to ease into it first. If your first conference experience is positive (like mine was - I presented at a conference for grads/undergrads), it's much more pleasant to talk about and much easier to apply to more.

 

Great tip.

 

My first conference was at an international congress that my advisor was organizing. I knew most of the committee and the chairperson of my symposium was someone that had helped me with my thesis. However, because of the prestige of the conference and my own lack of experience, my advisor monitored my submission and proofread my paper. 

 

My second conference was at a PhD students meeting, everyone presented the state of their research while I introduced a methodological question usually overlooked by students in this city. It was nice because most people were young and eager to learn from each other.

 

My third conference was the real trial. It was at THE best university in the country, organized by one of the best history departments in Latin America, and with lecturers you only read in books. I felt this one was THE conference. Fortunately, I did great and got excellent feed back. I simply loved to share my research and to be so welcome by the academia. It strengthened my academic self-esteem and reinforced this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. 

 

You may probably want to look into local conferences and then expand towards bigger ones. 

[ArtHistoryandMuseum]

ArtHistoryandMuseum:

 

 

Danger Will Robinson! Be very careful about this. Generally speaking, it is a terrible idea to get a letter of recommendation from a current grad student. It's not a matter of "oh they haven't got a PhD" (though letters from professors are always better than letters from work colleagues), but that they generally aren't established. If this person earning a PhD is really established in the field and is just returning to do a PhD later on in life... that's probably ok. Otherwise (and probably even if the former is the case), you're better off getting another letter from a professor who you've done research work with in the past.

 

Thank you, I greatly appreciate this alert.

 

And haha -- "DANGER WILL ROBINSON!" I'm in the universe of museums, where robots definitely have come up. This makes me smile.

 

As for my letter choices, I had an application for grad school, which allowed and encouraged up to five letters of recommendation, two of which could be from museum work. I submitted three from the academia, one from that PhD, and one who was ABD but was also my most immediate work supervisor. This supervisor could best speak to my command of my subject (dec arts). Also, I never really studied dec arts in art history undergrad.

 

Also, for that specific application, where I was applying, they are supportive of museums. However, I see that research-oriented departments may not approve so much, and that actually this supervisor's letter do some harm, as well as it may indicate a lack of good judgement. I will definitely keep this in mind this application round.

 

Thank you so much again for pointing my attention to it! Being that I have some research experience in a museum setting and not formally academia, anything else that I should keep in mind?

Edited April 30, 2013 by ArtHistoryandMuseum

[ArtHistoryandMuseum]

Thank you for your further advice, I'm always ready for it. I do plan on continuing with my blog as the basis of my research, and then combining and editing blog posts to submit as articles. 

Hi again!

 

You might be delighted to see this article in the Scientific American re: blogging, in late stages of academia here.

 

:-)

[G2A]

Although I agree with most of what has been written in this topic, I feel like there has been a lack of nuance when it comes to blogging. I do not blog. If done right, however, I think it can be a powerful tool during some points of one's graduate education. This post is a good example:

http://downwithtime.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/on-blogging-and-collaboration/

 

Having that said, OP's energy is better spent elsewhere in my mind. BOL though.