<p>Excellent information in this thread. A few additional points: </p>
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<li>You might want to look at schools that will allow your daughter to do a combined BA/MA in history in 4 years. Not only would this allow her to get into more advanced classes quickly, but it would certainly look good for grad school applications. And if she decides to change direction, she’d already have a master’s degree along with her BA. </li>
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<p>2a. Going the state-school full-ride route is a good idea overall, but it will mean that your daughter has to go “above and beyond” the normal curriculum to get the inside track into the top grad schools. Look for the “supplementals” in the scholarships that will allow her to pick up the language (and possibly field research) training that she’ll need. Travel stipends, research money (to go to conferences and such) are all crucial and some scholarship programs guarantee these. </p>
<p>2b. Some “full rides” don’t look so good once the other costs are all factored in while others that look smaller “on paper” are actually better deals, so be very specific in asking what’s included in the scholarships (and if there are other scholarships available to “stack” onto some of the initial ones; some schools cap the total $$ a student can receive). Others may also favor in-state students over out-of-state students once all the costs and fees are added up. Look closely, ask questions. </p>
<p>2c. Along with all full-ride scholarships, all honors colleges are definitely not created equal. Some do a much better job than others… i.e. if one is just a random office with a few worn out couches and a few lower-level classes, that’s nowhere near the experience of an entire Honors building with lots of upper-level honors classes and streamlined undergraduate research programs. Definitely visit and see for yourself what kind of resources are being put into the Honors program. </p>
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<li><p>Email professors in the history departments at some of the most interesting-looking schools. Ask them the hard questions- have they been able to place students at good grad schools? What kind of undergraduate research program (if any) do they have in place? Would the professor be willing to work with a top undergrad right off the bat? I found this really useful to gauge how they might react to an undergrad seeking to do research and to find out what kind of department they considered themselves.</p></li>
<li><p>Your D will almost certainly change direction at some point in her college career and probably should consider other options than just getting a PhD (look up some of the recent Chronicle of Higher Education articles that echo Tickemepink’s experience in academia). One of the advantages of going to a large state school is that good students with lots of AP/IB credit can often double or triple major, so I’d recommend that she also take some classes in or at least minor in another discipline outside of the humanities/languages so she has some experience with other ways of thinking and exposure to other types of careers.</p></li>
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<p>Final point: I visited OU when I was doing my undergraduate search (was that…5, 6years ago? wow, I’m getting old) and was very disappointed with it compared to the other state school honors colleges I visited. Seemed to have a heavy emphasis on the sciences and the program seemed like a lot more style over substance (i.e. very nice and pretty new honors college, very few classes offered). Their national merit “full ride” also wasn’t as good as many other schools’ full rides and they didn’t seem to offer much in the way of other scholarships. I’m sure it’s changed in the meantime, but I got the impression that the honors colleges at Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia (where I eventually went), and South Carolina are all stronger and offered more generous scholarships.</p>