mmustard

Your specific interests are certainly right in line with some of the real NSSR favourites! I'm sure you'd definitely feel at home, and I have to say that the LS program takes writing extremely seriously (Melissa Monroe in particular is an absolutely gem). I'll agree with the professor to a certain degree, not knowing all that much about the Philosophy department: it's extremely insular, probably the most out of all the departments at NSSR. One of the benefits of the NSSR modus operandi, however, is the open-ended approach to essentially cultivating your own course list - you can take classes in any of the NSSR departments, and in any of the NYC consortium schools, with a little wrangling! If you wanted to devote much of your time to Philosophy courses within NSSR, it would certainly be possible. I'd recommend shopping around a little bit more with talking to different Professors, if you haven't done so already. They'll be able to give you more of an idea about transitions from the LS MA to other disciplines for the PhD.

I don't know much about UChicago's program at all, so I'm afraid I can't offer much in the form of weighed advice. But I can say that I disagree respectfully with the above - I'm finishing my two-year MA in NSSR's Liberal Studies program in May, and have recently been accepted into Columbia's PhD in my field (Art History). It couldn't be further from the truth that the school (faculty + admin) is hostile to its graduate students. The chair of the program and all of the long-term faculty are deeply committed to their students, and because the program is a terminal masters, the level of peer-competition is friendly, never aggressive or disheartening (or, at least that's the case in my cohort). Because it's essentially a critical-theory degree, with an interdisciplinary foundation, the people that I know there who've enjoyed it the most are those who enjoy the opportunity to spread their wings, as it were, but also have a firm and directed trajectory for their own research. NSSR does not offer a PhD in Liberal Studies (and with good reason, but that's just imo), which means that were you interested in continuing on to the PhD at NSSR, you would have to switch disciplines. (It's done, usually into Philosophy or Political Science, but it's not very common.) The reality is - and this may be where the previous comment is coming from - that NSSR is part of the larger umbrella of The New School - which includes Eugene Lang College, Parsons (Design), Milano, Mannes and the NSGS. It's a monster: the campus literally consumes a huge chunk of Union Square and below. This often leaves students in the smaller schools feeling disconnected from the Big Cheese Administration and its decisions, which ultimately do affect student life - there's been a lot of tension recently over the President, for example. But within the little bubble of NSSR, I can only say good things about how the faculty and immediate administration respect and advise the students there. NSSR also, unfortunately, doesn't have much money to give out - the most common MA funding is about 50% tuition remission. My second year I was lucky to receive more - about 90% - but they only provide one full tuition remission a year, and no stipends (although there are plenty of opportunities to teach at the graduate and undergraduate level). I'd be happy to answer any more specific questions you might have about NSSR; I'm sorry this is just a bit of a general overview addressing the above. I can say that I've really enjoyed my time there: I'm a stronger academic for the exposure to literature and scholars/critics/writers/professors I never would have been exposed to in my own discipline, and I don't feel that having NSSR on my resume has affected my own career trajectory negatively in any way (except, of course, for the loans).

Hi Ritualist: I've been accepted and have already said yes to Columbia's PhD (excited, too!). I focus in East Asian / Modern Japanese, so I don't know if my specialization will actually be much help in your decision-making process, but I'd be happy to offer up my perspective if you think it might be of use. If you don't mind me asking, what're some of your main concerns with Columbia, and what's the other front runner? (Also, congratulations!)

Dropping in from a different discipline, but I'll also be at Columbia too this fall, with a similar stipend; I thought I'd just add my 2 cents! I've lived in NYC for just over 2 years now, as an MA student, and I've gotten by on significantly less than 23K (it's not pretty, at times, but it's do-able). If you're not so worried about commuting times, rent can be way cheaper in the other boroughs, like Queens (Astoria, Jackson Heights) and parts of Brooklyn (Greenpoint, even South Williamsburg, and Bushwick - which is slowly improving in terms of safety). The best way to drop your rent is definitely sharing with roomies - if you're up to that. One bedrooms and studios are always going to be more expensive, and even if it's in your price range, you're going to sacrifice on space/amenities (like laundry, etc) in a pretty significant way. That said, congratulations!

Haha, thank you - makes sense. I'm definitely blaming it all on the panic, & etc.

This might have a totally obvious answer that I'm choosing to ignore in my state of absolute panic, but how is Columbia posting rejections from the future? It's totally not March 5th yet in NYC, from what I can tell.

Hi all. I know this might be a futile question, but I'm just sick with worry about Columbia (1st choice). I had a (relatively) informal phone interview with my PA in early February, where he essentially said I'd made it to the last step of acceptance, and that I should hear either way by early March. Being that it's March 3rd, does anybody have any insight on exactly how worried I should be about the fact that I haven't heard a peep from Columbia yet?