For those who applied, what kind of things are you into/what do you study? What is your academic profile like?
I do aesthetics, intersections of aesthetics and ideology, and the aesthetics of sociopolitical resistance. These days I am approaching aesthetics scholarship from a literary/art theory perspective moreso than anything else, but my undergraduate work was in the social sciences. I have an MA in English and a BA in political science, both from a prestigeous east-coast liberal arts college. I almost applied to doctoral programs in English last year, but decided that an English dept. isn't quite the place for me (the primary critique of my MA thesis was 'too much philosophy, not literary enough'). Now I'm finishing a second MA in Cultural Studies, and have applied to American studies programs in addition to the Committee. I like the Committee's strengths in aesthetics (Kant, Husserl), phenomenology, its combination of lit-critters and philosophers, and the defining Fundamentals Exam format. Oh, and interdisciplinary study is obviously very attractive, if not essential.
