NoirFemme

I don't think those of us applying for the 2017 cohort will be as affected by the new regime as those applying for 2018 or 2019.

Based on the website, it appears that they want students doing exciting projects that are rooted in interdisciplinary work. I spoke with a GSAS recruiter, and all she kept saying was Harvard does whatever it wants. So just apply and see what happens.

Yale, Brown, Harvard, Rutgers, and University of Michigan. I contemplated Bowling Green State University, Boston University, and UMass Amherst's American Studies track in their English department, but I had to ruthlessly prune my list to places where I truly felt I'd thrive.

After much hemming and hawing, half of the ten schools I'm applying to are for American Studies. Do I even need to name them? Lol

Are you a member of the Emerging Museum Professionals Facebook group? Lots of people who will have knowledge about the field and schools.

Interdisciplinary History

This is sort of off topic, but now I'm curious about the process 30 years ago !

Criminology and Criminal Justice: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/83-criminology-and-criminal-justice/ Sociology: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/46-sociology/

To lessen my anxiety, I submitted all applications due this month today! Five programs in total. The other five are due in January. Good luck everyone!

LOL. Wishful thinking. But maybe it'll be true

The slowness of this year's thread is interesting. I doubt it means less are applying for this cycle, haha. Maybe it's just the weirdness that is 2016.

Go to a professor in your field (whose class you've taken and avidly participated in), explain your struggles and your goals, and ask if they would be interested in overseeing an independent study/reading course. I had the same struggle until I did just that.

Each CSU campus you named has a different focus. Look at the grad programs and pay attention to their emphasis http://english.csusb.edu/graduates/MA/index.htm http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english/gdegree.php http://www.csun.edu/humanities/english/graduate-programs http://www.cla.csulb.edu/departments/english/ma/ http://english.fullerton.edu/academics/eng_grad_program/ Also...where in SoCal do you have family? I'm guessing you've been to the area? None of these schools are close to one another! You need to weigh cost of living and traffic very carefully.

I followed what the description said. I identified a school I wanted to attend as a PhD student, and from there I basically pled my case by describing my primary research question, and how the faculty and coursework at the school would best help me explore it.

A point of which I'm well aware. However, being that this thread has devolved into a question of how the Ford Fellowship defines "diversity" and not on how various members of the LGBTQAI+ community choose to identify, I don't really know what kind of response you were hoping to elicit from me. Back to the topic at hand: I believe that dwelling on who is and who isn't supposedly considered "diverse" is a super privileged perspective. I'm a black student attending a Hispanic Serving Institution, where a large majority of scholarships and awards are targeted primarily at the Chicanx student body. I don't argue for my inclusion because: a. it's a HSI for a reason (70% Chicanx student body) b. there are plenty of longtime existing monies earmarked for black students on a national level Nitpicking at the definition of "diversity" seems, quite frankly, rather myopic when the point of minority/marginalized-based awards exist to combat privilege. Heck, there have been awards for women that had eligibility requirements reflecting the racial stratification of America (e.g. Junior League or D.A.R. scholarships). The numbers of POC and indigenous peoples who ascend to post-secondary education decrease the higher you go after a bachelor’s degree; the Ford Fellowship exists to encourage us to continue on in order to increase the diversity at the faculty level (because about 60% of the tenured faculty at my HSI are white! And the adjuncts haven't been diverse either). So if you teach courses on discrimination, I am sure you've come across a lot of literature about the impact of representation on achievement.

Down to the wire for those of us applying to programs with a Dec 1 deadline!!

I know you probably didn't mean for this to sound this way, but the statement presumes that the POC and indigenous peoples applying for the Ford aren't also queer.

Thanks all for the advice! I'll be able to gauge it against the actual event quite soon. *gulp*

I'm hoping to do PhD in American Culture+MLIS if UMich accepts me (and I decide it's the best fit). ;-)

The only other topic I've seen on here is from 2012, in the Gov't Affairs section, so I'll ask here: What questions should you ask at a grad school fair? Should you bring anything besides your CV and business cards? The fair is focused on recruiting a diverse cohort of grad students (women of color, specifically), so would it be a faux pas to ask about the racial climate on the campus--or even its surrounding city? Who exactly are the recruiters (as in, are they there to put the best face forward, or to be fair and honest about the program)? Any other advice?

The fellowship specifically says this in the eligibility section: Membership in one or more of the following groups whose underrepresentation in the American professoriate has been severe and longstanding: • Alaska Natives (Aleut, Eskimo or other Indigenous People of Alaska) • Black/African Americans • Mexican Americans/Chicanas/Chicanos • Native American Indians • Native Pacific Islanders (Hawaiian/Polynesian/Micronesian) • Puerto Ricans

Like the person above me, I too get local job and internship notifications. They come from the coordinator for my undergraduate archival program. Though I'm primarily going for the PhD, I do have two programs on my list that allow PhD students to get an MLIS! University of Michigan is one of them.

With this in mind, should alumni placement not be the number one consideration when choosing between programs (who've accepted you)? Should you focus on the program that fits best, and then work your behind off with publications, presentations, awards, and teaching? Because going through the threads over the previous years, a few people mentioned the excellent placement of U-W Madison being the result of the students needing to aggressively seek funding and teaching to pay for their doctorates. Therefore, I presume that whether you attend an Ivy, a reputable private, or a solid state school, your success is based on your own tenacity.

My advice? Just apply. Focus on what you can control--your writing sample, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, and your statement of purpose.

Dr. Morag Martin at SUNY Brockport is a great match for your interests. Read her stuff: https://www.brockport.edu/academics/history/faculty/martin.html