<p>Hello,
I really need some advice about practicalities of where to apply for a graduate degree in Medieval/Early Modern History. I have been doing web searches about where there are good programs, but I'm not sure where I could get in. I have a 3.4 at a small liberal arts school with a double major in History and Music. My GRE scores are 159 in Math, 162 in reading and a 5 in writing. Any suggestions you have would be wonderful. Thank you</p>
<p>Maybe someone here can help you, and that would be great.</p>
<p>But you haven’t really given enough information. I can’t help you because history’s not my field. But even I know that “medieval/early modern history” is way too broad. There is probably someone at every history program in the country doing scholarship on that. Are you interested in European medieval history, or African medieval history? Do you want to study women’s work roles in early modern Western Europe or basketweaving in the South Pacific during the medieval age? I know medieval somewhat implies Europe, especially Western Europe, but there were people living and working all over the globe during the medieval and early modern period. Even within Western Europe there’s a lot you could study - war and conflict, gender roles, migration, religion, history of science, etc. So you’ve got to narrow it down a little bit more for suggestions like that.</p>
<p>Another technique besides websearches is to read monographs and books about the period you like and then find out which scholars are working where. I also think that historians don’t need as close supervision/mentorship as scientists do, so you can go somewhere at which the people aren’t doing exactly what you want but at least something close enough to supervise you.</p>
<p>Have any research experience?</p>
<p>Talk to your history professors–they should be able to advise you on which doctoral programs are strong and can also tell you about subspecialties that interest you. Also, is there a prof at your college who teaches in that specialty–definitely go talk to him and find out where he studied and about the schools that have scholars in the field. It would be really beneficial to have a faculty mentor when you apply–it can make a difference if one of your professors can call colleagues at another university and put in a good word for you. Do you have the option of doing a senior thesis–if so, take that option. You will have research experience.</p>
<p>The jobs are narrowing even more than the usual squeeze for new PhDs. Partly because UG students are less interested. So do find profs in those fields to talk to, see if they encourage you. And yes, you need the support of your current profs. Your history gpa also matters. And do you have plenty of Latin and the additional languages scholarship is written in? </p>
<p>To some extent, yes, your shot at jobs does depend on the particular grad program you attend and who mentors you there. I should add that DH actively discouraged D1.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I forgot my obligatory “don’t get a PhD in the humanities!” post. I’ll let the amount of articles on this talk instead:</p>
<p>[So</a> You Want to Go to Grad School?<a href=“mind%20you%20this%20one%20was%20written%20in%202003,%20before%20the%20recession.%20%20It’s%20gotten%20worse.”>/url</a>
[url=<a href=“Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go”>Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go]Graduate</a> School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go<a href=“written%20shortly%20after%20the%20recession%20began%20in%20earnest”>/url</a>
[url=<a href=“http://theprofessorisin.com/2011/08/01/humanities-graduate-school-go-dont-go-whats-a-would-be-ph-d-to-do/]Humanities”>Humanities Graduate School: Go? Don't Go? What's a Would-Be Ph.D. To Do? - The Professor Is In]Humanities</a> Graduate School: Go? Don’t Go? What’s a Would-Be Ph.D. To Do?<a href=“written%20as%20a%20response%20to%20Benton/Pannapacker’s%20above%20article,%20which%20is%20a%20slightly%20more%20tempered%20opinion”>/url</a></p>
<p>And, just for balance</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.psmag.com/education/why-you-should-go-to-graduate-school-in-the-humanities-59821/]Don’t”>http://www.psmag.com/education/why-you-should-go-to-graduate-school-in-the-humanities-59821/]Don’t</a> Be Afraid of Going to Graduate School in the Humanities](<a href=“So You Want to Go to Grad School?”>So You Want to Go to Grad School?)</p>
<p>To sum up, this author’s argument is that you shouldn’t be afraid of getting a PhD in the humanities because most people with PhDs in the field are gainfully employed, mostly in jobs that they love. I agree with him on that score; PhDs have a very low rate of unemployment, and even if you do get a PhD and don’t get a tenure-track job, you are unlikely to be starving and living in your car - as the most dramatic stories of adjunct perdition recount. But with that said, you are also very unlikely to be doing a tenure-track job as a professor. And you also have very good chances of being gainfully employed with a BA or MA in another field.</p>
