I am interested in NYU, among other institutions, and am curious as to both my chances and what I can do to improve those chances.
Undergrad GPA (estimated): 2.6
Graduate GPA: 3.875
GRE: 170 Verbal/159 Quantitative/ ??? Written (just took it, but would guess 5-6)
MA: History from University of Texas at Arlington
Presentations at a number of conferences
Experience with 8 years of teaching High School (7 at a Private HS with high academic rigor)
No publications
Some academic honors
I am concerned about how my low undergrad GPA will factor into the decision making in spite of my clear turn around for grad school. I tried to make up for this by retaking the GRE. Unsure of how strong 2 of my 3 recommendations will be due to their performance on my committee. I am also concerned that getting my masters at a less prestigious school will harm my chances.
Other schools in which I am interested are UNC, Wisconsin-Madison, Oklahoma University, U of Toronto, and University of Texas.
Typically, a high master’s GPA can make up for a low undergraduate GPA, particularly if quite a bit of time has passed since you got your BA. I wouldn’t worry overmuch about the low undergraduate GPA; at most, one of your recommenders could briefly address it in their letter, but given that it seems like you’ve been out of college for at least 8 years, they might not even bother.
You need 3 strong recommendations. Ask your recommenders whether they can give you a strong positive recommendation for graduate school. If you are unsure of the quality, you need new recommenders.
Your chances will depend a lot on your fit with the department. There needs to be someone who can supervise you as an adviser. In the humanities, you don’t have to be doing very similar research because you won’t be joining a lab - but still, your scholarly interests should match up with the offerings in the department. For example, if you are interested in 19th century Korean history, there at least needs to be some Korean history scholars in the department, even if they maybe study a different time period or a different sub-area than you. The closer the fit, the better your chances. That’s one reason we can’t comment on your chances. Another reason is because we don’t know who your competition will be - 2015 may be the year in which 7 more perfect fits apply to UNC so you don’t get admitted there, for example.
One thing you will have to do is effectively address your motivations for PhD study in history. You’ve been a HS teacher for the last 8 years, so some professors may be concerned that you want to undertake history study primarily to teach. Plus, you don’t have a very recent history of scholarship in the field. So you’ll have to explain concretely why you want a PhD in history (and it has to be a research-related reason). You also might need to submit a writing sample to some programs.
Also, you know that the job market for academic positions in history is terrible, yes?
Juillet,
Thank you for your reply. I appreciate the encouragement regarding my earlier undergraduate studies. I will also contact my other two references to make sure that their recommendations will be strong.
I also appreciate your suggestions regarding my desire for scholarship and not teaching. I hope that my subject matter, which is how high school history textbooks represent specific events of the past (my thesis was on the representations of the Holocaust in Texas World History textbooks), shows that my time as a teacher has developed my interest in the subject as a scholar.
I am currently working on an article for publication and am applying for a fellowship at the GE Institute for textbook research, but neither of these will be early enough to be a part of my portfolio for 2016 applications.
Also, I had a professor mention the job market recently. I recognize that it is not good, but I would like to give it a shot.
That’s a really interesting research topic! You may also want to consider social science/history education PhD programs, especially given your experience as a teacher. The job market is also better in that field.
Good luck!