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The following is an excerpt from the American Historical
Association's Perspectives newsletter and should
be helpful when submitting your statement of purpose.
"Graduate Applications: The Important Elements"
Editor's Note: This essay was written at the request of
the AHA's Committee on Women Historians, chaired by Professor
Judith R. Walkowitz. While addressed directly to students,
it will also interest those Perspectives readers who, in
their capacity as undergraduate advisors, must guide college
students through the maze of the graduate-school application
process. Since the essay will eventually be incorporated
in a practical "how to" booklet addressed to persons
interested in pursuing graduate work in history, comments
and suggestions for revision are welcomed by the author.
by Paul Boyer
Together with the academic transcript and (in some cases)
GRE scores, the most important components of an application
for graduate study in history are, for many history departments,
the student's own statement of purpose and the supporting
letters of recommendation. This essay offers some suggestions
for avoiding common pitfalls in the preparation of these
components, and for making them as strong and persuasive
as possible.
In brief, the most effective statements of purpose are
those that are specific, well written, professional in tone,
scrupulously accurate in spelling and grammar, and tailored
to the particular institution to which the application is
addressed. The statement should avoid sweeping philosophical
generalizations, avowals of political or other ideology,
or ruminations about the nature of historical knowledge
and its essential role in bettering the human condition.
No matter how earnestly intended or passionately felt, such
lofty rhetoric all too easily descends to the level of cliché,
especially when offered in a necessarily compressed form,
suggesting an immature and jejune outlook rather than the
intended profundity. Summaries of extra-curricular activities
and achievements, no matter how outstanding, are usually
best confined to those having a direct bearing on the professional
field to which you are seeking entry.
While it is certainly appropriate to discuss how you became
interested in history, and to include something about your
long-range career goals, such matters should be kept brief
and to the point. Remember that your application is one
of many being read by busy faculty members who have numerous
other time-consuming obligations as well. Keep your tendencies
toward loquaciousness well in check, and observe word limits
strictly.
The strongest essay is one that sums up your scholarly
interests and immediate academic objectives in a clear and
straightforward fashion. Your statement should be quite
precise about the time period, geographic regions, or kind
of history you want to study, and perhaps even the specific
topic you wish ultimately to investigate. You should briefly
indicate how your undergraduate reading, research, and course
work have shaped your particular interests and have prepared
you to pursue them further. At the same time, bear in mind
that the earlier phases of graduate education involve primarily
general training rather than research on a specific topic.
Therefore, your statement should convey an openness to the
acquisition of a wide range of historical knowledge and
research skills rather than an obsessive fixation on a single
narrow topic. (An application from a college senior whose
sole purpose in life is to study the Battle of Antietam
or the fall of Malacca to the Portuguese in 1511 would probably
raise warning signals for most graduate admissions committees.)
It is entirely appropriate, indeed desirable, to tailor
your statement of purpose to the institution to which you
are applying. Feel free, for example, to mention professors
with whom you would like to work or specific strengths --
such as particular manuscript holdings or degree programs
-- that make the institution attractive to you. Such specificity
should avoid elaborate praise or flattery and a fawning,
excessively deferential tone is likely to be counterproductive.
The statement of purpose is also the place for you to address
briefly any anomalies or ambiguities in your record that
might given an admissions committee pause, such as a non-standard
grading system or courses whose content is not clear from
the transcript (e.g., "Independent Study"). If
your undergraduate background in history is weak, it might
be advisable for you to describe in more detail than would
otherwise be necessary the evolution of your academic interests,
and to make plain that your commitment to the discipline
is now firm.
The quality of the essay is probably more important than
its substantive content. The members of the admissions committee
who pass upon your application will evaluate your statement
for the evidence it offers about the quality, clarity, and
originality of your mind; your maturity and sense of direction;
your skills as a writer; and your capacity for careful attention
to detail. A thoughtful, well-crafted, coherently organized
essay can go a long way toward favorably disposing a committee
on your behalf. Conversely, a shallow, formulaic, hastily
written statement marred by poor organization, awkwardness
of expression, or (even worse) outright grammatical errors
or misspellings, can seriously undermine an otherwise strong
application. I have seen application essays where misspelled
words or grammatical errors had been heavily circled or
underlined by previous readers, with an exclamation point
in the margin. Such lapses of detail are not necessarily
fatal in themselves, particularly if the admissions committee
convinces itself that the applicant is a "diamond in
the rough." But they are sufficiently damaging, especially
in borderline cases, that every effort to avoid them is
strongly recommended.
The letters of recommendation are highly important as well.
You should select with great care the professors you ask
to write on your behalf. While you obviously cannot quiz
a professor in detail about what he or she will say in a
letter of recommendation, it is in order for you to ask
an instructor in advance whether he or she feels able to
write a reasonably positive letter for you. If possible,
select instructors whose scholarly work might be known to
those who will be reading the letters. (Admissions committees
evaluate the writers of recommendation letters, as well
as the subjects of those letters!) Sometime, particularly
at large institutions, it is junior faculty members, or
even graduate teaching assistants, who know the applicant
best and who write the most useful and perceptive letters.
Where feasible, however, try to supplement letters from
beginning or relatively unknown instructors with others
from more established scholars.
Generally speaking, try to secure a letter of recommendation
as soon as possible after you have completed a course or
an independent study project, when you and your work are
still fresh in the instructor's consciousness. If you wish
to obtain a letter from a professor with whom you studied
a year or so in the past, or who taught you in a large lecture
course, spend a little time talking with that individual
about your work in the course, your general undergraduate
program, and your scholarly interests, to refresh his or
her mind. The more specific a letter of recommendation,
the greater the weight it tends to carry.
Clearly, no single "formula" can guarantee admission
to graduate school in history or any other discipline. Each
admissions decision reflects a variety of factors and subjective
judgments by fallible human beings. But the tips offered
above should help maximize your chances. Good luck!
Paul Boyer is Henry R. Luce Visiting Professor of American
Culture in the Department of History, Northwestern University.
He can be contacted in writing at the following address:
Institute for Research in the Humanities, Old Observatory,
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706.
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