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History PhD
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Date: January 11th, 2005 6:38 PM Author: swollen puppy parlour Post any relevant info. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1912433) |
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Date: January 11th, 2005 7:35 PM Author: ivory mischievous coldplay fan Really, really hard to get a job afterwards. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1912897) |
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Date: January 11th, 2005 8:12 PM Author: know-it-all aromatic boistinker stage True, schools accept a shitload of history phd candidates to meet the teaching load even though there are no jobs out there. This makes the job hunt suck and leads to a situation where a few "stars" in the department will get alot of attention while others are left to fen for themselves. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1913144) |
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Date: January 11th, 2005 10:44 PM Author: exciting mildly autistic theater What about from top schools? Is it really that tough to get a job with a Ph.D. from Yale? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1914129) |
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Date: January 11th, 2005 10:48 PM Author: ivory mischievous coldplay fan Yes. Honestly.
The difference is that from a top school, you'll actually have SOME chance at a job SOMEPLACE. (Outside of the top schools, you basically have no chance, period.) Look at your local TTT's faculty profiles for humanities departments--odds are, the department is filled with faculty members who did their PhDs at the "top" schools. |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 12:07 AM Author: Hyperventilating galvanic lodge This wasn't the case until the 1990s. It is now, unfortunately. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1914679) |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 12:11 AM Author: Gay mind-boggling national hunting ground I think that this is a bit of an exaggeration. People from top schools still get decent jobs. The key is publishing. I chose a TTT at random and found very few faculty members from top schools:
http://www.kutztown.edu/acad/english/Faculty/ |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 12:21 AM Author: Hyperventilating galvanic lodge One of Stanford's 2003 English PhD grads wound up at Pace University. |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 12:24 AM Author: Gay mind-boggling national hunting ground I guess TTT is relative. Most would consider that a very good job. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1914856) |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 12:39 AM Author: curious obsidian step-uncle's house persian Any job being a good job. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1914989) |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 9:31 AM Author: Gay mind-boggling national hunting ground To a certain extent, yes. But Pace is a far better university than Kutztown, my example. It's hard, but there are factors you can control. Two or three journal articles and you're in great shape. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1915978) |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 1:43 PM Author: Hyperventilating galvanic lodge I dunno... not to be a snob, but hiring used to be between "peer schools," i.e. a Stanford grad would go work at Berkeley. Then Stanford started feeding to schools like UC Riverside. Now they are feeding to Pace?? |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 1:50 PM Author: Gay mind-boggling national hunting ground They still do, and I think that there's even a bit more parity at this point (however limited). There's a recent Duke grad at Princeton. I'd be willing to bet that the Pace person didn't publish at all or studied in an "overburdened" field like Renaissance. I see what you're saying, but you take what you can get. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1917005) |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 2:04 PM Author: Hyperventilating galvanic lodge TS, what do you think are the hottest/least "overburdened" subfields in English these days? Same questions go for film studies / media studies / philosophy, if anybody knows. |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 2:20 PM Author: Gay mind-boggling national hunting ground This is just what I've heard from professors, so I can't claim statistical evidence. Medieval is supposed to be fairly open because so few people go into it, and Rhet/Comp. is supposed to be good. To a lesser extent, I've heard the same for 20th century American, mainly because there is a higher demand for undergrad courses in the field relative to say, 19th century British. I don't know much about those other fields (can't imagine media studies people are getting hired in stricly media studies department), but I've been told by the department head at my undergrad (small LAC that's done a surprising amount of hiring in the last five years) that hiring commities are looking for multi-talented candidates. In other words, people who can teach 20th century American, 20th century British, and something else like critical theory, film studies, or multicultural. Diversify yourself. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1917125) |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 2:26 PM Author: Hyperventilating galvanic lodge "Diversify yourself."
Also, don't forget to bigupyaself. Brrrt. Respect. |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 3:10 PM Author: Hyperventilating galvanic lodge BTW, here are placement statistics for Stanford. I think I misrepresented them by pointing out the Pace person, who as it turns out is Australian, which might hurt in the US job market.
http://english.stanford.edu/curriculum.php?program=placement&order_by=year_appointed&order=DESC
Note that they don't include people who didn't get jobs. Also note that they placed at a large number of Canadian universities, for some reason. |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 3:27 PM Author: ivory mischievous coldplay fan "Note that they don't include people who didn't get jobs."
Yeah, and that's always the big question... |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 8:35 PM Author: Gay mind-boggling national hunting ground Also, protect ya neck. Yeah, they are sneaky devils about placement statistics. But I can't imagine that they graduated many more than 14 PhD's in 2004, so that page may actually be representative. On the whole, those are some decent placements.
Very interesting. Thanks for the link. |
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Date: November 30th, 2005 8:48 AM Author: Diverse Mahogany Trailer Park Holy shit, that school is 15 minutes from where I grew up. My bro took classes there and said it was a real shithole of a TTT. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4418792) |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 11:17 AM Author: dark adventurous skinny woman alpha Doesn't a lot of it depend on what field is in vogue when the person does his PhD and starts publishing? I got that feeling when talking to a friend who's applying to some PhD programs in French history, when she told me that a professor we both had (at different times) told her that her field was at its high point a little while ago, or at least that it wouldn't be at its peak when she was done. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1916204) |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 11:31 AM Author: greedy insecure market Some fields are more popular than others.
