PhD

I had heard that, but then some of the places I looked online made it sound like sometimes you have to pay. Thanks for clearing that up

any tips on how to stand out?

good grades. buddy up with your professors. get published.

will do, and thanks

Best advice is to learn what a PhD program actually looks like and how the whole academic track actually works, and do this by aggressively making contacts with professors, expressing interest in grad school, getting advice and learning the ropes. The only thing that will really fuck you if you have good grades already is time. There are a lot of aspects of the process that you really want to be preparing for by 2nd year undergraduate, but at least 3rd year. Certain things require applying a year in advance, and preparing the materials and tests and such requires more time than you think (with reviewing and re-doing your drafts with good mentors), and then there are lots of intangibles that also take time. You don't want to be deciding at the very last minute to apply for PhD programs and then finding out you need a half dozen intangible skillsets and greater familiarity with the fields you're applying under, but these can't even be crammed because they are just that, intangible, and you should have been steadily building them up throughout your undergraduate studies.

So start thinking about it early, start being serious about it. If you're serious about it you will already want to talk to professors and get the inside scoop, you will already want to learn what doing research looks like, what research trends are viable right now, etc. Get talking to professors, several ideally (relationships can randomly decay and you don't want to be stranded, trust me on this), get thinking about how to jump through all the hoops. If you're at a fancy institution with big names, socialize. I know undergrads who were taking grad classes for 2 years of their undergrad and going to grad student paper presentation workshops and socializing with grad students etc. Be judicious, don't do things just for the sake of doing them, but have ambition and don't sell yourself short. Finding the right balance requires exposure and collegiality, so go out and seek it.

Another tip: You are going to evolve a lot over the years, even within a PhD program. If you're young, you literally can't anticipate how much your personality and intellect are going to evolve in the coming years. So don't feel too wedded to your current interests. Obviously cultivate them, but you'll be surprised how your current passion project might organically evolve into something that seems outwardly almost like the opposite of your original idea, but from a higher vantage point is actually the completed form of the original raw idea. Don't feel like you have to have your magnum opus plotted at age 20. That being said, again, have ambition.

If you're doing anything in the humanities, the single biggest thing (other than "network and learn the ropes") is learn your languages. That's another one of those intangibles that undergraduate is perfect for. Seriously, learn your languages.

addendum: And I don't just mean because learning your languages is a generally wise idea. I mean it makes you look really good when you can brag that you're already fluent in your 2 necessary research languages on your application. They love this.

>I am an absolute idiot
You're posting anime, bro, we know.

Thanks very much for the well thought-out response. I'm a little nervous about approaching professors, but I've decided to give it a go. I'm a third year, so hoping it's not too late. Thanks again

You got me

It's never too late, don't let that become a complex or anything, it's more that you just want to make sure you have no dumb surprises in store. For example, I didn't know the GREs existed until 3 weeks before the last test I could have taken to meet the PhD program application deadlines. Re-learning math in 3 weeks as a humanities major who sucks shit as math was not fun. Neither was scrambling to find $200 when I was already broke.

On a more positive note, it's not just about avoiding unpleasant surprises, it can be about finding pleasant opportunities. I was bad at seeking them out in undergrad, because I was a loner who mostly just liked reading books and shit. But I know people who were so good at networking as undergrads that they ended up having lunch dates with really famous people in their field, getting letters of rec from the TOP people in their field, getting massive incredible financial aid packages they wouldn't have known about unless one of their several mentors said "yo you should apply for this," etc. Not to mention they knew lots of grad students who helped and encouraged them with their applications. Not that all this will happen for you necessarily, but these opportunities are sometimes out there, so the more you put yourself out there, the more you can bump into them.

>I am a massive brainlet
OP, if you're still here, stop saying stuff like that. If you want to get your doctorate then go for it but you can't expect to get anywhere meaningful in academia if you aren't ready to stand out and hold yourself to a higher standard.
>publishing/teaching undergrads
OP, your students will eat your for lunch if you show up and act like you're an idiot. You should always be humbled and let your achievements speak for themselves but you can't act like you don't have a strong understanding of the material you're teaching.
You're likely smart enough to get there, but your attitude needs a fix.

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Yeah I get that loner feel. It's kind of tricky to start networking. Luckily my classes are smaller this year and one or two professors have recognized me, so I at least have a foot in the door. I don't really have anything to lose.

I hope you're right haha. I would hate to be destroyed by a class I'm teaching

Yah not learning the languages earlier for my Classics degree is killing me. I'm trying superhard to catch up in my MA and now will have to work my ass off in my PhD

Εἰ γάρ kεν kαὶ σμιkρὸν ἐπὶ σμιkρῷ kαταθεῖο
kαὶ θαμὰ τοῦτ᾽ ἔρδοις, τάχα kεν μέγα kαὶ τὸ γένοιτο.

I hope so my friend. Just very self-conscious about it (thought I'm not exactly at a heavy weight university). Also, being a historian and archaeologist makes me think I'll make it - but compared to my supervisor who did like 10+ of Latin and Greek each I want to cringe away.

good post.

how the fuck did you get a classics degree? Isn't reading greek and latin the whole degree? lmao. Imagine getting a math degree and not knowing math.