What are my chances of getting into a history PhD program?

Graduate School
1

Hello All,

I am a recent college graduate from a medium sized catholic college in New York. My stats are:

3.32 Overall gpa (3.82 junior and senior year)
Senior thesis utilized primary sources detailing student and youth movements during Apartheid
language abilities non-existent
I didn’t take any honors or 400 level courses in college because law school was my assumed path.
I will be spending the next two or three years as a TFA corps member.
African American male

My interests are in Central/West African history. I am curious to hear where (if anywhere) people think I would have a chance to pursue my research. I am also very receptive to advice and criticism, as I have two to three years to put any advice into action. I am thinking of learning another language and reading deeply into a certain research interest, but I’d like to hear others opinions.

2

You need to see where there are already scholars working in your approximate area of interest - getting the right PhD advisor is crucial. And you really need languages - can you start studying those now? French would be the most useful.

3

Do you have any research experience in history?

I would say you’d probably need to pursue an MA in history first to make yourself competitive. But history is not my field, so I am less sure.

4

Get a GRE test book (check the reviews - I liked the Princeton Review one but that was a long time ago) and review the math, learn the most tested vocab, take a few practice tests. A high verbal score is pretty expected for grad work in the Humanities. Best wishes to you.