Preparing for grad school timeline (history)

Graduate School
1

<p>Hey all, after reading this forum for a while, talking with my own advisors, and thinking about things, I wanted to attempt the dual exercise of writing out my own understanding of this process and my preparations, and from that, obtaining the advice of the knowledgeable people here.</p>

<p>I am a sophomore at a liberal arts college, intending to eventually apply either to PhD programs in History (field: Middle Eastern, transnational/comparative/global/whatever you want to call that nebulous new area), or else to Masters programs in Middle Eastern/Near Eastern Studies.</p>

<p>Though of course these factors can change, I have a 3.85 GPA, with a 4.05 in major (after six courses). So if I can maintain those, GPA shouldn't really be a worry.</p>

<p>Research experience is less straightforward than in other disciplines, but I've already been doing some things--was a research assistant for a professor my first year, prepared and presented a paper at a conference, and have another one under consideration. The difficulty too is that the fields that interest me require some challenging languages, and so it will be years before I can really do substantive primary source research in Arabic or Turkish.</p>

<p>So here's the timeline of how preparations should go, as I understand it:</p>

<p>Freshman/Sophomore years
-Fulfill distribution requirements (done)
-Find professors that you really like working with, for future letters of rec/research
-Begin doing any language work that will be needed for your eventual research
-Take some courses in the field that you intend to apply for</p>

<p>Junior year
-Take a GRE practice exam, and do preparations according
-Take the GRE itself
-If you can get a research position, do so (a little trickier in history than the hard sciences)
-Make a tentative list of programs to apply for
-Continue solidifying language skills
-Do advanced coursework in your major/grad field</p>

<p>Senior year
-Make final list of programs to apply for, ask professors for recommendations, do applications
-Continue doing advanced coursework, and honors thesis if possible
-Graduate</p>

2

<p>The only thing I'd point out is that it's much easier to impress a prof in upper-division classes--there are fewer students, and your intelligent questions will be more meaningful and interesting to the prof. So don't necessarily feel like you have to have your recommenders identified by the start of your junior year.</p>

3

<p>Don't do anything for the GRE until the spring of your junior and plan to take it in the August before senior year so you have a chance to re-take it in October if you need to.</p>

<p>I would encourage you to look into taking some intensive summer language courses in Arabic at some point to help speed up the language study process. And make sure you take some religion courses- I wish I had done them as an undergrad to help me with my coursework in Judaic Studies. </p>

<p>I second the above comment, don't worry about your professors now, worry about those in your upper division courses and those who might be your potential thesis advisors.</p>