kekology4

Hello! I thought I would start a thread for women's/feminist/gender studies applicants for fall 2017 to share stories, provide support, etc! 
I am so nervous... I have applied to four phd programs: emory, ucsc, ucla, and stonybrook, and 3 american studies phd programs: yale, harvard, and nyu. I really want to get in somewhere!! This application process has been so stressful, I'd hate to have to do it again. Where are y'all applying? How has the application process been for you?

@Yanaka Congrats on your masters acceptance! It seems like a WGS certificate would be perfect for your interests. Certificates show a specialization that could help you do your work, teach classes in WGS, and get a position teaching in a WGS department. It's not necessary for any of these things, but it helps. As for cons, one i can think of is that you have to take a certain amount of classes, so that could prevent you from taking other classes you're interested in. 
Because you're also planning on doing a phd, i suggest considering geting the grad certificate in wgs during your phd. That's what I plan to do if i choose to get a certificate. It seems like most people either do a masters or a grad certificate at a time. A grad certificate tends to require a good amount of courses, just like a masters, so you would have to stay for another semester or two to finish it. and because you'll be unfunded, it might be better to do the certificate during your phd which will likely have at least some funding. 

Probably not in AmSt. 
Deciding between English and History acceptances.

Rejected from santa cruz so i'm going to stony brook! i went to their admit day wednesday and absolutely loved it. i think i'll be really happy there. Thanks everyone for all the support along the way. 

Rejected from santa cruz so i'm going to stony brook! i went to their admit day wednesday and absolutely loved it. i think i'll be really happy there. Thanks everyone for all the support along the way. 

ok i'm sorry 

yea, leggings are probably bad idea. if you want guys like me to take you seriously, definitely dress conservatively. otherwise, we'll be like "oh hi there.. how ar- beeewwwwbs"

all i saw was "busty"
 

Greetings to the forum community! I am starting a new thread which announces The War You Know, a unique military history resource which hopefully proves to be of wide value to the membership here. The link to The War You Know:

http://thewaryouknowcurat.wixsite.com/the-war-you-know-

Please allow me to emphasize that everything at the above website is free and it generates no revenue. There is no advertising involved and the site has already had more than 1,300 views. Further, I am not attempting to build a parallel membership base. The sole purpose of The War You Know project is to educate and generate discussion (here preferably) by exhibiting original wartime primary sources such as letters, diaries, telegrams, newsreels, period military films, and etc.

Please consider visiting the site and join me in going back in time to study past conflict. I welcome your comments and will constantly strive to make The War You Know better for everyone's benefit. Thank you in advance for your time and interest -

Sincerely,

Site Manager

The War You Know

http://thewaryouknowcurat.wixsite.com/the-war-you-know-

declined my offer at UCSC yesterday - such a hard decision because Santa Cruz was GORGEOUS. hope that opens up a spot for someone here!

@MickeyRay maybe to keep people interested and not lose applicants who may otherwise think they've been rejected
for people who want to know about stony brook, I just got my formal fellowship offer in the mail today. i haven't gotten the general formal letter of offer yet, as I assume I will get something else.

Thank you both! That was very helpful @hj2012. 
I've been offered a stipend that requires I work as a TA, RA, or graduate assistant. I don't know if it would be for the department or an individual professor. I have some meetings coming up with professors for whom I'd be interested in working as an RA, and they said they'll tell us about "research opportunities" at admit day, so we'll see!

Thats a good question for the department! I think it really varies not only on the school but also on with whomever you would be working and their discipline. At U of Cinci one prof said they expect the grad student to do research for about 20 hours/week, and that it would be going through a bunch of different articles on their topic and pulling ones that are relevant to the paper that they are writing. She is sociology though. 

Are you an RA for the department or for an individual professor? Of course this varies depending on where you are, but some "typical" duties I've seen for RA positions for the department include (somewhat higher level) administrative/research work that can't be delegated to an undergrad: editing a department newsletter or writing relevant articles/blurbs; keeping the website updated with faculty/student news; compiling department reports on undergrad/grad teaching for the graduate division; working on internal grant applications (e.g. to renovate TA office); and planning department events (e.g. securing speakers for a weekly colloquia).
For professors, the work tends to be more focused on their individual research: compiling appropriate literature for a current project/writing annotated bibliographies; transcribing or coding interview data; copyediting book chapters; putting together a bibliography/index; working on getting permissions for images; checking citations/formatting, etc. 
Though I'm sure your department could probably give you more specifics, this is a general idea of what RAships have looked like (in my experience)! Hope this helps

The TA work grows much easier the 3rd, 4th, 5th time you deal with the same stuff.  Seriously, you didn't accomplish any research?  That isn't a good reason to move you to RA.  It will be tough for the boss to take you off the U's payroll and put you on his with no track record in the lab.  So I'm not going to recommend you engage in any conversation about the transition.  Teach for a couple of years and get good at juggling everything at the same time, teaching, research, coursework, and reading (plus cumes? seminars? orals? group meetings?).  The PI will see how much you've done and move you on his own schedule.
 
