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Fall 2015 Applicants


dr. t

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Well, either it's not as bad as I expected or I'm just not doing enough.......

I'm doing OK.  Two of the classes I'm taking are not my choice of subject and so reading and writing for that is drudgery at best, but I'm not drowning.  Like I said, I may just not be doing it right.

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I am absolutely loving it - I'm taking an independent study with my advisor that is just awesome, and a travel narratives course that is turning out to be super neat. I'm even learning to embrace theory (maybe, a little). Telkanuru, I have an article you should read that was given to me (as someone who is Not. A. Fan. of theory). It's great for medievalists, and you might find it thought-provoking at least.

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Hey all!

I've been off the board since my last rejection (not so much licking wounds - more like being too crazed at work to think about grad school for a while). Back online to get in gear for the next cycle and want to wish everyone good luck with their programs! Looks like some of you have already started and everything. Hope it's all going well, enjoy it guys!

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Im applying to a bunch of schools too, but my focus will be on the few schools that i truly want to go and highly match my research interests: Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, and perhaps Columbia. Although my list is also ambitious, my advice for not freaking out is 1) to start preparing early (too late for this?) and 2) to know exactly why you want to go to these schools 3) to know exactly why these schools should want you specifically. For me, Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton have profs and resources that fit my interests very very well and I know I have specific assets that will make me attractive to them out of all other applicants. The more specific you can be, at least in your mind for now and later in the statement of purpose, the less freaking out there should be.

I see that UofT is on ur list! I'm from Toronto myself but I study at McGill. You might have known already, Toronto and UT are heavily populated by...Asians =P If you are from parts of the USA other than places like UCLA or UCB, you probably have never been in an academic environment with so many Asians. But don't worry, we mostly speak English very well =D Other than that, UT is enormous with three campuses...many Canadians, including me, actively avoid going there due to the size and lack of faculty-student interaction. I'm not sure about grad schools. One of my high school friends studied evolutionary biology there and rocked a near perfect GPA. However, since the classes, even upper year ones, are so big, she could not get meaningful recommendation letters from UT profs. Probably as a result of that, she didn't get accepted to a prestigious university despite her rocking GPA and tones of research experience. Just sharing some experience =p  

Hey I'm planning to do PhD in Chinese history, targeting some top schools as well. It's been a year, did you get in?

Any ideas in regard to the GRE requirement? I have 158 on verbal, 163 on math, 5.5 on essay. Do you think if it's enough? I'm out of time to do it again.

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You've posted this in 3 places that I've seen, which isn't necessary. If you're out of time, you're out of time. The scores you have are the scores you're going to send. I don't think they're low enough to warrant immediate rejection. Right now it's better for you to focus on the things you can control, like your writing sample, statement of purpose and figuring out how well you fit in those programs and showing that in said statement.

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You've posted this in 3 places that I've seen, which isn't necessary. If you're out of time, you're out of time. The scores you have are the scores you're going to send. I don't think they're low enough to warrant immediate rejection. Right now it's better for you to focus on the things you can control, like your writing sample, statement of purpose and figuring out how well you fit in those programs and showing that in said statement.

Thanks ashiepoo72, I only registered yesterday and you can imagine how nervous I was! Thanks again for your reply!

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In which this thread becomes "Telkanuru complains about theory while Mvl waxes on the brilliance of Peter Novick for five hours on Thursday." 

Peter Novick's book is bomb as all hell, and there's a reason it's the most frequently assigned state-of-the-field monograph for first-year historians.

I hate theory as much as anybody, but over time, you pick up enough here and there to be able to engage in those conversations (and even employ a tiny bit in your own work).

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Peter Novick's book is bomb as all hell, and there's a reason it's the most frequently assigned state-of-the-field monograph for first-year historians.

Because it was super hot when our advisers were finishing their PhDs, so it's what they turned to immediately when they needed to fill that hole?

He brings up some interesting thoughts, but I am not, generally speaking, a fan.

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Because it was super hot when our advisers were finishing their PhDs, so it's what they turned to immediately when they needed to fill that hole?

He brings up some interesting thoughts, but I am not, generally speaking, a fan.

I suspect that's part of it. It's also a really great introduction to the politics of the historical profession and its defining pretenses.

Out of curiosity, if you needed to introduce a first-year grad student to the historical profession, what would you assign instead?

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Novick is better for some subdisciplines (Americanists, modernists) than he is for others. 

Out of curiosity, if you needed to introduce a first-year grad student to the historical profession, what would you assign instead?

Well, in my actual first year as a graduate student, I was assigned Herbert Butterfield and David Hackett Fisher. 

I liked both of them, for the record :ph34r:

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Novick is better for some subdisciplines (Americanists, modernists) than he is for others. 

Well, in my actual first year as a graduate student, I was assigned Herbert Butterfield and David Hackett Fisher. 

I liked both of them, for the record :ph34r:

Aha. Yeah, I hear you. Novick definitely veers towards the Americanist/modernist. Not sure he'd be as helpful for people outside those categories.

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