The Shade King

I did not apply but I did research the program. Its very good and they have great specialist in comic books which is one of my side interests. Good luck on your application.

I am just happy I got it down to 14 schools as I dropped one at the last minute as I was just over it at 13 schools. My initial list had 20 programs on it with a few extra programs serving as alternates. And yeah talking with DGS and POIs definitely shaped what schools I ended up applying to. Shifting gears a bit, I am curious which school had the best online application in your estimation ? George Washington and Boston U by far had the nicest online interfaces imo. But GWU seems to like freaking you out by sending emails letting you know the department has your application. Seeing an email from them in my in box this morning had me shook for a bit.

@ejpril88 Congrats!!! Its a great program. Purdue also has a great American Studies department!

Congrats!!! Its a great program and I wish I had applied to it.. The DGS is a great guy!! SO many good faculty in other departments as well. Good Luck.

Yes thanks. I am happy that I could do so many applications. I kept revising my statements and depending on program had to add or adjust many things. Many programs had varying things they wanted. It was definitely a job in itself not to mention the cost. That why I didnt buy christmas presents this year .. all my extra money went to these applications. At least I had 3 fee waivers. That helped.

So happy I did my last application tonight. I didnt want to do it but I made myself push through as I had a nice program with my potential advisor and he was quite a nice guy. I applied to 14 programs,7 american studies and 7 misc. African American, Communications and Cultural studies programs. The sad thing is I had two schools I really wanted to apply to that I ended up not applying to due to my lack of time management. So happy that all my applications are now done.

my first go round, I got them wine or bourbon. An older grad student told me which each professor liked and it went over well. This time around I am doing thank you cards with 5 dollar starbucks gift cards in it as a nice simple thank you.

Haha no worrries. thats one of the best parts of the site!! glad you found it. Yeah stuff will be a foot. I research to see the different ways programs I applied to contacted folks. I am lowkey mad I didnt apply to UT austin now tho.

So it seems American Studies programs are making decisions, someone posted that they were admitted to UT Austin. Congrats to them!!!

Yes indeed, my school selection changed as well and paying 27 dollars per score was sheer torture. Atleast three of my school did not require scores thank god. That was one good but I really wish they would regulate this and make ETS give test takers more free score selections. Ten seems like a reasonable number.

@dreamsfrombunkerhill Congrats on the acceptance. I wanted to apply to USC but ended up not doing at the last minute. they have some top notch people there if you are into race and popular culture.

Yes, I am happy it worked out for you. This process is so expensive especially the gre portion. I hope more schools move away from it or take the unoffical score because 27 a school after the intial 4 is hard on the wallet in addition to the school application fees which can be from 45 to 100 plus dollars.

I just realized when Yale and Brown finally make decisions it's gonna be a mess around here ... I low key hate stem fields for getting all this janurary news .. and I I have one application to complete and I am dragging my feet ?

OSU Comparative Studies might be a good fit. I would look at the communication program at Minnesota as well. Also folks like UCSB Film and Media studies as well. Oh and Boston University as a new Phd in Emerging Media. I would try to get a mix of state and private schools. Also I started reading journals that I wanted to publish in and as I found scholars I liked. I looked at where they went to school. I noticed patterns and trends. That helped me realize that some school produce better Phds than others for whatever reason and they should be looked at. Hireability and a records of good scholars were big things for me in school choices. Also potential advisors and secondary programs on campus I might want to take a class from.

Thats cool, this one was internal to the application. It just happened when I submitted the application and it was an ivy which really surprised me. I wonder how much money the ivies get from their high application fees and what they do with the money.

