Does anyone know about graduate school?

[Habsburg]

Hello everyone,

I wonder if any university students, professors or scholars might post here.

My situation goes as follows: I am a undergraduate student at The University of the Incarnate Word, in San Antonio, Texas, US. Its a private school (Roman Catholic). I am about just over half way toward earning my BA in History. I plan to specialize in Greco-Roman History (though I like all kinds of History). I am pretty confident that I will be able to achieve my goal and survive in graduate school. I am not worried about having to take out loans and getting in debt.
I am looking for a 1 year Masters wherever one is availible. If it is just as good as a 2 year MA, I would like to save the time and transfer to Harvard or Princeton (at least one of the Northeast Ivy League universities that have TONS of Greco-Roman history) to earn a Ph.D. I understand that you don't have to teach while in upper grad. school, I think I am capable of lecturing without doing that, I am an attentive and oratorical and a fast, heavy talker. I'm not worried about debt, I believe I can take care of it. I am not planning on marrying or moving away from my parents or anything like that for a very long time. I am planing ahead to I can achieve my goal carefully, as it plan it.


I have the following questions:

What is the 1 year Masters in Hist. like? It is non-thesis? Is it just as good as any MA toward a Ph.D.?

What is the GRE test like, how important is it, what other things will a university likely want from you as you are applying in grad. school?

I understand there will also be a written paper that grad school will want, MA or Ph.D., what about it?

How many 3.5 GPA (moderate expectation, mabye it will be better, hopefully not worse) ,hispanic (I metion my ethnicity because I heard they want diversity) , South Texas, 26-7 (aprox. age after I might receive a MA) does a Ivy League college like Harvard or Princeton take?

Is 'The Movement of Alexander the Great and His Forces in Asia ' and good idea for a dissertation? Or how about 'The Spread of Hellenistic Influence in the World?'

I hope to have a good interesting thread.

If there is a better website/page that I can post this question on please let me know


Thanks in advance.
God Bless,

Habsburg.

 

[Crono]

I'm getting ready to finish up a Master's degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Graduate degrees can differ significantly by college and by program, so it's hard to say what you could generally expect. I can try to help out as much as I can.

What is the 1 year Masters in Hist. like? It is non-thesis? Is it just as good as any MA toward a Ph.D.?

My program is a two-year program, which is typical of Master's degrees, and I'm studying a different field, so my experience might be quite different from yours. My program is full time, so I wasn't able to work while taking classes. My first year focused mainly on classes while my second year had more thesis work and outside projects. Some programs require a thesis and some don't, but I would imagine that a M.A. in History would require one. Generally, any Master's degree will help you get into a Ph.D. program, but some schools are better known than others and will carry more weight when applying for a program.

What is the GRE test like, how important is it, what other things will a university likely want from you as you are applying in grad. school?

The GRE (or a similar test like the GMAT or LSAT) is generally the second most important thing that graduate schools look at for entry into a program (GPA is usually the first). I've heard that you should aim for at least a 600 each on the Verbal and Quantitative sections. The Analytical Writing section isn't that important right now because it hasn't been around long enough for programs to set a standard yet. If you took the SAT, the GRE is pretty similar, just with harder questions. It's also done entirely on computer now, and you can't use a calculator for the Quantitative section. Most programs will ask for an application, your college transcript, GRE scores (or scores from a similar test), and letters of recommendation from professors.

I understand there will also be a written paper that grad school will want, MA or Ph.D., what about it?

One college that I applied for requested a paper on why I wanted to get into grad school and what I wanted to do with my degree. This probably depends a lot on the program.

How many 3.5 GPA (moderate expectation, mabye it will be better, hopefully not worse) ,hispanic (I metion my ethnicity because I heard they want diversity) , South Texas, 26-7 (aprox. age after I might receive a MA) does a Ivy League college like Harvard or Princeton take?

For competitive programs (as I imagine Harvard or Princeton would be) generally require at least a 3.5 GPA. They get so many applications that it would be hard to get in otherwise. Being hispanic will probably help, but only if you are tied with some equally qualified applicants (they can't usually base admissions decisions on ethnicity alone). I'm not sure how many applicants would get accepted into a Master's program at one of those schools, but they can probably tell you that information if you ask them.

Is 'The Movement of Alexander the Great and His Forces in Asia ' and good idea for a dissertation? Or how about 'The Spread of Hellenistic Influence in the World?'

Both sound good to me, but since I don't have any credentials in history, I'm probably not the best critic for that.

I hope this helps a little. If I can answer any other questions, feel free to ask.

 

[Habsburg]

Thanks Crono,

The 1 yr. Masters is as I understand an uncommon strenous, perhaps always non-thesis program. Your academic yr. may continue all throughtout the yr. including summer. The 1 Masters is common, perhaps the norm in Britain. I heard there are some schools in the US that have 1 yr. programs.

I am right now,am seeking out the nearest University (for me in South Texas) that has a 1 yr. masters wich as moderate selection of Greco-Roman history.

If the degree is just as bonafide, I will continue with it into my Ph.D. The Ph.D is where I will plan to put the most time in. I understand Ph.D's could be anywhere from 2-3-10 years depending on how the indivisual goes about it. So. if I could save 1 yr. (or aprox. that) on my MA, I can then concentrate on my Ph.D., and mabye teach while I'm at it, as I've heard after you graduate with it, History jobs will want teaching experience.

There are other things people can do with History besides teach and do research and I understand the field is competitive.
Historians can get jobs at:
Entertainment Companies (esp. Video games, and Role Playing), Financial Companies (for the critical evaluating Historians do), Museums, as curators.

However, for me I want to teach and do research, at least to start off with.


Sinc.

-H.