AboutLaura Trauth Expertise PhD program in History. A more conservative Catholic institution, the school is also less self-contained. This means it has less of a sense of family and community, but also that it is connected with the nation`s capitol and all the academic, artistic, and social resources that DC provides. The History and Medieval Studies grad programs have a core faculty of dedicated and talented scholars who encourage students to pursue original research and analyse current scholarship.
Question I am a 33 year old high school teacher applying to CUA to pursue a Ph.D in Medieval Studies for Fall of '06...as well as Fordham, Yale, Cornell, UC Berkeley, UCSB, and ASU. I'm wondering where I can find rankings of these school's programs. It is a fairly small community, so I was hoping that you could point me in the right direction. Also, how many students does Catholic select for this program each year? How many apply? I've been out of school for a long time, so I want to know what my "reach schools" are and what my back ups should be. Thanks so much!
-looking over this, it seems more like a barrage of questions. sorry about that. :)
Answer Hi Cohen,
I really don't know where you can get rankings of medieval studies programs from within the community. I think most people would say that the best program (at least traditionally) is Toronto. Western Michigan (which hosts the big Medieval conference every year) is also one you might want to add to your list.
With a program like this, though, it's less about rankings and more about the specific prof. you want to study with. What I'd recommend doing is looking at each of the schools' web sites and at their professors' vitae. Which ones sound interesting? Then contact that professor and ask them if they're taking new students, or would be willing to work with you. If that person has published books and goes to conferences, then you're studying with someone who can get you off to a sound start in the field.
I'd never recommend going to a school for a PhD without there being someone specific who you want to study with there. I find now that I am interested in cultural history of England, yet there isn't anyone who does that at CUA, so I'm forced to either to a dissertation I don't like, or not finish. This is a place you don't want to be, trust me.
The HISTORY program at Catholic only accepts a few new history students each year -- maybe 6-10 total. About 1/3 of those will typically be Medieval, but some will be MA students, not PhD students (or not yet at least). Since I'm a student not a faculty member, I couldn't tell you how many apply. CUA also has an interdisciplinary Medieval Studies program, and a program via the English department, but I can't tell you how many people either of them accept. I think Med. Studies is about the same size as us, and English is sig. bigger.
Last I checked they only had 2-4 history teaching assistantships at any given time in the history department. I don't believe Medieval studies has a lot of employment options either. This is one of CUA's weaknesses. They do offer scholaships, but DC is an expensive place to live. While we have a lot of teaching oportunities in the area for a certified teacher, working full time will definitely slow down your progress towards the PhD! I know that first hand too, having taught community college full time for 7 years now. So it's certainly worth applying, but don't count on employment unless you decide to go through the English department (which has many TA positions for the comp and lit intro classes).
One good thing about CUA is that we also have the church history program and language programs. So you have a lot to chose from as a med. studies or history student. You can take old English, old Iclandic, biblical languages, theology classes, church history, comparative literature, and more, not to mention a wide variety of social and political history courses that cover much of Europe and the middle east. You'll also get a good grounding in Historiography. AND you can take classes at other institutions in the DC consortium and also at the Folger Shakespeare Library (very useful if you're late medieval England like myself).
I don't think I answered all your questions, but some of them you should call and talk to the department chair about. As a student, I just don't have access to the #s of applicants and so on. Really, the biggest step is connecting with a professor who will work with you on your research. If you can do that, he or she will help you navigate the application hurdles and guide you through class scheduling and so on.
Best of luck and please let me know if you have any other questions,
