Geography

[Sonny]

Welcome Sonny!

I know of a couple of people that have heard from Minnesota but they didn't apply through IIE-Fulbright. So I'm not sure if that helps you or not.

Are you interested in working with Andy Herod at U of Georgia?

Thanks for the warm welcome and for the info. I will check on the local Fulbright office here in my country regarding the status of Minnesota. What complicates my case is that IIE-Fulbright arranges admission matters with the Departments and usually, placement decisions are made as to whether the Dep't is willing to cost-share with Fulbright in sponsoring the PhD student.

I will check on U of Georgia's website again and check on Dr. Herod. As far as I know, only Dr. Kavita Pandit has similar research interest.

By the way, what are the specializations of the people here?

[Sonny]

Hi sonny,

well, this is not really a mail that will help you much...

I have been browsing through fulbright for some time and have not been able to locate a fellowship that may fund international candidates for their PHds in the US. None of the Hubert Humphreys, east-wests or the professional development fellowships seem to fit in. Can you tell me which fellowship are yuo applying through? I dont know where you are from... I'm a "third- world" candidate.

best

Hi! Thanks for the info. Actually, I went through the application process for a Foreign Fulbright grant (foreigners going to the US to do their graduate studies) last year here in my country and got accepted. The Fulbright grant will basically cover my first year of graduate life in the US (even my GRE and TOEFL). Hmm...actually, IIE-Fulbright arranges matters concerning funding and cost-sharing between Fulbright and the Departments they applied me to (at least I am spared from the nitty gritty of these matters). I think the Fulbright program you are referring to is the American program (reverse of mine).

[Sonny]

hey sonny,

i got my MA in geography @ UCLA. let me know if you have any questions about the program.

Hi! I would like to know the general "feel" of the Geography Department in UCLA. I wonder how strong population geography in the Department. Actually, it is my number 1 choice because of the very similar research interest that I have with Dr. Clark. In addition to this, the Department considers "spatial demography/population processes and movements" as one of the major research tracks and Los Angeles seems to be the perfect social laboratory for migration and urbanization studies (but very expensive).

Right now, I am really anxious on whether I got admitted or rejected. I am aware UC schools have some budget problems and cannot really sponsor international students.

BTW, I got mediocre GRE scores (Q - 700; V - 540; AWA - 5.0) but I guess TOEFL redeemed me (280). BS Geography & MA Demography are my educ backgrnd

[Guest guesty guest]

i LOVED the vibe of UCLA geography. lots of smart stuff going on, but also very fun. i didn't really feel like population geography was a huge emphasis there, though. i mean, clark is the dude for that, so you're making the right move if you go there. but the department itself has a number of foci, so population isn't really that big. biogeography and cultural/social/economic geog are probably bigger, in terms of how many students are involved in each subdiscipline.

i highly recommend the program.

[Guest guesty guest]

i LOVED the vibe of UCLA geography. lots of smart stuff going on, but also very fun. i didn't really feel like population geography was a huge emphasis there, though. i mean, clark is the dude for that, so you're making the right move if you go there. but the department itself has a number of foci, so population isn't really that big. biogeography and cultural/social/economic geog are probably bigger, in terms of how many students are involved in each subdiscipline.

i highly recommend the program.

by social, i meant political. sorry. i don't think you can go wrong with UCLA, though. even though pop geog isn't huge there (if only b/c the department presents such broad interests), it's still a great program, clark is incredibly well-known, and the environment is awesome.

[Guest guesty guest]

...and i wouldn't worry *too* much about GRE scores. i entered with only a BA (geography/environmental studies) and my GRE was similar to yours (690Q/580V/610A) and my GPA wasn't stellar (but i did very well in my geography coursework). i think they're more interested in your interests and fit with the department/faculty than your stats.

[Ralphie]

Hi Sonny, congratulations on the Fulbright award/scholarship. What country are you from?

All I would say about rankings is that I believe you're right to be looking at the departments in terms of which specialize in your areas of interest. League tables are meaningless -- the department I'm at now, for example, ranks anywhere from 1st to 7th (in the UK) depending which pseudo-objective ranking you look at.

