My cultural history class has about twenty three students in it. The rest have about fifteen. The class I TA for has three hundred. The sex ratio is even. There are few people of color. Very few. The few there are mostly are foreign, and do not speak English well (they came to America because of the University's graduate program). These individuals tend to be Asian - Chinese, Korean. Very intelligent and make good points, it's just very difficult to understand them. I think the language barrier is there and hampering, and that's frustrating for everyone (we all would like to hear their opinion, after all).
People are from very different backgrounds. Some people have their Master's and are going for their PhDs. Some folks just have their Bachelor's and are aiming for their Master's. Some pups, like me, have my undergraduate and are going for their PhD.
I've realized very quickly that I need to assess what I want to do with myself at the University. As simple as this sounds, it's horribly complicated for me as an individual and student. I am on a PhD path (a fast track, skipping my Masters).
I have three basic options:
1) Continue to skip my Masters, get my PhD at the University
2) Reign back my PhD path to a Masters path, get that, then apply to UGA, get reaccepted, then get my PhD at the University
3) Reign back my PhD path to a Masters path, get that, then apply to other schools (including the University, see where I get accepted, go where I want to for my PhD there (which could be the University)
Folks don't seem to transfer between places without getting their Masters first. So I need to decide soon whether I am going to get my PhD at the University the short or long way.
I enjoy where I am living and the area. It's a very good town. I enjoy the familiarity, the weather, the people, the downtown, the terrain, the classes, the professors, the students. I like that my family is close more than I thought I would. I am absurdly relieved to be somewhere I know and driving around there. A lot of my friends are still here, and I theoretically could hang out with them (I've done so to a degree, just not incredibly much yet).
I have to wait and see more, but it's a matter of time before the decision will have to happen. Nothing would be so dangerous. If I drop down to a Master's level, my work changes towards doing my Master's thesis. I can always reapply to the University, and I will likely make it back in. I may make it to a better school, but then it becomes a concern if I want to go somewhere else, away from the familiar grounds, to a metro area or a very scholarly area, and try to establish myself there while working in likely much more difficult classes with tougher professors. The University does not come across as particularly easy, but I will definitely have to see.
I mean, after all, I have no specialty right now. Much of my thoughts have centered on the Civil War over the Vietnam War, which is stupidly typical of young and old historians in the South.
I'm interested in the aftermath of the battle, which is a newer topic than much of what is normally discussed, but there is an established historiography for it. I am intrigued by the interdisciplinary cross-sections of psychology / history and the long history of PTSD and war wounds, but I'm thrown as to what to do. All that specifics has almost nothing to do with the fact I am very interested in simply teaching history to people, making it more public and letting the public understand how history works and the tougher, tinier parts of American history.
Only on my sixth week, and they've got me questioning my very career path. Well done, PhD program. I haven't been challenged this much since my first year of college when I took nine classes in a year, each in a different area, except for my second-year-level advanced Latin courses. Well done, indeed.
