smg

How many programs are folks applying to? As of today I have 8-ish, by next week there could be 2 or 20. I keep on going back and forth about whether to apply to a small handful or a good spread.

Regarding contact profs, I send emails to anyone who looks interesting. I probably hear back from most and some are very helpful and excited about my research interests. I've suffered a lot of screen time as a result but I am clarifying what I want to and how to articulate it. I also don't have any publications and limited research experience when compared to some. So my SOP better count.

I was initially going to apply to philosophy programs but I've decided theoretically inclined anthro programs are a better fit. So far I've only decided on two programs: Anthro and Cultural Studies at UCDavis. I've been thinking about the GREs and I think they are going to be a bummer. I finished my anthro undergrad and started an interdisciplinary MA that I never finished years ago. I went to a Canadian university and did pretty well but I have this fear that the competition for grad school in the States is cut throat and I don't have a chance in hell.

Does anyone have the inside scoop on either Comp Lit or Cultural Studies at UCDavis?

I'm trying Mutalu Astaqe, mainly in order to dampen down the distracting chatter from downstairs.

Top 3: Being and Time, The German Ideology, Modernity and the Holocaust. I cant think of any books that were awful off the top of my head. I did see Charles Taylor speak a year or two ago. It was bourgeois garbage. Totally underwhelming. I was unimpressed with the Birth of Tragedy which I read recently but its not a most hated work by any stretch of the imagination.

I will be applying for the fall of 2015. Any tips? Suggestions?

The particular program I was thinking about treats their grad students like pack animals over burdening them with teaching undergrad courses. It is not a dept I've mentioned on gradcafe.

Heidegger and Marx all the way baby.

Jobs...shit. Hopefully a social implosion will take care of that. I'm preying for Mad Max meets Marx.

Does anyone have any advice/suggestions/dope on cultural studies programs in the US? I am particularly interested in gossip about the programs at the University of Minnesota and Ohio State.

Im working 45+ hrs a week and figuring out where to apply. I have a GRE study guide coming in the mail. Everytime a place looks great online they sound awful when I get the real scoop. Reality is harsh.

I am lying to myself about how much I will read this summer. My list which is a lie consists of: Being and Time (40 pages left), Books for Burning by Antonio Negri, Endnotes Volumes 1 and 2, St. Augstine's Confessions, The Gift of Death by Derrida and an anthology of essays by Simone Weil. Marx's Grundrisse, Moby Dick and Ulysses are all kicking around my room too but I highly doubt I will pick them up. But who knows I never end up reading what I plan to I always get side tracked by an exciting discovery or beer.

Anyone got the skinny on Vanderbilt?

I cant listen to anything if I'm trying to take in a text fully. I wish I could read to ODB.

Yeah, pretty much. I'm a big fan of Critchely. I'd love to go to the New School but I've heard their funding situation is wack.

Any tips for writing a sample from scratch? I havent written a scholarly paper since 2007 and probably 2005 or longer since I've written a philosophy paper.

Undergrad: Cultural Anthro from an unknown Canadian school. My first year was spent doing a great books program. We speed read through the Western Canon. GPA in the 3.8 range I think. MA: Bits and pieces in Political Economy/Canadian History. Other Stuff: No GRE yet. Im not looking forward to it but Im no longer dreading it. I've got buttloads of qualitative research experience. Interests: Heidegger, Marx, Critical Theory, Western Marxism, Situationists, Negative Theology, Political Pessimism, Nihilism, Mysticism, Post Left and Ultra-Left Political Thought. U Oregon looks dope. I have New School fantasies. Getting into an MA or PhD program may be a fantasy too. I'm older (in my early 30s) and an unconventional student so any tips would be great. Are there any schools that are particularly sympathetic to the freaks and weirdos out there? Is anyone else starting their writing sample from scratch?