delurking, 18th c history PhD...

[slawkenbergius]

So I've lurked here for almost a year now, but having gotten my GRE score report I've gotten up the nerve to join. Now I have a raft of questions, re: AWA score, recommendations, languages, suggestions for further action. I'm applying, next year, to PhD programs in 18th century European intellectual/cultural history.

1. So my GRE is 800v/770q/5.0. (

Comments

[jessica551155]

3) The languages: French is really important. The others depend on the specific area you want to study. I'm in a history PhD program, and the early modernists only "need" two languages, and French and German seem to be the standard. If you were studying Russia, I imagine the French would be very helpful there as well. Lots of scholarship is in German, but that really depends on your field. If your focus isn't Russia, though, I would recommend strengthening German, since that would probably be useful, but you don't necessarily need it.

My boyfriend, who's getting a PhD in continental philosophy, stressed the French for the major 18th cent. thinkers, with a lesser importance on Latin or German, depending on your area, of course.

4) Conferences show that you can do good scholarship, even if they're a bit outside your field, so I'm sure it would help.

3) The philosophy rec sounds like a good idea. Aside from doing intellectual history, some programs are very theory-heavy, and a good grounding in philosophy helps with that, I've found. I would ask the historian if she felt she could write you a good letter, but I'm sure the lit. prof would be fine, since she's in your area. I'm in medieval history, and had a historian outside my field, a historian mostly in my field, and a medievalist English prof.

1) I don't think the writing score will hurt you much, especially if your writing sample is strong. That test is evil, and you have to forget all the nuances in writing you've learned as a historian to do well.

[jessica551155]

Um, the the numbers are off, sorry, I'm sort of out of it today.