Whittling down my list

[Heimat Historian]

Hello all.  This is my first time posting here, but I've been reading through the forums.  I'd like some advice on narrowing down my grad school list for applications.  Here's my story for  frame of reference:

 

Undergrad:

I attended the University of Texas at Austin for undergrad, majored in history, minored in German with a 3.2 overall GPA.  

 

Graduate school part 1: 

I attempted a masters degree at University of South Florida but due to family issues I had to leave the program incomplete.  

 

Graduate school part 2:  

I'm currently finishing my Masters degree in history at the University of Texas at San Antonio, with a 4.0 GPA.  I will be finishing in the Spring and will apply for PhD programs in the fall for entry in Autumn 2015.

 

I started with a list of over 50 schools.  I've since whittled it down into a list of 28 schools.  I intend on doing my research in modern European history, with a focus on German immigrants which I will approach through a transnational lens.  My specific interests lie in the study of enclave communities of Germans throughout the world.   Additionally, I'm working with a professor to potentially get an article published in small peer reviewed journal.  

 

Here's my list of schools in alphabetical order.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

 

Binghamton University - SUNY

College of William and Mary (Tyler)

Columbia University

Emory University

George Mason University

Harvard University

Indiana University - Bloomington

Rice University

Stanford University

Stony Brook University - SUNY

Tufts University

Tulane University

University of Arizona

University of California - Davis

University of Chicago

University of Colorado - Boulder

University of Connecticut

University of Delaware

University of Georgia

University of Illinois - Urbana - Champaign

University of Iowa

University of Michigan

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

University of Washington

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Vanderbilt University
Washington University in St. Louis

 

Thanks again. 

[katethekitcat]

At this point, you need to look at the research currently being conducted by faculty at each of those programs. You sound like you already know exactly what your research area is, so find schools with multiple faculty working in that area (there's no guarantee any you want to work with will be taking grad students, so having one is just risky.) Look up a few faculty members at each university and actually read their papers to make sure their interests align with yours. Once you've identified strong problem, it's the people working there who matter, and no one can decide that but you.

 

Factor in, too - where do you want to live for five years? If you think you'd absolutely loathe a city, don't apply there - you're going to miserable for five years and perhaps longer, since all your professional connections will be in that geographic area. Location is a perfectly valid thing to affect your grad school decisions. 

[hj2012]

I echo what katethekitcat said about faculty members. It might also be a useful exercise to divide the schools into three categories: dream, reach, fit/safety (although there really isn't such a thing as a "safety" school for Ph.D. programs.)  That might help you see which schools are extraneous.

 

Lastly, try asking this question in the History forum -- you may get a better response from people who know more about your field than I do.

[Heimat Historian]

Thank you both for your help on this.  I'll repost in the history forum to see if I can get some more field specific help.  Thanks again. 

[roguesenna]

personally I think 28 is still an unmanageably large number to even start doing serious research on the schools. use other factors to toss some of the schools out. assuming that each of them has the exact program you want (e.g. I dumped Yale from my list because they offer a DFA not a PhD), start looking at location and size. since you've already been to 3 schools you should have a rough idea of what you liked and didn't like about them, so use those factors to eliminate some schools.

 

as far as geography, do you want to be in a big city or a small town? do you want to be somewhere where your funding will really stretch? or would you rather have a little less money, but be able to take advantage of a city like NYC? Can you handle extreme weather? I see you've mostly been in Florida or Texas, are you going to be happy in Ann Arbor, MI? Trust me, I'm from Michigan and they don't exaggerate when they talk about our winters. You will get feet of snow dumped on you sometimes and the school will not close (unless the power lines freeze, which happens sometimes). Same thing goes for Chicago, Minnesota and Wisconsin or anything else in the northwest/midwest.

 

I think once you've whittled it down to about 10-15, then you can start to eliminate further based on fit (professors, research, specific program ideals, etc). IMHO, applying to more than 10 schools is a little ridiculous. You'll lose track of what you've done and you'll probably drive yourself crazy. That said, I personally try to focus on only a few schools. I applied to two schools for undergrad, one for my MFA and I'm applying to four for my PhD, so clearly I like to have a short list. That said, I always got into my top choice (so far! *knock on wood*).  

[Heimat Historian]

Good news: I've successfully eliminated schools down to 17, a much more manageable number. Geography is quite important to me.  Even though I've lived in the South for quite some time now, I was raised along the Hudson Valley in New York and much prefer the weather of that type.  Texas and Florida summers are brutal!  

 

 

Thanks for your help