A little about me first of all. I'm Canadian, graduated with a BA in history from the University of British Columbia. My grades were mediocre. I'm currently living in Beijing, teaching AP European history and comparative government at an elite public high school.
I recently got accepted to the MSc in history program via distance learning at the University of Edinburgh, and I'm looking to go on to a PhD after, with two preconditions: it has to be a 3-year program (so, UK/Australia/Hong Kong/Singapore or the like) with funding (and I'll be an international student, so not eligible for all funding). I'm 30 right now and mid-career, so doing a long, expensive PhD just isn't worth it.
I've been in contact with the graduate advisor at Edinburgh, and she said that with mediocre undergrad performance, it's unlikely that I'll get funding. She said I'll need "an outstanding research proposal and superlative results for the MSc."
My question is, what exactly do those things entail? And what more can I do to maximize my chances of getting accepted to that program, or any other 3-year history PhD that will fund me?
First of all, congratulations on getting accepted! I actually know the guy who (used to, at least) run that online course, he's very nice.
PhD funding is, as your advisor already mentioned, competitive. To have a realistic shot, especially without strong undergraduate marks, you need to be getting marks in the highest band (70 and above) for the MSc, so that you graduate with "distinction". The other side of the coin is demonstrating your ability to do research, part of which is the research proposal (your expected supervisor can help more here), and any experience here would be a plus, so you could look for paid or voluntary research work (eg visiting archives, processing data). Once you have a dissertation project for the MSc, you could even look at trying to publish it, that would definitely make you stand out.
This advice is mostly applicable to a university like Edinburgh, which is very research focused. It's worth keeping in mind that some UK universities offer funding on a teaching basis (ie you're expected to teach a number of hours in return). Here, your recent experience teaching AP history would be a big advantage. It's worth shopping around, especially as funding committees are fickle and there's no way of guaranteeing that any given university will fund you.
Greetings, fellow alumnus. I was in a similar situation to you. I had terrible grades in high school. I waited 8 years until I decided to go to post-secondary school. Because of my poor grades, I could only get into a community college associate program, but I excelled there enough to transfer to UBC where I majored in history as an undergrad and am now starting a fully-funded MA in the fall.
Basically, you need to get outstanding grades and really impress your professors so that you can get glowing letters of recommendation from them when you apply for your PhD program. Perhaps this will negate to a degree the poor undergrad performance. I would suggest applying to multiple places. For your research proposal, you need to be specific about what you want to research. You should know the relevant research in the field and be able to articulate how your proposed research will bring new insights to it. You should be able to show how your chosen institution would be an ideal place for you to conduct this research: the right professors to supervise, the relevant archives, etc. It would be a good idea to start working on this during your current studies. Knowing what you want to do in the future will allow you to write and research on topics in your current coursework that will enable you to familiarize yourself with the field.
As far as other intangibles, having things like multiple languages is a plus. Volunteering for the university is always favourable.
Hi,
If you want to get funded for the PhD, you'll need to focus on refining and perfecting your Academic habits. I've been in a similar situation to you, in that when I was in University I initially got bad grades. There were several reasons for this:
My tips:
Start work early, every time. Leave yourself with enough time to not only collect sufficient materials, but also for drafting purposes. Drafting is a vital step.
Be prepared to explain, at some point, why your grades were mediocre initially.
Be prepared for the possibility that it won't happen. Make alternative plans.
Refine, refine, and refine your research proposal. It's going to need to be outstanding.
Good luck, OP.