cypressknee
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Posts posted by cypressknee
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3 minutes ago, Aurél said:
Hi everyone!
I have a question about admission offers (if you think this question is off-topic, please tell me).
I just have been informed I am admitted to a PhD program at USC in American Studies. I am so excited and happy, BUT still wondering if I've made the right choice. As an international student - from France - graduated in sociology, the department of AS perfectly fits with my research interests (in social justice, sexuality, race, nationalisms).
However, I do not know if it is a "good" school or not, recommended or not, etc. Any feedbacks or info on this department would be extremely useful. Thank you so much in advance.
Oh and by the way, congrats to everyone already accepted and good luck to the others
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Congratulations @Aurél!
I want to say a couple of things in response to your question. First, if you are admitted, that doesn't mean you are obligated to accept the offer. How many programs did you apply to? It might be wise to wait and see if you receive other offers, and then begin to weigh which ones you are most interested in. I think it's generally good advice to visit the campus before committing to a program, to see if you like the vibe of the department, if you get on well with your advisor, etc.
I don't know much about USC's AMST program, but the university itself is a great school. Perhaps others in this thread can speak to the specifics of the program.
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Thanks, everybody! UT Austin is a great program and according to their email, they potentially offer more than 5 years of funding. I've heard something positive from 2 of the 9 schools I applied to (the other was not in American Studies), so hopefully it bodes well!
2 hours ago, The Shade King said: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.
Right??? Aside from BU, the rest of the applications were clunky, ugly, and generally confusing to use. Why can't there be something like a Common App for grad school?
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9 hours ago, towonderland72 said:
According to the results board, UT Austin contacted someone else yesterday to waitlist them for their American Studies program. Eep.
Yep---I got an email yesterday from UT Austin informing me that I am waitlisted for the American Studies program. Exciting!
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7 hours ago, ♀ KING ♀ said:
In response to previous posts: McKittrick is incredible, and I would just add that I highly, highly recommend Sylvia Wynter's work for anyone thinking about geography, the African diaspora, colonialism, post-colonialism, the category of the Human, etc. Wynter is phenomenal.
(A little bit abt me: I am interested in 19th century American Literature, AfAm studies, queer/feminist studies, performance studies, and affect studies.)
I read Wynter's On Being Human As Praxis for a MA seminar on Race and Cultural theory. It's fascinating stuff, but MAN was it difficult to parse through. Reading theory is a muscle, though, I suppose---it gets easier the more of it you read.
I am also a 19th century American lit person (and early 20th)! Do you have any particular authors you'd like to focus on?
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4 hours ago, towonderland72 said:
That... is terrifying! Hopefully it means good things. Also, now I'm wondering if I should have an academia.edu page. *cries*
But seriously... should we have an academia.edu page?
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On 1/10/2017 at 0:03 PM, NoirFemme said:
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 got my MA in English Lit and happened to fall into food studies, the history of labor, and the hemispheric South. Specifically, I'm interested in exploring the ways in which drinking/imbibing affects our conception of urban and regional spaces. I also got really into digital humanities as an MA student and public history, so I hope to continue that sort of work as a PhD student.
Brown and UNC Chapel Hill are my top schools, because both have focuses on public humanities and have several faculty members I would love to work with. Yale would be a great program too, but I don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting into Yale!
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9 hours ago, NoirFemme said:
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.
If the applicant pool is indeed smaller, I wonder if it has more to do with the election than the economy, or that people are less willing to continue with their education because of student loans. Perhaps it's some combination of all those things.
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On 12/15/2016 at 9:27 PM, NoirFemme said:
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.
Same here. I also noticed that some American Studies departments were ambiguous about funding, and to those that were I didn't even bother applying.
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This thread is so quiet compared to last year's American Studies thread. Do you think the applicant pool is smaller this season, or that more people are just lurking?
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On 12/21/2016 at 10:26 PM, screamingacrossthesky said:
However, I did have one interview last season. Quite honestly: it was nerve-wracking; I don't think that it went very well; I was admitted anyway.
Would you mind elaborating on the interview a bit, @screamingacrossthesky? Was it a Skype interview or in person? Who interviewed you---potential advisors, admission committee, etc? Did they only ask about your potential proposal?
I'm applying to one of the schools that interviews, and I'm really curious as to what the process is like.
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19 hours ago, NoirFemme said:
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
Six of the nine programs I'm applying to are American Studies! I don't know very many people applying to AMST programs, but I'm coming from English. Which ones are you applying to? I'm applying to Yale, Harvard, and Brown, to which I have a snowball's chance in hell of getting into, as well as UNC Chapel Hill, BU, and UT Austin.
American Studies programs
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