Jump to content

Honest Assessment of Chances


BCHistory

Recommended Posts

This is my first time posting in this forum. I've been reading the topics for a while, and some of them have gotten me a bit nervous regarding my chances for admission into Ph.D programs in history. Would anybody mind making an honest assessment of how I stack up in the admissions process at the schools to which I've applied? Thanks!

GPA: 3.63 overall; 3.67 major (history)

GRE: 720 V (98%); 750 Q (83%); 5.0 AW (81%)

BA in history and political science from Emory University; Dean's List; Phi Alpha Theta; National Merit Scholar. I worked for four years at Emory's Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, and since I've graduated in 2008, I have worked at the South Caroliniana Library at the University of South Carolina. Reading knowledge of Italian.

I want to study American religious history, with a focus on American Catholicism, African-American Catholics, parochial educational practices of the nineteenth century, southern Catholics during the Civil War and Reconstruction, and Catholic minority identity formation and religiously informed nationalism.

All of my applications and letters have been submitted. I feel confident that the letters will be good, and I shared my writing sample and statement of purpose with several professors, went through countless edits and revisions, and am very proud of the work I accomplished in this area.

However, my major concern: I attended law school for one semester with serious reservations, partly out of a desire to please my parents and partly because of what I apprehended to be a surer monetary return. I struggled with the decision of attending law school or pursuing a Ph.D when I was an undergraduate. I knew very quickly that I made the wrong choice, but stuck it out to the end of my first semester to finish my exams and classes honorably. Unfortunately, I wound up with a disappointing 2.93 in my one semester of law school.

I applied to fourteen schools based mostly on what I perceived to be good academic and intellectual "fits," rather than a focus on the rankings of the schools. I applied to the following:

Emory

Georgia (UGA)

South Carolina

Vanderbilt

Wisconsin

Chicago

Northwestern

Washington University in St. Louis (WashU)

Cornell

Delaware

Boston College

Rutgers

Penn State (PSU)

I have established correspondence with two or three professors at each program, and I have maintained this correspondence for several months now, even meeting in person with a few. Almost all have overlapping research interests, and I would feel comfortable at every program.

Basically, what are my chances at these Ph.D programs? Is that one semester of law school going to sink me? I feel that my GPA is very inadequate, compared to all of the 4.0s that I have seen in this forum. Am I just going through typical pre-decision jitters as I wait for admissions decisions over the next few months?

Thanks in advance for all who can give insights and advice. Good luck with all of your applications!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you have to list your experience in law school? You didn't do any relevant coursework for your Ph.D, I imagine. If there's no reason to mention it in terms of trying to get credit for your Ph.D, I say write it off as a life lesson and let that be the end of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you have to list your experience in law school? You didn't do any relevant coursework for your Ph.D, I imagine. If there's no reason to mention it in terms of trying to get credit for your Ph.D, I say write it off as a life lesson and let that be the end of it.

That's what my professors said. I didn't mention it in my SOP or CV. However, I checked with the programs, and they all wanted to see the transcripts, so there was really no way around it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you didn't mention it anywhere, how would they know?

I didn't want to lie or omit anything on my applications. The schools all required me to list all post-high school classes for which I was graded. I felt that it would be best to be forthright with my time in law school, rather than omitting the information and potentially getting in trouble with the schools later on if they found out about the semester.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't want to lie or omit anything on my applications. The schools all required me to list all post-high school classes for which I was graded. I felt that it would be best to be forthright with my time in law school, rather than omitting the information and potentially getting in trouble with the schools later on if they found out about the semester.

I'm not sure how they would.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it is omitted and they find out (I don't know how they would, but who knows) it would be grounds for expulsion

My feeling is that they would never find out. When I was having issues with getting some transcripts from my previous school, I was told by some of the contacts at the schools to which I'm applying that I should just delete it from my application and they wouldn't care. I don't think they're going to spend any time doing investigations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To the OP : I don't think that academic programs care so much about law school. I think a lot of students go up against the Law School vs PhD question, particularly when its time to pay back student loans, we have family pressure, or are worried about whether or not we'll ever get a job with that PhD we want so badly. Law School is kind of irrelevant on the academic front - its a very different type of schooling, and they're going to be more interested in the schooling that is relevant to what you want to do now. The only way I can see it causing a flicker of hesitation in them is that law school requires a similar workload/dedication as grad school can - but as long as you prove you can handle a heavy workload/time consuming process elsewhere in your profile I think this won't matter too much. Your grades, recommendations, etc. are very good - and better than many candidates (don't let this forum fool you too much - most of us are the crazies that spend every waking moment obsessing about how to improve our profile and being type A personalities - well at least I am- and are not necessarily an accurate assessment of the general pool of applicants.)

To the question of Omission: I always say - be conservative, and I think in this case honesty is the best policy. Sure, there may be little to no chance that your new institution would find out you went to law school but there are ways it could come up through various arenas - including the fact they could accidentally bring it up in conversation with another student or professor at some point over the next 5-7 years. It then becomes a skeleton in your closet, that you will always have to be wary of. If the schools you're applying to said "go ahead and omit it" that's one thing, it's another to just take it upon yourself to do so. Why put yourself at risk to lose your progress on your PhD or at the very least to call your academic honesty into question?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You absolutely have to share the law school transcript.

I think the fact that you left after one semester will help mitigate the effects of the low gpa. It just wasn't for you, you were struggling with the decision to stay, it wasn't for you, etc. I would consider addressing the topic head on, not in the statement of purpose but in a separate letter. Otherwise maybe it looks like you left because you couldn't handle the work?

You have good credentials otherwise, and it looks like you are going about the application process in the right way. Also, you've applied to a lot of schools, including some lower ranked ones. So, if you don't get in anywhere, I'd say it's because of the law school issue and you would want to figure out a way to do some other graduate work to prove it was an anomaly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just saw this on an application I just submitted

"Submission of fraudulent credentials (including omission of information on previously attended institutions of higher learning) may also be a criminal offense"

Do you really want to take this chance?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use