<p>For students who major in interdiscplinary majors in college, how do you decide what graduate programs fit your interests? </p>
<p>Let's say you're a Russian Studies, American Studies or African-American Studies major. Do you seek grad school programs in history, economics, sociology or the major itself?</p>
<p>What I would do is: 1) To find out what (types of) schools you are most likely to get into. 2) Go to their course list and find a bunch of specific graduate seminars that interest you 3) Then review the requirements in related fields you've identified and find out which departments will allow and encourage you to take as many of your chosen seminars as possible. 4) Finally, look a little more closely at the stated philosophies, admissions standards, and degree requirements of the departments you have chosen. You can probably weed some out that way. Maybe it's easier to get into sociology at a particular school, for instance. Maybe the history department is super-feminist and you like that. Maybe your ideal advisor only supervises in economics. Whatever. I'm applying to three different types of programs because of my interdisciplinary interests: religious studies, history, and classics. My program will probably look about the same at any of the schools I pick.</p>
<p>Other ways to choose a program include:</p>
<p>reading as many articles as you can in your fields' journals, identifying the authors you like best, and applying to whatever programs they teach</p>
<p>working backwards: what job do you want after grad school, and what is the value of each degree in helping you achieve that? If you're looking for a very academic job, then a highly specific academic department might be best, but degrees that are broader (or have names that sound more broad) might help you keep options open for work outside academe. </p>
<p>In specialized fields there are often specific programs that are widely regarded as being best, so the choice is not one of major field so much as specific program.</p>
<p>I would agree with MaryCeleste. By this point in time, you should at least have a vague idea of what you want to do when you finish school. Look at those positions and find of what types of degrees people who have them obtained. Some jobs require very specific training and degrees. Others are looking for thinkers or people with a broad background of knowledge. Grad school tends to be much more specialized and much more focused than an undergraduate degree so make sure you are in the right area. I also agree with the person who said to read a course catalog of graduate seminars. That may help you to focus your interests. That's actually part of how I chose my area. I knew the broad area I was going to enter, but by reading about courses and requirements of various degrees from the grad catalog I was able to zero in on what I really wanted to do.</p>