(no subject)

[hsifeng]

Went and talked with Dr. Lopez of CSU Fresno’s History Department this afternoon. After our conversation and a pre-meeting perusal of my MA materials I have come to the following timeline to get this all started:

During the next year (Summer/Fall 08 & Spring 09) I will be working on getting my intermediary level German skills up to snuff and passing the GRE with good scores. At the same time I can write my ‘why I want to study history’ entry essay and get my three letters of recommendation.

 

This will set me up for entry into the Fall 09 semester for the MA program in History.

 

To get into CSU Fresno’s post-graduate studies I need:

1.        an acceptable Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution DONE

2.       a 3.0 GPA or above in the last sixty semester (90 quarter) units of study DONE

3.       general Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores of 500/800 in the verbal section and 4.5/6.0 in the analytical writing section.  WORKING. Glad I didn’t take it when I finished my BA since I would be retaking it now – it’s only good for five years.

To get into the MA in History program with ‘Classified Graduate Standing’ I need the following:

1.        a 2-3 page application essay outlining your preparation for graduate studies in History and your reasons for pursuing a graduate degree in History. Not worried about this….

2.       three (3) letters of recommendation, preferably from academic references. Could be interesting getting these since they ‘should’ be from old professors of mine and CSUF has gone through a *major* change over in their history faculty since I attended 10 years ago.

The last step is to ‘advance to candidacy’ in the MA program (has to happen once I am already enrolled in the MA program and have finished at least 9 units with a 3.0 or better). For that I need:

 

1. attained classified graduate standing; I believe I will have this upon program enrollment.
2. fulfilled the foreign language requirement  WORKING. I plan on contacting one of the CSUF German language instructors to see if there are any advanced language students interested in one-on-one tutoring. I get a dictionary for the actual test, so I need to get my language mechanics down and I should be fine. Brain, don’t fail me now!

BTW – anyone in the Fresno area want to split the costs and set up a demi-German class in my living room? *grin*

3. fulfilled the Graduate Writing Requirement (also explained below) WORKING. With any luck I will get this as a bi-product of my Historiography courses. Why the *hell* did I throw out my old ‘thesis paper’ project from my years as an undergrad? *shrug* OK, honestly I don’t really want to turn in an old comparative study of the English colonization of Ireland and America…but it would have been a nice ‘ace in the hole’.

 

I then have five years to complete the program, but I am hoping to have it done well before that! Once all the ‘prerequisites’ are well under way I can start working on choosing my thesis committee. Sadly, Dr. Lopez will not be able to act as my primary advisor because she has no German language skills. However, Dr. Jordine does have the language skills and specializes in military history.

 

Considering my interest in focusing on camp/military interactions in Early Modern German armies I think I could do worse than a team with a specialist in military history and another who specializes in Early Modern Women/Gender from the Italian viewpoint.

 

Italian War’s anyone?

 

You know, for being an especially *small* department, CSU Fresno may well have everything I need for a rockin’ thesis project!

 

*happy dance!*

Comments

[shadowd1.livejournal.com]

and demure...

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Yeah! That too...