Obviously you have some idea of which departments are good in your area, but you could look in the Professional Geographer journal for their reports on surveys of AAG specialist group members. For example, cultural geographers surveyed ranked these as the top US/Canada institutions:

Louisiana State University

University of Texas–Austin

Syracuse University

Pennsylvania State University

University of Kentucky

University of California–Berkeley

University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of California–Los Angeles

University of British Columbia

Smith J 2003: Cultural geography: a survey of perceptions held by the cultural geography specialty group. Professional Geographer 55(1), 18-30

But this is cultural geography, and the list would look different for each of the 24 other geography specialisms (including "Bible"). So really, this is just a long way of saying I agree with the way you're trying to decide between departments -- a strong specialization in GIS c.1995 wouldn't be much of a guide to their ability to supervise a thesis on spaces of gender, class and otherness in Jeffrey Archer's prison diary (for example).

[Ralphie]

rising, I was wondering if you've decided where to go?

[Sonny]

...and i wouldn't worry *too* much about GRE scores. i entered with only a BA (geography/environmental studies) and my GRE was similar to yours (690Q/580V/610A) and my GPA wasn't stellar (but i did very well in my geography coursework). i think they're more interested in your interests and fit with the department/faculty than your stats.

Thanks for your insights. What is your specialization?

[rising_star]

Andrew, I haven't decided yet. I'm definitely open to advice.

Sonny, so here's my background. My undergrad is a top school with a major in Comparative Literature and a minor in African Studies. GPA 3.4. Good GRE scores. But, no background in geography though I have taken several classes in anthropology. Currently trying to decide between University of Georgia, Florida State, and Ohio State. My interests are the city and how its portrayed in literature AND third world sustainable development (environmentally and culturally sustainable).

As far as UGA, have you been in communication with Dr. Pandit? She just got promoted to a dean's position (associate or assistant, I can't remember). She's not teaching next academic year and wants to resume teaching in fall 07 but doesn't know if that will happen. She is willing to do independent study courses though... Herod is more economic geography but he's very friendly. If you have questions about the human geographers at UGA, you should ask. I met almost all of them at the beginning of last week...

[Sonny]

Hi Sonny, congratulations on the Fulbright award/scholarship. What country are you from?

All I would say about rankings is that I believe you're right to be looking at the departments in terms of which specialize in your areas of interest. League tables are meaningless -- the department I'm at now, for example, ranks anywhere from 1st to 7th (in the UK) depending which pseudo-objective ranking you look at.

Obviously you have some idea of which departments are good in your area, but you could look in the Professional Geographer journal for their reports on surveys of AAG specialist group members. For example, cultural geographers surveyed ranked these as the top US/Canada institutions:

Smith J 2003: Cultural geography: a survey of perceptions held by the cultural geography specialty group. Professional Geographer 55(1), 18-30

But this is cultural geography, and the list would look different for each of the 24 other geography specialisms (including "Bible"). So really, this is just a long way of saying I agree with the way you're trying to decide between departments -- a strong specialization in GIS c.1995 wouldn't be much of a guide to their ability to supervise a thesis on spaces of gender, class and otherness in Jeffrey Archer's prison diary (for example).

Thanks! I hope there is a similar ranking in population geography but similar to cultural geography, population geography has so many subfields. Before I came up with a list to be submitted to IIE-Fulbright, I asked the AAG Population Specialty Group and someone recommended me certain schools (UCLA, Penn State, Georgia and Washington). Anyway, my final list was UCLA, Penn State, Minnesota and Washington but this list was eventually modified (I really don't know the dynamics within the modifications made by Fulbright) and eventually, only UCLA and Minnesota stayed and added were Indiana, Maryland and Georgia (perhaps they had good offers).

Andrew, are you into cultural geography? Research interests?

Hopefully, people here in the forum will get to meet at the AAG on 2007 (where is the venue?).

BTW, I am from the Philippines

[Ralphie]

Hi sonny,

well, this is not really a mail that will help you much...

I have been browsing through fulbright for some time and have not been able to locate a fellowship that may fund international candidates for their PHds in the US. None of the Hubert Humphreys, east-wests or the professional development fellowships seem to fit in. Can you tell me which fellowship are yuo applying through? I dont know where you are from... I'm a "third- world" candidate.

best

Maybe a strange question, but why do you particularly want a Fulbright fellowship? The money is probably more (I don't know) than the fellowships/assistantships that departments give you, but if it's anything like the British Fulbright there are loads of weird conditions attached. For example, as Sonny said, you aren't able to contact departments directly -- they do it for you. But the big one, for me, was that as a British Fulbright student you have to agree to work back in the UK for at least two years after your PhD. Right now, the thought of having to work in gray, dreary Britain in 5 years' time would make me want to curl up and die. Bottom line, I would guess that a university fellowship/assistantship with the possibility of applying for research grants later on is more flexible. But having said all that, I know very little about it -- nothing for someone from your country -- and I wish you the very best of luck with it!

