Entry Chances for History MA/PhD

Graduate School
1

Hello all,

I am hoping for honest feedback on my chances since I tend to oscillate between high hopes and serious doubts about applying to History MA/PhD programs in the coming months. I am especially interested in your experiences and feedback as I am not a History major in my undergraduate studies (or even technically a student that will graduate with a BA) and I’m rather unsure of how I may stack up. To get right down to it, the requisite stats:

Cornell University undergrad in Industrial and Labor Relations (technically a BS but I hope that won’t detract too much)/ History Minor (I assume that doesn’t count for much)
3.88 Cumulative GPA/3.99 History (28 History Credits)                                                                                                               GRE:     V:  168, Q: 155, AWA: 6.0  (Contemplating retaking to get the Quant. up but I’m unsure if I could actually improve since I’m not too strong in Math)

I’ve had one History Seminar course in which I wrote a paper and presented for a panel of faculty at NDU (which will serve as my writing sample), and I am to hear back this week from a Committee on approval for an Honors Thesis. The history seminar professor will serve as a LoR and I’m hoping for a strong letter from him.

In terms of internships, I worked for the National Labor Relations Board for a summer as a student Field Agent with a small caseload, but that had more of a legal slant than anything. I’m contemplating using one of the LoR I have from this but I’m also unsure if that would be wise or if I should just try to stick to academic.

My interest would be mostly centered on 19th century Europe (Britain primarily) in the spheres of war mobilization and military history (an odd pivot from labor I suppose). Right now, I’m looking at programs more in metropolitan areas due to my SO’s career aspirations and I’m looking at programs like Columbia/Harvard/Penn as optimistic/reach programs and looking at BU, BC, NYU, University College London, and King’s College London as well.

Frankly I’m not even sure what “tier” programs I should be looking at or if I should just focus in on Masters programs (FSU, UMass Amherst, OhioU, etc.) first, I don’t really know how to value my potential applications. Any guidance or advice would definitely be most appreciated, and thank you for your time.

2

Not having a history major will be a bigger disadvantage for a PhD program; you will likely need to do an MA first. There’s coursework and foundational knowledge you need to succeed in a PhD program. It’s possible that your history minor was extensive enough to grant you that, but without knowing your transcript we can’t tell. (BS vs BA doesn’t matter; it’s the major itself.)

I wouldn’t bother retaking the GRE; history PhD programs don’t care much about the quant. 155 is fine.

Non-academic internships won’t really help you with academic MA or PhD programs, so yes, I’d stick to the professors - history professors who have supervised your research and/or have taught you in multiple courses are the best recommenders.

Your competitiveness also hinges on how well your interests cohere with the scholarship of the professors at the departments you’re applying to.

Do you have any languages? Most history PhD programs will want you to be at least near-proficient in one foreign language before you begin (reading/writing), as most programs require reading knowledge of two foreign languages to graduate. Usually you can pick what those are but I would ask your professors for advice; French and German are two common choices, but you should pick whatever makes the most sense in your research area.

3

For the UK universities you would definitely need an MA first. The structure of the degree is a bit different, and the PhD component puts you straight into the dissertation, so almost all will have done an MA even with a first degree in history.
Can you manage a historiography course in your current degree?