<p>My wife is interested in returning to school for a Ph.D. in either History or Celtic Languages - specific interest is in Irish history and literature. She has an elementary ed degree and a history minor with a 3.7-3.8 GPA from Penn State, but has been out of school for some time and never really did any long-term research. She is taking the GRE in a few weeks, and I think she will do well - good SAT’s years ago, good prep now. She should get decent LOR’s, but they are from older contacts so will not shine. This is her passion, and has occupied much of her free time for the last 6 years, but she went with the professional undergrad to ensure an income.</p>
<p>She is looking at:</p>
<p>Harvard, UMass, BC, BU, and other Boston-area schools
UIUC, and … there is nothing else nearby</p>
<p>She is realistically limited to the same area where I will be going, which is either to Boston, MA or to Urbana, IL.</p>
<p>Anyone have any ideas what chances she has, and what if anything she can do to improve her chances?</p>
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<p>She will need writing samples of her work and academic letters of recommendations. She may also need to know several languages. I would also post your question on Chronicle.com/forum Grad School Life section to receive better input than this forum</p>
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<p>I’m an adult student, returning (from Comp. Sci.) to Classics so I may be able to offer some insight.</p>
<p>First - graduate admissions are insanely competitive. Top programs in humanities fields are admitting 1 or 2 percent of their applicants.</p>
<p>Second - The only way to have a realistic chance of admission anywhere is to have current background. For Celtic Languages/History that would be:</p>
<p>1) Some knowledge of a Celtic Language
2) one or more of Latin, German and French
3) At least basic historical background (say 2 or 3 undergrad classes)
4) A recent academic writing sample. Take a look at: [e-Keltoi:</a> Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies](<a href=“http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ekeltoi/index.html]e-Keltoi:”>http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ekeltoi/index.html) for ideas of how things should be formatted.</p>
<p>If she’s missing any major part of that, don’t waste your money applying this year - instead find a suitable department at a local university and start accumulating the qualifications.</p>
<p>Good luck! Returning to school was the smartest thing I’ve ever done.</p>
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<p>I agree with WilliamC that your wife might want to think in terms of strengthening her academic credentials by doing some additional coursework before she applies to Ph.D.s programs. Boston has some wonderful opportunities in that regard: the Harvard extension program is quite good, for example. I don’t know as much about UIUC, but I would expect that almost any such large school would have some good opportunities as well. I think that postponing her return to school for a year or two could have a huge payoff in the long run.</p>
<p>Probably the most important thing that your wife can do now, I would think, is to make some good personal contacts with faculty members in the fields in which she intends to apply. Current professors could probably give your wife the best and most detailed information about how her application would be received and about exactly what kind of qualifications she should pursue. The way to make such contacts, again, would be to take a class or two (at a research university, if possible).</p>
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<p>What is she planning on doing with this degree? Would she be heartbroken if she didn’t get a tenure-track position in the field? I ask because history and literature are horribly oversupplied fields as it is, and Irish studies is even worse. Very few schools have spots for Irish studies profs.</p>
<p>Perhaps it would be better for her to choose either lit or history and do a straight degree in that. She can, of course, do her major in either Irish history or literature, but it will give her more options when it comes to the job search, assuming she wants to move into academia.</p>
<p>Either way, she will need to work on her languages and likely take more history or lit classes. A minor will not give her the background she needs to be successful in a grad program, and it will be considered a serious weakness in her application.</p>
<p>Another issue is recommendations. Programs will want three academic recs. While they will accept recs from her teaching experiences, they won’t count for much. She needs to contact professors now to see if she can get three recs. If not, taking the abovementioned classes will help her get the necessary academic recs.</p>
<p>I should also point out that, if she wants to work in academia, you both need to be realistic about location issues. It seems you are limited to a certain geographic area. If that is a permanent situation, the academic search is going to be incredibly disappointing. Humanities PhDs must be open to moving just about anywhere to break into the tenure-track because of the oversupply issues. If that is her goal, this is a conversation you should have together before she starts her program.</p>
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