Fall 2016 Applicants

[alain]

^^^^ Hey friend, 

It's never too late to email a professor; generally speaking, an email of this sort does a couple things.

1. It tells the professor to look out for your application. With 300 applicants at any given program, individuals can very easily fall through the cracks. If a professor has your email on file, but then doesn't see your application, she's more likely to email the adcom something like "hey where's this person?" 

2. It gives the professor a chance to tell you not to waste time or money if there's 0% chance that you will get a chance to study with her. If you were to email someone like Thomas Holt at UChicago, he would tell you he's retiring quite soon and no longer taking graduate students. If you send an application in without that knowledge, there's always the chance that you are the 100% perfect candidate but your faculty person of interest will be on leave, is moving schools, or otherwise incapable of admitting you. That'll save you lots of "Why did they reject me?" anxiety.

Re: The anxiety, I get it honestly I do. I'm still terrified of emailing my former advisors at undergrad to tell them what I'm doing (procrastinating on it for 8 weeks now woo~). That being said, this is a useful life skill; learning how to deal with anxiety in productive manners so it doesn't get in the way of things you need to do. Have you talked to your doctor about finding a therapist? It could do miles for figuring out how to control this sort of thing since no matter what field you go into (grad school or otherwise) anxiety will find its way to you. Good luck!

Hey, thank you so much for the advice. I think I'll try and see what happens. I'll probably make a million drafts before sending it out (...or I'll get too anxious and forget the whole thing) but I'll definitely make an effort. I know all the reasons it's useful, but it still scares me. 

[alain]

Ok I finally drafted an email. Any suggestions on what I should write in the subject (...like I said, I get worried about everything)? Also should I apologize for writing it so late? Thanks in advance. 

[gsc]

Something like "Graduate study at X" should suffice. Don't apologize, because you haven't done anything wrong. 

[knp]

One thing I've been practicing for six or eight years now is making fewer apologies, which I think is an idea you might find helpful, too. I'm a young woman, so I had picked up a habit of apologizing for my own existence. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2015/10/13/jennifer-lawrence-has-a-point-famous-quotes-the-way-a-woman-would-have-to-say-them-during-a-meeting/)  I don't know your gender, but that habit tends to make people tune you out. Unlearning it, on the other hand, makes people take you more seriously. (Although it sucks that the burden is on us to break a habit we developed in the first place as a coping mechanism against society's prejudices.) You are asking for three minutes of each professor's time, on a matter that could save you $80-100 (if they're retiring, e.g.), more than thirty days ahead of the deadline. You have nothing to apologize for! That's a reasonable request! Go you!

[alain]

Thank you all! I actually sent two emails (*pats back*) and got one response in less than 15 minutes.

On 10/31/2015, 10:20:28, knp said:

One thing I've been practicing for six or eight years now is making fewer apologies, which I think is an idea you might find helpful, too. I'm a young woman, so I had picked up a habit of apologizing for my own existence. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2015/10/13/jennifer-lawrence-has-a-point-famous-quotes-the-way-a-woman-would-have-to-say-them-during-a-meeting/)  I don't know your gender, but that habit tends to make people tune you out. Unlearning it, on the other hand, makes people take you more seriously. (Although it sucks that the burden is on us to break a habit we developed in the first place as a coping mechanism against society's prejudices.) You are asking for three minutes of each professor's time, on a matter that could save you $80-100 (if they're retiring, e.g.), more than thirty days ahead of the deadline. You have nothing to apologize for! That's a reasonable request! Go you!

Yes I am a woman as well and I am so used to apologizing for everything and taking up as little space as possible. *Sigh* It's depressing. I try to watch myself but it's second nature. (Also socialization and all that but god how I wish others would do the same when they don't respect my space.......) 

[mvlchicago]

Well done!  

[AshDarling]

First time applying to grad schools for history. I'm currently looking at Ohio State & U. Wisconsin-Madison. Primarily looking at PhD programs, but now I'm thinking I should look at an MA one too.

