Best interdisciplinary Phd programs?

[Kratistos]

Hello, 

I talked with my philosophy advisor and he thinks that I would do better at an interdisciplinary phd as opposed to philosophy phd. program I starting to agree with him.I like the Chicago Social Thought Phd but I would be interested in learning about other programs. 

My ultimate goal is to become a science fiction author but I am more interested in reading philosophy than classic works of literature. 

Edited March 20, 2016 by Kratistos

[rising_star]

If you want to be a science fiction writer, why not go to MFA creative writing programs? What are you hoping/expecting to gain by completing an interdisciplinary PhD?

[darklullaby]

If you want to write fiction then you don't need a PhD. You don't even need a degree. If you want to be a professor of writing, or a humanities scholar, then a PhD could make sense, but as rising_star noted MFA's are a good route for future creative writing scholars.

For what it's worth, two of the most interdisciplinary programs I know of are U of California-Merced (http://ih.ucmerced.edu/) and Virginia Tech ASPECT (http://www.aspect.vt.edu/).

[Kratistos]

Thank's a lot guys.Here's a bunch of thoughts that keep me awake at night! 

1) One of the main reasons for doing a phd would be to get a job after I graduate. I am an international student, hence, I am worried that if I do an MFA, it may not work out. How will I be able to support myself? Could I get a job? I have some friends who are painters and plan on living off their paintings but is that a reliable career? 

2)My other plan is to get a phd in linguistic anthropology and try to publish novels by the side. Thereby, I could have a job as a linguistic anthropologists and if publishing books doesn't work out, I'll be alright. But would I have any time to write? It seems like the phd path is very demanding and time consuming with a narrow scope. 

3) I originally wanted to be a philosopher but I had some intellectual disagreements with my school faulty, causing my GPA to drop.  After switching to an interdisciplinary major my GPA has gone through the roof. But I have no clear direction. I know I could get into an philosophy MA program with a faculty which has similar interests to mine and take it from there. But afterwards, it seems that at the philosophy path gets harder and harder not only to get into phd programs but also the job market. I am confident I can pull it off but it would require me to invest a LOT of time and effort, and the final payoff might not be top programs..etc. 

4) My other plan of becoming a writer also has me worried. My goal is to have creative freedom to write about social issues. A friend told me about applying to USC or those sorts of schools but my worry is that  after I graduate I could end up writing a within the parameters of certain industries( hollywood manufactured stuff..etc)  and away from my real concerns. 

5) My last two plans are to apply to a Spanish Culture Phd program and since spanish is my native language I could get accepted and try to be literary scholar. Or to apply to a journalism school in NYC do one year and hit the ground running. Therefore, I could improve both my writing skills, grammar but also cover very interesting social issues like radical groups..etc. My worry is if  I would  get stuck there or will I be able to branch out and write comic books and science fiction.  

 

Hahaha, I apologize for writing so much. I am just a young man who has realized that there comes a point in life when one needs to start making tough decisions that will have a long term impact. 

Edited March 21, 2016 by Kratistos

[gradkid]

These are all exciting prospects, although I would caution anyone who wanted to get a PhD for the purpose of securing a job. Especially if one's academic pursuits fall in the creative or humanities categories. Spend some time looking at the status of the job market and employed PhD reports. 

My recommendation would be to find mentors who support your passions -- pose options to them -- then consider this path very carefully. I would also look to people who hold your dream career and reach out to them. Learn how they achieved their own success. Then synthesise your findings and weigh out your options. I also highly recommend professional work before turning to the gruelling training of doctoral work. The professional world adds an important component that I believe allows graduate students to thrive much better in the academy than those who go straight through. I'm not saying it's not advisable to jump from undergrad to a PhD, but I think work and subsequent life experiences can reify your research interests. The experience will probably help you sort out the five options you've listed, too. 

Best of luck!

[darklullaby]

21 hours ago, Kratistos said:

Thank's a lot guys.Here's a bunch of thoughts that keep me awake at night! 

1) One of the main reasons for doing a phd would be to get a job after I graduate. I am an international student, hence, I am worried that if I do an MFA, it may not work out. How will I be able to support myself? Could I get a job? I have some friends who are painters and plan on living off their paintings but is that a reliable career? 

2)My other plan is to get a phd in linguistic anthropology and try to publish novels by the side. Thereby, I could have a job as a linguistic anthropologists and if publishing books doesn't work out, I'll be alright. But would I have any time to write? It seems like the phd path is very demanding and time consuming with a narrow scope. 