I think we all deal with impostor syndrome at some point. I think its healthy to have confidence in ones abilities but its also good to be humble and realize you dont know and you cant possible know everything. I love to learn so my thing is, if I dont know teach me if you think you know more. I am always open to learn from people for better or worse. Now once I get it, does that mean that you are necessarily right, nope I will research and look up. Thats something that I will always do. But one professor told me you have to have a short cockiness to be an academic and its true in sports as well. I think finding a good balance is the most important. I am curious though after reading many people interests and where they applied that so many schools that I think would be good fits for people were overlooked. I feel like I am the only person to apply to Minnesota, Michigan, and Kansas in addition to the heavy hitters of Yale and Brown. Also while I didn't apply UT Austin( I ran out of time on that dec 1 deadline) it would have really fit you @towonderland72. Your interest in memory would have been well served by the Chair of the dept. I would love to hear how everyone came to American Studies.

Well the most of the programs I applied to were american studies, but I rounded out my school lists by applying to a few African/Africana/Black Studies programs. Intially I was not going to apply to Berkeleys program. I wanted to apply to ethnic studies but a professor there nudged me in that direction. It definitely seems to be a push for ethnic studies to not really focus on black studies and I wonder if its because black studies have more PhD programs than say Latino or Asian American studies. Its subtlbe but I could see it in my interaction with faculty. So I ended up just applying to Berkeley, Cornell, and joint AMst/African AFam program at Yale. I was going to also apply to Umass but at this point I am so tired of applications I just decided not to. As far as stats, I am nontraditional student slightly over than avg but not much. I have worked in public sector for the last 7 years. My undergrad is social science based and I have shifted to a frame work that uses cultural studies informed by social science mind set. My undergrad record is meh but ended very strong and I have some graduate course work. I also have a few heavy hitter LOR writers so that helps a bit I think.

Yeah coming from Geography, I would hope that my work is in a similar vain to this.. Katherine Mcckittrick is a very good scholar. My project topic is actually focused through an examination of a sport. That's one reason that I not only applied to American Studies but also to a few Communication and Black Studies programs. My project could go a few ways depending on where I land.

@noirFemme thanks thats nice of you to say. I hope after this is all done some of us can meet up at ASA to share what we have learned from our programs lol. As a nontraditional student myself being a few years older than many I definitely hoping to do things to empower students and to facilate the PHd process being easier and more justice centric. And yes I would love to learn more about your research as well. I am always wanting to learn about things that are not in my wheel house especially as it concerns the African diaporsa as I have many gaps to fill in my knowledge.

@Noirfemme, Yale seems to have it all lol. I like Minnesota and Brown as well. I was going to apply to Harvard but I screwed up the due dates lol. Also while I would fit in NYU I just didnt end up applying. I could see your project fitting in Yale, but also in NYU, Michigan, and a few other places. Hopefully, we all end up the best places for us. That's my biggest concern as fit is so so important.

@NoirFemme Carrying over from my start in Geography, I wish to study race, space and place in a primarily contemporary American context but understanding how these concepts are linked transnationally and historically to colonialism, slavery and capital accumulation through empire building. I privilege a cultural study based approach that uses popular culture to examine the intersects of race and masculinity hoping to eventually explore the tension between culture and economy. Additionally, I am foundationally interested in understanding how knowledges are shaped, validated and contested, how knowledge is affixed to bodies, places and abstract concepts. My dream programs are Michigan and Yale but I think I could make my project work in any of the programs I have applied to. And yourself?

So I was just submitting an application as I have three more to go and I was having the damned time with this form, and I finally get it right and I go to submit and nothing pops up for payment. I freak out and then I get an email saying I go ta fee wavier for it. I dont know how this happened but I guess anemone felt bad for me and all these expensive application fees I have paid... I feel like I just had a Christmas miracle... If anyone is still submitting apps, I hope this happens for you as well...

Why I was I thinking this and seething at work over it.. I was like why jesus why

No worries we are in a similar boats lol .. uncertainy breeds a bit of craziness. I am curious thought, why didnt u apply to a few history programs, have your interests shifted that much? Chicago, Northwestern, Columbia were all programs I looked at when I thought I might be able to apply to history before I realized they would hate me and my work lol.

Yep, I was looking at the results board from last year and I was thinking wow many things are going to happy in the next 8 weeks.