<p>I'm applying to the top 12 History PhD programs in the US for Modern Russian History. My brief credentials:</p>
<p>Born in Eastern Europe and lived there till 13.<br>
Graduated from top-50 public US university.
Double majored in History and Russian and East European Studies.
Departmental honors in both majors.
3.77 overall GPA, 3.93 Hist GPA, 4.0 REES GPA.
Fluent in Russian.
Basic French knowledge.
Undergraduate Research Award for History thesis.
Fulbright-Hays grant for study abroad in Moscow.
Studied advanced Russian at Indiana U. and U. of Pittsburgh.
References from the editor-in-chief of the best known Russian studies journal in the States, and two fairly well known historians.<br>
GRE: 720 verbal, 500 quantitative, 5.5 writing. </p>
<p>I will be traveling to France in January to study French intensively for about half a year. </p>
<p>Any suggestions/comments? I'm applying for some cut-throat programs (Stanford, Princeton, Chicago, etc.) so I'm wondering how anyone thinks I would stack up against other applicants. </p>
<p>You should be a very competitive candidate, and could qualify for some fellowship nominations. Spend your time polishing your SOP and writing sample.</p>
<p>What kind of “Modern Russian History” are you looking to do? Soviet? Imperial? Have you contacted your potential advisers yet? If not, I would advise you to do so, especially considering that Robert Crews’ days at Stanford are numbered, Weiner and Kotkin are notoriously difficult characters, and Sheila Fitzpatrick is getting up there in years.</p>
<p>I’m interested in the late imperial period. I’ve had positive contacts with both Crews and Kotkin, but since Fitzpatrick is widely rumored to be retiring within two years, I am waiting to see whether they hire new Russia historians (Dr. Hellie, of course, passed away). My advisors are urging me to apply to Chicago, so we’ll see what happens. Penn is also a possibility, and I’ve met with Drs. Nathans and Holquist and they were also quite encouraging and seemed genuinely interested (although I know that this doesn’t really mean anything at this stage). </p>
<p>My main concerns are that I did not graduate from an “elite” university, that my overall GPA was only 3.77 and that I scored so poorly on the quantitative section of the GRE. It seems when so many people are applying to these schools for only 10-20 spots, there gotta be many candidates who did better than you on some of these criteria.</p>
<p>Oh, stop whining about your GPA and quant GRE score. Look on the positive side of your application and FOCUS on them. Focus on your language skills- it’s one of the TOP things that professors consider when deciding on an applicant. Focus on your time spent in Russia. </p>
<p>The SOP and writing sample as well as LORs are the most important things. So make sure that you write a very compelling SOP and writing sample for professors to read that they’ll want to get you in.</p>
<p>At Stanford, do consider working with Zipperstein. I met him and he’s definitely into modern Russia even though you’re in late imperial. You might change time periods while in the program so it’s worth considering modern people as well. I think my advisor, who’s a Russianist, suggested Indiana when we thinking of PhD programs for me. Have you looked there? Your fit with advisors are very important but sometimes it’s worth trying some modern Russianists and see what they say.</p>
<p>any of you guys doing russian history? i’m interested in hearing any general feedback from current or past phd students in russian history. any suggestions on programs or professors?</p>