As I promised I would in my introduction to this blog, I thought I would introduce you, the reader, on some of the goings on of a would-be historian such as myself.  Today I would like to talk about the sometimes tricky matter of finding the right fit with a program of study, in the hopes that it would be of interest to others and useful in collecting my own thoughts.

I have, since early childhood, been fascinated by history (and, I must admit, by related social sciences like geography, political science, and international relations).  However, as I come from a family without a great deal of professional background in the social sciences (this is an understatement), I have long lacked both a great deal of knowledge in how to turn this very passionate interest into something useful and productive as well as (until I was a young adult) any kind of connections into the field of history or related subjects.  As a result, I have gradually and very hesitantly made my way through my history education.

While an undergraduate at the University of Southern California, I decided that though it was impractical, I wished to minor in history.  I had no idea (at the time) of ever making some kind of deeper study into the field, but I figured that college was the one time in my life where I would have the time and leisure to pursue a field I cared deeply about rather than necessarily for any kind of material benefit.  So, I added a semester (or so) to my college experience so that I could take 20 units (5 classes, 4 semester units each) in history.  Besides a required class on historiography, where I wrote my term about the history of science and its application (via the Popperean standard of a pseudoscience) to the Intelligent Design/Evolution argument (a natural fit, given my strong interest in science and logic, and my major in civil engineering), my studies in history were centered around Europe.  The courses I took were about such matters as the French Revolution, British Imperialism, England and Ireland before 1200 A.D., and the history of Islam in Russia and the Soviet Union.

Upon finishing, at length, with my bachelor’s degree study, I figured I was through with history as a study, though I continued to read it and write about it.  However, a rather well-timed set of information from the M.A. in Military History Program at Norwich.  While I would not like to discuss my experience at Norwich too much (because it will probably be the subject of a future and more lengthy blog), I was attracted to the program there because of its focus on theory and analysis and not on battlefield studies.  However, by the time I finished the master’s, I realized that I had a lot of very serious research questions to answer and now I was only one step away from a Ph.D.

At this point, therefore, I was very interested in seeing what Ph.D programs were around that offered the sort of field I was interested in.  The director of my MA program helpfully posted a link, which is useful to any other students looking for doctorate programs in history, the AHA Guide to Department’s of History database:

http://www.historians.org/projects/cge/PhD/Specializations.cfm

So, with a particular (and somewhat narrow) Ph.D topic of interest, I went through this database looking for programs that seemed to have the right set of research foci, and found a few to contact.  Some of them were close, some further away, but all of them had been listed on the database as having the right set of interests for what I was looking to study.

However, this is where matters get trickier.  In communicating with some of the programs, it became clear that they really didn’t have anyone who worked in the field or had relevant interests.  For example–they had a given regional specialization listed in the AHA database but turned out not to have any professors within that specialty in their history department (but might have had a separate department that covered the field in a different way–with a focus on ethnicity rather than history).  Additionally, there were others that did not have any focus in military or diplomatic history (which is what I would like to cover, in part, for my dissertation).

Fortunately, most history programs are very friendly about conversations (whether by internet or phone) with someone such as myself with serious questions and serious intentions.  I’m still in the process of being accepted and starting my Ph.D work, but so far I would say that a good lesson for others in my position is to have an idea of what you want to study (since you will be writing and researching it for years) and ask the right questions of the schools and programs you are considering.  In fact, the American Historians Association has some very helpful tips on their website for what questions to ask a program or program director or potential dissertation adviser:

http://www.historians.org/projects/cge/PhD/Questions.cfm

These are some good questions for any potential Ph.D student to ask, and give plenty of food for thought, and hopefully a good fit.