History PhD and reputation (tiers)

Graduate School
1

<p>I have posted previously regarding history PhD programs, my stats, chances, etc. but I have a more specific question this time.</p>

<p>I am a junior at a not too well known university in the Midwest, currently majoring in History and minoring in Religious Studies. I am planning on applying to mostly PhD programs (a few MA) next year hoping to focus on modern German history.</p>

<p>My stats (so far) are:
3.6 major GPA
3.6/3.7 overall GPA
working on a large, international research project (has more to do with Russian lit than history) this semester
Had one internship working with archives at a historical society, will most likely be an intern at the public museum this summer utilizing my fluency in Hebrew
Fluent in Hebrew, Russian, and proficient in French, currently studying German (will have 3 semester done by graduation)
Treasurer/Vice President of local Phi Alpha Theta (history honor's society) chapter
Good LOR's
Will be taking the GRE in August</p>

<p>My question is, what "tier" of schools should I be looking at applying to? I am well aware that I should be applying due to specific departments, professors, and their research, which I am doing, but I am still wondering if with my stats should there be certain schools that I should not waste my time applying to?</p>

<p>Basically, what are my "reaches, matches, safeties?" </p>

<p>I have found specific departments that I would like to work in but am still worried that the schools these departments are in are "out of my league". </p>

<p>I'm looking at applying to:
Georgetown
BU
BC
Michigan
Chicago
Berkeley </p>

<p>Should I apply to the above schools, or will I just be wasting my time applying to programs that my stats don't necessarily "match".</p>

<p>Thanks for any help.</p>

2

<p>I’d appreciate any help…</p>

3

<p>If you’re interests match well with a certain department then that will go a long way, but admission to history (or humanities in general) PhD programs is notoriously difficult. I’d recommend applying to a wide range of departments (with respect to rankings) and not bother applying to any top programs where your interests only ‘kinda’ fit…</p>

4

<p>Did you check out The Grad Cafe forum? They have forums for each study so posting there may be helpful. I thought the answers that you got from your post in January were very good. </p>

<p>I think it is virtually impossible to tell you what schools are safeties/matches/reaches because from what I understand there are more applications & less openings at a lot of the schools & it will probably remain this way for at least a couple of years. You also have to remember that people with perfect scores, etc. aren’t always admitted to any school they applied to either. I really suggest talking to your current profs & ask them were they think you should apply. Maybe they have contacts.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

5

<p>my stats are similar to yours and i applied this cycle for a PhD in history (latin american/caribbean), so maybe this will help a bit.</p>

<p>your GPA is borderline competitive. it’s high enough to merit consideration from the top schools but may not be high enough to get you admitted. you’ll need to find a really good fit with a faculty member and the department itself. if there’s only one person at the school interested in you, you’ll lose out to someone with a more competitive application. if you apply somewhere with a few german historians or people that share your thematic interests, you’ll stand a better chance.</p>

<p>apply to about 10 schools. all the ones you listed sound good, and from there, you should look into mid-level state schools (ohio state, michigan state, things like that) and apply to two or three of those. then you want to really research smaller/less prominent schools and throw an application or two their way. better to do a PhD with full funding at a small school than not get in anywhere at all or put yourself in debt for $300,000.</p>

<p>i don’t do german history so i don’t really know of what schools would be safeties for you, but for me as an example… i study latin america/caribbean, and my safeties were the university of miami (great for latin american) and carnegie mellon (great for african diaspora and labour history). i got into both of these schools, luckily, in a year where students with stats similar to mine have received rejections from every school they applied to. it’s been rough. neither of these schools are really known for anything else. you’ll need to research grad programs and find one or two similar places. a school that does a lot of modern european (or better, a lot of modern german) history and not much else.</p>

<p>the AHA website, [American</a> Historical Association](<a href=“http://www.historians.org%5DAmerican”>http://www.historians.org) has a searchable database of history grad programs. that’ll be a good place to start trying to find 2-3 safety schools.</p>

<p>don’t rule any place out simply because you think they sound too prestigious, but don’t expect to get into most of the schools you listed. georgetown, michigan, chicago, and berkeley are all really competitive. to have a shot at any of those, you’ll need to impress potential advisers quite a bit when you contact them over the summer or in the early fall. you’ll also need to be a strong fit with the department itself, not just one or two faculty members. it’s possible but it’ll be tough, especially in this economy. applications to history programs increased by 50% over this last year, and the number of spaces available decreased by 40-50%. what was attainable last year is not attainable this year, and probably won’t be attainable next year either. play it safe.</p>

6

<p>If you are desperate to go, do try to have a school where you are definitely competitive at where most history phds wannabes don’t apply like UMiami as StrangeLight did. Otherwise, apply only to places where you think you can be happy for 5 years. Apply to your dream programs. Apply to programs where there are profs who might be interested in your project ideas. Do not be afraid to consider a second round of applications. Whatever you do, do not pay a penny for your PhD. Even if they accept you with funding, inquire about it but if the department can’t give you a straight answer, walk away. Walk away from any unfunded acceptances, no ands, ifs, or buts. My friend did just that in her first round of application and now she’s in second and she received 2 full funding offers and two other acceptances with funding pending.</p>

<p>10 schools is a bit excessive. Aim for 7 to 8. If you have time to write another SOP and the money for another application, then great. Your SOP is very important so you want to take the time make it really, really, really good and slightly customized for each program instead of generalizing it.</p>

<p>Just have a Plan B ready once you’ve finished sending in those applications. Consider spending some time in Germany THIS summer. Languages are extremely important and to be considered for German history, you’ll pretty much need to be fluent, especially in written German. You can just do that by taking German this summer, particularly in Germany or Austria.</p>