what kind of GRE score will I need?

[jcharbinger]

I'm wondering what kind of GRE score I will need to get into a History Grad school. I would like to go for a PhD, but I will probably look at a few Master's programs as well. I go to school in Ohio (a good though underrated liberal arts college), and I'm a double major in History and French with a minor in cello performance. I specialize in French colonial history of the pre and post revolutionary periods. I'm also fascinated by new history and issues of collective memory. I'm applying for a Fulbright to study at McGill University in Canada, so we'll see how that goes.

My GPA is 3.87, it's even higher within my history major (not quite sure of exact number), though slightly lower within my French major.

I have participated in moot court competition, music ensembles, religious life, and some other organizations.

I have written 2 60+ paged major research papers, one of which was about Colonial Louisiana and was part of a prestigious semester-long seminar at the Newberry Library in Chicago (one of the top Humanities Libraries in the country, with some of the best primary source material collections available in the field of French in the Americas).

My top choices are:

Yale University

McGill Universtiry

University of Chicago

University of Michigan

UNC-CH

WashU

Indiana University

OSU (probably a safety?)

Georgetown (MAGIC) - a master's program

SO, what kind of GRE scores will I need to pull off to get into these places? I only got a 1200 when I took the SAT, so I'm a little concerned I might not do much better on the GRE.

Thanks for any advice. I will really appreciate it!

[Ardea]

UNC publishes its history admissions data. The others may as well. Last year,

Applied: 361

Accepted: 53

Enrolled: 32

Average GPA

Applied: 3.58

Accepted: 3.64

Rejected: 3.50

Average GRE scores

Applied Q: 610

Accepted Q: 641

Rejected Q: 605

Applied V: 609

Accepted V: 649

Rejected V: 602

[slawkenbergius]

I have participated in moot court competition, music ensembles, religious life, and some other organizations.

I have written 2 60+ paged major research papers, one of which was about Colonial Louisiana and was part of a prestigious semester-long seminar at the Newberry Library in Chicago (one of the top Humanities Libraries in the country, with some of the best primary source material collections available in the field of French in the Americas).

For God's sake, don't write your personal statement like this. It reads like marketing copy. Trust me, anyone you'd want to work with already knows what the Newberry Library is.

By the way, the word "prestigious" doesn't mean anything anymore. It means "we want to sell you something." Using that word marks you out as a dupe.

Otherwise, don't sweat it, you'll be fine.

[jcharbinger]

haha,

Trust me, I would never write a personal statement like that. If anything, I usually feel nervous about "selling" myself so to speak. But as this forum is for the most part anonymous, I suppose I left the filter off.

I remember last year, I heard of a medieval studies major entitling her personally statement, "Autobiography of a Young English Scholar." Yikes!

[slawkenbergius]

haha,

Trust me, I would never write a personal statement like that. If anything, I usually feel nervous about "selling" myself so to speak. But as this forum is for the most part anonymous, I suppose I left the filter off.

I remember last year, I heard of a medieval studies major entitling her personally statement, "Autobiography of a Young English Scholar." Yikes!

OK, just making sure. Extracurriculars, incidentally, are not very likely to be relevant or helpful in your application--focus on your great research experience and how it informs your future plans. GREs won't really matter for you unless you don't make the (unofficial) cutoff, which depends on the school