Those of you who work in the field of history, what is one thing you wish you knew as a undergraduate?

by dat_underscore

I've nearly completed my undergraduate degree and I'm quite certain I want to go on to a PhD and go into the field of history, but I still feel like I'm floundering in the dark about the field itself.

I am Australian so naturally I am most keen to hear about anyone who can tell me about positions at Australian universities, museums, government work, etc., but I want to hear about everywhere in the world too.

dat_underscore

And I already made a spelling mistake.

Loimographia

As a history grad student, I'd say something I've found important is looking for not just an adviser you want to work with, but a department with possible "back up" advisers who are a little close to your interests. These people can help hugely in a wide variety of situations: you decide to shift focus (i.e. from 17th to 18th century, or from Italy to Spain, etc); you and your adviser just don't "mesh" (personality conflicts are really difficult to predict), or your adviser leaves/passes away unexpectedly. In my cohort, I know of four or five (of about 12) who ended up switching advisers after the first few years (myself included).

Basically, make sure you're not at a department where you're working with the only person who is relevant to you. There was quite a few places where I applied that, had I needed/wanted to switch advisers, it would have been a very, very difficult thing to do.