Undeuxtrois

Adding a few unis to this list 1) Rutgers 2) UC Berkeley (Their Rhetoric department offers a PhD and I think they have a gender studies track) 3) UCLA 4) Yale (im not entirely sure about this but I think their Sociology department allows candidates to do a combined PhD in WGSS and in the near future the WGSS PhD might be established so I'd suggest looking into it) In UK and Europe in case you're interested: 1) LSE 2) Cambridge 3) CEU 4) York (UK, not Canada) 5) Sussex 6) Lund 7) Utrecht There are a few more that I can't think of right now but I can let you know later if you're interested. As far as prestige or notoriety are concerned, it might be a little bit of a gamble. If you want to continue on in academia, your best bet would be to focus on a department that other academics know of and not specifically focus on a university. If you want to go into an "industry" job (not sure what that would be for gender studies grads), then maybe the reputation of the university is more important. But regardless, most of the universities I've mentioned above have a few profs in their department who are very well-known in their field. Berkeley has Judith Butler (although she's not a full-time prof), Rutgers has Jasbir Puar, etc etc. and that is probably one of the factors that adds to the departments reputation. I'd suggest picking a university based on which sub-field of gender studies you'd want to work in or which professor you'd want to work with specifically. I sort of agree with the poster above about pursuing a PhD in a broader field but I think if you really want to, you should apply to a gender studies programme. I have an undergraduate degree in law, a masters degree in gender studies and am starting my PhD at a WGSS department this fall. I don't really know what's going to happen in the future and whether my PhD will turn out to be futile or not but I do know this is something I'm extremely interested in and would love to pursue. A few of my graduate school professors (who, as the poster above rightfully mentioned, did get their PhD's in a separate field and now teach in a gender studies department) did encourage me to apply for gender studies programme for a few reasons. A lot of these programmes have been established more recently/ have gained their reputation recently as well which is possibly why people working in the field currently, did not pursue these degrees. I think many academic sub-fields have emerged in the last few years that were not as prominent a few years ago. Also, most importantly, WGSS programme's are broader than most people might assume. Apart from the basics of feminist histories and epistomolgies, there's a strong focus on philosophy, psychoanalysis etc etc. My favorite courses at graduate school were on nationalism, affect theory and biopolitics and I hope to do my PhD in something related to nationalism and legal jurisprudence. The reason I'm attending a WGSS programme is because it's far more interdisciplinary and in a way, discipline-neutral than most traditional departments are. Lastly, I don't know much about the intersection of popular culture and gender studies but I think UC Berkeley's Rhetoric department might be able to support that kind of research because its very interdisciplinary. In fact, I remember coming across a rhetoric grad's thesis on stand up comedy (not sure what the context was). As far as legislation and public policy are concerned, I think a lot of departments would support that kind of research because many of these departments have legal scholars/law professors. Just a caveat, if you are interested in purely legal research that analyses the impact of laws on women (and does not consider theory) then a law department with a WGSS track might be a better idea. I hope this helps, I really didn't intend to write 3 whole paragraphs but had fun doing it! Let me know if there's anything else you might need help with.

I was wondering if anyone from the Rutgers waitlist had been accepted or rejected. I haven't heard anything for a while now and i don't think I can deal with the suspense anymore lol. I'm assuming there's a higher chance of rejection than of acceptance but I'm wondering why they haven't said anything yet. If anyone's heard anything, please let me know and release me from this once and for all! Lol jk but I would appreciate any info.

Wait, they've admitted 4 people?! I thought they'd just told 4 people about being on top of the waitlist....omg, this is even more disheartening I think. Someone I was talking to mentioned that perhaps they have separate lists for sub-disciplines and different applicants are at the top of each waitlist. Right now, I'm choosing to believe this because it gives me more hope lol

I think it's 4! LOL ? Also, did you get both emails at the same time? The waitlist email and the invite to the open house?

Yup, something about looking for funding. Did you get an invite to attend the open house/online classes?

Has anyone else heard back from Rutgers? Just want to check if anyone else has been told they're first on the waiting list ??

Hey, congratulations! I think this sounds pretty legit, I think if the director told you you've been admitted it's probably pretty solid.

Wow, thanks for letting us know! It's so strange that they would accept applications if they weren't looking for students. But yeah, like you, I won't hold my breath and will start looking elsewhere. Thanks again!

Someone just posted on the regular gradcafe website that they're no.1 on the Rutgers waitlist. The strange thing is, I also just received an email saying I was at the top of the waitlist...... Anyone else heard back yet?

I hope so! Has anyone heard back from any of these universities?

Hey, I was interviewed for Rutgers last week. My interviewer mentioned there was a shortlist and they would conduct interviews last week and this week. Based on GradCafe's info, it seems like 3 people have been contacted for interviews so far but i'm sure they're interviewing more people.

Oh that's alright, thanks for letting me know! I'm also waiting to hear back from Rutgers, assuming it'll be this week.

Hey y'all, so cool to finally see a forum discussing WGSS apps! I was wondering if anyone had heard back from Berkeley's Rhetoric programme? I noticed someone in the thread mentioned an interview and someone just posted about an offer on the results page. I'm guessing if I haven't heard back from them yet I should take that as a sign that I haven't been shortlisted but just wondering if anyone could shed some light! Thanks!