PhD minor / joint PhD?

[AnotherKantFan]

Hi guys!

While waiting out the results and becoming increasingly impatient, I started coming up with new ideas for my graduate life. Some background first: my bachelor degree is in philosophy and modern languages (double major), and I've always been interested in various different topics across the humanities, some of which are rather interdisciplinary. Apart from "pure" philosophy, I'm particularly into philosophy of literature/literary theory and into topics on the border of philosophy, political theory, and legal studies. So I thought that if I got into one of my dream PhD programs, I'd really appreciate the opportunity to take on an additional course: what some American universities call a "PhD minor", others a "joint PhD" (selected after having gotten it), and yet others an additional MA.

 What are your thoughts on this, were you thinking about this yourselves? And do you have any idea which of the American philosophy PhD programs (out of, say, TGR top-30) allow for such a thing? So far, I've been aware of the joint philosophy & social thought PhD at UChicago (!!) and the brand-new literature/philosophy PhD minor at Stanford. And if a program has no policy about this, do you guys think I could just ask to do a second masters sort of "alongside" my main PhD program?  

Edited January 11, 2016 by AnotherKantFan

[gughok]

Out of the places I've applied to, here's what I've noted:

Harvard - you can study a "secondary PhD field", for example I would do mine in Mind, Brain, and Behavior, but I think you could choose practically any department.

MIT - the Philosophy program offers minors in Linguistics, Psychology, or Mathematical Logic. You might be interested in one of the former two.

Princeton - I don't know about minors or dual PhDs, but they have the Center of Human Values, which might interest you.

Rutgers - they famously offer a Certificate in Cognitive Science, though I don't know how much that's your cup of tea.

 

[haltheincandescent]

In addition to what gughok pointed out, Brown for sure has a program specifically for PhDs wanting to pursue a second MA alongside. I'm pretty sure any PhD field can participate, but only certain departments offer the MA. See here: http://www.brown.edu/academics/gradschool/open-graduate-education-participating-programs

[AnotherKantFan]

Thank you Gughok and Haltheincandescent, that's really helpful! I've applied to Harvard, Brown, and Princeton, so very glad to hear about these possibilities. If I understand correctly, no extra tuition fee needs to be paid to an additional masters/minor program?

Edited January 11, 2016 by AnotherKantFan