Do out-of-field conferences help or hurt?

[imokyoureadrone]

This upcoming semester (the second semester of my junior year), I will be presenting at three conferences. One of them is pretty far out of my field, and the other two are peripherally connected but not directly in what I want to be researching in my Ph.D. program.

This is because the two biggest conferences in my field (history of education) occur in the fall, and I will likely be presenting at those conferences as well. I am looking forward to the spring conferences specifically because my field is small and if I fall on my face at my first conference, it won't be in front of anyone I need to impress.

When I apply to grad school this upcoming year, will the conference attendance that wasn't in my field look bad? Will grad schools think I'm not dedicated enough to my field? Or will they just like that I have the conference experience? Am I just overthinking everything yet again? I do that sometimes.

[JustChill]

i don't see how that could hurt at all. No one is going to sit around and analyze the conferences which you attended. I think you are over thinking this.

[tourist]

Holy hell. You'll at least have conferences under your belt unlike some of us. You're a junior. Chill out... (I mean all of that with the best intentions)

[catilina]

I think it will definitely hurt you. As a college junior, I think you would be expected to have a laser-like focus on history and not deviate from that in any way. The academic achievement of presenting at a conference out of your field will be vastly overshadowed by the crack in your dedication to the study of history.

[rising_star]

@caitlina, lol. You're like the new Ferrero!

[catilina]

Sorry to be a little snarky, but does this original poster really believe that presenting at conferences outside of his intended field will somehow hurt his chances of getting into a Ph.D. program? Really? I put this in the "fishing for compliments" category.

[imokyoureadrone]

One of my advisors specifically told me not to get a double major in Education because it could hurt my chances, which is why I asked. It's a relief to know it's not a big deal. I also hope no one will see that one of the conferences (the one REALLY far afield) is in fat studies and decide I'm an unmotivated fat slob or something. You have no idea how paranoid and anxious I'm getting about grad school -- I feel like everyone else who's doing history Ph.D. apps is like "I have a 3.9 and a GRE of 1520 with five publications in high impact journals," and it just terrifies me. I am going back to undergrad after almost a decade away, so I guess I have a nearly unhealthy fear of the real world and getting rejected everywhere I apply.

[virmundi]

One of my advisors specifically told me not to get a double major in Education because it could hurt my chances, which is why I asked. It's a relief to know it's not a big deal. I also hope no one will see that one of the conferences (the one REALLY far afield) is in fat studies and decide I'm an unmotivated fat slob or something. You have no idea how paranoid and anxious I'm getting about grad school -- I feel like everyone else who's doing history Ph.D. apps is like "I have a 3.9 and a GRE of 1520 with five publications in high impact journals," and it just terrifies me. I am going back to undergrad after almost a decade away, so I guess I have a nearly unhealthy fear of the real world and getting rejected everywhere I apply.

A lot of us DO have an idea of have paranoid and anxious you are, having been through the process ourselves. There is no point in my telling you to "relax" -- I couldn't either. But do take consolation from the fact that a lot of us HAVE been where you are and weren't the overachievers with the perfect everything and zillion publications either, and still got accepted into a good program. Enjoy your conferences -- if you are already presenting papers, then you are ahead of the game.

[imokyoureadrone]

Thanks, virmundi. It's good to know that -- and good to think about the fact that people have been in my shoes. Where do you go? I'm hoping for Indiana.