<p>So my response to that is always, if you really burn with a passion to get a PhD in the humanities because you are interested in some humanistic topic, and you are totally okay with the idea of working 60ish+ hours a week for 6-10 years on some problem that few other people care about - only to most likely end up in a job that didn’t require the PhD in the first place - please, do so. And I’m not being snarky; on the whole, graduate school was some of the best years of my life, and I love the social sciences. But it was also some of the worst years of my life. Ask me if I would do it again, and I don’t know the answer to that, and I didn’t even go in the humanities.</p>
<p>My H holds an Ivy PhD. He did get a tenure track position after graduation, but didn’t get tenure. It wasn’t the end of the world–he decided not to continue in academia and used his Ivy contacts to get a position in business. It wasn’t easy but he figured out a path. Once he started, he was eventually able to go out on his own and start a company that’s been very successful. He worked hard starting a business, but he worked hard in academia too. </p>
<p>I guess my point is that smart/hardworking people figure out ways to make their education work for them. IMO if the OP really wants to study for a PhD she should go for it. That being said, the only caveat I have would be to say that if the OP can’t get funding (fellowship or teaching assistant) then don’t go. If one’s grades/GRE are not strong enough to get funding, it makes no sense to pay for a PhD.</p>
<p>Well, sure, which is why I said that if OP had a burning passion for some humanistic issue that OP should go. Not getting an academic job, or not getting tenure, is not the end of the world. And as I pointed out earlier (or rather, as I highlighted in the article I posted), most PhDs are gainfully employed doing something they really like and making more than enough money to support themselves and their families with. All in all, getting a PhD in the humanities (or any field, really) is not a bad idea in and of itself. I, too, have an Ivy PhD and I feel like the number of things I can do has only expanded, not contracted, regardless of whether I choose to remain in academia (and I am not so sure about that).</p>
<p>BUT my point is simply that in the humanities especially, the chances of getting a tenure-track professor job at the end are very slim. I think something like less than 20% of people who start a humanities PhD will get one; half will drop out, and the majority of the rest will end up doing something else with their careers. (Or it may be less than 20% of those who <em>finish</em> the PhD will get a tenure-track job - I can’t remember which one, but of course that would be worse). So if OP is going for the PhD with that in mind, my only caution is to get really comfortable with the idea that they probably won’t get a tenure-track job - ever - and should see the PhD program as a rather quaint scholarly process to be enjoyed, not a means to an end.</p>
<p>If OP could be content with the idea of spending 8 years exploring some delightful scholarly topic, earning a PhD, and then entering business or marketing or nonprofits or something else that probably doesn’t require the PhD - then sure, I recommend it, because it can be a really interesting and sometimes enjoyable enterprise. OP will certainly use the skills acquired in a PhD program - despite stereotypes to the contrary, lots of very practical and useful skills can be learned in PhD programs.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if a person told me that they only wanted the PhD because they wanted to be a professor, and that if they could not be a professor they would be unhappy/bitter that they spent the time and energy getting a PhD, I would tell them don’t go. Or if someone seemed only mildly interested in the process of the PhD but was doing it kind of as a means to an end, but none of their desired careers required a PhD (or, even better, they had no idea what they wanted to do), I would also tell them not to go. Of course, no one is forced to heed my two cents, lol.</p>
<p>With a GPA like that and what I assume is an unfocused idea of your research interests, I think a master’s degree would be a very good stepping stone for you, and applying to PhD programs directly might not be the best idea. Especially if you don’t have Latin yet. (You’ll need Latin, French and German by the time you finish your coursework in grad school, and departments tend to prefer applicants who already have some language training, especially in Latin.)</p>
<p>There are some less prestigious universities out there that have very good MA programs in history (or even in medieval history in particular) and routinely place MA students into great PhD programs. The main reason people go to these master’s programs is to adress weaknesses in their academic record and/or get research experience and a better idea of what they want to do later on.</p>
<p>Can you afford a master’s degree, or do you need funding to go to grad school? If you can’t pay for it yourself, your choices will be limited, but there are some schools that offer financial assistance for terminal MAs in history/the humanities.</p>