I started the process late, so I can only apply to a few schools, anyway. Digging up old writing samples (senior thesis, esp.) to edit and spruce up a bit. Writing my SOP (and it probably sucks, ugh) and meeting with my grad professor/unofficial advisor on Tuesday to figure out what to do. I have an MA in Teaching social studies, but want to get a degree in history. I want to teach at the college level, research and write. Not sure what else I should have as my goals right now.

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say hello!

[Joan Callamezzo]

On 10/18/2015, 7:40:31, knp said:

Hello! Time to ask a question of the collective wisdom. Do you know of any historians who work on colonial language issues? Any region of the world is fine. I'm looking to expand my list of applications by one or two, so I'm searching for history professors who study colonial language. If I then research the department and find someone else who works on my region, that's a strong case for adding it to my currently too-short list of programs.

Unfortunately, the only program I know of that fits this two-person relevance model is Washington. Vicente Rafael's books are the sort of thing I'm talking about, and they have interesting professors in my region, too! Problem: Washington requires an MA for admittance to the PhD, and I do not have an MA. Nor do I want one. I guess I'm open to considering that path if I strike out on PhDs this cycle, but for now, that requirement's a problem.

Thanks in advance!

Kind of a late reply to your question... but I have a family member who went to the UW and I am all too familiar with their admissions policies. They require an MA to be admitted to the PhD program, but will admit you into the MA program with only a BA. Admittance to the MA does not mean you will be accepted into the PhD, some professors let their students straight into the PhD, but others will make you reapply to the program with the first time applicants. You will still have to do the PhD coursework once you have finished the MA. Some advisors also make their students wait to apply to the PhD after they have completed the MA, resulting in a gap year between the programs. It's a confusing and inconsistent system. 

You should also rethink why it is that you do not want to get an MA. It will only make you a better, more prepared scholar. 

[mvlchicago]

^^^^ Reminder that MAs, generally speaking, are unfunded and usually expect some degree of outside funding and/or loans. As such, it can be a serious hindrance for capable students who don't have the capital required to spend a year not working.  

Edited November 2, 2015 by mvlchicago

[knp]

re: Joan Callamezzo

Do you advise all prospective graduate school applicants that they should get an MA before applying to PhDs? I'm happy to investigate them if I strike out on PhDs this cycle. I can see how the post you just quoted could be interpreted to sound like I would never consider one, but that isn't true. There is no master's program I would choose next year over keeping my job and paying down my existing student debts, but I'm open to the possibility if I do another round of applications and one of them offers me funding.

This is all with the possible exception of Washington, because of its weird structure, but I seem to go back and forth on that one every week. But thank you for the information! I guess it's time to send off another round of emails to my contacts there, since my first set must have gotten lost in a sea of inbox junk somewhere.

re: Alain

Good for you! I hope the reply was good.

I agree that it is the worst that we have to break habits we learned in the first place to deal with sexism! But while I would never argue that women should adopt masculine habits to get more respect (e.g. some people advise to "talk with a lower voice," which I disagree with), there are a couple "coping mechanism" habits that I have found it helpful to unlearn. When I wanted to apologize less, I actually started with the mantra "fewer apologies, no excuses." I had dozens of chances to practice that latter bit because I am always, perpetually three or four minutes late for everything. So I started choking off my "Sorry I'm late, the bus had some mechanical problem with the ramp not raising again so we couldn't leave" or "Sorry I'm late, I couldn't find my keys even though I always keep them in the same place until I thought to look if they'd fallen on the floor" to "Sorry I'm late—(strangled noise as excuse tries to escape)—I hope I haven't kept you waiting." Much better, no? As someone listening to that excuse, I'd rather not hear all the details, which just aren't that interesting. Obviously, "no excuses" is an exaggeration, but I found that moving to a model of just saying, "I'm sorry, I can't volunteer to help out that Saturday" (without saying whether that's because I'm taking a relative to a doctor's appointment or whether I just have an appointment with my Netflix) was a helpful place to start.