A person whose background is race/ethnicity politics, computer science, or another hot topic field will have more job prospects (especially if that person is of a underrepresented background) than someone whose background is French and medieval history. Sad, but true.
It's called the 'law of demand.' |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 12:06 PM Author: swollen puppy parlour So what fields or topics are now popular in Modern European History. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1916371) |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 12:33 PM Author: ivory mischievous coldplay fan The other difference is that the guy with the CS PhD can always go to work for Google or Microsoft, too, and the person with the background in race/ethnicity politics is basically limited to academia and possibly left-wing think tanks. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1916528) |
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Date: November 26th, 2005 12:29 PM Author: hairless bawdyhouse pozpig this is where street smarts come in, too. one of my professors at mount holyoke founded her own diversity consulting firm (its doing pretty well). her phd is in psych, but focused on race/ethnicity politics.
just stating the obvious, i know, but i thought i'd just share that example.
also, i went to a state department recruitment seminar and one woman had just joined after finishing her phd in art history.
both of the above examples are exceptions, of course, but i think a friendly reminder that this is america and there are always options (NOT the case in other countries, as im finding out) is always in order. |
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Date: November 30th, 2005 8:57 AM Author: Diverse Mahogany Trailer Park why not right-wing think tanks? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4418800) |
Date: January 11th, 2005 7:59 PM Author: curious obsidian step-uncle's house persian You start first. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1913094) |
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Date: January 11th, 2005 10:27 PM Author: exciting mildly autistic theater My friends applying to history grad school seem to have a shocking amount of confidence that they'll not only get in, but have great job prospects afterwards. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1914017) |
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Date: January 11th, 2005 10:33 PM Author: greedy insecure market Which has better job prospects:
History Ph.D. vs. PoliSci Ph.D. vs. Sociology Ph.D. |
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Date: January 11th, 2005 10:51 PM Author: Hyperventilating galvanic lodge Poli sci PhD, provided that they publish a lot, and successful poli sci people publish a LOT.
I know someone who went to a top 5 program in history and got one job interview. Not one offer, one interview. |
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Date: January 11th, 2005 11:02 PM Author: exciting mildly autistic theater It seems like the polisci people getting jobs these days are either behavioralists who love math or just people being hired as lecturers to teach the basic stuff because the professors are too busy running linear regressions to do it. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1914263) |
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Date: January 11th, 2005 11:04 PM Author: ivory mischievous coldplay fan Well, in all areas of humanities and social science, there are generally decent opportunities at the lecturer/adjunct level. Problem is, those jobs are part time, don't have benefits, and are generally pretty dead-end. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1914278) |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 3:01 PM Author: Arousing Candlestick Maker Prole I don't think polisci prospects are as grim as people here make them out to be, except in certain fields. There are a fair number of nonacademic jobs too. Check out Stanford's placement: http://www.stanford.edu/group/polisci/placement_history.html
History is supposed to be pretty grim though. Don't know about sociology.
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Date: January 11th, 2005 11:13 PM Author: Diverse Mahogany Trailer Park Oh yeah baby, poli sci all the way. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1914334) |
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Date: January 12th, 2005 12:03 AM Author: greedy insecure market How are job prospects for Sociology?
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Date: January 12th, 2005 12:33 PM Author: Odious parlor I'd love to get my PhD in American History..but I would rather not be unemployed. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1916527) |
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Date: January 22nd, 2005 8:31 PM Author: vivacious ocher headpube Exactly. The dismal career prospects after finishing undergrad with a history major were enough to scare me out of a phd. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#1982523) |
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Date: January 28th, 2005 6:54 PM Author: Crystalline telephone nibblets Subject: job prospects there's an article on the job market in the latest issue of Perspectives put out by the AHA. it basically says the market has sucked over the last 15 years--43% of grads from the top 25% of schools with full time tenure track gigs. overall only 32% made it into the profession they trained an average of 8 years to get into. i imagine the top 5-10 schools, do a bit better overall, with some bigwigs placing most of their advisees. it also says it takes an average of 1-3 years of adjuncting after getting the degree before the tenure track job comes through. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#2020660) |
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Date: November 26th, 2005 11:39 AM Author: translucent police squad base bump
Does the job scene differ any for various types of history PhDs? For instance, would East Asian/Slavic History/Studies have an easier time than someone with a PhD in American History? |
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Date: November 26th, 2005 4:42 PM Author: titillating windowlicker most definitely. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4387432) |
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Date: November 26th, 2005 6:01 PM Author: Dull quadroon indian lodge Absolutely. According to one of my professors, there are more job openings in Korean history right now than there are people graduating from PhD programs with Korea specializations.
