<p>I'm taking the GRE on July 12th to make sure I'll have scores in on the first day of applications (seems to be around October most places.) I've had a hard time settling on which schools I want to go to -- though I would greatly prefer to attend grad school in the US, almost everyone working in my specialty is in Britain or Australia. So there aren't any individual scholars in the US who I desperately want to work with, but I seem to be able to come up with excuses for how I'd fit into most programs I've looked at. As there are probably dozens of schools tied for first, I'll probably be sending applications to as many places as I can afford (which isn't dozens.) But since I get, I believe, 4 free score reports now, I'm trying to figure out which I won't likely regret. That's the main impetus for this post.</p>
<p>I am also curious about any ways to prove my competence (under construction) in French and German to grad schools without the expense of taking classes -- I've always mostly been a languages self-starter. I've heard that some schools will give you tests once you get there, but are there any independent tests I can take before or during the admissions process that grad schools will take seriously?</p>
<p>Any more general advice is entirely welcome also.</p>
<p>Info about me:
- 3.8 gpa, 3.8 major gpa at a small, selective, but second-tier liberal arts college (~2k students). Finished strong: junior year was 4.0, and I had only one grade below A- in my last five semesters (B+ in biology.)
- Good Latin experience in HS and college (inc. a medieval Latin course) which I'm keeping up, plus 2 semesters of Greek, plus currently teaching myself French (started in Feb. and am progressing well) and German (started just now.)
- Won official cash awards as the best history major and classics concentrator at my school (graduated May 2010)
- This spring, revised my undergraduate thesis (on male witchcraft, my pet subject) for the school's humanities journal, and won another cash award for best paper. The professor who supervised both the original thesis and the revision will clearly write a glowing, detailed and relevant recommendation, but anyone else I ask may be of limited utility a year out.
- Besides witchcraft and demonology, I like to study: city-state politics; the Byzantines; the Sassanids (thanks Dr. Caldwell!); Spain (especially Spain/Andalus relations); Wales; anything to do with gender studies, feminism, gender transgression, etc.; and Rome's influence on the medieval world. My dissertation will hopefully involve witchcraft and demonology plus one or more of these other things.
- Have worked part-time as a paralegal since graduation (I thought I wanted to go to law school at first, but the work and some time away from school changed my mind -- I need to be in academia.)
- I definitely want a PhD, but a program that allows you to get the MA and PhD in sequence might not be a bad idea in case I drop out or can't get enough money or whatever.
- I definitely want a PhD in history, but a gender studies minor/certification would be awesome too. There don't seem to be a ton of schools where both programs impress me (maybe Minnesota?), though many have scant information online.</p>