[Joan Callamezzo]

8 hours ago, knp said:

re: Joan Callamezzo

Do you advise all prospective graduate school applicants that they should get an MA before applying to PhDs? I'm happy to investigate them if I strike out on PhDs this cycle. I can see how the post you just quoted could be interpreted to sound like I would never consider one, but that isn't true. There is no master's program I would choose next year over keeping my job and paying down my existing student debts, but I'm open to the possibility if I do another round of applications and one of them offers me funding.

This is all with the possible exception of Washington, because of its weird structure, but I seem to go back and forth on that one every week. But thank you for the information! I guess it's time to send off another round of emails to my contacts there, since my first set must have gotten lost in a sea of inbox junk somewhere.

 

I mean this is just my personal opinion (so it may be totally worthless!!) but I think everyone should get a *funded* (or budget friendly) MA before they do the PhD. Sure there are some people who finish their ivy league undergrad Phi Beta Kappa and fluency in 4 languages, but most of us still need to build our CVs after graduation. An MA is the perfect opportunity to pick up a language or two, present at conferences, build up a network of contacts and develop a much more focused and advanced writing sample. It might also be the difference between getting into a top 25 school and getting into your first choice, top 5 school. 

[dr. t]

I have to say I agree. The difference between new PhD students with an MA and those without is very noticeable. (sorry @mvlchicago )

[mvlchicago]

10 hours ago, telkanuru said:

I have to say I agree. The differences between students who are 29+ years old and the students who are 23, the students who have spent more years studying history than others, and the students who are more salty than others are very noticeable. (sorry @mvlchicago )

Fixed that for you. 

[ashiepoo72]

Haha @mvlchicago

Here's the thing...it totally depends on the person (yes, I'm cliche). As a 22 year old freshly minted BA, I would've crashed and burned in a PhD program. I needed the MA, not even so much to expand my intellectual horizons as to grow the hell up and develop an appreciation for the professional world of history. I needed to work outside academia to appreciate how much I wanted to be in academia. I also needed something to bolster meh undergrad grades. 

Not everyone is like this. Some of my cohort members came in with only a BA and, for the most part, are incredibly intelligent and thoughtful humans who have well-articulated and reasoned plans and, frankly, blow some of my MA cohort members out of the water. Yes, I can occasionally detect some difference between PhD students entering with an MA v. BA (mainly, it's the "sophistication" of writing and proper use of Turabian), but this is stuff that is developed over the course of coursework.

So, an MA isn't necessary unless it's necessary (and necessity is relative). Either you will self-select like I did, or you will have programs select for you (via rejections and/or MA offers). I would never ever recommend an unfunded MA to anyone ever, but I did an unfunded MA and don't regret it, so I won't judge if someone else does too. Basically, humans are complicated.

[dr. t]

4 hours ago, mvlchicago said:

Fixed that for you. 

More degrees does correlate to being older, it's true.

 

4 hours ago, ashiepoo72 said:

Here's the thing...it totally depends on the person (yes, I'm cliche).

I mean sure, everything always depends on the person. When making generalizations, there will be exceptions. The rule, however, holds. Don't take my word for it---ask your professors.

[knp]

Ah, I see! Yes, I'm a big proponent of the "don't go directly to graduate school" thing, too—I think that in my case, it made sense to take three years off to work (including two years at a different college's research center related to my interests) in lieu of a master's program, but we'll see. I love the city I'm in now, so this year I'm rolling the die to see whether I get into one of my top four PhD programs. (There's another three applications, including Washington, that I go back and forth on approximately once a day.) If not? Oh well! I get to stay in a great city in a decent job for another year, and try again the next time around. In that case, I'll start expanding to look at regional studies master's degrees especially—my language preparation is way above average in most of the languages I'll need, but it would be nice to be way above average in all of them. For now, I feel ready (if that means anything), so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj4nJ1YEAp4

