Which department is best for me?

Graduate School
1

To start: as the result of a chronic pain syndrome, my doctors have told me I don’t have a great chance at having a “career” and will likely (at most), only be able to work a part-time job. This is to say, finding the most lucrative degree is not important to me. I am a proponent of education for the sake of education and the importance of a strong liberal arts education.

Now the real question: By the time of graduation, I will have finished dual degrees in history and political science, with two minors, philosophy and film studies. All three of my undergraduate theses have revolved around the same topic: political philosophy in film and literature within a historical context. This is something I would like to pursue further in graduate school. I am, however, a little stuck on what type of department would be best for me.

I see the options as being History, Literature, European Studies, American Studies, Film Studies, and Political Science.
I am most familiar with history because that is where my work experience has largely been and see it as the most versatile option, though literature/film studies would be the most obvious, but I do not have a literature background. I then see European or American Studies as being a good fit for such an interdisciplinary area of interest. I also see both European Studies and American Studies as both being viable because my field is early 20th-century US foreign policy, continental philosophy, and film history up to 1967.

What are your thoughts?

2

The question is not really about the department. It’s about the approach that you want to take and which department at which university is the best for that approach.

What I mean is - to suit your goals and needs, you may find yourself applying to a variety of departments depending on the university. Awesome State University’s history department may be the best fit for you there, because of Professor Smith’s research on the history of political philosophy in film; but at the University of Fantastic, it may be the American studies department because of Professor Jones’ research on political philosophy in American film. You have to investigate individual professors and departments and see where you can take the classes and do the work that you want to do.

With your majors and minors, history, political science, American studies, or film studies will probably be your better bets - it may be hard to gain admission to a literature department without an undergrad background in literature. I don’t know of many European studies departments, but even if they did exist I don’t think they would be the place to study 20th century foreign policy. Maybe a comparative politics program.