PhD in American Studies

<p>Hi! I'm currently an junior undergraduate majoring in political science, and for most of my life I was pretty sure I wanted to be lawyer. This past semester, I took a course on the history of American law, and I realized that I found studying American law to be fascinating, but I don't think I really want to practice law. This has forced me to really rethink what I want to do with my life, and I've been flirting with the idea of getting a PhD in American Studies. I though about going to grad school in poli sci, but I've heard that most of the classes you take are in methodological skills, and, while I did fine in my undergrad methods class, I found it completely dull. So, I was thinking that American Studies would allow me to take a more qualitative approach to studying American politics, American law, and culture in general. </p>

<p>Does this seem like a good option? Are there many professorships out there for American Studies PhDs? Would a JD/PhD be beneficial? If anyone has any information about American Studies graduate programs, I would really appreciate the assistance. Thanks!</p>

<p>Not all political science departments are very quantitative. You need to do some research and searching for those who reflect your approach.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, a good number of graduate courses DO focus on methodological skills because they are designed to help you prepare for your own dissertation research. I didn’t love them but they have forced me to consider different perspectives and methods when I did my MA research.</p>

<p>The job market for American Studies PhDs is horrid. Nobody really wants to hire one except for American Studies departments that actually have standing faculty, not full of joint-appointments. Many departments don’t see a lot of value in American Studies PhDs because they ddin’t get the same kind of training as those who did get their PhD in History or English. You would need to look at job placements in American Studies PhD programs and find out how long it took for their students to find jobs.</p>

<p>What led you from the history of American law course to develop an interest in American studies? </p>

<p>Consider graduate programs in history or political science with a focus in American legal history. Or even a JD with a legal history concentration.</p>

<p>Like Student35 said, you need to figure out what your actual passion is and what you loved about American law. Was it the study of laws and legal history? You can do legal research as a JD and even be a law professor (although you need to go to a top 14 law school and do really, really well in law school). Was it the study of the political processes? Political science can serve you there. Was it the history? History. And so on and so forth. I think you also need to consider your plans and what you want to do. A person with a PhD in American studies or history is more or less limited to faculty positions as professors in those fields. As already mentioned, American studies is not hurting for professors and the job market is bad. History PhDs are also faced with an overabundance of supply relative to demand, and there aren’t many jobs outside of academia for historians (although there certainly are some! I met a historian who worked for the federal government maintaining historical records for the country, and there are some who work for private foundations. If you combine it with museum or preservation training you can do museum work). If you get a degree in either of those fields, you need to consider whether you really want to be a professor or a professor-like scholar at another institution (and whether you want to spend 6-10 years getting the degree. Average time to degree is a lot longer in those fields).</p>

<p>Political science PhDs have more demand outside of academia especially if they have quantitative training. And of course you can use a JD to do a lot.</p>