ANY advice on choosing a grad school (major)...

In My Humble Opinion
1

Okay, I wrote this once, an hour and a half ago, when I was already tired. Alas, this miserable computer let my words flitter off somewhere in the nethernet. In my pain, I decided I couldn’t go about writing it again, yet, it’s almost three in the morning and I’m still waiting for my girlfriend to finish this months issue of the magazine she works for, and I can’t speak enough Chinese to get home by taxi.

Round two.

I want help choosing a grad-school major, and for those of you who think I’ve done this before, you’re wrong. Before I was looking for much broader advice. Now, I think I actually have a narrow(ish) subject.

(My subject before was “everything,” as my problem has never been finding what I want to study, but what I don’t want to study)

It hit me recently, while reading Amartya Sen’s Identity and Violence, that I’ve known for quite some time what I want to study. Here goes:

I want to study globalization’s ongoing development throughout history, focussing on the interaction between different cultures. One major aspect of this is learning how different cultures stole/adapted/borrowed different things from other cultures/groups. This is all background, though, I guess, for a significant study of identity (thus, Identity and Violence) and how identity acts to hinder interaction (terrorism) or to aid it (the West East Divan Orchestra). The objective of all of this is to understand/imagine/work for peace.

So, here are the questions:

  • What subject heading does this go under? Sociology? International studies?

  • What do I do now? Start writing to professors? I won’t be applying until Fall 2008 or Spring 2009, but I want to get the ball rolling, since I know I need plenty of time to search for financial aid.

  • How do I find the best universities for said subject?

A bit of background about me:

I have a B.A. in English, French minor; a licence de troisieme annee (yes I’m too lazy to put the accents, I’m typing on a Chinese keyboard) in philosophy (taken all in French), and I’m starting Chinese here in Taiwan in March. I’ve traveled extensively in Europe, and I’ve lived in three countries on three continents.

Thank you in advance…

I’m sure I left some stuff out, but I’ll be back later to fill in the holes…

2

I would think that you could study that topic under several disciplines. You didn’t mention if you have a sociology or political science background but assuming you don’t, maybe you should think about a degree in international affairs/relations. Your international experience would really count toward getting admitted. I know that the Fletcher School at Tufts University is one of the top schools in that field, the SAIS school at Johns Hopkins, and I think that George Washington University is also. I am sure you could find rankings online, such as the ones from US News and World Report. If you have taken some relevant courses in undergrad, I’d write to those professors asking for their recommendations. Also you could contact professors who have published about your area of interest and research those universities. You could also try contacting grad students at places you are interested in, to hear the pros and cons. I am sure the department can put you in contact with someone.

Are you interested in a master’s or a phD? If you go for the phD, then you’d probably get funding if you get admitted. If you lack the necessary background for a phD, then a master’s can be a stepping stone although it’s harder to get funding.

Some helpful links about grad school in general:

Applying to Grad School LJ Community
The Grad Cafe

Hopefully someone in your field will chime in with specifics. Good luck!

3

Arien, thanks for the advice, and I’m going to check those sites out. I should mention that I do have some political science experience, aside from being a political junky. At my university, being an English major, I had a lot of elective hours, almost all of which I used taking political science classes, though these were less geared towards political philosophy, than to analyzing conflicts and programs in different parts of the world. I took a class on African politics, the origins of anti-Americanism, and participated in a graduate study group on counter-terrorism.

4

What you wrote sounded like most of it falls under the rubric of sociology, with a little anthropology thrown in for good measure (especially when you talk of studying how cultures borrow from other cultures). In a lot of places, sociology and anthropology are actually combined in the same department, or at least loosely affiliated with one another, so it wouldn’t be too hard (I wouldn’t think) to do a sociology major with a sideline in anthropology. Just whatever you do, for the love of god, stay away from cultural studies programs. Some people might recommend CS b/c of your mention of questions of identity, but CS in the US has developed into narcissistic knee-jerk-relativistic pseudo-intellectual masturbatory crap, IMHO.