Lustforlife

At this point, it is possible that a summer at Middlebury would be more beneficial than a summer in China. Middlebury's curriculum is quite rigorous and they push you very hard over the summer. I have never studied Chinese and cannot comment on the quality of any of the language programs in China or Taiwan. As someone just starting out with the language, however, you are likely to speak more Chinese at Middlebury than you would in China. While at Middlebury, you live in a dorm and eat together in the cafeteria. You sign a pledge to only speak your target language for the entire time that you spend at Middlebury. If you study in China/Taiwan, it is quite likely that you will spend a lot of your time out of class speaking English to the other students in your program. Middlebury is very expensive, but they do offer financial aid/scholarships (on a first come/first served basis, I believe). On the other hand, by studying in China, you will start gaining some of the cultural competence that will be helpful down the road if study/do research in China or Taiwan.

When you start thinking about places to which you might go, don't forget about Taiwan. I know at least one person who had their MA funded by the Taiwanese government. I am not sure what level of language proficiency would be required for the program, but it is at least another option that you might explore.

That's interesting. I wonder if any users have been on an adcomm. Some departments at my university have grad students serve on the adcomm, but mine does not and I have never served in this position. At any rate, I agree with you that trying to explain how you came to have an interest in the topic is crucial. My advisor has always told me that when he looks at applications, he is mostly looking to see if a potential applicant is able to think critically and ask interesting questions. Of course, I am not privy to many of the small details of the decision making process. However, for my adviser at least, I believe that demonstrating the possibility for future growth and development would trump a description of an awesome sounding dissertation topic (especially if the emphasis was on the topic itself and did not do a good job of illuminating the candidate's critical analytical abilities).

I agree with the others in that this is a perfectly fine topic. However, I have always heard (and put this into practice in my own applications several years ago) that it can be to your disadvantage to get too specific in your personal statement essays. My sense is that admissions committees (as well as potential advisers) want students who are going to be open to new ideas, approaches, opinions, etc... once they enter their grad program. In other words, they want to know that you will be open to all of the new methods in which they hope to train you. I don't think that it will raise any red flags if you mention an interest in the history of pornography, but perhaps you might state this as one possible way in which you will go about the study of representations of sexuality and gender or perhaps how representations of sexuality emerge as points around which conversations about sexuality coalesce (sorry, that all sounds a bit rough and I am sure that you can word this in a much better fashion).

It sounds like you are in a tough spot. I wish you all the best as you figure out your next step. I know nothing about your area of research, but ethnic studies, literature, history and anthropology all sound viable to me. Sociology is probably not as quantitative as political science but my sense is that stats is still a required course for many programs. Places that have a large African American studies center are also worth exploring. You might simply want attempt to locate works that have impressed you. What books have really made an impact on your thinking? Where do the authors of those books teach? What kind of training did they receive? If you can answer these questions, you should have a better idea of who might potentially be a good adviser. Also, while you probably don't want to broadcast the fact that you might be leaving your department too loudly, make sure that you use resources at your university. If there are sympathetic members of the faculty whom you have met (either in or outside of your department), you might want to see if they have any advice about new programs. If there are any faculty whom you trust, they might be able to help you find a program better suited to your interests. I'm sure that you feel awful right now. However, remember that many people before you have had hiccups in their graduate careers. Since you now have a better sense of what you don't want to do, you will undoubtedly have a better sense of how you want to approach your topic.

Thanks to both of you for the update. I wish I had the time to keep abreast of changes in other fields. South Asian history is a quite interesting field (and perhaps expanding given the high number of open positions this year) and I wish you both the best of luck in your careers. If I remember correctly, US programs start to notify in a month or so, so good luck as you weigh your various options.

This is not my field and I haven't read much South Asian history for many years, so please take this comment with a hefty grain of salt. When I had more of an interest in South Asia, however, my sense was that the offshoots of the Subaltern Studies group had greater prominence in the US. As Guha and others trashed the Cambridge school, I wonder if a Cambridge degree might even have some negative connotations to South Asianists in the US. Perhaps the impact of this question might have more to do with whether the OP sees him or herself as more of a South Asianist or a British historian (although transnationalism is encouraged as a methodological tool, you will probably have to decide on one primary field when it comes to finding a job). You should of course feel proud about getting in anywhere. Congratulations are certainly in order and you don't need to stress about this too much until other schools start to make decisions. If you end up in the enviable but nevertheless difficult position of having to choose between multiple offers, one thing you should do is attempt to find out about each programs' recent graduates. You should be able to find out where they have placed recent graduates and the kinds of projects that these students have studied. While it is not very precise, you can also just go to the webpages of colleges that are similar to places where you might like to teach in order to learn from where their professors have received their PhDs. For example, if you think that you would like to work at a liberal arts college, look at Middlebury, Lewis and Clark, Pamona, Wesleyan, etc... and try to find out from where their young faculty graduated.

