manilowese Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 I have come across a couple of programs that look very good to me, but they aren't listed under US News Top 100 History Graduate Programs. I know that this list isn't everything, but honestly, I cannot understand why certain programs didn't make it. Examples: The New School, Northeastern. I'm sure there are others. What gives :?:
misterpat Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Well, Northeastern very much is listed on USNR rankings. Check page five on the website. It's not ranked, because schools that received less than a 2.5 based on their scoring criteria aren't ranked. The New School isn't, or I missed it. It is on there for other programs (e.g. sociology), so I don't think it is a conspiracy against them or anything like that. I wouldn't ever go to New School for History though, because it's absurd to pay for a graduate degree with the current uncertainty of the academic job market. Unless you have external funding, I'd suggest you adopt a similar outlook on that school.
Dirt Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 I have come across a couple of programs that look very good to me, but they aren't listed under US News Top 100 History Graduate Programs. I know that this list isn't everything, but honestly, I cannot understand why certain programs didn't make it. Examples: The New School, Northeastern. I'm sure there are others. What gives :?: The New School is very much a niche institution. Do they even offer a doctoral degree in history? Northeastern's program is very small and relatively new--only seven Ph.D.'s conferred since it started ten years ago. It takes time to build up a reputation.
kahlan_amnell Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 I have come across a couple of programs that look very good to me, but they aren't listed under US News Top 100 History Graduate Programs. I know that this list isn't everything, but honestly, I cannot understand why certain programs didn't make it. Examples: The New School, Northeastern. I'm sure there are others. What gives :?: Because any rankings have a certain degree of arbitrariness to them. I'd suggest you focus more on figuring out if the program is a good fit for you and finding out if their graduates are finding the kind of job you are interested in finding than the rankings.
manilowese Posted February 26, 2009 Author Posted February 26, 2009 i found one of the New School's reasons: "A gift to your school's annual fund also helps the university's alumni gift participation rate, which is important for several reasons. Alumni gift participation is a factor in The New School's U.S. News and World Report ranking. For better or worse, many people judge the stature of a school on this ranking of which five percent is based on percentage of alumni giving. The more gifts from alumni we receive, the better we look!" http://newschool.edu/alumni/giving.html Yes, the New School offers an MA & PhD in Historical Studies. I do not intend to apply to the New School. I was just curious. (I wouldn't have even known about the school if they hadn't emailed me multiple times.) I did, however, apply to Northeastern for Public History. The program looks great, and I would love to be accepted.
Dirt Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Because any rankings have a certain degree of arbitrariness to them. I'd suggest you focus more on figuring out if the program is a good fit for you and finding out if their graduates are finding the kind of job you are interested in finding than the rankings. I'll second that, especially if you're looking at public history. This seems to be one of the [many] fields that slip through the [many] cracks in USNWR's system. Reputation does matter, but I personally think a program's placement record is the best measure of that.
manilowese Posted February 26, 2009 Author Posted February 26, 2009 And the placement record for Northeastern's public history is pretty rockin'
Louiselab Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 U.S. news? Really? Okay, so I stopped reading US news in 5th grade and couldn't use it for the current events projects. it's the newspaper that is color coded, and people use this as a way of judging their GRADUATE program? There's probably a reason the New York Times doesn't do one.
thepoorstockinger Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Isn't the PhD program in Historical Studies at the New School not a stand alone program? I think it has to be be done as part of a joint PhD program with sociology or political science which may complicate its place on the arbitrary and silly rankings.
feisty Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Isn't the PhD program in Historical Studies at the New School not a stand alone program? I think it has to be be done as part of a joint PhD program with sociology or political science which may complicate its place on the arbitrary and silly rankings. I think you're right. From their website: http://www.newschool.edu/nssr/subpage.aspx?id=9990 Degrees Offered The committee offers a master
fortiesgirl Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 I think you're right. From their website: http://www.newschool.edu/nssr/subpage.aspx?id=9990 Degrees Offered The committee offers a master
fortiesgirl Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Well, Northeastern very much is listed on USNR rankings. Check page five on the website. It's not ranked, because schools that received less than a 2.5 based on their scoring criteria aren't ranked. The New School isn't, or I missed it. It is on there for other programs (e.g. sociology), so I don't think it is a conspiracy against them or anything like that. I wouldn't ever go to New School for History though, because it's absurd to pay for a graduate degree with the current uncertainty of the academic job market. Unless you have external funding, I'd suggest you adopt a similar outlook on that school. You're likely to be given full funding if you apply Jan 15. At least that's what I was told when I visited. I guess I'll find out if that's true if I'm accepted. Otherwise I agree with you and wouldn't (and couldn't!) pay for it myself.
misterpat Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 You're likely to be given full funding if you apply Jan 15. At least that's what I was told when I visited. I guess I'll find out if that's true if I'm accepted. Otherwise I agree with you and wouldn't (and couldn't!) pay for it myself. I suppose the funding stats aren't as bad as I thought (in some fields, I think funding is even more scarce). Still kind of scary funding stats, though: http://graduate-school.phds.org/university/newschool/program/support/history/14157 Good luck, I hope they toss some money your way.
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