<p>1) No. But faculty connections help. So look at your department’s faculty and where they got their PhDs, especially the junior faculty. Look to the senior faculty for connections across the field… they’ve been in it for ages.</p>
<p>2) Shoot for 650 in verbal to keep you in the running but don’t let your math score crash too much.</p>
<p>3) Yes, your honors thesis and independent studies courses will serve as research experience. You just need to demonstrate that you are capable of working on your own on a big project, using primary sources and drawing your own conclusions. You can also get experience from being research assistants to professors (this doesn’t happen very often) and interns to historians in museums, government, and other public places.</p>
<p>4) No. Keep your options open! You’re going to be expected to study several fields (most programs have you to do a major and a minor, some like Michigan want you to know at least 5 for the comp exams). So take advantage of your departments’ offerings and see what kind of geography and time period you like. I had fairly broad background and found that I liked doing 20th century but most definitely not 16th century! I also liked doing Latin America and US… but probably not so much on western Europe…</p>
<p>5) YES! If I have to go back to my undergrad and give advice, I’d suggest history majors to consider doing a minor in a foreign language of their interest. I wish I had kept up with my Russian.</p>
<p>Before you do any of this… ask yourself, why do you want the PhD? </p>
<p>If the answer is “to be a professor”, step away carefully and consider what would you do and feel if you don’t land a tenure track job within 5 years of receiving your PhD. What other opportunities can you see with a history PhD? (My answers to this question are in another thread about humanities PhDs)</p>
<p>If the answer is “because I love history”, you’re going to be in for rude awakening in graduate seminars. You’re going to feel like an idiot when other graduate students begin analyzing abstractly and all you know is the facts, not thinking beyond the author’s argument.</p>
<p>If the answer is, “I’ve flipped burgers at Mickey D’s, I’ve traveled quite a bit, I’ve dealt with kindergartners, I’ve done job shadows with a lawyer, a vet, a doctor, etc… and there’s nothing else I can think of that I’d rather do,” Then, by all means, go ahead with your plans to apply for a PhD.</p>