dr. t

NB: you're not wed to your prospectus either. Hell, my understanding of my own dissertation changed substantially by just writing my introduction - which is the last part you write.

No.

FWIW, the only subfield I'm still seeing TT jobs listed in this year is either American History with a specialization in the African-American experience or African Diaspora.

'Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky We fell them down and turn them into paper That we may record our emptiness.'

A couple things, in no real order: Yes, you can absolutely get into a good PhD program off an MLS. As someone who is on the job market with a PhD and likes being in archives, not having an MLS has hurt my job prospects. Your sense about the master's program is spot on. Regardless of the graduate programs you attend, it is unlikely that you can both successfully pursue an academic or academic adjacent career and stay within the Denver area.

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-university-president-responds-to-those-who-have-suggested-the-school-should-dip-into-the-endowment

If you want to work in a history dept, get a history degree.

Ah, a caste system. That'll solve everything.

Ah, if only.

Look at what schools aren't taking cohorts, check their endowments, and then talk to me again about resources with a straight face. On a related note, learning to differentiate between optimism and wishful thinking is a very useful life skill, in academia and beyond.

This isn't actually a good thing. Schools who have looked at the current situation and decided to take more graduate students either 1) Have little connection to reality, 2) Can't function without grad student labor, or 3) Both.

To quote: In 95% of academic situations, the appropriate response is shutting the fuck up. For the other 5%, it is "that's an interesting idea; I'll have to think about it."

It's not encouraging. Schools who have looked at the current situation and decided to take more graduate students either 1) Have little connection to reality, 2) Can't function without grad student labor, or 3) Both.

Sure, but suddenly having to homeschool your kid, for example, is somewhat different that what came before. That new burden disproportionately affects women (in this example) - from the available evidence, it affects them all the way up the food chain. So this is new, and if you find yourself able to be productive, as I have, it's one small blessing in a large shitpile.

This, of course, favors the already-privileged.

An environment which is toxic for some is perfect for others. It depends on you.

With that many high-quality programs not accepting applicants this year, it's also a good idea to contemplate the fact that others are, and why that might be the case.

There have been 4 TT jobs posted in my field. 2 are senior hires. So, quite badly.

Hmmm. This is news to me. The cohort was supposed to be very small, but extant. Perhaps things have moved on and they haven't bothered to tell us.

Time is usually best. It's why I insist on 48h between giving out a grade and scheduling a meeting about it.

"I usually would not recommend someone with this level of writing ability go on to graduate work." Yeah, that one stuck with me.

The first question is: have you looked at people who are in jobs you want to have? What degrees do they have? I personally love curatorial/manuscript work, but since I don't have an MLS, I have a harder time getting one of those jobs, PhD or no. Yes, this is a very good thing to be concerned about German. The standard you're looking for is: is your Latin good enough that you can give an admissions committee a writing sample drawing heavily from sources in the original language, buttressed by secondary lit in your research languages? There used to be a thread in here of funded MAs. I did mine at Harvard Divinity School.

Are you thinking about applying to History, Art History, or Medieval Studies? An Art History degree will be better than the other two for a museum direction. For History and Medieval Studies, weak Latin will be a significant millstone on your neck for any of the programs you suggest. For Art History, there will be less emphasis placed on your Latinity, but your total lack of German will be a problem. I would never recommend an MA as a way to start a language, but it can certainly be a place to improve it. There is also some decent MA funding out there.

Just the one you want to supervise your diss.

Which is why I said they were fine AND had good placement records, which you then agreed with?