Harvard MA vs fully-funded PhD

[StrangeLight]

Ask Harvard for a full tuition remittance. Tell them it's unreasonable for you to go 50, 60, 70 grand into debt for this degree and that you have other funded PhD offers. Worst case, nothing changes.

this is a really good idea. if you can strong-arm them into funding you, then harvard's probably worth the risk of doing area studies instead of history. keep in mind that you may still need to complete a truncated version of history MA in addition to the area studies MA, probably adding a year of coursework and an extra thesis to your schedule.

as you've seen from other posters, the MA doesn't guarantee much. if you do go to the fully funded PhD and find that you are indeed on an intellectual island, that your advisors can't quite help you along as well as you'd like, then it's pretty reasonable to apply for a PhD somewhere else.

whatever you decide, good luck to you!

[TMP]

I looked over your introductory post. I think you're sort of where I am, really. (Only I wish I was actually FLUENT in one of my area studies languages!) Before you make the decision on Harvard, think hard exactly what you want to get out of the MA. Most people really use the MA to bring up their UG GPA, language skills, or research experience. I entered in my MA program largely to experience graduate school and get my languages in order.

But an "area studies" program can sort of warp your mind sometimes because you are not in history! Do you really want to repeat your area studies program, only at graduate level? I disliked my area studies minor as an undergraduate because I had to take literature courses (I was very weak at writing literary critiques) and I was lucky that I managed to avoid religion courses. I knew I needed to take a lit course in my MA program and I was real *excited.* I wanted to die after 3 weeks in my lit course because it was with an English professor and I was the only non-English department member (PhD or MFA) in my class. Also, you'll be taking interdisciplinary courses within the department that will be easy OR hard, depending on the professor. My dream semester was when I could take 2 history courses and a language course. The other semesters weren't too much fun overall. One of my friends in the program also agreed and couldn't wait to start her history PhD program so she could take straight history classes. Now she's happy as a clam.

Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses in your current area studies program. If you're well-balanced, then the MA (with more money from Harvard of course) can be up to you to decide. If you find that you're very strong in history courses than literature or political science, I'd take the PhD offer because you'll do better GPA-wise if you wish to re-apply.

Good luck!

[JustChill]

UPDATE: I contacted Harvard and they ain't budging on funding. Not too surprised. After careful thought, I've decided that I'm going to go for one of my two fully-funded PhD offers.

Now, the last decision -- UNC vs Notre Dame.

Notre Dame has one professor who is very close to my research interests and has been recruiting me actively. But, their program is not as highly ranked as UNC's.

UNC has two professors in my field, but their interests are not really very close to mine (especially one of them, who works on a totally different century).

ND's funding offer is a lot better -- about 20k more overall. However, I have heard a lot better things about living in Chapel Hill than Notre Dame/Great Bend.

ND's program in my subfield is much younger and their faculty haven't been there as long, so it's hard to really get a good sense for their placement record in my subfield. As a department overall, I know that it's pretty damn good.

So, my future colleagues, what would you recommend?

[ChibaCityBlues]

UPDATE: I contacted Harvard and they ain't budging on funding. Not too surprised. After careful thought, I've decided that I'm going to go for one of my two fully-funded PhD offers.

Now, the last decision -- UNC vs Notre Dame.

Notre Dame has one professor who is very close to my research interests and has been recruiting me actively. But, their program is not as highly ranked as UNC's.

UNC has two professors in my field, but their interests are not really very close to mine (especially one of them, who works on a totally different century).

ND's funding offer is a lot better -- about 20k more overall. However, I have heard a lot better things about living in Chapel Hill than Notre Dame/Great Bend.

ND's program in my subfield is much younger and their faculty haven't been there as long, so it's hard to really get a good sense for their placement record in my subfield. As a department overall, I know that it's pretty damn good.

So, my future colleagues, what would you recommend?

Don't worry so much about program rankings. Instead, think about who it will be more beneficial for you to be an advisee of once you get on the job market. If ND has the better fit and your potential adviser looks like he or she will be the next hot thing in your field, take the extra money and run!

[Nytusse]

UPDATE: I contacted Harvard and they ain't budging on funding. Not too surprised. After careful thought, I've decided that I'm going to go for one of my two fully-funded PhD offers.

Now, the last decision -- UNC vs Notre Dame.

Notre Dame has one professor who is very close to my research interests and has been recruiting me actively. But, their program is not as highly ranked as UNC's.

UNC has two professors in my field, but their interests are not really very close to mine (especially one of them, who works on a totally different century).

ND's funding offer is a lot better -- about 20k more overall. However, I have heard a lot better things about living in Chapel Hill than Notre Dame/Great Bend.

ND's program in my subfield is much younger and their faculty haven't been there as long, so it's hard to really get a good sense for their placement record in my subfield. As a department overall, I know that it's pretty damn good.

So, my future colleagues, what would you recommend?

Notre Dame does seem like the better option. I guess it depends in part on how much you care where you live?

At any rate, what one person hates in an environment and/or in a school may be to someone else's taste, so go visit each place if you can. There will be so many differences between the two that the decision will either become obvious or at least more productively complicated.

[Sparky]

Now, the last decision -- UNC vs Notre Dame.

Well, are you awesome and fun and with a good sense of humor? Especially if you might be dropping in on a medieval class from time to time? 'Cause if you're actually really boring in person, definitely go with UNC.

But then again, I'm understandably (and shamelessly) biased.

South Bend is, indeed, North Nowhere. A visit is probably a good idea. Keep in mind that it is graduate school, and so you will probably be spending most of your time in the library/wherever the history grad student cubicles are...but be sure you can put up with the Real Midwest for 5-6 years. (On the plus side, Chicago is 1.5 hrs away. On the downside, lots and lots of Nothing is much closer).

What are the course offerings like (in terms of connection with your interests) at the two schools? Classwork is going to be the major part of your life for the first couple of years, so if there are not courses offered in which you are interested, you will be much less engaged and less happy.

[eurocentric]

I think that the best choice is to go with ND. The funding is better, the faculty is more in tune with your interests, the requirements of grad students for funding is less, and most importantly you already seem like you feel that ND is the best choice. Whatever you decide, good luck!!

[tourist]

If you have any chance to, then visit. Both schools should offer reimbursements and only then will you be able to make a sound decision. Feel out both schools, the city, the faculty, and the students. Good luck!

[rsahk]

Visit and see what your gut tells you. Both UNC and Notre Dame have excellent reputations in history, though placement obviously varies by subfield. But I can look across top departments in my subfield and see *tons* of people from UNC and ND.

By the way, I think you're making the right choice. I have a semi-related area studies MA and I don't think it helped a lick with admissions.