3) I originally wanted to be a philosopher but I had some intellectual disagreements with my school faulty, causing my GPA to drop.  After switching to an interdisciplinary major my GPA has gone through the roof. But I have no clear direction. I know I could get into an philosophy MA program with a faculty which has similar interests to mine and take it from there. But afterwards, it seems that at the philosophy path gets harder and harder not only to get into phd programs but also the job market. I am confident I can pull it off but it would require me to invest a LOT of time and effort, and the final payoff might not be top programs..etc. 

4) My other plan of becoming a writer also has me worried. My goal is to have creative freedom to write about social issues. A friend told me about applying to USC or those sorts of schools but my worry is that  after I graduate I could end up writing a within the parameters of certain industries( hollywood manufactured stuff..etc)  and away from my real concerns. 

5) My last two plans are to apply to a Spanish Culture Phd program and since spanish is my native language I could get accepted and try to be literary scholar. Or to apply to a journalism school in NYC do one year and hit the ground running. Therefore, I could improve both my writing skills, grammar but also cover very interesting social issues like radical groups..etc. My worry is if  I would  get stuck there or will I be able to branch out and write comic books and science fiction.  

 

Hahaha, I apologize for writing so much. I am just a young man who has realized that there comes a point in life when one needs to start making tough decisions that will have a long term impact. 

You will need to find a focus for a PhD, but everything you mentioned is possible at U of California-Merced (http://ih.ucmerced.edu/), where half the students are Hispanic and it is located in a town that is half Hispanic. The program also offers a concetratuion in Luso-Hispanic World studies (http://ih.ucmerced.edu/content/multicultural-luso-hispanic-world).  As far as getting into a top program goes, the top program is the one that best matches what you do as a scholar. In the end, you have to do the work that will make a name for you, and that can be done at any school.

[jrockford27]

I think pursuing a PhD will be a major inhibition to your goal of completing any work on the side.  I'm only just now entering the comps phase of my PhD and I've found that "on the side" exists only in very small pockets when it exists at all.  It takes a lot of mental energy just to keep the PhD from consuming your entire life -- and being a PhD student is in many ways a lifestyle in itself.  Once you are in the program, the expectation is that other pursuits will take a back seat -- and this is coming from a person in a program that actually does a pretty good job of promoting self-care and work-life balance.  Yes, this even includes the summer, in fact, you're expected to work even harder on your own academic work during the summer.  You may find that your available time to work on your sci-fi novels will be 20 minutes before bed at the end of a long day where you've already expended substantial mental energy - this is the only time I seem to be able to find to play guitar anymore!

 I gave up my artistic pursuits to enter grad school half expecting that I would take them back up again when I became better established in a new city, but it doesn't really work that way.

While this may sound very glum, I actually quite enjoy my life, and I think grad school is great and I find my research rewarding.  I only want to caution you that pursuing a PhD will substantially limit your ability to pursue anything else until you've defended your dissertation (5-10 years, depending on your field/program/work habits).

I think it's great that you're thinking about tough decisions.  My advice to you, for whatever it is worth, is that if you "have no clear direction" right now, that it is absolutely the wrong time in your life to enter a PhD program, or to even undertake the substantial time and financial commitment of applying.  Take some time to figure out what is most important to you.  Grad school is still going to be there when you figure out what that is. 

 

Edited March 22, 2016 by jrockford27

[Kratistos]

Thank's a lot guys, you are giving me excellent advice. I am leaning towards what jrockford27 said. I do think that doing a phd is an big commitment and realistically it will suck a lot of time out of me. For me now it is more about "CONSEQUENCES." Like realistically how will my day to day look like if I choose path X. Or how will my situation change? That is the mistake that I made when choosing a small liberal arts college. I made my decision based on expectations and not consequences. I expected that going to a small school would be afford me with a tight knit group of friends. However, I was unable to see that being around the same people would actually be boring and I would have less new people to socialize. Therefore, I am almost 90% sure that I need to take time off and go to NYC to figure some things out. Before, I return and graduate. 

 

Edited March 23, 2016 by Kratistos

[ExponentialDecay]

So, uh, real talk, if you get a PhD in Magical Whatsit Studies, can't get a job, and are booted out of the country after 3 months of OPT, what will you do with the degree in your home country?