African American Studies 2009

[abolitionista]

Sorry to hear that Melo. Good luck with the rest of your schools!

[melo]

Thanks a lot for your support!

[melo]

I've just received a second email from UCB. It feels good to be rejected twice. Dear adcom, I swear I got it the first time, so please don't email thrice. :evil: :!:

[abolitionista]

Thanks a lot for your support!

You're welcome. This process is stressful for us all. It's nice to have support. Even if it's from a "stranger" :wink:

I've heard that the ad comm at Berkeley has been reading applications from Z-A. I'm almost at the begginning of the alphabet so maybe they just haven't gotten around to me just yet.

[melo]

Congrats to the person who got into Harvard!!

[alouette]

Harvard made its calls 2 days ago. (My advisers are on the AdComm.) Incredibly difficult to get in, this year.

Good news for some of you, I hope!

Kfed,

Is this how you know that you've been rejected from Harvard AfAm? Your advisers told you? Do you know if there is a waitlist or when everyone else should expect the official rejection letter?

Thanks,

Alouette

[kfed2020]

hey, sorry for not seeing this.

yes, i know because of my institutional proximity to the department -- but also because i got my rejection letter yesterday. =) womp womp.

and also-also, it's no small secret that programs hesitate to take in a grad student that went to that same school for college, and since 2 of us applied this year, i knew it'd be the other person, whose project is much more of a fit for af am than mine. i really need to be in an english department.

[abolitionista]

Has anyone else heard from Berkeley? The month is blazing by and now I'm starting to get worried.

[GoodGuy]

I heard from Berkeley around mid-Feb via phone call from the dept...I wanna know when Yale is letting people know.

Any ideas? Has anyone gotten accepted there yet?

GG

[abolitionista]

thanks goodguy. And someone else was also already denied. anyone else? i'm just wondering if i'm on some unofficial waiting list? or wondering if my application has yet to be reviewed? thanks folx

[immersion]

Guys, I got to tell you that I think Af Am Studies at Harvard is more hype than it is substance...Gates isn't a very good adviser and with few exceptions there aren't very many people with whom to work. Its also pretty resistant to some of the most exciting work going on in the discipline to date..

[m41]

Guys, I got to tell you that I think Af Am Studies at Harvard is more hype than it is substance...Gates isn't a very good adviser and with few exceptions there aren't very many people with whom to work. Its also pretty resistant to some of the most exciting work going on in the discipline to date..

I go to Harvard and disagree emphatically. (And I was also rejected from AAAS.)

[kfed2020]

To be fair, Gates doesn't really promote himself as an advisor these days.

There are some great people in the department, but it's true -- resources are limited.

The thing you have to remember, though, is that all students on the PhD program are required to get a masters in their primary field. That means, if your field is English, potentially taking classes with Marjorie Garber, Larry Buell, Elaine Scarry, Homi Babha, etc., in addition to Werner Sollors, Biodun Jeyifo and Glenda Carpio in Af Am. Same with any other field. When you think of it this way, really you have all the resources that someone in one of those primary fields with would have -- plus the added benefit of great interdisciplinary race training.

Really only good for the highly motivated, but definitely a strong program altogether.

[Othello's alter]

Has anyone out there who applied to Cornell's Africana Studies program heard anything yet?

[immersion]

I got to say Kfed from talking to folks in (coincidentally) both English and AfAm Harvard's resources are pretty limited. The names you mention are really some of the fore father and mothers of their respective interests but, again, are not the best advisers...If you goto Harvard, you are on your own...

[Yellow#5]

How many here think immersion is waitlisted for this program at Harvard and is therefore insisting it sucks in order to discourage others from accepting?

*raises hand*

[m41]

How many here think immersion is waitlisted for this program at Harvard and is therefore insisting it sucks in order to discourage others from accepting?

*raises hand*

That's very funny...but I'd say no. Seems s/he just likes talking shit about Harvard. It happens.

[naniifresh]

Re: Cornell Africana

I received a call from Carol Boyce Davies last Thursday or so. She made me (almost) regret choosing Brown over Cornell Africana.

Best of luck,

NF

[GoodGuy]

Re: Cornell Africana

I received a call from Carol Boyce Davies last Thursday or so. She made me (almost) regret choosing Brown over Cornell Africana.

Best of luck,

NF

Hey, just curious, if you don't mind saying, which program at Brown are you considering? Also considering Brown here...