[Sonny]

Andrew, I haven't decided yet. I'm definitely open to advice.

Sonny, so here's my background. My undergrad is a top school with a major in Comparative Literature and a minor in African Studies. GPA 3.4. Good GRE scores. But, no background in geography though I have taken several classes in anthropology. Currently trying to decide between University of Georgia, Florida State, and Ohio State. My interests are the city and how its portrayed in literature AND third world sustainable development (environmentally and culturally sustainable).

As far as UGA, have you been in communication with Dr. Pandit? She just got promoted to a dean's position (associate or assistant, I can't remember). She's not teaching next academic year and wants to resume teaching in fall 07 but doesn't know if that will happen. She is willing to do independent study courses though... Herod is more economic geography but he's very friendly. If you have questions about the human geographers at UGA, you should ask. I met almost all of them at the beginning of last week...

Cool! It's so nice to hear people who started from a different major and ended up in Geography. How did you get into that kind of research interest? Are you getting into a Master's? Have you already applied or have been offered admissions by these universities? Personally, I focus more on the strength of my specialization which I "feel" in terms of the roster of faculty members (esp. on whether these faculty members are "accessible" which in my case is "measured" in terms of email correspondence), research projects and number of graduate students who have similar research tracks. Although I tend to avoid getting affected by funding issues and related matters, it is still important. As for the other things like climate and all, these are just externalities and ultimately, your graduate experience, in terms of academic training (esp. your thesis) is what matters.

As for U of Georgia, the problem is that I didnt get any reply from Dr. Pandit (maybe because she has been very busy coz of her appointment and AAG stint) in the past after emailing her several times inquiring about the strength of the population geography program (and this was my experience with faculty members with similar interests from U Minnesota and U Wisconsin-Madison). Among the universities I tried to contact in the past, Penn State, UCSB and UCLA were the only ones that had faculty members that replied to my inquries. I am thinking that these faculty members who take time to reply are generally "accessible" and easy to get along with which I think are important factors in finishing one's dissertation/thesis.

[rising_star]

I am getting a Master's degree. I found geography through Google actually, then started looking into departments. I already knew that I wanted to go to grad school and also realized that literature wasn't my main interest anymore. Oh, and I liked that geography was interdisciplinary.

Yes, those are the schools that have offered me admission and funding to start in fall '06. I'm excited but, as I already said, have no idea how to choose a department. I guess I'll look at your criteria and see if they can help me out. Part of the problem has been that everyone has been extraordinarily accessible and responsive to my emails, with several profs giving me their home phone numbers or offering to call me and answer any questions. I honestly don't consider their research projects a criteria because I want to do my own thing and be supported in that. The number of grad students is definitely something that I need to ask (though I know a couple of profs at Ohio State desperately want me to come and work with them which is exciting!).

I'm surprised you didn't hear back from Dr. Pandit. She's been very responsive to my emails but, she just moved up to the Dean's Office the week before AAG. Then there was AAG and then the spring break at UGA so she's really just getting settled in.

Faculty accessibility is definitely a key factor. My senior thesis advisor keeps going AWOL and it's driving me nuts.

[Ralphie]

Sonny, you speak my language! With little else to go on, my decision has been based very much on the "feel" of the department -- and the way in which they respond (or don't) to emails is an important part of this. Anyway, your list looks very strong whichever place you accept, and I hope you end up somewhere that you can do yourself justice.

In terms of my interests, they are fairly broad at this stage -- although they would fall squarely within most definitions of "cultural geography". My undergraduate dissertation is based on popular geopolitics literature (or "cultural geopolitics" as some people like to call it), and this whole area of critical geopolitics interests me. However, in the future I would love to be able to focus on cultural landscape. I have an idea of either taking some of the ideas of Debord and/or Walter Benjamin's themes and approaches to the city, and applying them in a rural context, or else taking Heidegger's notion of "dwelling" and ideas of non-human agency from rural literatures and applying them in an urban context. Very much general ideas at this stage (I much prefer the second one) -- but that's where I'm coming from.

