Hi, I’m currently a first-year in the Honors Program of a fairly elite public university (Average ACT for my class is 30; 33 in Honors). I made a 4.0 in my first semester, and am on track to finish my AB in History a year early, or complete an AB/MA in four years. My goal is to earn a PhD in History (specializing in early America). I want to attend a program that is top 20(ish) in the nation, with top 10 schools as the dream. I am trying to build credentials for admission to a program, maybe even without the MA in hand.
I know research is huge for grad school, so I am trying to do a supervised research project in the fall. I am studying abroad over the summer. So far, every professor I have written a paper for has been very pleased with my writing, but I know there is always room for improvement. I really try to get to know professors, so I think I should have decent letters of rec. I plan to study for and take the GRE during this year. I know this is a long post, but what suggestions do you all have for me? What are they looking for? Thanks for reading and for your advice!
It will be most informative if you look up the admissions websites for a variety of PhD programs in history and see what they look for in an applicant. Typically, you might see the following:
- a focus area within history
- reading ability in two foreign languages related to your focus area in history
- a lengthy research paper/writing sample of about 20 pages using original sources
- 3 recommendations from professors who have supervised your research projects
If you can get included on a publication before applying it will really give you a big leg up.