GG

[immersion]

No, I'm neither wait listed nor do I like talking shit (well..maybe I do)...both my advisors are recent Harvard grads..one from a post doc program and one from the am civ program..I also spent a good amount of time talking with a few grad students in the program...and was kind of being recruited through a few programs I'm affiliated with..plus, I spend a lot of time researching a program's history...by which I mean..I track the publications of students who have graduated from the program and look at the acknowledgment sections of their books and articles (which is actually really helpful because you get a sense of both the departments culture and where they received most of their intellectual development)....but, ce la vie, I'm not here to make a ruckus..just to conversate

[naniifresh]

Hey, just curious, if you don't mind saying, which program at Brown are you considering? Also considering Brown here...

GG

Hi GoodGuy,

Congrats on all of your admits! I'm considering Comparative Literature at Brown with the intention of working closely with the Africana Studies department (which is absolutely fantastic). Are you going to the recruitment weekend?

Best,

NF

[GoodGuy]

Hi GoodGuy,

Congrats on all of your admits! I'm considering Comparative Literature at Brown with the intention of working closely with the Africana Studies department (which is absolutely fantastic). Are you going to the recruitment weekend?

Best,

NF

Right back at you! Congrats! Hope your waiting game wasn't as agonizing as mine! :roll:

Yup, I'm gonna go to Brown's student invite...as for Africana, there are some great great people in the dept at Brown, especially Tricia Rose, Corey Walker, Tony Bogues, and Francoise Hamlin who just came in last year. And in Comp Lit there are some good folks too, especially Arnold Weinstein (the Faulkner/Morrison expert who I THINK should still be here if/when you matriculate) and Susan Bernstein, who does a lot of comparative theory stuff... If you go let me know and I can tell you more about Brown (did my undergrad there.)

Later

GG

[kfed2020]

....but, ce la vie, I'm not here to make a ruckus..just to conversate

(Pet peeve alert: "c'est la vie," and "converse." Conversate is not a word... I hate to be 'that guy,' but we're getting PhD's, people! We need to step it up!)

So, yes: many of the faculty at Harvard are superstars lacking in free time, but do realize that Harvard isn't shy about being a little grad-focused. Certainly that's been shifting, and yes there will always be professors to avoid -- Homi Bhabha would be an example -- but there are some really great mentors outside of some of the 'bigger names,' and these people are big names themselves: Larry Buell, Phil Fisher, others. I've not heard negative things about studying with Elaine Scarry. I mean, sure, she doesn't have an email address and is a little loopy, but she's a great ally. Helen Vendler is my friend's adviser, and he seems to adore her. I've heard good things about the medievalists, as well.

As well, any Af Am student is going to have to work with Evelyn Higginbotham at some point, and she's got the tough matriarch style that some students find very, very beneficial.

There are problems with Harvard's faculty, but I don't know that I'd accuse the English department as a whole of bad advising.

[m41]

John Stauffer (of Af-Am, English, and the head of Am Civ) directed my thesis. He gave me detailed notes on every paragraph I wrote, suggestions on content and style, suggestions for further reading, and endless enthusiasm. In the African Languages program, John Mugane will arrange for you to learn literally whatever language you want. These experiences were not anomalies. I have found the department to be the intellectually generous and extremely supportive.

From my own experiences, I don't agree with the idea that "if you are at Harvard that you are on your own." It is true that you must be extremely motivated. But, if you are not, then why are you attending graduate school anywhere?

I hate responding to the I-knew-someone-who-knew-someone-who-hated-Harvard-so-I-didn't-want-to-go-anyway-and-they're-really-a-bunch-of-phonies talk. Especially during admissions (and rejection) season.

But since there is relatively little information about Af-Am programs, I want to offer those personal experiences with the department and strongly recommend it. See the various speaker series and Du Bois colloquiums (see "events calendar" at http://aaas.fas.harvard.edu/news_events/index.html). See the breadth and depth of courses given on African studies (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cafrica/aca ... urses.html). See what's happening at the Du Bois (http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/).

Negatives? They're not transparent at all about the admissions process. If you apply for one primary field, and they feel you are a better fit for another, they will not transfer your application, but ask that you re-apply next year. Also, if you fall off pace, no one seems to really go out of their way to pick you back up. In my experience, if you're down, they're down; if you fall off, you're wasting their time. I can't say that I disagree with that. But it is certainly not for everyone.

[naniifresh]

Did anyone else happen to catch this:

"Princeton African American Studies, PhD Accepted via Other on 4 Mar 2009 O 3 Mar 2009 10 k to fit me with grillz. 2k for grape soda. Annnnd I get to be Cornel West's rent boy."

Really?