What about you? I mean, "population" is a large area -- what kinds of approaches/literatures/contexts are you interested in? So you're from the Phillipines. Random question -- do you know where the city of Lucena is?

Rising -- I wouldn't pretend to offer advice! All I can say is what I would do (i.e. what I did): First, I listed the three offers that were in the running. I rated them 1st to 3rd for weather (i.e. sunniness), amount of money offered (higher = better), helpfulness and politeness of emails received (obvious), and likelihood of major country music artist performing nearby (i.e. whether Toby Keith would be there this year), and then added up the scores and arrived at the answer. However, at that point I'd already decided from an academic point of view which offers I could accept. So, by that method, I arrived at Kentucky. Having said that, I would have skewed the questions to arrive at that answer. Bottom line would be, in my opinion, go with your instinctive opinion (if you have one). Or else, flip a coin.

[Ralphie]

oooh look, I'm caffinated. As Vicky Pollard might say: "is it my spellings?"

edit: I see we have an "expresso" amongst us too. It begs the question, eh Vicky? [see above]

[Guest guesty guest]

Thanks for your insights. What is your specialization?

i did cultural geography, with a very strong humanistic emphasis. my thesis was on literature, narrative, community, and descriptions of place (a total departure from my undergrad focus, which had been environmental/biogeog).

[rising_star]

guesty, that's so awesome. i'd love to hear more about your research, if you're comfortable with sharing.

[Guest guesty guest]

rising_star - sure, if i haven't already told/bored you about it.

this is romi/in_a_space, so i can't recall if i already explained it, but if i haven't...

i looked at a set of historical fiction works by chaim potok (a jewish-american writer who set his novels primarily in the early- to mid-1900's and focused on orthodox and hasidic communities in new york).

in addition to just kind of summarizing and reflecting on the development of humanistic geography, i discussed potok's work in the larger context of *literature and geography* and explored the dynamic nature of imaginary places and fictional accounts of real places, with a little section on the role of the reader in recreating imaginary/fictional-but-real places (and argued that fictional places are places of meaning, too. since it was a humanistic endeavor, and humanistic geography emphasizes life and places as they are experienced, i posited these fictional places are experienced by readers and become real in that way). i then focused on two of potok's characters in particular, and their experiences with exclusion and belonging within the small jewish communities that they were associated with. i tried to demonstrate how, through narrative, their perceptions/descriptions of place reflected their attitudes regarding the neighborhood and community itself. it had a snazzy title, too.

"Echoing the Warm and Wondrous World: Community, Exclusion, and Belonging in Chaim Potok's Literary Geographies"

...well, i thought it was snazzy, anyway.

[rising_star]

I'm taking a class right now called "Islands in Literature" and it is definitely piqueing my interest in the role of place in literature. In fact, I may take some of the material from this class and turn it into something more profound once I get some geographic knowledge in me.

[Ralphie]

guesty, that sounds really cool -- the way that the experience of real (whether "actual" or immanent/imaginary) places is mediated both through the author's descriptions, and through his characters' "experiences". I've seen a similar idea done badly. It was about the way in which Wessex (Dorset, Devon, Wiltshire [?] in England) is represented in Thomas Hardy's novels. This person's main argument was premised on the idea that not only could (s)he 'get at' the "real" Wessex landscape, but that (s)he could get at the real (i.e. prior-to-langauge) Wessex of Hardy's day, and therefore compare the "reality" with Hardy's representation. A touch "problematic" as they say. The reason I read that person's thesis: for my undergraduate dissertation, I really wanted to do something about "Rebus's Edinburgh" in the novels of Ian Rankin, but I realized I would really struggle to do justice to it. Without any kind of literary background, and with so many possible angles/emphases, I'd tie myself in knots trying to work around all those real/imaginary, language/meaning-type questions, and a bit of half-baked "use" of poststructural ideas. In the end I did just that, but in the area of 'popular geopolitics': "Shock'n'yall in the wor(l)ds of country music: the war on terror and the politics of popular geopolitics". And yes, the rest of it was as badly written as the title :cry:

[Guest guesty guest]

thanks, andrew. i decided early on that the "real" brooklyn was sort of irrelevant, and didn't attempt to compare the characters' descriptions of their places to the actual location. it seemed to me that the imaginary place was enough to take on, and had as much richness as any physical place.

