<p>I just finished my junior year at a small private college, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. There are about 2400 students who study here.</p>
<p>I think I want to pursue an MA in United States History. Here is some information I'm sure grad schools want to know about.</p>
<p>Major(s): BA, History; BA, Socioloy; BS, Business Administration</p>
<p>Cumulative GPA: 3.71</p>
<p>ECs: President of Student Government, Chairman of College Republicans, Run my own online business that produces annual sales of roughly $125,000, Member of Students in Free Enterprise, Member of Sigma Tau Delta (English Honors Society), Volunteer at Soup Kitchen once a week</p>
<p>I haven't gotten much sound guidance from any of my professors regarding the schools I should be applying to. If I want to study United States history at the graduate level, what schools should someone like me be looking at? Any scholarship chances?</p>
<p>I haven't taken the GRE yet, but I have been studying for it the past year.</p>
<p>From the USNWR:
US Colonial:
1) Harvard and Yale
3) UPenn
4) William and Mary and Johns Hopkins
6) Princeton
7) UVA
8) Michigan
9) Cal-Berkley
10) Cornell and UNC-CH</p>
<p>Modern US History
1) Yale
2) Columbia and Cal-Berkley
4) Harvard
5) Princeton
6) Stanford
7) UPenn and Wisconsin
9) Chicago
10) UNC-CH</p>
<p>I'm interested in anything you find out too, because that is my ultimate goal, to go to William and Mary or UVA for Colonial History. Good luck!</p>
<p>First, read the first page of posts on the "Graduate School Admissions 101" thread. Everything there means exactly what it says. Really.</p>
<p>Of the things you listed, only your major (and the level of preparation in it) and your GPA will be of interest to graduate schools. Things you didn't list that are more important are LORs, SOP, and writing sample. </p>
<p>Now - if you only "think" you want to go to grad school you're not ready to go to grad school. The fact that you appear to have three majors suggests that your interests haven't yet solidified to the point where grad school makes sense. In fact, that sort of "lack of focus" can be a red flag on an application. </p>
<p>Graduate study is all about specialization. Once you have a specific interest identified, then start looking over the faculty websites of schools you might be interested in to see if there is a faculty match for your interests. You can use USNWR as a starting point, but you should be very aware of their methodology, and the fact that in the time since they did their survey things may have changed drastically. In my own plans, a school I had not previously considered moved to the top of my list simply because they hired a professor (from a top 5 program) who specializes in exactly what I'm interested in studying. </p>
<p>Next, be aware that the trend in the humanities is to get the MA as part of the PhD process rather than as an end in itself. That said, there are plenty of MA programs out there, and they tend to divide into two general categories. 1) The "terminal masters" which is just what it sounds like; a degree that is an end in itself and does not prepare you for the PhD. 2) "feeder" programs that are designed to prepare students for the PhD and are mostly offered by universities that don't have a PhD program for that subject. These are generally well thought of but the disadvantage is that you'll end up going somewhere for a couple years and then moving again for the PhD.</p>
<p>Financial aid is almost always present in some form or other. For PhD programs you should expect to BE PAID, not pay. MA programs often, but not always, come with support. YMMV. Professor X has some posts on this subject.</p>
<p>Finally... get it in gear and take the GRE - you want to have plenty of time for a do-over if you choke or ETS screws up. Most schools have application deadlines from the middle of December through the first week of January so you'll need to be on top of things when you get back to school in the fall to get your LORs lined up, your SOP solidified, and your list of schools pared down to 7 or 8. My personal target is to have everything submitted by Halloween. Do NOT put things off! There is too much that can go wrong in the process.</p>
<p>And if you're pulling in $125K in profit a year, you might want to nurture that further and build a nice nest egg. Then, when you do decide to get your masters / phd, you won't be limited in your choices based on finances.</p>