If you’re applying to graduate school, you’re likely to need some advice. And if you’re applying to graduate school, you’re disproportionately likely to be the type of person who reads advice books. So here is my list of what you should read before and after applying to graduate school.

Graduate Study for the Twenty-first Century: How to Build an Academic Career in the Humanities / Gregory M. Colon Semenza

Graduate Studies for the Twenty-first CenturyThis is the single best book for potential graduate students in the humanities, at least if you answer the inevitable question “what are you going to do with that degree? teach?” with a yes. Semenza presents the most detailed guide to what it’s like to be a graduate student, from taking classes to writing a dissertation to interacting with people at your school. He doesn’t discuss the application process at all, but you should still read it before applying, so that you can understand what grad school will be like. Semenza strikes a good balance in his book. As the book’s subtitle indicates, he teaches you how to build an academic career by becoming a professional, learning to publish, and negotiating the potential perils of grad school. But none of his advice is overblown, and it doesn’t stray into careerism. This book is also useful because it focuses on the humanities, so you don’t have to skip any irrelevant advice for people going into law, business,

Graduate Admissions Essays: Write Your Way into the Graduate School of Your Choice / Donald Asher

Graduate Admissions EssaysYour personal statement is the single most important part of your graduate school application. Not your GPA, not your GRE score, not your summer experience—your personal statement. Your personal statement is pretty much the only part of your application that is unique to you. Besides, by the time your applying to grad school, you can’t change most of the other parts of your application. So you’d better write a good personal statement.

Asher’s book suggests a good process for writing your essay, without confining the essay to a particular form. Indeed, the best part of the book is the collection of many actual admissions essays. The diversity of those examples can spark ideas for your own essay and reassure you that what you’ve written isn’t so outlandish.

Becoming a Historian: A Survival Manual / Melanie S. Gustafson

This slim volume is a publication of the American Historical Association. It covers the basics from applying to graduate school to starting your first job as a historian. You can get most of this from Semenza, but there is some specific advice for history graduate students that is helpful.

Every PhD Needs a Plan B

The academic job market is tough. Even if you tell people that you plan to teach with your degree, you should have a plan B. This article from The Chronicle of Higher Education suggests how you can get involved in an internship that will give you some experience outside the walls of the academy proper. Even if you don’t need a plan B, diversity in your education can only be a good thing.

Chronicle of Higher Education or Inside Higher Ed

Once you’re accepted to graduate school, you’ll want to keep up with the academic news. The recognized source is the Chronicle of Higher Education. Many of its articles are behind a paywall, but you should be able to get access through your school. (Or you could always read the print version.) Skim it once a week. If you can’t get the Chronicle, then you can read its free online competitor, Inside Higher Ed. Inside Higher Ed is not just a knock-off of the Chronicle; it’s a great source in its own right. But following two news sources is overkill, so I prefer the Chronicle.

The GradCafe

The Grad Cafe is the only grad student forum that I know of. It’s a good place to ask questions of other applicants. Just take their advice doused in salt. And once you’ve applied, you’ll want to know when other people start getting letters from schools. Their results page is the best way to find out when your schools have started accepting and rejecting people. I wonder how many times I visited this URL.