[Sonny]

Maybe a strange question, but why do you particularly want a Fulbright fellowship? The money is probably more (I don't know) than the fellowships/assistantships that departments give you, but if it's anything like the British Fulbright there are loads of weird conditions attached. For example, as Sonny said, you aren't able to contact departments directly -- they do it for you. But the big one, for me, was that as a British Fulbright student you have to agree to work back in the UK for at least two years after your PhD. Right now, the thought of having to work in gray, dreary Britain in 5 years' time would make me want to curl up and die. Bottom line, I would guess that a university fellowship/assistantship with the possibility of applying for research grants later on is more flexible. But having said all that, I know very little about it -- nothing for someone from your country -- and I wish you the very best of luck with it!

Well, it is actually the same as the British Fulbright and other foreign (non-American) Fulbright grants. As a Fulbright scholar, one has to bring back to his/her home country the experiences and skills learned in the US. In my case, I am not planning on staying in the US after my Ph.D. and I would like to strengthen the field of geography in my country and make relevant research projects concerning migration, urbanization and development issues. Basically, I want to plow back to my country, the Philippines, the skills that I will have learned from the Fulbright experience and hopefully, make substantial changes. For me, the Fulbright scholarship means so much more than a mere financial assistantship. Hahaha...I feel like I am living this childhood dream of changing the world for the better and this time, I am embarking on this mission by becoming a geographer.

[Sonny]

rising_star - sure, if i haven't already told/bored you about it.

this is romi/in_a_space, so i can't recall if i already explained it, but if i haven't...

i looked at a set of historical fiction works by chaim potok (a jewish-american writer who set his novels primarily in the early- to mid-1900's and focused on orthodox and hasidic communities in new york).

in addition to just kind of summarizing and reflecting on the development of humanistic geography, i discussed potok's work in the larger context of *literature and geography* and explored the dynamic nature of imaginary places and fictional accounts of real places, with a little section on the role of the reader in recreating imaginary/fictional-but-real places (and argued that fictional places are places of meaning, too. since it was a humanistic endeavor, and humanistic geography emphasizes life and places as they are experienced, i posited these fictional places are experienced by readers and become real in that way). i then focused on two of potok's characters in particular, and their experiences with exclusion and belonging within the small jewish communities that they were associated with. i tried to demonstrate how, through narrative, their perceptions/descriptions of place reflected their attitudes regarding the neighborhood and community itself. it had a snazzy title, too.

"Echoing the Warm and Wondrous World: Community, Exclusion, and Belonging in Chaim Potok's Literary Geographies"

...well, i thought it was snazzy, anyway.

Very interesting!!!

[Sonny]

I am getting a Master's degree. I found geography through Google actually, then started looking into departments. I already knew that I wanted to go to grad school and also realized that literature wasn't my main interest anymore. Oh, and I liked that geography was interdisciplinary.

Yes, those are the schools that have offered me admission and funding to start in fall '06. I'm excited but, as I already said, have no idea how to choose a department. I guess I'll look at your criteria and see if they can help me out. Part of the problem has been that everyone has been extraordinarily accessible and responsive to my emails, with several profs giving me their home phone numbers or offering to call me and answer any questions. I honestly don't consider their research projects a criteria because I want to do my own thing and be supported in that. The number of grad students is definitely something that I need to ask (though I know a couple of profs at Ohio State desperately want me to come and work with them which is exciting!).

I'm surprised you didn't hear back from Dr. Pandit. She's been very responsive to my emails but, she just moved up to the Dean's Office the week before AAG. Then there was AAG and then the spring break at UGA so she's really just getting settled in.

Faculty accessibility is definitely a key factor. My senior thesis advisor keeps going AWOL and it's driving me nuts.

So, have you made a decision yet? Just go for those people whom you can work with. If you think working and interacting with them will be a fruitful experience, then go for it. Try contacting some grad students and ask them what they "feel" about your prospective adviser.

As for Dr. Pandit, I really don't know why she did not respond to my emails. Maybe she was too busy to reply to a prospective graduate student...but I really don't know.

I am so happy to hear of stories of people who found Geography later in their years. Aside from my interest in population geography, I am also interested to really study Geographic thought and answer fundamental issues that geographers have to address like, "What makes something geographic?" Among all the fields of knowledge, I think Geography is one of the most self-conscious....we have geographers exclusively devoted to the philosophy of Geography.