Applying to Doctoral Programs in Humanities -- without a thesis

[mindful]

Hello all,

 

I have heard advice on how the writing sample is the more important thing than having done a thesis--- when applying to a masters programs.

 

But what about applying without a thesis or solid research experience to a PhD program in the humanities (any humanities you can think of)?

 

I know in social science fields like psychology, they probably will not even look at your application without research experience. Will appreciate any thoughts. 

 

Thanks!

[ExponentialDecay]

I mean, obviously, it's better if you have research experience and if you graduate with honors, but it won't kill you if you didn't.

[ProfLorax]

Do you have a writing sample with that grapples with an interesting research question and makes a clear intervention on a current critical conversation? That's the kind of research experience I think PhD programs are looking for.

[silenus_thescribe]

From what I can tell in my limited experience, ProfLorax is right. While a thesis is a nice thing to have on a CV, plenty of undergrad programs don't have their students center their majors on a thesis paper. As has been said on this thread and others, the important thing for a grad applications is to have a solid work of scholarly research. It doesn't particularly matter if it was called a "thesis". For instance, my senior thesis, which runs about 27 pages, is not the paper I used for my writing sample -- instead, I used a paper I did for a seminar on my study abroad (19 pages), because I felt it was a more sophisticated research question in my field. (It also was more usable across the varying page limits for writing samples, whereas I would have had to truncate my thesis for certain applications.) 

 

Across the many requirements for grad school apps that I researched -- and I researched a lot, as I'm sure we all did -- I never saw "thesis" as an express requirement.

[Bleep_Bloop]

Based on the previous posts, I'm assuming we're talking about the importance of undergrad theses when applying straight to PhD, not masters theses. The original post was a little ambiguous, but here goes:

 

If you're applying straight out of undergrad then your thesis likely won't even be ready to serve as a writing sample when you're preparing your applications. And even if it were finished by the time you apply, senior theses (or even masters theses) don't make good writing samples because they're usually way over the page requirement (my undergrad thesis turned out to be around 130 pages). You could excerpt a chapter, but those also don't make great writing samples because they're not stand-alone pieces, and it can take a lot of effort to mend. Even when modified it can be awkward because it wasn't originally thought out as an independent essay. And let's be real. Undergrad theses (mine included) just aren't that good. Even if you have a great adviser helping you along, it's your first attempt at a larger research project and a lot of the time you're just awkwardly groping around in the dark. It's a very valuable experience, but not necessary to get in. For applications, it's much better to take your best seminar paper and keep working on it.

[mindful]

Thank you for your very kind and illuminating responses, everyone! Very reassuring and wise advice on not focusing on "thesis" and re-working a good seminar paper.