tingdeh

Thanks!!! Congratulations on your acceptances, too. I'm just so happy--absolutely elated. The West Coast is SUCH a better prospect than the disgusting weather we're having here.

Looking at Pacific Connections by Kornel Chang, on the transnational and global history of the US-Canadian borderlands in the Pacific Northwest. Also oddly fitting to have started this book on Super Bowl Sunday...and when Washington admits are flowing in. Odd.

Got my first acceptance in two years of applying, woohoo! Two left to go... Congrats to everyone admitted so far and best of luck to all waiting!

Ended up only submitting to one AmSt program, and the rest were history graduate programs. It's a top tier one, where I'm applying, but I'm hoping the great contacts I have with current grad students and two faculty members of good fit gives enough weight to at least be seriously considered! How goes it on your end?

Hi all, I thought I'd take the liberty to start this thread if anyone else is thinking about it! Not quite sure where I'm applying yet, but definitely NYU AmSt is on my list. If you're thinking about applying, what brings you to inter/transdisciplinary studies? I myself am somewhat conflicted because these are where my interests best fit, but some of my advisors warn against the hirability (sic? New word now) of such programs. Then again, it's the networks and the dissertation, too. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Definitely environmental history. As a side project I wanted to write for a humanities conference, instead of submitting a literature paper like I always did, I instead wrote about Honolulu's construction and the damage it does to local culture and island ecology. I won Best Paper for it, but the real reward was having the time of my life writing that thing into the wee hours of the morning.

Much appreciated! My advisors are teaching some courses in my intended field of work and have invited me to audit them. At the very least, I will be familiar with the scholarly work on a more intimate level and get a bit of a head start. Thanks!

PMed back!

Hi all, I'm currently looking for some extra reading on Pacific empires, specifically the Spanish galleon trade between Mexico and the Philippines, and to a lesser extent I am also looking for US Empire in the Pacific. Christina Klein's Cold War Orientalism comes to mind for the latter, as well as Vernadette Vicuna Gonzalez's Securing Paradise. If anyone has some suggestions for Manila galleon history, please send them this way! Thanks

Really great to know this from someone who got in! Might I ask what your fields of focus were at time of application?

That is a really good point, and part of my hesitation (and my mentors') to apply to an interdisciplinary program. Since it's such a small field I'm working in, the relevant historians only seem to aggregate in at most three places. I'll have to do some more digging. Thanks!

Really good to know, thank you! I really enjoy the applied work of cultural history even though I did not do any formal in-name classroom work for my undergraduate. Looking forward to both my future work and applying for programs.

Hi all, Glad to be back in The Grad Cafe community after everything has settled down. Just had a brief question for y'all: Would you know of any History programs open to an applicant without a prior degree? I finished my undergraduate in English literature and did my honours thesis in the same broad cultural field as my intended interests in cultural history going into application season. I've got previous research experience with some grants to do archival work, ethnography, and oral history abroad, but the formal label is a "literature" degree. This year, I'll be working with some very notable historians working in US Empire, labour, and foodways, on a project that extends my thesis (specifically the ethnic, cultural, and urban focuses) but enters into a whole new set of methodologies. I will be working with another summer fellowship, and into the year, I will be working with an RAship. I plan to audit some senior seminars and graduate courses--at the enthusiastic invitation of my advisors--in order to prepare my work for a PhD program. A natural corollary of the question is this: to what extent might some post-degree, fellowship, RAship, and non-"formal" scholarly work such as the background I have outlined be considered by some good programs in cultural history/studies? In terms of non-history programs, I'm looking at Berkeley's Ethnic Studies, Brown's American Studies, NYU's American/Food Studies. Any thoughts are welcome! Thanks, everyone!

I presented on the Critical Theory session on Thursday and chaired on Friday. Now I'm just kinda floating around, haven't made any new friends though.

Most likely not getting anywhere this year, so just gotta buck up and get a stronger application ready for next year! Here we go...

Finally getting around to writing this out! Ethnic American Lit here and anything post-WWII, though the whole tradition is my homie. I've done early German-American and contemporary Nigerian-American here and there, and even some French-Canadian, but my main focus is Asian American literature and culture. I started off with multiculturalism models (melting-pot, mosaic, etc.) and the Filipino community in Honolulu, but now I'm working towards the publication history of ethnic groups' literary anthologies and other writing.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. :')

I'm taking inspiration from ArthurianChaucerian's Medievalist thread on this one (thanks, pal!) Here is a place for all American Literature students--or more broadly, because we have so many pillows and lovely faces, for all Literature of the Americas folks. Talk about your interests, your current reading list and projects, graduate school statuses, and anything else that tickles your fancy. I'm on a bus right now and typing this makes me dizzy, but I'll recover in time to post my own.

Wow...a Stanford MTL acceptance! Anyone wanna claim it?

Thank you -- and congrats! Might I ask what your area of interest is?

Anyone have an idea if Berkeley does one-shot acceptances or waves?

Omg a Berkeley acceptance...sigh...

Sigh...this is so nerve-wracking!

Anyone hear back from any Ethnic Studies program yet...?

First rejection hit me today. I'm just gonna scooch on closer and huddle with you all...