<p>I realize that picking a program depends a lot on what one wants to specialize in, so one might pick School A if Russian poetry were the subject, School B if Russian politics were the subject, and School C if religion in Russian life were the subject. My son has equal interests in Russian prose, especially Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, Babel, etc., and political issues involving Russia. HIs double major is Russian Studies and Poli Sci, naturally.</p>
<p>Any thoughts on the best programs to pursue these interests? We already realize that Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Stanford have strong programs. Any others? Some hidden gems?</p>
<p>Why does he want to get his graduate degree in Russian Studies? What does he hope to get out of it? I hope that he doesnât <em>really</em> want to do PhD- my friend in Russian Lit (now a third year) is already annoyed with the non-existing job market for Russian professors (but she does love her PhD program and still wouldnât do anything else). Russian departments, unless theyâre truly excellent and well-reputed nationally, tend to be quite small all across the US because there isnât a great need for Russian language instruction as it was during the Cold War. So schools donât really see the need to hire more Russian professors.</p>
<p>In any interdisciplinary program for a MA, heâll have to take a range of courses from literature to history to political science to economics. But to really pick the best one for him, he should choose a program that has a good number of professors in his chosen discipline, which will increase the chances of him being able to take a lot of courses in that area. Through this way, heâll be able to tell what are the programâs strengths and weaknesses.</p>
<p>Check out Georgetown and Indiana (I think- they have a fantastic Eastern European language institute). I do not necessarily recommend Michigan as their department is extremely small but their acceptance rates for PhD is actually quite higher than expected. But the PhD is discipline specific- heâll have to choose political science or literature/language.</p>
<p>Thanks for the answer. Well, he may end up in law school, lol. He is hedging his bets still. While it is true these departments are smaller these days (while Asian and Arabic studies grow), it does appear the demographics might result in a number of retirements over the next decade, as the baby boomers age out. Russian will always be there, I guess it is just a matter of how much one loves it. But teaching isnât the only option, of course. There is the CIA, NSA, State Department, etc.</p>
<p>I think it will all become clearer after he gets his LSAT scores. If they are good and he goes that route, I am hoping he will keep up with his Russian also. Could be a great career in that.</p>
<p>My field was int the humanities, involving some classes in the Slavic department. Hence how I know whatâs happening with the Russianists.</p>
<p>Honestly, it is a tough question. If he does love Russian, he should indeed make use of incentives by the government such as a grant for Critical Language Enhancement Award that will pay for 3 months of intensive Russian study, either in the US or Russia. It really is the question of universities willing to continue supporting departments that are generally low in demand in this climate. He can always wish for another Cold War as everyone in Russian studies do :)</p>
<p>Heâd still have to take GREs for graduate program.</p>
<p>My S was also a Russian major. I was speaking to the Dept head at graduation last month, and he opined just as tickle mentioned: no demand (aks interest from students) for the courses since we are now âfriendsâ with the former Empire.</p>
<p>Not sure that I concur that State is much of an option. Foreign service officers move every few years, so he could easily end up in a French or Spanish-speaking country. Yes, there are some jobs in Foggy Bottom that require language skills, but not many. The vast majority of our diplomacy is $$, and we dole it out for economic development, water projects, agricultural projects, etc., which require technical experts in those fields.</p>
<p>Interesting replies, thanks very much. FYI, I starting making a list of where the profs at different schools got their PhD. No surprises so far. Berkeley is indeed well represented, along with Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Princeton, StanfordâŠwhat one might expect. The only minor surprises so far are Wisconsin and Indiana, with a couple each out of about the 50 I have tallied to date.</p>
<p>He is aware of the GREâs, he is going to take that and the LSAT.</p>
<p>You do realize that if you make the first contact (or any) with the professors, it doesnât look good for your son when he applies, do you?</p>
<p>I understand youâre trying to be helpful but you really do need to let him do all the research and ask questions on CC or to them. Heâll learn much more about the professors and their work if he does it on his own. Youâll find that, as a parent, itâs really all much better NOT to know anything about graduate school process. Even if youâre paying. Itâs just one of those things where the phrase really applies- âThe more you learn, the less you understand.â This is all largely due to academiaâs very particular nature. There have been threads in this forum affirming this by parents trying to get involved- they eventually sat back. Unless youâre a professor, of course.</p>
<p>The graduate school admissions process os very, very much off limits to parental involvement because professors do not want to deal with âchildren.â</p>
OK, this got me a little steamed. I appreciate the help in direct knowledge about different programs, but please donât try and run my relationship with my child. Not to mention you are way off base anyway. I am a PhD, I know the drill. So I find your statements about being better off not knowing the process both irrelevant in my case and wrong. Knowing the process is a long way from running the process. If it makes you feel better, I would never approach a professor for him. Where was that even implied?</p>
<p>As far as CC goes, that is not in the same universe. You think professors get on here to talk to prospective grad students? That I would like to see. Otherwise, it makes very little difference in this case who asks the questions, especially since I knew from my experience on CC that there would be little info on this. CC is much better for undergrad, law school and med school. Niche areas like this have limited traffic. I frankly am surprised two people weighed in, and that was appreciated.</p>
<p>Finally, as far as doing all the research, does that mean he should not ask his current professors anything? Or do you count that as research? If so, I donât see this as much different. It helps him focus his search. He has a lot going on with both the LSAT and the GRE, researching this, his courses and his job. If I compile a table for him of which schools professors attended for their PhD, is that different than him finding it in a book somewhere because he âresearchedâ it? So as you can see you know nothing about what our family dynamic is and his situation.</p>
<p>Sorry to get so angry. I even understand where you are coming from, but you crossed the line from what I was asking.</p>
<p>bluebayou - Yes, I can see that Indiana does apparently have a strong program. It was a nice discovery, it wasnât a school I had previously associated with that area. I have always had a lot of respect for Indiana, but this was interesting for sure.</p>
<p>âRussian studiesâ is interdisciplinary. The Russian PhD programs out there are going to be language/literature based. If your son is interested in the social sciences approach then heâd be better off pursuing studies in political science, economics, etc where he can focus his research on Russia. Or he could become a Russian historian. Point is, I donât think thereâs a over-arching program that would effectively train someone to be able to double-dip between the lang/lit and social sciences angles in a research career.</p>