prospectiveafricanist

I was fortunate enough to be accepted to an excellent university for a PhD in a humanities subject. This university recently added my sub field - lets say north african history - only two years ago. Both of the advisors are great and hold a high stature in the subfield. But the program is not known for this sub field Thus, would attending such a university harm my job prospects relative to attending a more established program in my sub field? Keep in mind, the professors at this school hold some sway in the field.

Ahh that makes sense. There are also lots of good visual arts programs which let you do historical/antrhopological stuff. (I am thinking specifically about a book I read which used a visual arts approach to look at change in Swahili coast urban areas). Anyways, good luck and all the best

Never give up, King. Out of curiosity, how many schools did you apply to. Also: if anything, switching to anthropology might make your path more difficult since the top schools have an even lower acceptance rate in anthropology.

I got accepted at UIUC in late January as did a couple others. This does not mean that you did not get in - there may be multiple rounds or something - but I thought I should let you know. Also: I don't think the waitlist was released yet

Hi all, I was just accepted into two PhD programs and am struggling to make my decision: my professors tell me that both are great options and I "can't lose" but that does not abate the stress. School 1 has: 1) excellent funding guaranteed for six years 2) my advisor is one of the top historians in my general field but not my sub field 3) my other advisor is a newer prof whose work overlaps with mine a lot and 4) it is a new program for my major field, thus, it does not have any placement records - all grad students in my field are still in their PhD 5) I have a strong rapport with my prospective advisors School 2 has: 1) much much lower, but still survivable, funding 2) my advisor a top 5 professor in my sub field whose interests overlap with mine a lot 3) my advisor has an excellent placement record of getting PhD students TT jobs and 4) my other advisor specializes in the exact country and period I am most interested in. 5) I have a strong rapport with both of them My ultimate goal is to come out with a tenure track position, enjoy my time in grad school and produce the best research I can

Thanks for your congratulations. I agree that it's more a problem in Chinese history: my chinese history professor mentioned to me that there's often more competition in that field. But I think generally lots of students have masters and it makes them more competitive in their field. I feel like I got into these schools in large part because the fit was excellent: professors at both institutions shared my thematic interests almost completely.

I was accepted into two PhD programs with top professors in my field, one of whom has successfully helped place all 5 of his recent PhD students in TT positions. So it's not impossible. I had a 4.1 gpa, a year of experience as a research assistant, 2 scholarships per semester, an essay prize and, I think, a very very strong SOP but I didn't have any publications.

Anyone know anything about Emory? I saw two people claim to have received interview offers in late January but no acceptances or rejections. I had an interview with the professor before I applied and I think it went well so maybe (hopefully) I missed the interview wave but will be accepted in the acceptance wave.

I am applying to a few history PhD programs and was wondering if anyone would be willing to give me some feedback. Thanks!