I've got to ask a hard question.  How many hours are you working?

Hi all:
Long-time lurker, thanks for all the great information on this page. I applied to American Studies/Ethnic Studies program in the past season and am considering/on the waitlist for a few options. Up until this morning Michigan's American Culture was my top choice. However, I saw this morning on facebook a lawsuit against the department alleging some pretty serious issues surrounding race and gender discrimination: http://umich-alumni-apiastudies.tumblr.com/post/158136917298/professors-file-landmark-suit-exposing-cover-up-of
My research interests aren't in Asian American studies per se but as a queer woman of color I'm very concerned about the allegations in the lawsuit. Plus considering how department politics goes in a *healthy* academic atmosphere I don't know if it's smart to attend a school where faculty are suing each other. Is this a red flag?
Anyway was just wondering if others saw this and have similar concerns, or if my worries (as a potential incoming grad student) are overstated. 
Apologies if I'm violating any rules of the forum, hope to hear back from some of y'all!
 
 

I too saw this circulating through my social networks. There have been rumors circulating about this program for some time now. It's hard to ever say that one should absolutely not attend a school, but the allegations are very serious and a definite red flag. I would try to talk to current grad students (especially if there are other queer/poc students) and see what their experience has been. Grad students tend to be more frank than faculty, so you might get a better sense of the climate that way.

Thanks for sharing @gradschoolgal. I understand why you're so concerned about going there. I would be too.
It's absolutely a red flag to me. It's really alarming, frankly, that so many faculty of color left or were forced out in the past 20 years. What was pushing them out? The complaint tells us - race and ethnic discrimination, gender discrimination, and a race hostile work environment. I just read a good deal of the complaint and it shows a clear history of racism and sexism at michigan and within the american culture department specifically. 

Thanks for sharing @gradschoolgal. I understand why you're so concerned about going there. I would be too.
It's absolutely a red flag to me. It's really alarming, frankly, that so many faculty of color left or were forced out in the past 20 years. What was pushing them out? The complaint tells us - race and ethnic discrimination, gender discrimination, and a race hostile work environment. I just read a good deal of the complaint and it shows a clear history of racism and sexism at michigan and within the american culture department specifically. 

@radicule I wouldn't worry! Official letters can come weeks and weeks after the unofficial acceptance, from what i've seen. i received an unofficial acceptance february 1, and still have not received the official letter! 
On my end, I just learned the other day that I received a fellowship stony brook nominated me for. I'm so thrilled. In addition to boosting my stipend, it alleviates my teaching responsibilities for the fifth year, and gives me a generous stipend for that year. It's my only acceptance so far - shows you just need one! 
 

Congrats @cypressknee!!!!
 

@radicule I wouldn't worry! Official letters can come weeks and weeks after the unofficial acceptance, from what i've seen. i received an unofficial acceptance february 1, and still have not received the official letter! 
On my end, I just learned the other day that I received a fellowship stony brook nominated me for. I'm so thrilled. In addition to boosting my stipend, it alleviates my teaching responsibilities for the fifth year, and gives me a generous stipend for that year. It's my only acceptance so far - shows you just need one! 
 

Soon or never sounds like a pretty good timeframe! Yeah not needing full funding should hopefully open up options. 
Yeah, I was considering contacting them again today too.  It sucks that to get results it can feel like one is being such a bother to those working there. 

I'm not too familiar with the town of Stony Brook itself, but I do know it is small, spread out, well-forested, and boring. Long Island in general, however - and especially that part of Long Island, is a vast expanse of suburbia/exurbia littered with strip malls and golf courses and all packaged into a neat cultural vacuum. The beaches are nice though.
Main mode of transportation to NYC is the LIRR - there is a stop at one end of campus. It runs once every 12.2 years and takes about 2.5-3 hours, I think. I'm sure Stony Brook has buses on the weekend that go out there but I have no idea how often or where exactly they run - though you can probably look it up on the website. Otherwise, if you don't have a car in Stony Brook you're pretty screwed, especially in the winter.

I have a few friends who went there as undegrads and they all hated it. I have no idea what on-campus accomodation for grad students are like, but the undergrad dorm I saw looked like any other state college cell block. The campus is really spread out and desolate. I guess it would probably look all rolling and green in the spring and summer, but in the winter it resembles the image of hell freezing over. No people, no activity, just a lot of ice and wind and snow. And vast expanse of completely virgin untrodden snow at that, meaning that not even animals are about. All the buildings looked like they were designed by architects trained in the former Communist bloc nations. Although I do admit the inside of the student union is quite nice and roomy. Don't be fooled by any statement of "we're in the New York metro area!" because Stony Brook is waaaaay out there. You'd almost have an easier time getting to Providence via the LI Sound ferry than taking the LIRR to NYC.

On the upside, that makes it relatively cheap to live in. I really have no idea how cheap, but I'm hard-pressed to imagine that a campus so far out in the boondocks - and far enough from the LI's posh east end - would be that expensive. I would go to newyork.craigslist.org and look up rentals on LI to get a better sense. One thing's for sure, you'll definitely need a car to get around.