[DGrayson]

So I've kinda hit a roadblock. I've decided that I wanted to focus on the Church as an economic institution in Early Modern Europe. Directly I'm interested in how the Church responded to exogenous shocks like the plague, and indirectly i'm interested in the market for saints body parts. My big problem is that there are not many scholars who focus on what I want to do (Safley at UPenn is the only one I am aware of though he is my top choice). I contacted a POI at Wisconsin and she suggested not applying there because she does not do exactly what I'm interested in. I was planning on listing a few professors on my statement (one from Church history, one economic historian, etc.) but now I'm not sure. If I only have a chance at institutions that exactly match my interest, I'll only end up applying to about two schools. That doesn't give me a lot of room for error. I'm a little worried! What do you guys think? 

[dr. t]

56 minutes ago, DGrayson said:

I contacted a POI at Wisconsin and she suggested not applying there because she does not do exactly what I'm interested in.

Just FYI, this will vary from professor to professor. Some are looking for really close matches, others are looking for interesting topics that are generally near their own interests, so don't take this response as normative and keep asking.

I'll leave off on the other bits because I'm, uh, opinionated about the state of the field of early Modern church history.

[ashiepoo72]

Have you considered looking at religious studies programs? Several religious studies grad students are in my history courses at Davis. Maybe if you look at both departments at the schools you want to apply to, you'll have better luck. You could put together a committee composed of professors from both departments.

[DGrayson]

5 minutes ago, ashiepoo72 said:

Have you considered looking at religious studies programs? Several religious studies grad students are in my history courses at Davis. Maybe if you look at both departments at the schools you want to apply to, you'll have better luck. You could put together a committee composed of professors from both departments.

I've done that in my statement of purpose. I just wasn't sure if my interests had to match exactly. 

 

22 minutes ago, telkanuru said:

Just FYI, this will vary from professor to professor. Some are looking for really close matches, others are looking for interesting topics that are generally near their own interests, so don't take this response as normative and keep asking.

I'll leave off on the other bits because I'm, uh, opinionated about the state of the field of early Modern church history.

I feel like I should hear this! :)

[stillalivetui]

Just submitted my first application the other day. Can't wait to have them all in.

[Josh J.]

Hello everyone,

This will be my second time around applying for PhD programs... I must be a glutton for punishment.

I am applying for two different types of programs this year. My master's is in American Religious History, with my thesis focusing on Religion and War, specifically the American home front during World War I and the federal government's attacks on conscientious objectors.  I am interested in continuing my work in this field, as I know the historiography very well and the topic really interests me.  

I'm also going to be applying into some programs for History of the American West/Environmental History.  I am teaching at a small liberal arts college right now, and I had the opportunity to design a course this fall in whatever I was interested in, so I am teaching a course on Environmental History in the Pacific Northwest.  I'm having a ton of fun in the topic, have been reading in the historiography of the field, and I went to The Netherlands and presented a paper in the field back in May.  My main topic of interest in this field is in the History of the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Park Service, and their relationships with the public in forming federal natural resources policy.  I've been doing a lot of research and writing on the Bull Run Watershed, a joint federal-city owned municipal watershed that provides water for Portland, Oregon, where I'm located. 

Good luck to everyone, and its good to see several people from last year...I'm looking at you, ashiepoo, telkanuru, mvlchichago, heimat, JJWS, etc.

[ashiepoo72]

Yay so glad to see you back, Josh! You should definitely check out Davis, we have great environmental historians (Louis Warren might be of interest), just hired another person specializing in U.S. West/environmental history and a good deal of grad students in that field.

[Josh J.]

Thanks, Ashiepoo. I will definitely check out Davis, and pm you.

[alain]

Is anyone else applying to NYU? If so, is anyone else stressed out about the two page double spaced SOP? As it is my base SOP is far too long and I need to cut things out but I don't know how I'll ever get it to 2 pages double spaced.......