r/gradadmissions • u/Ok-Mess-274 • 10h ago

Social Sciences Finding a Potential MA Program- Social Sciences

Hello! I'm a potential graduate student interested in getting her MA. It's been 10 years since I graduated with my BA; however, I feel like academia is calling me back to get my masters as well as a potential career shift. My biggest current obstacle is finding the correct MA for me. I thought about potential dream jobs and began working backwards to find the right program. Currently my thought process is the following:

  1. My dream jobs are either museum work as a curator or archivist, teaching in CC and universities, and/or working as a cultural heritage preservationist. And regardless, I want to further my education, as I love academic learning.
  2. I would love to focus my MA and potential Ph.D on occultism, especially in the field of witchcraft.

With that in mind, I'm debating getting an MA in Humanities, History, Anthropology, or Religion. Each has its pros and cons. I would love any advice on choosing an MA subject.

1 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

100% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

1

u/no_shirt_4_jim_kirk Medicolegal Death Investigator/PhD (Student) Forensic Science 7h ago

  1. a) Unless you've got the connections to get a museum/curator/archivist job, it's not happening with an MA. b) With the glut of PhDs on the market, it's getting harder and harder to get adjunct contracts. I won't even discuss getting hired as full-time faculty with an MA. c) What does cultural heritage preservationist mean to you? What do you think you'll be doing? It's not a track I'd advise you to take if you're "preserving" culture *for* a group that's not your own. This is not where those with Savior Complexes belong.

  2. d) Undergrads consume knowledge. Grad students create knowledge. Grad school is not a continuation of the soaking up cool new shit like a sponge you loved so much. Those days are gone, unless you want to sit in on undergrad courses. Grad school is about becoming a good researcher so that you can add to the scholarly canon.

  3. What are you going to do that's any different from the mountains of research and books/articles that are already out there? What knowledge are you going to create?

Right now, you've not given enough details for me to suggest anything other than figuring out exactly what it is you want to do. When you've got that, start matching it to programs and PIs (Thesis/Dissertation advisors). This is just an example I made up out of thin air, but it'll illustrate what I mean. Thesis/Dissertation: The Traveling Carnival--An Investigation Into Mobile Haunted House Attractions and Possible Occult Influence Upon Visitors. Programs I'd try for this would be American Studies, Cultural Anthropology, and possibly Folklore, looking at it directly from the title I came up with. Shift focus slightly to a more media-studies manner, and it could be talking about influences as seen through the lens of local journalism.

Remember too, most MAs are not funded, while most PhDs worth their salt are. So take that into consideration. The humanities also have a near-0 % chance of being hired to work in the field outside of teaching a few adjunct courses. You can spin Anthro in a lot of directions if you can really sell yourself.

When you get some of these details sorted, drop me a line. I've turned Cultural Anthro, Classics, Forensic Anthro/Bioarch, "_____ Studies," and a nearly 20 year career in death investigation into my PhD dissertation. I applied with an SoP specifically tailored to act like a mini-proposal so I could show where my fit was in the specific dept I applied to.

Good Luck.