superboy Posted April 12, 2008 Posted April 12, 2008 Hey guys, I am trying to decide between two great PhD East Asian history programs in Cambridge University, UK and a top Ivy league university in the East Coast. While the former has an adviser I would really want to work with who has almost the same exact interests as me, Cambridge traditionally offers much lesser resources (in terms of funding [only 1/3 to 1/2 tuition waver not including living expenses and funding has to be competed for every year from various sources], attention, research grants, library materials etc) than the latter. The latter university does have potential advisers that are peripheral to my interests (in terms of both time periods and research topics), but all of my potential advisers have said they are very willing to work with me on my interests, even though they might not be experts on the field. Another factor to consider is training. In Cambridge, it would be pretty much just working on a dissertation which would be done in 3 years but in the Ivy league university, I will be able to get research, language and coursework training for 2 to 3 years before writing my dissertation. But that also means a longer program. In terms of intellectual community, I guess they are pretty equal with the latter having an edge with a vibrant area studies institute. If I was to go to Cambridge, I would have to pay realistically around 20,000 pounds per year for 2 or 3 years to finish my PhD. For the Ivy league university, it would be pretty comfortable living on a stipend. I have heard mixed things about placement for Cambridge but a very solid placement for the Ivy league university.Do you think my current interests will shift in graduate school? Anyone trying to make similar decisions? If not, which school will you decide on if you were me?
hazelmoor Posted April 12, 2008 Posted April 12, 2008 I would definitely go to the US school. With all the pluses going for it, there's no reason to shell out that much money for a degree which will let you enter a market this bad.
rising_star Posted April 12, 2008 Posted April 12, 2008 Ivy League U. Talk to current students though to get some info on the atmosphere and how realistic living on the stipend is.
superboy Posted April 13, 2008 Author Posted April 13, 2008 I appreciate all the great advice here =) But what do you think of the issue of interests? In your experience, what is the marginal benefit of having an adviser in your same field with exact same interests (Cambridge) versus having adviser in the same field but having different research interests and time periods (Ivy League)? Do people's interests change when they go to graduate school within the same field? Of course this question should be placed in a broader context with the financial and resource concerns I just cited earlier. At this point of time, I do not know if I will change my interests. However, I remember that when I first went to college, I didn't know that I would be a history major and had so much passion for the subject that I wanted to do it in graduate school.
rising_star Posted April 13, 2008 Posted April 13, 2008 I think working with someone with your EXACT interests makes you too narrow. So I'd go for someone that can expose you to other things. For my MA, my advisor doesn't do anything like what I do but sometimes we ask questions in similar ways. That works because she can expose me to literatures that the committee member who has explicitly worked in the same area as me can not. But to each his/her own.
luvalicious Posted April 13, 2008 Posted April 13, 2008 I think working with someone with your EXACT interests makes you too narrow. So I'd go for someone that can expose you to other things. For my MA, my advisor doesn't do anything like what I do but sometimes we ask questions in similar ways. That works because she can expose me to literatures that the committee member who has explicitly worked in the same area as me can not. But to each his/her own. I completely agree with this. People do change their minds in graduate school - for example, my research interests between undergrad and my MA coursework are only vaguely related. Also, I think that it is more beneficial to go the school where there are people willing to work with you and expose you to different thing than a school that has one person doing what you are already interested in. You might find that the professor who is in your same interest area may retire, or leave, or not be as on top of things. (And for the record, I have always been interested in history but it was never my intended field of study as an undergrad. Just saying.)
Recommended Posts