I can't chime in on the issue about Canadian Universities. All I know is that U of T has probably the best collection of faculty for my field at the moment. In the humanities at the moment, isn't 50% placement above average? I was too lazy to do much of a search, but this article indicates that there are fewer advertised jobs than there are newly minted PhD recipients. http://www.historians.org/Perspectives/issues/2010/1001/1001new1.cfm Regarding the issue about your topic: one of the reasons that I like history is that it is potentially the most inclusive discipline there is (although I'm sure we've all experienced moments where we've felt hemmed in by various institutional requirements). You can work on just about any topic and in almost any time period (historians are apparently even working on the 1990s). If you continue with the airline's topic, you'll need to be cognizant about how you spin it. As other posters have noted, business/industrial history isn't very popular at the moment. My sense is similar. But you don't have to present yourself as a business/industry historian if you don't want to. Your topic could be an interesting project in the history of science. It could relate to a really interesting project on mobility/movement (you might want to read Marc Auge's essay on the passport if this interests you) if you want to take it in an intellectual history direction. The project could relate to the history of tourism (there are a number of projects that I am aware of that have focused on colonial tourism). The politics of building an airport also come to mind (I remember a friend talking about the displacement of people in East St. Louis when they were building an airport there). It sounds like the last topic is similar to the direction you've taken it so far. If you describe the project as one dealing with state/society relations or the history of urban development (maybe relate it to some David Harvey's writings), I think people could get interested in your topic. I am sure that there are many other avenues where you could take this topic. Finally, you mention language as a limiting factor. However, you can also think of it as something in your favor. You will (presumably) be doing research in your native language. This will give you a leg up on the majority of your peers, who will be conducting research in their second/third language. While you first year or so of grad school will undoubtedly be difficult, you will hopefully become more confident and comfortable in English over time. In my program at least, most of our foreign grad students seem to need a year or so before they feel really confident in English. By the time they complete the PhD, all seem pretty comfortable with English.

I think that calling would be a bad idea. A potential student appearing to be too needy/anxious can be a big red flag. I mean, we all really are needy and anxious and good advisers are willing and able to help you through the worst of these episodes. Nevertheless, they want to be reasonably confident that you are not going to overburden them. I would suggest that you take a breath, wait for these people to reply to you (remember also that younger people, who have spent most of their lives in the digital age, have different expectations about what constitutes a reasonably response time) and apply anyways even if you don't hear back from them.

This is an excellent post. Another thing to consider would be spending a few years abroad. Try working in France for a few years. Perhaps this is easier in Asia, where English teaching jobs abound, but it is another thing you can do to at least look into. If you are interested in French colonialism, you could probably go to Vietnam or Morocco without too much trouble.

People drop out of graduate programs all the time. The university will not hold you liable. Your advisers might be disappointed, but shouldn't hold it against as long as you have a valid reason for withdrawing from your program.

Taking out loans for a PhD is almost always a bad decision (although sometimes it is absolutely necessary). Even if the loans are subsidized, there are still times when they might hurt you. If you ever have to go on leave, for example, you would no longer be a student and would have to pay back your loans. Your department should be happy that you aren't taking out loans. They are supporting you with a TAship and are most likely expecting that this is enough to cover your living expenses.

Has anyone received more information about this? I am so curious as to how this decision was reached. Moreover, has anyone been able to receive reviewer comments?

I think that it would be poor form to try to renegotiate after having accepted their offer. You've already accepted their conditions. To attempt to renegotiate now would indicate a lack of good faith on your part. Grad programs are often small. Once one develops a certain reputation, it can be hard to shake off. If I were in your situation, I would only attempt to bargain if I felt that I could not cover my costs under the offered conditions. If this is the case, it might be worth the attempt. However, I would only do so if I was prepared to accept this new, second offer in the event that the grad program did not improve their original offer. If you then end up taking the same stipend you had originally been offered, your program might feel that you had not bargained in good faith.

Thanks, it certainly feels good. I'll be doing research in modern Japan history and I am going to affiliate at Waseda. If you're planning on being in the Tokyo area, you should sign up for the email list for the Waseda Modern Japanese History Workshop. It's a monthly meeting where (mostly foreign) graduate students present their research.