How do I choose the right PhD programs in American Studies, Culture, or Politics, and how can I strengthen my application?
Hi, everyone! I’m just wrapping up my freshman year in my BA program, double-majoring in History and Political Science with a double minor in African American Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies, plus a certificate in Legal Studies. I’m posting this in a few subreddits for the most help since I am a first-generation university student.
My academic research centers on political theory, socialist and Marxist theory, radical intersectional feminist framework, and liberation and revolutionary movements in the United States. I’m very passionate and really drawn to studying organizing and activist work and how those movements challenge systems of oppression and power.
As for my background, I am an activist and organizer in my area, and my work focuses on intersectional feminist organizing, socialist groups, abolitionist networks, political education, and community mutual aid networks. I’m currently 18, and I have been doing organizing work for the past three years. Much of my research draws on this work, and I’m really interested in studying how U.S. institutions maintain systems of oppression and how communities resist this oppression, build collective power and support, and fight for their own justice or liberation.
My dream is to apply to PhD programs for Fall 2029 (after I finish my undergraduate degree), and I am currently considering American Studies, Culture Studies, Politics, and Political Science as possible fields. I’m still super early in my undergraduate degree, and I want to prepare and plan as much as I can, so I’d like advice on anything and everything!
Here are my main focuses right now:
- What programs align best with my research goals? (Are these attainable research ideas?)
- How can I strengthen my application over the next few years? (How can I get more research experience? What are these fields looking for in applicants?)
- What do admissions committees value in applicants with activist and community organizing backgrounds?
- Which field is the best fit for studying U.S. revolutionary movements, political theory, and structures of power? (Should I be opting for a History PhD instead?)
- Many of the programs I am looking into are reaches. How do I create a stronger admissions profile for those programs?
The current schools and programs I am heavily looking into are these, though I know they are incredibly selective:
- University of Michigan - Ann Arbor - Joint PhD in Women’s and Gender Studies and History
- University of California - Santa Barbara - PhD in Feminist Studies
- New York University - PhD in American Studies
- University of Southern California - PhD in American Studies and Ethnicity
- Brown University - PhD in American Studies
- University of California - Berkeley - PhD in Ethnic Studies
- The New School for Social Research - PhD in Politics
- Princeton University - PhD in Political Philosophy; MA in Politics
- University of Pennsylvania - PhD in Political Science
- New York University - PhD in Politics
- Columbia University - PhD in Political Science
- Yale University - PhD in American Studies
- Harvard University - PhD in American Studies
- George Washington University - PhD in American Studies
- University of Maryland - PhD in American Studies
- University of Michigan - Ann Arbor - PhD in American Culture
- University of California - Irvine - PhD in Culture and Theory
- City University of New York (CUNY) - PhD in Political Science
- Morgan State University - PhD in Applied Sociology and Social Justice
- Arizona State University - PhD in Justice Studies
- Arizona State University - MA in Social Justice and Human Rights
I have super huge dreams of continuing my research in a PhD program; it’s genuinely such a blessing to even be in my undergraduate program, and I am so passionate about the work I do and the subjects I currently study. If anyone has advice or help on building a strong profile for PhD applications, I’d really appreciate it! I'd be happy with any advice you are willing to offer!
Thank you so much!