NoirFemme

I'm not freaking out per se, but I'm worried. NEH grants are what universities pull from for major projects. One of the programs recruiting me got one for a cohort of incoming PhD students, and I wonder if the Trump administration would leave me hanging with no funding if I attended that school.

I'm an early adopter of all things techy, so I've had a LinkedIn profile for almost a decade--which is a good thing, because I had first dibs on my url being linkedin.com/firstnamesurname. I have an academia profile to keep up with current and future scholars. Personally, because of my background and my goals, an internet footprint is extremely important to me.

See this is where I feel very clinical and ruthless about the application process and grad school. American Studies is still a difficult field for university bureaucracy to understand. There are departments across the US, yes, but most of the faculty come from traditional disciplines like History, Sociology, English, etc. The job market is already tough enough, and getting tougher, and my faculty advisers basically told me "top school or traditional discipline." So I applied to ten amazing programs across four disciplines. As for how I came to American Studies, I discovered it fit me better than the African-American Studies program at my school, which was very sociology/social science based. It was also the first time where my brain went "this is me!". I love being able to grab from a variety of sources, theories, and fields to build my arguments.

Woot! Congratulations!

I get impostor syndrome often--especially when I see academic Twitter chats between people who are already in or have completed PhD programs. Why do I think I'm learned enough to participate? I don't think programs are more likely to accept name over grades. Mostly because Yale/Harvard/Stanford/whatever undergrads are usually already the top of their class. The topic of academic hierarchy rears its head if: Student A comes from XYZ State University and Student B comes from Cornell. Both have similar credentials (GPA, GRE score, research, statement of purpose). Student A has excellent letters of recommendation from faculty who know their work well; however, Student B has letters of recommendation from faculty who know their work just as well, but are "stars" of their field. I don't assume anything about the admissions committee, but which student will have an edge?

I have one. Having him has been a huge help with my anxiety.

I'm a weird one in that I feel like I am good enough for Yale (or Brown or Penn, etc). I accepted the hierarchy in higher ed--that is, the struggle is real for graduates from "no name" state schools--so I worked my a$$ off to hopefully bring myself to the level of research of students applying to top programs with BAs/MAs from other top schools. I do a little work in the 19th century, mostly focused on linking material culture of slavery to resistance in the 20th century. @cypressknee you are so right that reading theory is a muscle to be worked on a consistent basis. I'm keeping up with it so I can enter a phd program ready to dive in.

This the best response ever, because I love that book. And yes, the focus on black women is indeed exciting! I don't feel like my interests are too 'out there' (my current school has a strong focus on the traditional social sciences, so I've had to fight for support of my interdisciplinary work). I have an academia page for the same reason as you: keeping up with amazing scholars--especially new phd grads and junior faculty. Also, staking out my professional internet presence.

Ha, I know! I guess that's why they're Yale. I didn't apply to NYU because of the insane cost of living. I'm an older student, so that whole "GIRLS" is not for me anymore! But the program looks extremely good, especially its emphasis on POC and social justice. Everyone's work sounds sooo good. I want to fast-forward a few years to read your dissertations, lol.

My work right now focuses on the 1900-1950 period, where I explore how black women resisted Jim Crow and Colonialism through literature. I'm developing a transnational feminist lens that draws on material and print cultures of the diaspora, as well as an interest in Black Modernism. It's difficult to choose my dream program because I've applied to so many amazing places, but I think I'll go with Yale. They have faculty involved in everything that interests me.

To get back on topic a bit--what work are you doing in American Studies that you want to explore at the graduate level? What is your dream program and why?

I've seen more people in my circles and in acquaintance circles (of various ages) snark on the point of attending college and grad school. The student loan crisis and the trouble with obtaining employment after graduation from 4 YR university has soured a lot of people on higher ed...which will probably have even more impact on the adjunct crisis!

Welcome to the thread, and good luck!

I think a faculty mentor or two would be the first place to seek advice. Who is advising you on your senior thesis? What Chinese history professors at Rutgers have inspired you?

I've been moving between the various humanities subforums, and the 2017 threads in every discipline appear to be a fraction of the size of previous years. Maybe the applicant pool is smaller. I mentioned in the history thread that newspapers say grad school applications rise and fall with the economy. The past 2-3 years haven't been as brutal as 2008-2011...but we might see a jump in the 2018 cycle. Same here. The job market for American Studies is already nebulous. Financial stress during my studies is already enough.

Happy New Year, y'all! How are you holding up? I'm actually more anxious and excited to see who is going to say yes, as opposed to worrying about the nos!

Currently bouncing between Part I of David Levering Lewis's Du Bois biography, Anne Sebba's Les Parisiennes, Zadie Smith's Swing Time, an anthology of Marita Bonner's writing, and Samantha Pinto's Difficult Diaspora.

You can search for last year's results here: http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/

Only Yale for AfAm Studies for me. I would have applied to others, except for realizing that a lot of AfAm programs seem to be more social sciences, education, and sociology oriented, and I'm very much a humanities person.

Not a current student in SF, but I lived there for a while and it's my favorite city. That is a very generous stipend, but it seems you already know how expensive the Bay is. Roommates are a must, of course, but SF housing tends to be TINY! So 2-3 people will be living in 750-1000 sq ft. Upside: no need for a car, so no car payment! The MUNI and Bart go just about everywhere. Very cosmopolitan. Weather doesn't drastically fluctuate. Access to a lot of industries, from fashion to medicine to technology. Downsides: most people eat out a lot because the kitchens are hella tiny. Housing tends not to have W/D, so you'll be paying for dry cleaning or coin ops. So many homes are older, so insulation isn't the greatest--which means high utilities (heat in the winter and AC in the summer).

Right now...Transnational feminisms, diasporic protest literature, and the Cold War.

I've gotten two or three...from programs I had no intention of applying to (I'm apparently on a grad school email list and get emails from various places).

There's a pretty active grad forum on Reddit. I'm a little superstitious, so I quietly submitted my apps and am "out of sight, out of mind"-ing this process lol. Especially since I still have a semester left before graduating in June. There's a chance there are fewer applicants this cycle; random articles I've read over the past year from 2010-11 talked about how grad school and law school apps usually rise and decline based on the health of the economy.

Schools that give the option of posting Fall grades will say so in the application. If it doesn't give that option, then you do nothing.

(Sadly, I didn't. Despite the outrage on social media and the campaigns to protest/march, a large majority of Americans--esp the ones who didn't vote for Orange Man--are apathetic about the political process.) But back to the topic at hand: I'm not applying to WGS programs specifically, but my top choices all have a WGS graduate certificate. Ideally, I would like to be placed in a WGS (or American Studies) department in 5-6 years.