African American Studies Ph.D Fall 2012

[fanon_fanatic]

Anyone else out there applying to an AfAm Ph.D program for Fall of 2012? Which programs did you apply to, and how are you surviving the wait? I applied to Northwestern, Yale and Brown AfAm, and then a bunch of interdisciplinary programs, most of which seemed like a good fit (I use "good" loosely! ). I don't think my chances are so high at the Ivy's but I figured it was worth a try!

Edited January 15, 2012 by fanon_fanatic

[dragonflyingash]

HI fanon_fanatic. I also applied to Yale for AfAm/History. I also applied to NYU for American Studies and the rest (Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, Upenn) for history. I'm de-lurking to say I'm happy there are others around.

I'm doing ok with the wait, trying not to go insane. I know Yale's program doesn't take many students so I think it's a long shot for me, but I guess we'll see.

[fanon_fanatic]

@dragon, welcome to the light (away from the lurking!). I know there are lots out there lurking, come chat!

What would you like to study? I'm doing ok with the waiting too, I had my freak out last week and since then I've been finding other things to do.

[dragonflyingash]

I feel like I'm approaching my second freak out this week. I know I'm getting ominously close to the time when I start hearing back from programs and all I can do is brace myself. Work distracted me for a while but now I'm back again.

I'm interested in memory, race-based mass violence, and historical accountability in America. Specifically focusing on the heavy periods of violence in Reconstruction, post-WWI and Civil rights eras. I felt history would be the best fit for this, but it could also fall into African American Studies or American Studies.

[iequaljoan]

I know this thread seems to have died, but where else to seek out the AfAm applicants?

I was wondering if any of you had heard about Yale interviews for Af-Am Studies. Supposedly all the GSAS departments had to do interviews for this season, but I haven't seen anything posted.

I know for sure interviews have gone out for my second department (History) and I didn't get one of those, but still thinking there might be a sliver of hope.

[dragonflyingash]

Yes this thread did die. Are there really no other AfAm applicants around?

I've heard nothing from Yale, and I have no idea what that means. I'm also not sure how it works with the "second departments." Do they both evaluate your application equally? That was never really clear to me.

I looked at the history from last year and it seems that Yale took a small class and notified pretty late last year, so maybe that's why no one has heard anything.

[fanon_fanatic]

Hi all! I know there are a few other AfAm applicants out there, I saw a few in American Studies and even in the Comm forum. I haven't heard from Yale. Has anyone heard from Brown or Northwestern either?

[supernova1]

No word from Brown or Yale for me yet...Anybody?

[Jbate002]

A good friend of mine just got her admission notice for NorthWestern's AA studies program.

[iequaljoan]

thanks for the news Jbate!

I was rejected from Brown a week back, but no word from Yale yet.

[fanon_fanatic]

Bump. Anyone heard anything?!

[iequaljoan]

Nope, pretty sure Yale is a no-go.

[sci1]

Does anybody know if Yale is rejecting in rounds? There are two posted on the board, but I haven't heard either way (although at this point I tend to assume it's a no)...

[fanon_fanatic]

@sci1, no idea really. We know a lot of American Studies rejections have gone out, but I haven't heard anything yet from Yale (I applied to AfAm and American Studies). There's been a few postings on the board of acceptances for AfAm, but beyond that not much. So most of us are assuming no, but who knows why it takes so long for them to tell us?

[iequaljoan]

MAybe the Yale Af-Am accept/rejects go out at different times depending on the other department. Still haven't heard back either (I'm History).

BTW, Fanon, I'm at UT -Austin RTF right now doing a Master's. You can PM me if you want any info.

[fanon_fanatic]

Got my rejection from Yale today--AfAm and American Studies combined, FYI.

[ronwill06]

I'm applying to African-American Studies programs. Just finished taking my GRE; how do you guys like the programs at your respective schools?

[bffishe]

I'm applying to a handful of programs for the starting Fall 2013 cycle...the Interdisciplinary Studies PhD at Emory University with a focus on Critical Race Studies, UC - Berkeley's PhDs in African Diaspora Studies and Ethnic Studies, U Penn's Africana Studies PhD, some interdisciplinary programs at UC-Davis (Cultural Studies) and UC-Santa Cruz (History of Consciousness), and possibly Northwestern's African-American Studies PhD.

If anyone has any advice on other programs or on applications in general, it would be much appreciated

[Adelaide]

Just wanted to check in as a (potential) application for Fall 2013. I wanted to say hi since Af-Am Studies is my sort of homebase, though I might be applying to Religion, American Studies or History programs, but to do essentially Af-Am studies-type stuff. ANYWAY I hope the Fall 2012ers are well gearing up for their first year.

I'm not well-versed in a lot of African-American studies programs which is why if I do apply this year it'll only be for a three or four at most. But I did talk with a lot of professors this summer at an academic program and they offered a variety of tips about applying to grad school. I don't know if people have specific questions, but you can give me a try. Almost every professor I talked to was an Africana Studies professor in some capacity (though that wasn't necessarily their department) and all were people of color. So if you're interested in knowing something I might be able to pass on the info!