That same professor is 2 years removed from completion of his PhD (granted, it was at Harvard) in Tibetan history, and he now holds an endowed chair in Modern Tibetan Studies at Columbia. |
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Date: November 26th, 2005 6:43 PM Author: translucent police squad base Interesting. Do you have any idea of what the situation is for people who specialize in East European/Russian/Slavic History? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4388387) |
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Date: November 26th, 2005 9:04 PM Author: Dull quadroon indian lodge I'm not sure. My response to ltorivia applies here as well. The more specialized your focus, the better your shot is at hitting a niche field that has a surplus of openings. It all depends on what your focus is within Slavic History. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4389581) |
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Date: November 26th, 2005 9:01 PM Author: greedy insecure market What about African-American history? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4389551) |
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Date: November 26th, 2005 9:03 PM Author: Dull quadroon indian lodge I have no idea. It's highly specialized, so there's probably a demand for it somewhere. I don't know where that would be, though, because I don't know anything about that discipline. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4389572) |
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Date: November 27th, 2005 1:39 PM Author: Glittery White Nowag Alright, this has been a discouraging thread.
I'm divided between a History degree, focusing on early 20th-century Latin America
or a Spanish and Portuguese degree, focusing on early 20th-century Latin America.
I've heard some speculation on which could be a more fiscally fruitful career... what do y'all think?
EDIT: I'm currently applying to MA programs in Latin American Studies. |
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Date: November 27th, 2005 1:49 PM Author: Razzle Naked Lay In the words of a former history prof of mine: "Don't get a PhD in history." (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4395094) |
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Date: November 27th, 2005 10:06 PM Author: Violet party of the first part You can see from this site how Yale History Ph.D.'s did last year.
http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/academics/profile/history.htm |
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Date: November 28th, 2005 2:27 PM Author: brass deer antler 20% unemployed -- sad. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4402754) |
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Date: November 28th, 2005 3:28 PM Author: Lascivious violent dilemma Wow this is kind of a depressing thread. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4403247) |
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Date: November 29th, 2005 2:10 PM Author: brass deer antler any good news out there? like you can always go into i-banking? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4411291) |
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Date: November 29th, 2005 2:54 PM Author: Crawly misunderstood state only if you replace "i-banking" with "the community college system" (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4411567) |
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Date: November 30th, 2005 1:27 AM Author: federal heady community account Oh boy. Here we go again. There are always some Ph.Ds talking about how consulting, finance, i-Banking, etc. firms want to hire "smart Ph.Ds with critical thinking skills." Hate to bring you back down to earth but the vast majority of history Ph.Ds will not be sought after by the Goldman Sachs and McKinseys of this world. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4417501) |
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Date: November 30th, 2005 1:39 AM Author: Dull quadroon indian lodge They'll be no less sought after than graduating seniors, assuming that we're talking about top schools. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4417641) |
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Date: November 30th, 2005 3:05 AM Author: federal heady community account Might want to re-think your statement.
The senior is going to be young and hungry. The Ph.D is going to be 6-8 years older with more attitude. Assuming roughly equal intelligence, I'd take the graduating senior over the guy who spent the last 6 years holed up in a library poring over Alexander Hamilton's notes to write the dissertation that about 4 people in the whole world are interested in. |
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Date: November 30th, 2005 7:47 AM Author: Fluffy pocket flask . . . and, someone who has a PhD in History is likely applying for their "second choice" of career when going after I-banks. The I-banks know this. This is not to say that History doctors do not get these types of jobs, but the thought that you would be in a great position to slide into such a job is not realistic. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4418756) |
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Date: November 30th, 2005 11:45 AM Author: Crawly misunderstood state History PhDs may not be young, but they're probably plenty hungry. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4419203) |
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Date: November 30th, 2005 1:57 PM Author: federal heady community account They'll be hungry but I think you'll find that Wall St. will still generally take the 22 year old who will run through brick walls. Let's face it - we all know academic types and they are mostly not cut out for the grind and pressure of Wall St. That was NOT a statement about intelligence if some of you might interpret it that way though I'm not sure that a history Ph.D who is not comfortable with numbers is a good fit with I-Banking. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4420006) |
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Date: November 30th, 2005 2:09 PM Author: Crawly misunderstood state Of course. My comment was intended purely as a cheap swipe at the earning power of humanities grad students. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4420086) |
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Date: November 30th, 2005 2:14 PM Author: federal heady community account The funny thing though is that some of them (mostly I'm talking about humanities Ph.Ds but even science/engineering Ph.ds) are so insecure about their intelligence, marketability, etc. that they go around making those stupid statements about how they could work in banking, consulting, etc. Do they realize how hard those jobs are to get? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4420122) |
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Date: December 3rd, 2005 11:07 PM Author: greedy insecure market So I'm assuming the basis consensus is: if you don't have a very passionate topic, don't even bother applying for a History PhD (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4454235) |
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Date: December 3rd, 2005 11:19 PM Author: Fear-inspiring Big Blood Rage Stead That should be the idea behind applying to any PhD program. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=123209&forum_id=3#4454343) |